Alberta’s government — along with the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, and the province’s energy regulator — say they want to crack down on oil and gas companies that don’t pay their property taxes.

However, while new recommendations are aimed at curbing future instances of unpaid taxes by oil and gas companies, the province said $250 million of unpaid taxes incurred over the years is likely unrecoverable. 

A report, released Monday, outlines 17 recommendations from RMA, the government and the Property Tax Accountability Strategy Working Group.

They range from making property tax payment a condition of holding or maintaining an Alberta Energy Regulator licence to making property tax payment a key measure of industry and regulatory performance.

Other recommendations involve better data collection to help municipalities make informed decisions and integrating property tax arrears into the Alberta Energy Regulator’s mandate.

Many companies do pay, said Dan Williams, minister of municipal affairs, during a news conference on Monday at the Edmonton Convention Centre.

But companies that are winding down, companies that don’t exist anymore and companies in bankruptcy processes will not have the capacity to pay.

“[Companies] that have obligations to reclaim that land environmentally — we appreciate that a lot of that isn’t going to come forward, isn’t going to be paid back to the province or municipalities,” he said.

Williams said the province is passionate about solving the problem. Although the recommendations aren’t binding, he said the bulk of the changes the government wants to make will come through ministerial orders and regulatory change.

WATCH | Fall 2025 RMA convention concerns:

Bringing rural Alberta priorities to the big city

The Rural Municipalities of Alberta Fall Convention and Trade how is happening at the Edmonton Convention Centre this week. It’s a chance for leaders from outside the big cities to connect and talk about issues unique to rural Alberta. Premier Danielle Smith took questions from the crowd yesterday. Edmonton AM reporter Stephanie Cram was there to hear from council members about their top priorities.

Brian Jean, minister of energy and minerals, told reporters at that same news conference that more will be done to crackdown on a company’s ability to continue to operate if they have not paid taxes.

“What happens at the end of a life cycle of some of these oil fields or gas fields that are not producing the wealth that they used to produce, is that the leaders of those companies often strip off the value and find ways to pay what they prioritize to pay,” Jean said. 

“And what we need to do is make sure the communication is there well in advance, so that as that starts to happen, we’re able to torque up enforcement and take away their ability to continue to operate and take over that situation.” 

Kara Westerlund, president of the RMA, said municipal infrastructure is suffering because of unpaid taxes. 

“We are facing, probably by the end of 2026, a close to $25 billion deficit in infrastructure needs across rural Alberta,” Westerlund said at the news conference, adding that this is something that RMA has been advocating for years. 

“So every penny and every cent collected will more than likely go to infrastructure needs within our municipalities. We’re talking roads, bridges, culverts, wastewater and water.

So that will be what we’ll be focusing on, and that’s what the money would be put towards.”

The report found that 96 per cent of oil and gas municipal taxes are paid. 

“But that small per cent that don’t, we need to make sure that we have a path forward and real teeth in our policy,” Williams said. 

Rob Morgan, CEO of the AER, said having a clearly defined duty for the regulator to enforce the payment of unpaid taxes will help in the collecting of outstanding arrears by municipalities.  

“I think part of the challenge is people don’t necessarily understand exactly what the regulator does, and this was a perfect example where there were limitations to what the regulator could do,” Morgan said.