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Smith blames Feds for housing rules Edmonton built for over a decade
Edmonton’s densification efforts began years before the federal housing fund was launched.
Edmonton has three months to roll back its housing rules after Premier Danielle Smith ordered the city to undo its work on densification.
The premier blamed the federal government for paying cities to replace single-family houses on residential lots with buildings for 16 families and no parking. Speaking on a call-in radio program Saturday, Smith called money from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund a “bribe” to get councils to allow more housing and said Alberta was undoing “bad federal policy.”
But that explanation ignores Edmonton’s housing ambitions and the city’s choices to pursue them, said Mike Moffatt, a housing expert and founding director of the Missing Middle Initiative.
The federal fund gives cities money for changes such as allowing more homes on residential lots and speeding up approvals. It did not specifically require Edmonton to allow eight homes on a single lot — its current maximum — or reduce the space between buildings and neighbouring property lines, Moffatt said.
That work started in 2015, long before the federal government got involved, in response to the city’s own housing and affordability needs. The Housing Accelerator Fund was established in the 2022 budget and launched in 2023.
Expensive suburbs drove densification
By the time the Housing Accelerator Fund got moving three years ago, Edmonton had already done much of what the federal government was asking other Canadian cities to do, said Kalen Anderson, a former city planning director who now leads the building industry association BILD Edmonton Metro. “We were already making all of these decisions with or without that funding,” she said.
Anderson said Edmonton included housing changes it had already approved in its federal funding plan. The money helped pay for downtown student housing, faster permits and water and sewer upgrades to serve new homes. Cities like Calgary and Red Deer are more likely to have changed their housing rules to get federal money than Edmonton, she added.
Calgary repealed its rezoning policy earlier this year after public opposition. Smith supported the reversal, but Mayor Jeromy Farkas described provincial interference in city decisions as a "disturbing attack on local democracy.”
Edmonton’s years of work gave it a head start, helping it become one of the fund’s top-performing cities, as Canada’s National Observer previously reported.
That work began more than a decade ago, Mayor Andrew Knack told Canada’s National Observer in May. The city could not afford — financially or environmentally — to keep spreading into new suburbs, he said. Knack described suburban expansion as the biggest driver of property tax increases over the last 30 years. Meanwhile, some older neighbourhoods were losing residents, contributing to school closures and leaving businesses with fewer customers.
Edmonton was preparing to grow to two million people, Anderson said, with half its additional housing in new suburbs and half in existing neighbourhoods. Allowing eight homes on a lot was one way to make room.
Anderson said the 16 homes Smith described are spread across two lots that used to be one. Around 2014–15, Edmonton began allowing 50-foot-wide lots to be split into two 25-foot-wide lots, she said. With eight homes on each, land that a decade ago held one house could hold 16.
Edmonton’s parking changes also predated the federal fund. In 2020, it became the first major Canadian municipality to let builders choose how much parking to provide. Building parking spaces adds to housing costs, so builders could leave them out if residents would not need them, Anderson said. But many eight-home developments had no parking, leaving residents to find space on the street.
Even after years of public meetings, some residents only understood what the new rules allowed when larger buildings started going up next door, Anderson said. The city should expect to adjust its rules based on what works, she said.
“Those are big changes, so we’re not going to get them right out of the gate,” she said.
Knack said the city had lowered building height limits and changed spacing rules in response to residents’ concerns. “There was a desire for refinement, not a desire to undo this work,” he said.
The mayor’s office told Canada’s National Observer in an email response that it had received no details beyond the province’s announcement, which did not specify precisely how the province expects cities to comply with its de-densification order. Without knowing exactly what Edmonton must change, it could not assess the consequences for federal funding.
‘Easier to make Ottawa the villain’
This isn’t the first time a province has told cities to change their housing rules. In 2023, BC required municipalities to allow three or four homes on many residential lots and six in some locations near frequent bus service. But Moffatt said setting common standards across municipalities, as BC has done, differs from overturning a specific city decision.
