Calgary Minute: Family Day, Council Attendance, and more Expense Scandals

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

This Week In Calgary:

• Happy Family Day! Due to the holiday, there will be no Council meeting today. Enjoy the holiday!
  
  
• On Wednesday there will be a Standing Policy Committee on Utilities and Corporate Services meeting. The committee will be reviewing Encroachment Bylaws, the Green Line, and a Summary of Real Estate Transactions.
  
  
• On Thursday there will be a Calgary Planning Commission meeting. The Committee will be reviewing development items pertaining to the Beltline, Kingsland, Mayland, and Renfrew, as well as the North Hill Communities Plan, and a Master Plan for Northland Mall.

Last Week In Calgary:

• After many called on the Integrity Commissioner to investigate Councillor Magliocca's expenses, the Integrity Commissioner was instead forced to recuse himself from the investigation entirely after it was revealed that he himself had had lunch with the Councillor. The Integrity Commissioner was apparently unaware that his lunch was being expensed, but regardless, those charged with monitoring Councillors really shouldn't be socializing with them. The calls are now for the Integrity Commissioner to resign entirely.
  
  
• Because one Councillor with a spending scandal isn't enough for Calgary Council, it was uncovered through Freedom of Information laws on Saturday that Councillor Jeff Davison awarded his 2017 campaign manager an $18,000 "special project" in 2018. In exchange for $18,000 of taxpayer money, it appears Councillor Davison, who worked in marketing before entering politics, received 10 pages of "advice" on branding. No word yet on whether the integrity commissioner will have to recuse himself from this scandal too.
  
  
• A motion by Councillor Farkas to ask City Staff to track attendance at Council meetings didn't even make it to Council after a committee voted 5-4 against debating the idea. Mayor Naheed Nenshi and councillors Evan Woolley, Gian-Carlo Carra, Jeff Davison and Ward Sutherland were the five opposed. City staff claimed it would cost $20,000 to provide a report on Councillor's attendance which is obviously a ridiculous amount of money and seems more like a ploy to avoid having to calculate and report this information.

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