Calgary Minute: Issue 318

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

📅 This Week In Calgary: 📅

• On Tuesday, at 9:30 am, there will be a City Council meeting. Council will look at amendments to the Public Behaviour Bylaw that prohibit the open display of weapons or noxious substances, such as bear spray, in public places, with exemptions for approved business or event activities. This follows concerns raised by the Calgary Police Service about increased use of bear spray in assaults and robberies, especially downtown. The amendments aim to close enforcement gaps outside transit property and allow earlier officer intervention to prevent escalation.
  
  
• Council will also discuss updating the Climate Advisory Committee’s (CAC) terms of reference to explicitly include biodiversity in its mandate and membership, following the disbandment of the BiodiverCity Advisory Committee (BAC). The CAC’s mandate now supports human and ecosystem resilience and includes advising Council on linking economic and social development with biodiversity and healthy ecosystems. Membership changes require two members with biodiversity expertise and slightly reduce the number of general climate-focused members.
  
  
• As Calgary’s municipal election nears, opposition to the citywide rezoning policy passed in 2024 is becoming a key campaign issue, with several mayoral candidates - including Jeromy Farkas, Sonya Sharp, and Jeff Davison - promising to repeal the policy. The rezoning allows multiple housing types, such as duplexes and rowhouses, on single residential lots, sparking backlash in some neighbourhoods. In response, residents in communities like Lakeview are exploring restrictive covenants - legal tools to limit development on private property - to block new housing forms. Critics of rezoning argue it hasn’t delivered the promised affordable housing at the needed scale or speed, while supporters say it promotes inclusion and housing diversity. The City reports a 59% increase in new housing applications in established communities in early 2025, including a sharp rise in rowhouse and townhouse proposals. Despite resistance, Mayor Jyoti Gondek emphasized that homeowners have the right to make decisions about their property within legal bounds.
  
  
• A group of businesses in Calgary’s Marda Loop is suing the City for $75 million over what they describe as damaging delays and disruptions from a two-year construction project. The proposed class-action lawsuit, filed by Diner Deluxe and Silver Sage Beef, claims the City’s work on the Marda Loop Main Streets redesign has caused severe financial harm. Originally slated for completion in summer 2024, the project is now expected to finish in October 2025. The suit alleges negligence, citing constant road closures, restricted access, and a drop in customer traffic. Business owners say the ongoing work has led to layoffs, closures, and long-term harm to the area’s viability. The City has not yet filed a statement of defence and says it is reviewing the claim.
  
  
• Calgary has officially opened its first office-to-hotel conversion project as part of the City’s downtown revitalization strategy. The Element Calgary Downtown by Westin, located in the former Canadian Centre office building, features 226 suites and was supported by $9.9 million from the City’s Downtown Development Incentive Program. Originally built in 1982, the building sat vacant after being vacated in 2022, and has now been repurposed into a vibrant hotel space just in time for the busy summer season. Mayor Jyoti Gondek praised the project as proof that office towers can be successfully adapted for new uses. Since launching the downtown strategy in 2021, Calgary has approved more than 20 conversion projects. The program aims to reduce the city’s high office vacancy rate, which sat at about 30% at the end of 2024. Tourism officials celebrated the new hotel as a boost to the city’s visitor capacity, with Calgary expecting 8.7 million tourists in 2025. No word on whether there will be discount stays for taxpayers who funded the hotel, though!
  
  
• Calgary has dropped from 5th to 18th place in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2025 Global Liveability Index, marking the largest decline among the 173 cities ranked. Calgary now holds the second-lowest position among the four Canadian cities listed, with Montreal ranking just below at 19th. Vancouver remains the only Canadian city in the top 10, sitting at 10th, while Toronto slipped from 12th to 16th. The index evaluates cities based on stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. Copenhagen was ranked the most liveable city this year, while Vienna fell to second due to recent security threats. Damascus remains at the bottom of the list, continuing to suffer from the long-term effects of civil war.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

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