Calgary Minute: Candidate Videos, More Restrictions, and a Transit Revenue Crash

Calgary Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Calgary politics

This Week In Calgary:

• It's going to be what Americans would call a "lame-duck" session of Council this week, as Council returns for a series of final meetings before the election. The US Congress often uses these sessions to push through unpopular legislation as voluntarily or forcibly retired congressmen feel freer to vote for unpopular measures. With so many Councillors retiring, what will Council push through this week, we wonder?
  
  
• After a break for today's holiday, the Priorities and Finance Committee will meet at 9:30 am Tuesday. The Committee will discuss two deferral requests on a new process for naming things, debate a bylaw to allow the City to borrow $15 million to lend to homeowners for clean energy improvements, and close with an in-camera (in secret) session.
  
  
• On Wednesday at 9:30 am, the Standing Policy Committee on Community and Protective Services will discuss their Eventful City Strategy and on Thursday at 1:00 pm, the Audit Committee will also hold their final meeting. Wednesday's Standing Policy Committee on Utilities and Public Services has been cancelled

Last Week In Calgary:

• The City's Transportation and Transit Committee heard that despite traffic largely returning to normal pre-pandemic levels, the Calgary Parking Authority is seeing 40% less revenue so far this year. Calgary Transit is also seeing its ridership at just 31% of its average annual ridership.
  
  
• The Provincial Government reintroduced a mask bylaw for all indoor public spaces and workplaces, early closing hours for bars, restaurants, and cafes, and extended other restrictions.
  
  
• Just hours after the provincial government announced their provincial mask mandate, Calgary City Council passed its very own "Pandemic Face Covering Bylaw". The bylaw is similar to the one passed in July 2020, with the addition of a case threshold. The bylaw would no longer be enforced if the rate of active COVID-19 cases falls below 100 cases per 100,000 Calgarians for more than 10 days.

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