Innovation vs inertia: Entrepreneurial governments in 21st‐century rural Alberta

Rural development in Alberta is a long‐standing challenge, with local communities and economies often stuck between economic cycles, fiscal largesse from the Provincial Government, and a historical pattern of conservative leadership that seeks to leave the private sector unimpeded. As a result, many rural communities now face significant economic, social, political, and ecological challenges that, while not unique to Alberta, are marked by only modest innovation and a tendency to return to previous developmental initiatives. This paper is focused upon identifying the common challenges facing municipal government in the province, but also accounting for the inertial dynamics within municipal politics. Drawing from qualitative data collected from rural municipalities, it seeks to situate contemporary adaptive economic strategies and initiatives within the dominant public ideology of the province. This paper argues that while reform initiatives undertaken in the province broadly align with pragmatic municipalism as a necessary response to decades of neoliberal austerity and inertia, that pragmatism is tempered by a provincial rationality that limits, rather than enhances, the likelihood of meaningful change. This rationality, and its effects, are explained through four fallacies: home rule, agency, the Golden Age, and homogeneity. Key Messages Albertan municipalities are innovative and pragmatic, and not solely embedded in reducing costs due to budgetary constraints. Provincial governments have a long history of limiting institutional, jurisdictional, or legislative changes that could facilitate municipal sustainability. Choices for municipalities are structured by an institutional inertia that rhetorically emphasizes the autonomy, individualism, responsibility, and accountability of rural municipalities. Résumé Le développement rural en Alberta est un défi de longue date, les collectivités et les économies locales étant souvent coincées entre les cycles économiques, les largesses financières de la province et un modèle de leadership conservateur qui laisse le secteur privé libre de toute entrave. En conséquence, de nombreuses communautés rurales sont aujourd'hui confrontées à des défis socioéconomiques, politiques et écologiques importants qui, bien que n'étant pas propres à l'Alberta, sont marqués par des innovations limitées et une tendance à revenir à un mode de développement traditionnel. Cet article vise à identifier les défis communs auxquels sont conf