Rural Alberta commitment stays strong in new mandate letter, transportation minister says

By George Lee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Originally published on Sep 24, 2025 at 09:35

Pipelines, planes and passenger trains will steal much of the limelight as details in a new mandate letter reach the public eye, Alberta’s transportation and economic corridors minister acknowledged Tuesday.

But Devin Dreeshen said he’s also pumped about Premier Danielle Smith’s emphasis on partnering with municipalities on critical infrastructure projects important to rural Alberta.

Within an overall annual budget of about $3.5 billion, his ministry is participating in more than 200 ongoing projects with municipalities, Dreeshen said.

Critical infrastructure is “such a priority for so many municipalities across the province” that partnering for safer water, roads and bridges “really means a lot,” said Dreeshen, the UCP member for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake.

“I’m glad to see that it’s also a priority for the premier.”

Smith began rolling out new mandate letters for cabinet Sept. 17 when four were announced. She added five more — including Dreeshen’s — on Monday.

The letters come as MLAs prepare to return to the legislature for the fall sitting on Oct. 23.

Big ticket items loom large in Dreeshen’s letter, like supporting passenger rail links to the two international airports. So too does Alberta’s entire passenger rail strategy, which he’s tasked with advancing in coordination with the Treasury Board and the finance ministry.

The mandate letter foreshadows the development of more access-to-tidewater options for getting non-renewable energy to market, but the premier wants to make sure Indigenous communities share in the wealth as project partners.

Dreeshen is directed to, in coordination with others, “accelerate the development” of water treatment and distribution for residential, industrial and agricultural use across Alberta.

The premier tells him to expand corridors to increase employment, increase non-renewable resource revenue and spark economic growth. Included should be improvements to Highway 686 “to better connect Alberta’s northwestern and northeastern economic regions.”

And he’s tasked with continuing to expand and improve Alberta’s highway network and bridge infrastructure.

The current provincial budget includes $118 million in grants to municipalities for water and wastewater projects.

The Rural Municipalities of Alberta forecasts that a different program — this one targeting rural and small urban communities — will mean $33 million in funding in 2025-26 for the 69 municipal districts and counties it represents. Funding under the Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program will increase to $35 million next year, the RMA estimates.

But the RMA says municipal funding has dropped dramatically across recent decades, resulting in an infrastructure deficit of about $17.25 billion. The deficit will more than double to surpass $40 billion by 2028, the association predicts.

Major infrastructure funding in the three-year capital plan under Dreeshen’s ministry totals $8.5 billion in the last budget, up nearly four per cent from 2024. By the province’s reckoning about $4 billion in the plan benefits rural communities. 

The premier directs Dreeshen to finalize, release and begin rolling out the passenger rail strategy’s first stage.

Any hints on when that will happen? “The hint is soon,” Dreeshen said.

Sequencing will be big in stage one, including things like lining up land for tracks and stations, and linking with existing urban lines as they’re developed, Dreeshen said.

Developing a new passenger rail system is “a massive puzzle” with major implications for travel in Alberta, Dreeshen said.

The mandate letter directs that, with the Treasury Board and the finance ministry, Dreeshen “rapidly advance” Calgary’s passenger rail connector to the airport. The so-called Blue Line needs to be complete by 2030, Smith’s letter said.

Dreeshen needs to partner with the City of Edmonton to start planning a similar service for the capital city’s airports.

Air travel and pipelines are prominent in the renewed mandate.

Dreeshen is to lead the charge to remove barriers to the growth of both international airports. Smith wants to see more direct flights to and from international destinations and “increased connectivity” with regional airports.

Dreeshen is supposed to work with the lead ministry, Indigenous relations, to partner with Indigenous communities to build pipelines and other projects, while ensuring traditional territories and treaties are respected.

He’s directed to put “special focus” on a bitumen pipeline to the coast of northwest B.C. and gas pipelines to Hudson’s Bay and Ontario.

A program helping First Nation communities connect to safe regional drinking water gets a bullet point in the letter. Dreeshen is to work with the minister of Indigenous relations on rolling out the program, while also exploring ways to work with Indigenous and Métis peoples for “transportation-related prosperity-sharing, water management, emergency mitigation and recovery.”

The scope of what lies ahead is not lost on Dreeshen.

“It’s quite an ambitious mandate letter from Premier Smith and I’m excited to continue working on everything that’s in it,” he said.