He sees a closer parallel in Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s push to remove Toronto bike lanes — another fight over a city’s decisions that can appeal to voters who live outside the cities.
Moffatt described Smith’s push as a sign of a shift toward right-wing populism, with premiers increasingly stepping into decisions normally left to local councils.
The fight comes days before Alberta’s Oct. 19 referendum, which includes questions about seeking more provincial power and whether to hold a binding vote on leaving Canada. In a booklet sent to households, the province says Ottawa uses conditions attached to federal funding to interfere in provincial decisions.
“I think it’s a lot easier to make Ottawa the villain than a fellow Albertan,” Moffatt said.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has not yet decided whether the changes will affect Edmonton’s or Calgary’s funding, Piper McWilliams, senior communications advisor to the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, told Canada’s National Observer in an email response. The federal agency checks each city’s yearly report on its housing commitments before deciding on further payments. Those reports are not yet due.
“Our singular goal remains ensuring that we can deliver on building affordable housing for Albertans,” McWilliams said.
Sonal Gupta / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada's National Observer.
Copyright 2026, Canada's National Observer. All rights reserved.
Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer.
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Suspect arrested after catalytic converters stolen from food charity's trucks
Suspect arrested after charity's trucks vandalized
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
Toronto police say they have arrested and charged a 29-year-old man accused of breaking into a charity's parking lot over Thanksgiving weekend and stealing several catalytic converters from their trucks.
Police say they arrested the man after executing a search warrant at an Oakville residence on Wednesday and charged him in connection with the thefts at Second Harvest, a charity that rescues food en route to landfills and redistributes it to people in need.
Police say they were called to Second Harvest's headquarters in the city's west end just after midnight on Sunday after an unknown number of suspects broke into the charity's parking lot and stole truck parts.
Police say the accused, who faces three counts of breaking and entering, is also believed to have pulled off other catalytic converter thefts in the area.
Police allege the Oakville man was involved in thefts at nearby businesses in September and October that caused vehicle damage.
At a Wednesday news conference, Second Harvest CEO Lori Nikkel said the charity has received an influx of support in the wake of the thefts, and that local food importing business Aurora Foods donated $60,000 to help cover the cost of the truck repairs.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Ottawa cautions Canadians against travel to Saudi Arabia after airports targeted
Ottawa cautions against travel to Saudi Arabia
Global Affairs Canada has issued an advisory cautioning against travel to Saudi Arabia and specific airports that have been targeted during the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
The advisory, issued by Canada's embassy in the kingdom, notes the airports in Riyadh and Dammam have been targeted in recent days and the Riyadh airport remains closed.
Saudi authorities have attributed the Oct. 10 attack on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport to a Houthi missile strike.
The advisory encourages Canadians in the region to book travel through neighbouring countries like Bahrain and Qatar and offers information on ground transport options to those locations.
The advisory says Canadians with expiring visitor visas should arrange to leave Saudi Arabia as soon as possible and warns the embassy will not be able to help with visa extensions or fines for overstaying.
It says travellers should keep a close eye on their flight status because flights can be disrupted by attacks with little or no warning.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Ces plaques d'auto ont été refusées au Québec en 2022 et certaines sont épouvantables
Il y en a qui ont l'esprit tordu! 😲
Nul doute que les Québécois.es ont beaucoup d'imagination et cette liste de refus des demandes de plaques d'immatriculation personnalisées en est bien la preuve. Chaque année, des automobilistes de la Belle Province, désireux.euses d'orner leur voiture d'une plaque qui leur ressemble plus qu'un agencement aléatoire de chiffres et de lettres, tentent leur chance en envoyant leur proposition à la Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ).
Pour que ton idée soit acceptée, ce n'est pas chose si facile. Après ton envoi, les équipes de la SAAQ se penchent sur plusieurs critères afin d'évaluer si oui ou non ta plaque sera personnalisée comme tu le souhaites. Tu devras notamment t'assurer que la combinaison choisie n'exprime pas d'idées obscènes, scandaleuses ou de nature sexuelle, qu'elle n'utilise pas un langage abusif et qu'elle n'encourage pas une infraction criminelle. Tu devras aussi payer 272,49 $ pour les frais de changement, puis 37,66 $ par année.
