Calgary Minute: Electric Buses, SNC Lavalin, and Upgrade Program Paused

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

This Week In Calgary:

• The Event Centre Committee will meet this morning at 9:30 am. The bulk of the meeting will be held in-camera (in secret). Also on Monday, the Council Services Committee will meet at 1:00 pm. The Committee will discuss Councillor’s confidentiality obligations - and that portion of the meeting will be held in-camera. Also on the agenda is a discussion about Ward Community Event Fund applications.
  
  
• On Tuesday, at 9:30 am, there will be a Public Hearing Meeting of Council. Up for discussion are several land use amendments. The Emergency Management Committee will meet on Wednesday at 9:30 am to review the 2022 Status of Emergency Preparedness in Calgary.
  
  
• The Calgary Planning Commission will meet on Thursday at 1:00 pm. There are several land use amendments to be dealt with.

Last Week In Calgary:

• The City opened applications for the clean energy improvement program, then promptly paused those applications due to overwhelming demand. The program is intended to provide loans of up to $50,000 to Calgary homeowners who want to make their houses more energy efficient. Loan repayment is done through property taxes, and the loan stays with the home if it is sold. The City committed $15 million to the program and apparently, the 238 applications received on the first day were simply too much to handle.
  
  
• The Canadian Infrastructure Bank has provided the City with a $165 million loan to go toward the purchase of 259 electric buses. The City is projecting a savings of 50% on the lifetime costs of fuelling and maintenance when compared with diesel buses. Administration previously said that signing the deal in a timely fashion was imperative to locking in a lower interest rate. Unfortunately, Mayor Jyoti Gondek said she can’t provide details about the terms of the loan or if the City was indeed able to get the better interest rate.
  
  
• City Councillors had questions about the partnership with SNC-Lavalin for construction of the Green Line - as did plenty of residents! One Councillor said his office had been inundated with calls and emails inquiring about the selection process. The Green Line CEO said an independent fairness review was conducted to make sure the City is not being biased toward any particular companies. He also clarified that Council was in no way involved in the decision.

-----

Donate:

Common Sense Calgary doesn't accept any government funding and never will. We think you should be free to choose, for yourself, which organizations to support. If you're in a position to contribute financially, you can make a donation here.

-----

Share:

If you're not in a position to donate, we understand, but if you appreciate our work, you can help by spreading our message. Please email this post to your friends, share it on Facebook or Twitter, and help make sure every Calgarian knows what's really going on at City Hall.