Legal Services for Alberta’s Municipalities
The MLT Aikins municipal team is committed to providing timely, innovative and practical advice to our municipal clients across Alberta. On this page: Read recent blog posts, meet our team and learn more about how we can support you.
Featured municipal insights
Municipal councillors in public hearings: Neutrality and bias
Alberta’s Municipal Government Act mandates that municipal councils hold public hearings before making decisions on certain matters. Among other things, these include the disposition of certain types of land and amending or passing planning bylaws, such as zoning bylaws. The aim of these public hearings is to assure members of the public a fair opportunity to be heard and make their views known. Continue reading…
Constructive expropriation and fair market value
Through a new municipal law case, St John’s (City of) v Lynch, 2024 SCC 17, a unanimous Supreme Court of Canada clarified how fair market value is to be assessed in situations where a municipality constructively expropriates land. Moving forward, municipalities should take note of the principles set out in Lynch to help ensure they fairly compensate landowners in situations of constructive expropriation. Continue reading…
Does Canadian modern slavery legislation apply to municipalities?
Canada’s anti-modern slavery legislation, the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act, (the “Act”) came into force on January 1, 2024. The Act requires government institutions and certain entities to provide annual reports on how they have addressed forced labour and child labour risks in regard to their operations and supply chains. The first reporting deadline was May 31, 2024.
The Act applies to government institutions and certain entities, including corporations, trusts, partnerships or other unincorporated organizations, that produce, sell, distribute or import goods or that control entities that do so. Are municipalities considered “corporations” within the meaning of the Act? Continue reading…
Meet our team
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Milad Alishahi, partner(306) 347-8451 | malishahi@mltaikins.com Milad assists individuals and businesses with a broad range of corporate/commercial litigation matters with a focus on contractual disputes, construction litigation, agribusiness disputes and municipal law. |
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Sharon Au, partner(780) 969-5066 | sau@mltaikins.com Sharon’s practice includes commercial litigation, administrative and professional regulatory work, insurance defence and coverage disputes. She brings a practical and client-centred approach to resolving disputes. |
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Meaghan Conroy, partner(780) 969-3515 | mconroy@mltaikins.com Meaghan has extensive experience in Aboriginal law, constitutional law, environmental and regulatory processes, election law and other public law matters. |
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Scott Masson, partner(306) 956-2160 | smasson@mltaikins.com Scott maintains a broad corporate practice, with a focus on project planning and development, infrastructure, construction procurement and real estate matters. |
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Jean Torrens, partner(403) 693-4342 | jtorrens@mltaikins.com Jean acts as a strategic partner with municipalities to manage complex legal situations involving employees and unions. |
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Sierra Heisler, associate(587) 405-5251 | sheisler@mltaikins.com Sierra is a corporate/commercial lawyer with the firm’s Edmonton office. Her practice focuses on commercial real estate law, corporate law and municipal law matters. |
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Steven Warawa, associate(780) 969-3517 | swarawa@mltaikins.com Steven is an associate lawyer whose corporate/commercial practice includes municipal law and estate planning and administration. |
How we help
MLT Aikins has extensive experience representing numerous municipalities in Western Canada in a general counsel capacity, advising councils, administration, committees and boards.
Our experience covers the range of legal issues a municipality may expect to face on a daily basis including planning, development, enforcement and employment matters as well as longer-term initiatives such as bylaw and policy review and development, and extraordinary circumstances such as planning for and financing major construction projects or dealing with disputes arising from occurrences such as a contaminated water supply.
We have extensive experience on governance issues facing municipal governments and other public bodies including Indigenous communities and their associated legal entities. We have helped our municipal clients build foundations for good governance and operations. Our experience includes reviewing and drafting municipal bylaws and policies and reviewing and drafting contracts.
We also provide advice on issues involving:
- Governance matters
- Jurisdictional challenges
- Procurement
- Privacy
- Annexations
- Expropriations
- Inter-municipal disputes
- Inter-municipal agreements including cost sharing, servicing, mutual aid, fire service and others
Our municipal team regularly develops materials for presentations to municipal councils and professional and industry groups on topics such as municipal and corporate governance, construction and procurement issues, tax recovery, off-site levies and other infrastructure cost recovery options, information and privacy, as well as planning and development matters.