Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) members maintain a vast infrastructure network that provides services to rural residents and the industries that drive Alberta. Over the last decade, the condition of rural road, bridge, and utility infrastructure has steadily declined due to chronic provincial underfunding and municipal budgets becoming increasingly constrained as a result of downloaded costs and services.   

To better understand this issue, RMA released a series of Rural Municipal Infrastructure Deficit reports in 2024 that quantified the conditions of and funding shortfalls facing rural roads, bridges, and utilities such as water and wastewater systems. The findings were stark: the rural municipal infrastructure deficit was determined to be over $17 billion in 2023, and without immediate provincial intervention, was projected to exceed $25 billion in 2025.  

To contextualize the findings of the reports, drive meaningful provincial action, and continue advocacy on this key issue, RMA is now launching a targeted, five-week public awareness and advocacy campaign titled Closing the Gap: The Rural Infrastructure Funding Deficit. 

This campaign is intended to present the rural municipal infrastructure deficit as an opportunity for the province to invest in Alberta's future economic prosperity by increasing funding for essential rural infrastructure, updating allocation formulas to reflect rural cost drivers, and committing to a long-term approach that treats rural infrastructure funding as a strategic investment rather than a cost to contain. 

Each week, the campaign will highlight a different dimension of the challenge and advance RMA's calls for improved funding programs, stronger collaboration with Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors and Treasury Board and Finance, and long-term, predictable solutions that support the viability of rural municipalities and the industries that depend on them. 

This week, the campaign focuses on the rural infrastructure funding gap.