Cross Border Network

As we prepare for our 2026 summer break, we're seeking your feedback as we plan the return of the Cross Border Network in the fall.

If you have five minutes to complete our short online survey, your input will help shape the direction of our coverage and priorities moving forward.

https://www.crossborderinterviews.ca/feedback

Feedback | Cross Border Network As we prepare for our 2026 summer break, now less than two weeks away, we're looking for your feedback as we plan for the future. If you have five minutes to complete our short online survey, your input will help shape the direction of our coverage and priorities moving forward. Your feedback is gre...

Il y a un peu plus d’un an, après avoir quitté Ottawa à la suite du congrès de la Fédération canadienne des municipalités, je me suis donné un objectif : apprendre le français, la deuxième langue officielle du Canada.

Je voulais me lancer un défi et, un jour, faire une entrevue complète en français pour Municipal Affairs.

Au congrès de la FCM à Edmonton, la conseillère de la Ville de Salmon Arm, Louise Wallace Richmond, a accepté d’être ma première invitée pour une entrevue entièrement en français.

(ENGLISH VERSION)
A little over a year ago, leaving Ottawa after the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Convention, I made myself a promise: to learn Canada's second official language, French.

I wanted to challenge myself and one day conduct an entire Municipal Affairs interview in French.

At the FCM Convention in Edmonton, City of Salmon Arm Councillor Louise Wallace Richmond was set to be my first fully French guest.

Without further ado... bienvenue à Municipal Affairs, en français.

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Le Spectacle Passe Au Français Il y a un peu plus d’un an, en quittant Ottawa après le congrès de ...

Perhaps the most revealing conversation I had during the last week was with a mayor who admitted he is frustrated by the constant political attacks aimed at the province. This mayor, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he believes some municipal leaders have chosen the easiest target instead of having the more difficult conversations happening inside their own communities.

"I hate seeing mayors take shots at the province because, to me, it feels like passing the buck to a level of government that does not fully deserve the blame," the mayor said. "The province is the easiest one to blame right now because most residents see it as a distant figure. But I know the past mayors and councils. I know them personally. Our kids grew up together. It is much easier to criticize a premier who was not sitting around that council table when those decisions were made than to admit that some of our own choices contributed to where we are today."

The mayor admitted this position has created tension with some municipal leaders who wanted a united front against the provincial government. The relationship between some mayors has become strained because this mayor refused to stand beside those who wanted to place the entire responsibility on Premier Smith, Premier Kenney, or even Premier Notley.

The issue, the mayor argued, is bigger than any one premier or political party. It is about decades of decisions made at the local level that cannot simply be erased by pointing fingers at the legislature.

Read the full editorial: https://wix.to/37WHMwR

Editorial: Mayors & Reeves, It's Time to Look in the Mirror To borrow, or perhaps semi quote, Jim Prentice during Alberta's 2015 provincial election, "Mayors, it's time to look in the mirror."I know this probably will not make me popular in every council chamber across Alberta, but it is time someone said what a lot of municipal leaders are quietly admitting...