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Winnipeg, MB – TheNewswire – June 6, 2025 – Cities across the Prairie provinces showed a mixed performance in financial transparency, according to the latest edition of the Local Government Performance Index (LGPI) released by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. While Edmonton tied for the top score in Canada, other cities such as Medicine Hat and Strathcona County fell to the bottom of the national rankings.
The LGPI Transparency Index evaluates 99 of Canada’s largest municipalities on how clearly, promptly, and thoroughly they report their financial information to the public. It does not measure fiscal health or budget performance, but rather how accessible and informative financial statements are for citizens, journalists, and researchers.
In the 2023 fiscal year, Edmonton earned a near-perfect score of 32 out of 33, tying for first nationally with Burnaby, Coquitlam, Kelowna, and Markham.
“Edmonton has emerged as a national model in municipal transparency,” said Lee Harding, author of the report. “But across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, there’s still a wide gap between the best and worst performers.”
Regional Standouts
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Top Performer
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Edmonton (32/33) – full marks for detailed commentary, audit timeliness, reporting of capital assets and expenditures.
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Other High Scores
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Calgary, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg scored 30/33
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St. Albert and Wood Buffalo scored 28/33
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Lowest Scores
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Medicine Hat and Strathcona County each scored just 20, tying with Charlottetown, PEI for the lowest in the country.
These cities lost points due to missing audit awards, minimal commentary, and weak breakdowns of expenditures.
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Provincial Notes
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Alberta
Strong performances from major cities like Edmonton and Calgary
Smaller centres such as Medicine Hat and Strathcona County showed substantial room for improvement. -
Saskatchewan
Saskatoon scored 30 and Regina earned 25.
Both cities performed well in commentary and capital asset reporting but differed in audit timeliness and trend data. -
Manitoba
Winnipeg scored 30, showing gains from the previous year.
Improved audit timeliness and deeper reporting contributed to the rise.
No Prairie city took more than six months to complete their independent audits, a basic but important benchmark that several municipalities in other provinces failed to meet.
About the LGPI
Launched in 2007, the Local Government Performance Index promotes good governance by assessing the transparency of municipal financial reporting. It uses ten specific criteria to create a score out of 33 and maintains a searchable online database at LGPI.ca, where the public can compare city data across years and regions.
Metrics include capital assets, debt, taxes, core and non-core spending, and historical trends, displayed in per-household and total-dollar formats.
Contact:
Lee Harding
Research Fellow
Frontier Centre for Public Policy
lee.harding@fcpp.org
Marco Navarro-Genie
Vice President of Research and Policy
mng@fcpp.org
About the Frontier Centre
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is an independent Canadian think tank focused on fostering good governance and accountability in public institutions. The LGPI project aims to encourage municipalities to adopt best practices in financial reporting through transparency benchmarking.
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