Narcity a répertorié quelques-unes des 2725 combinaisons refusées les plus cocasses de 2022 dénichées sur une liste envoyée par la SAAQ. Et oui, tu vas vite t'apercevoir qu'il y a quelques petites thématiques qui semblent bien populaires chez les conducteurs et conductrices du Québec.
Marques de commerces
Les propriétaires de véhicule ne peuvent détenir « une plaque d'immatriculation qui renvoie à un nom distinctif utilisé comme marque de commerce enregistrée ». Cette consigne est inscrite bien clairement sur le formulaire de demande. Toutefois, certain.es tentent tout de même leur chance… Juste pour voir!
On a pu retrouver, entre autres, des noms d'entreprises bien connues telles que : VERSACE, AIRBNB, VISA, UBIS0FT, TWITTER, KIJIJI, AMAZ0N, Y0UP0RN et TINDER.
Les marques d'autres véhicules ont aussi été très populaires dans la dernière année avec P0RSCHE, TESLA, MUSTANG, T0Y0TA et plus encore. C'est sûr que de se promener en vieille Toyota Tercel avec une plaque FERRARI, c'est le comble de l'ironie.
Autres petites perles qui ouvriront certainement l'appétit aux automobilistes se trouvant à l'arrière de la voiture en question : 0RE0, TIMBITS et KFC. Tiens donc, j'ai une soudaine envie de poulet frit qui me tenaille!
Langage abusif et vulgaire
Peut-être en doutais-tu déjà, mais les « mauvais mots » et autres grossièretés ont la cote chez ceux et celles qui font des demandes de modification et ce n'est pas toujours très subtil. Parmi les nombreuses plaques refusées qui contiennent un langage abusif, voici celles qui se sont démarquées par leur candeur : WTFL0L, FUCKY0U, AZZH0LE, SXYMILF, CALISS, DATASS et le très chic 2FASTBK.
Une personne aurait même proposé FCKCOPS, ce qui semble être un moyen de s'attirer du trouble.
Film, télévision et musique
Plusieurs ont voulu se gâter un brin avec une plaque d'immatriculation qui fait référence à leurs films, chanteur.euses ou séries télévisées préférées. Hélas, ces propositions n'ont pas passé au conseil. Dans la liste on peut entre autres retrouver GANDALF, Y0SHI, P0KEM0N, MAD0NNA, JAGER, MINI0NS, NEM0 et AVENGER.
Voir une plaque écrite PIKACHU devant toi, c’est sûr que ça redonne le sourire, mais comme dirait un.e candidat.e au Banquier, c'est RE-FU-SÉ!
Infractions et actes criminels
Certaines personnes semblent avoir voulu mettre de l'avant leur penchant vers la criminalité. Est-ce pour appâter les forces de l'ordre? Sur la liste, les actes violents et les références à la mort sont nombreux : MURDER, MAFI0S0, DEATH, DEVIANT, PYR0MAN, KILLR, SANSL0I, CADAVR, M0RGUE, C0CAINE, PIMP1, ASSASIN, ILLEGAL.
La SAAQ est claire à ce sujet, le numéro choisi ne doit pas comporter une expression ou un message « qui encourage une infraction criminelle ».
Amoureux.euses de sports
On peut compter plusieurs fanatiques de sports parmi ceux et celles qui désirent une plaque d'immatriculation personnalisée. Avec des compositions comme WEBER, BRUINS, FIFA, WWE, LEBRON, PEEWEE et NASCAR on comprend que certain.es sont très fier.ères de leurs équipes et souhaitent le démontrer de toutes les manières.
Cependant, ce ne sera pas sur le derrière de leur véhicule, car le numéro de plaque ne doit pas laisser faussement croire que le propriétaire du véhicule routier est une autorité publique.