A tiff between Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre MLA, Jason Nixon and federal housing minister Sean Fraser has apparently been smoothed over regarding funding for tackling homeless encampments in Alberta.

An Oct. 22 statement from Fraser says a letter was sent on Sept. 18 to all provinces and territories asking them to partner with the federal government to find shelter for those experiencing homelessness.

The statement also adds that millions of dollars in additional funding were offered in exchange for partnering with the feds.

Fraser also says in the statement the federal government would work directly with municipalities if provinces didn’t respond expeditiously, as weather is getting colder.

As of Oct. 22, Fraser says Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan hadn’t formally responded to an offer of funding, and if going directly to municipalities, it would focus efforts on Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Regina, and Saskatoon.

Posting to the social media platform X on Oct. 23, Nixon, who oversees the housing file in Alberta, took issue with the federal government statement.

“We did receive a letter from federal Minister of Housing Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser that initiated planning for federal encampments funding. However, there was no offer of encampment funding and at no point was a deadline provided to the province to finalize an agreement.”

Federal officials say Fraser spoke on the phone with Nixon later the same day.

Nixon expressed his government’s continued willingness to partner with Ottawa and to cost-match the extra federal funding,

The ministers agreed initial funding would go to Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge and Red Deer.

A statement says the ministers have directed their respective officials to meet in the coming days and to negotiate a deal which would see this funding go to communities on an urgent basis.

–with files from The Canadian Press

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