Speaking to a crowd of 700 rural leaders in Edmonton on Tuesday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith outlined her government’s priorities, talking about updating the province’s bill of rights and fighting the federal government over a carbon tax and emissions cap, among other things.

But Paul McLauchlin, the outgoing chairman of Rural Municipalities of Alberta, said the premier’s No. 1 issue should be affordability, suggesting his attention was elsewhere.

“I think the leadership race has created a tremendous distraction,” McLauchlin said Tuesday, referring to members of the ruling United Conservative Party voting last week on Smith’s leadership.

Prime minister Received 91.5 percent approval During the UCP annual general meeting in Red Deer on Saturday.

“What Albertans want is to be able to put food on their table,” McLauchlin said. “They want to be able to keep their lights on and their homes heated.”

With the leadership review over, McLauchlin hopes the province will focus on investing in aging infrastructure and reforming municipal finances.

Other leaders attending the Rural Municipalities of Alberta’s fall meeting at the Edmonton Convention Center say they just want to understand provincial decisions like the government’s plan expand the role of sheriffs.

Northern Lights County Chief Reeve Terry Ungarian said he “wants this independent police agency that’s basically been put in place by the state to be held accountable.”

His decision is one of 21 resolutions to be discussed at the four-day congress.

This was necessary, Ungarian said, after there was strong opposition in rural Alberta to the idea of ​​a provincial police force.

“It’s really a lack of consultation, a lack of information, a lack of any authority for this new independent police force,” said Ungarian, whose county seat is in the town of Manning in northwestern Alberta.

Smith told the media Tuesday that municipalities “don’t have to do anything they don’t want to do” regarding the issue of policing.

“We’re just enabling. We have a lot of municipalities that want to look at other options for policing,” Smith said, pointing to the example of Grande Prairie. established its own municipal power earlier this year.

“They realized they could hire more officers and save $8 million. That’s a pretty big advantage, so they’re in the process of moving towards a municipal police force on their own and away from the RCMP.”

Grande Prairie’s police force will completely take over policing in the northwestern city of 60,000 from the RCMP in 2028.

Naheed Nenshi, leader of the Official Opposition Alberta NDP, says the government’s focus on strengthening provincial police powers is further evidence that the premier refuses to listen to the rural Alberta votes he hopes to steal in 2027.

“I was chatting with people in Morinville-St. Albert last week about their concerns, and it’s very clear that this government takes them for granted and assumes they agree with rural Albertans,” Nenshi told media on Tuesday, “along with the radical right proposals.” he said.

“The best example of this is the Alberta police force. Nobody wants this. No rural agency has said, ‘Please give us this.’ Instead, they have said, ‘Focus on the real issues of rural crime,’ and the UCP has shown no inclination to do that.”