Kaycee Madu

On 30 April 2019, Madu was appointed to the Executive Council of Alberta as the Minister of Municipal Affairs,[5] and held that role until August 25, 2020 when he was appointed Minister of Justice and Solicitor General.

Early in his mandate, Madu wrote an op-ed published in Postmedia newspapers titled Spending by Alberta's two big cities— is unsustainable which called on municipal leaders in Calgary City Council and Edmonton City Council to lower spending and reduce taxes, claiming the cities placed an "undue burden" on residents.[6] The article was published on October 22, 2019, two days prior to the introduction of the provincial budget. Claims made in the op-ed were challenged by the Mayors of Calgary and Edmonton, including that the data supplied by Canadian Federation of Independent Business significantly overestimated the 10-year growth in municipal expenditures, and did not account for inflation.[7]

During his time as Minister of Municipal Affairs, Madu was responsible for a number of controversial funding reductions to Alberta municipalities. Among those decisions, included the repealing of the City Charters Fiscal Framework Act which legislated provincial transfers to the Cities of Edmonton and Calgary;[8] reductions to the Municipal Sustainability Initiative, an infrastructure financing program which was reduced cumulatively by $236-million over two years from 2020–21 to 2021–22; and reduction of the Grants in Place of Taxes program by 50%, which provides municipalities with grants which off-set the property tax requisitions for provincially owned buildings.[9] Madu oversaw the beginning of property assessment valuation changes to oil and gas infrastructure, changing from a valuation based on the replacement cost, to the depreciated value of the asset, which led to the leaders of a number of rural municipalities in Alberta speaking out. According to CTV News, municipalities in rural Alberta raised concerns that the proposed changes would "cost them millions" by reducing the property tax base by between $108-million to $291-million.[10]

Madu introduced Local Authorities Election Amendment Act, 2020 (Bill 29) to the Alberta Legislature in June 2020, which amended the legislation which outlines the rules for municipal and school board elections. The amendments to the Local Authorities Election Act removed the requirement for candidates to disclose their donors prior to election day, removed limits on spending by third-party advertisers outside the local election campaign period from May 1 to election day in October, and allowed individuals to donate up to $5,000 to as many candidates as they want during an election.[11] The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, which represents urban municipal elected officials in Alberta released a statement shortly after the introduction of Bill 29, stating the relationship between Minister Madu and the association was "Broken". Bill 29 and other policy decisions were cited as the reason for the statement by the AUMA.[12] One month following the statement, Premier Jason Kenney shuffled his Cabinet, moving Madu to Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, and promoting backbench MLA Tracy Allard to the role of Minister of Municipal Affairs.

On March 4, 2020, Kaycee Madu was designated as a Queen's Counsel by the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta via an Order-in-Council. Queen's Counsel is the highest honour awarded to lawyers who have made significant contributions to the advancement of law and society.