Rapid transit and big-city charters were tops on the agenda when Edmonton Mayor Elect Don Iveson and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi met with Premier Alison Redford Saturday.

The trio met for an early breakfast in Redford’s office at the Alberta Legislature before taking questions from the media.

They emerged with a framework for big-city charters that will give Edmonton and Calgary new powers and responsibility transferred from the provincial government.

Nenshi, who recently lashed out at Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths for not doing enough to implement the charter, said he wants to have a working plan in place by the end of the year.

“The cities need the ability to set their own regulations around elections and campaign finances,” Nenshi said, adding the Municipal Government Act currently contains “a number of irritants” that make it hard for cities to get things done.

He and Iveson want the new charters to rework the act and provide a stable, long-term funding plan for transit.

“We can’t rely on the vagaries or the ad-hoc nature of funding from provincial and federal governments that may change if government change,” Nenshi said, adding the province did a “brilliant” thing earlier this year by indexing the federal gas tax.

He said LRT funding needs to be separated from the umbrella of infrastructure funding because it provides social and economic returns beyond investments in other types of infrastructure.

Iveson said he would like to find ways to move away from reliance on property tax for delivering transportation infrastructure.

“(Property tax) is just not the best, and certainly not the most equitable, long-term way to fund the needed infrastructure that we need to build those globally competitive Alberta cities,” he said.

Ward 11 Coun. Amarjeet Sohi is pushing to fast-track the $1.8-billion southeast LRT line in Edmonton, with more lines planned across the city, while Calgary is asking for $13 billion in LRT funding over the next 30 years.

Redford agreed the province needs to think about the long-term benefits of rapid transit, and said she is willing to work with the mayors on new funding models.

“I’m pretty sure these two are going to make me think outside the box every day,” she said.

kevin.maimann@sunmedia.ca

@SunKevinM