A number of agriculture related resolutions are to be debated at the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties’ fall convention in Edmonton Nov. 15-17.
Most, if not all, of the organization’s activities affect agriculture, but three of this year’s resolutions may be of particular interest to farmers.
The County of St. Paul has put forward a resolution that, if passed, will direct AAMD&C to seek an exemption for agricultural operations on natural gas and propane under Alberta’s pending carbon levy.
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The levy is scheduled to be imposed next year.
Marked gas and diesel used for agricultural operations is exempt, and the St. Paul resolution is aimed at taking those exemptions further.
It notes that the levy on natural gas and propane “will add significant operational costs to many operators in the agriculture industry,” among them intensive livestock, greenhouses and grain drying.
The resolution notes that carbon taxes implemented in other jurisdictions exempt certain sectors “to shield them from the full impact of the tax.”
The MD of Bonnyville and County of Stettler have introduced a resolution asking AAMD&C to lobby government to restore funding to manage vegetation along highways.
The resolution says the provincial government is responsible for weed control on 32,000 kilometres of provincial highway, but reduced provincial funding has allowed noxious weeds to spread along highways and into fields in many areas.
It says rural municipal efforts to control these noxious weeds are reducing municipal resources.
The municipalities want a summer maintenance program restored and a more effective weed control program made for “one, two and three digit highways” in the province.
Another resolution, tabled by the MD of Greenview, County of Northern Lights and Mackenzie County, would direct the AAMD&C to ask government to complete an overall socio-economic impact assessment on all species-at-risk recovery plans now affecting the agriculture, forestry, oil and gas, tourism and mineral exploration industries.
Background information attached to the resolution is primarily aimed at the forestry industry and caribou but would have implications for areas that are home to other species considered to be at risk.
These and all other resolutions will be debated Nov. 17 at the convention. A complete list with background can be found at aamdc.com.
