Calgary Minute: Issue 371

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

📅 This Week In Calgary: 📅

• City Council will meet tomorrow at 9:30 am, and one of the items on the agenda is the second quarterly update on the Water Transformation Program - Administration's response to the independent review panel that examined the Bearspaw South Feeder Main failures. Administration reports it is implementing all of the panel's recommendations but has pushed several timelines into 2027, including maturing the Water Utility's financials, advancing an integrated resource plan, and recruiting specialized rates and risk experts, to align with hiring a new Water Utility Chief Operating Officer and establishing a Water Utility Oversight Board. Work to replace the Bearspaw South Feeder Main is advancing, with open-cut construction having begun on May 11th and the project on track to be in service by December 2026. The review panel, now functioning as an advisory group, commended the progress but voiced concern about continued delays in preparing segmented financial statements and warned that cumulative delays where work could proceed in parallel undermine transparency and the original urgency of its recommendations.
  
  
• Also on tomorrow's agenda are two linked financial reports that set up the City's funding debate ahead of the 2027-2030 business plans and budgets. The first responds to Council direction to find a stable way to close Calgary's widening infrastructure funding gap, and Administration concludes that no single tool is enough, laying out options that include a dedicated infrastructure renewal levy funded through higher property taxes, shifting more existing property tax toward renewal, selling non-core assets, and tax-supported debt. That report notes Council has already approved a one-time transfer of $2.8 million in 2026 and an ongoing annual transfer of $17.2 million toward a capital and lifecycle maintenance reserve. The second report, the 2026 Municipal Fiscal Gap update, estimates that responsibilities downloaded onto the City by other levels of government cost Calgary about $1.05 billion between 2016 and 2026, and argues that higher provincial education property tax requisitions reduce the City's flexibility while leaving Albertans paying the highest combined property taxes per person in Canada. Administration asks Council to receive both reports and use them to inform the upcoming budget cycle rather than to make a funding decision now. Critics of new municipal levies caution that a dedicated infrastructure charge still lands on the same property tax base that the City says is already stretched.
  
  
• Council will also consider Administration's response to a 2025 motion that asked staff to study property tax tools for accelerating housing, and the recommendation is to drop all three. Administration advises against creating a vacant-land tax sub-class, a derelict-property sub-class, and a tax exemption program for purpose-built rentals near transit, concluding there is limited evidence that tax policy would meaningfully speed up construction. The report notes Calgary issued development permits for 23,000 market homes and 1,800 non-market homes in 2025 and recorded a fourth consecutive record year for housing starts, and that builders consistently say property taxes are not a deciding factor compared with permitting timelines, levies, and labour and supply constraints. Of more than 15,000 visibly vacant properties, only 183 are actually developable and sub-class eligible, while 70% of the city's 121 derelict properties already show permit or planning activity. Administration also warns the assessment system could not implement a sub-class for three years, that each would cost roughly $930,000 up front plus ongoing staffing, and that because Calgary's budget is revenue-neutral, a sub-class redistributes tax rather than raising new money for housing. The Executive Committee endorsed dropping the measures, though the votes were split, with the rental-exemption recommendation passing 6-5 and Mayor Jeromy Farkas among those opposed to shelving it.
  
  
• Calgary Transit's newest light rail vehicles, known as C10s, are now entering service as part of a plan to retire the city's oldest CTrain cars. Calgary Transit director Sharon Fleming says the new vehicles look similar to the current C9 model on the outside but offer upgraded interiors with heated floors, onboard digital displays, air conditioning and improved accessibility, and that they will cost less to maintain. The CTrain fleet currently has 217 vehicles, 32 of which are the aging U2 cars that have run for more than 40 years, and Fleming says the City expects all of the older models out of service by 2028. The last time Calgary Transit added new vehicles was in 2020. Mayor Jeromy Farkas described the new cars as better, more efficient and more comfortable, while framing the retirement of the U2s, in service since 1981, as a marker of the city's growth. The City says the CTrain is one of the busiest light rail systems on the continent, carrying more than 150,000 passenger trips every weekday.
  
  
• Ward 13 Councillor Dan McLean has fallen short in his bid to move from City Hall to the provincial legislature, losing the United Conservative Party nomination in Calgary-Shaw. McLean was narrowly defeated on Wednesday by Calgary-born oil and gas executive Mike Derry, who won the contest by roughly 70 votes. McLean entered the race earlier this year, hoping to replace outgoing MLA Rebecca Schulz, who officially stepped down from the legislature on May 15th. He was first elected to Council in 2021 and secured a second term representing Ward 13 in last October's municipal election.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

Calgary has approved a new permit allowing the Cowboys Music Festival to proceed at the same volume as last year, but in exchange, all concerts must now end at midnight - including on weekends - rather than just on weeknights as per last week's new rules.

What do you think? Has City Hall struck the right balance, or are these restrictions making it harder for Calgary to host the events that make Stampede special?

If you think they're making it harder, sign our petition to Save Music During Stampede:

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