Calgary Minute: Electric Buses, Safety Concerns, and a Potential Park Strategy

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

This Week In Calgary:

• The Executive Committee will meet on Wednesday at 9:30 am. The Committee will discuss reinstating a biennial municipal census starting in 2027, as well as updates to the Recognitions By Council Policy. This policy would lay out the regular recognitions in Council Chambers (things like achievement awards, special days or weeks, outgoing Board members, etc.) as well as the roster of Calgary’s professional sports recognized by Council when teams win their league championship. There are six Notices of Motion being brought forward by Councillors, including one from Councillor Jasmine Mian, who will introduce a motion to create a Nose Creek Park Strategy, aiming to protect some of the green space in north-central Calgary. Councillor Gian-Carlo Carra is looking to incentivize Municipal Historic Resource designations through property tax cancellations, and Councillors Terry Wong, Andre Chabot, and Sonya Sharp are suggesting that the City contract an independent, third-party consultant to conduct an analysis of the City’s policy and approach to public participation and engagement.
  
  
• The Green Line Board will meet on Thursday at 9:00 am. No agenda is currently available for this meeting. On Thursday, at 1:00 pm, the Calgary Planning Commission will meet. The agenda includes several land use amendments.
  
  
• The A Better Calgary Party, a centre-right municipal party created to contest the 2025 Calgary election, has opened registration for its founding AGM. The party was established after the provincial government passed legislation allowing for municipal political parties in Calgary and Edmonton for the first time, and ABC is aiming to focus on core municipal priorities and essential services. The founding convention is set to take place on October 19th from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, followed by a networking reception. Early-bird tickets are available for $25 on their website.

Last Week In Calgary:

• Councillor Jennifer Wyness raised concerns about the increased wear on roads due to the heavier weight of Battery Electric Buses, which are approximately 20% heavier than traditional diesel buses. The City of Calgary is planning to integrate 259 of these buses into its transit fleet, and admitted that, while the weight was determined to potentially have an impact on the roads, this information was not presented to Council. Studies show that BEBs do lead to increased maintenance costs - and Calgary Transit said they don’t know yet what the impact of the buses will be on taxpayer wallets yet. Wyness said Council and Calgarians should be made aware of the full cost of decisions.
  
  
• A recent survey showed rising concerns among Calgarians about homelessness and transit safety, with 18% citing homelessness as their top safety concern, up from 11% two years ago. Transit safety, particularly on CTrains, was the primary fear for 17% of respondents, nearly double the percentage from 2022. Meanwhile, concerns about violent crime have decreased, falling from 23% in 2022 to 16% this year. Despite the drop in violent crime fears, illegal drug use remains a significant worry for 29% of participants. Overall, confidence in the Calgary Police Service has remained steady, though public perception of safety has decreased compared to a decade ago.
  
  
• A proposal to extend voting rights in Calgary municipal elections to non-Canadian permanent residents was voted down at the Alberta Municipalities Convention in Red Deer. The motion, introduced by Ward 8 Councillor Courtney Walcott, had previously gained support from Calgary City Council but required provincial approval to move forward - and the Province had already said they would not entertain the idea. Still, it received 40% support among the Convention’s voting delegates.

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