Calgary Minute: Council Back, Travelling Staff, and COVID Restrictions Extended

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

This Week In Calgary:

• Council returns from their break this week with a Priorities and Finance Committee meeting at 9:30 am on Tuesday and a Standing Policy Committee on Urban Planning and Development meeting at 9:30 am on Wednesday. We suspect the Mayor's staff's travel plans might get a mention too.
  
  
• Despite continued COVID restrictions (see below), schools are set to return for in-person classes today. A government spokesperson said that the delayed return was meant to reduce the impact of any exposures over the holidays, that the ministry is following the advice of Dr. Deena Hinshaw, and that they are ready to make changes to the re-entry plan if needed.
  
  
• Speaking of which, a number of Calgary businesses say they are seriously considering opening their doors from today onwards, despite the extended restrictions (see below). If it's a choice between opening and receiving a fine, and staying shut and going out of business entirely, you have to feel for these business owners. What do you think? Should businesses reopen?

Last Week In Calgary:

• In last Monday's email we predicted that vacation rumours/news would dominate last week's headlines and boy were we right. By far the biggest story of the week was news that Mayor Nenshi's Chief of Staff and another staff member went to Hawaii, that the Mayor knew all about it, and was completely fine with it. He now wishes he'd pushed back against his staff's plans, but he won't punish them in any way.
  
  
• In response to this news, we launched a petition to Reopen Calgary (click here to sign it), because if Mayor Nenshi thinks it's fine for his Chief of Staff to shop at small businesses in Maui, maybe it's time to lift the restrictions on small businesses in Calgary. You can see some of the significant media coverage we received for the petition here, here, here, and here.
  
  
• The provincial government, many fresh off their beach trips to Hawaii, announced that for the rest of us, the current COVID restrictions will continue for another two weeks. "I know this is particularly frustrating to hear all of this right now when you’ve seen news stories about politicians and political staff travelling abroad," said Premier Kenney. Meanwhile, Maui businesses and beaches will remain open.

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