Calgary Minute: Issue 384

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

📅 This Week In Calgary: 📅

• Council will hold a strategic meeting tomorrow at 9:30 am. One of the items on the agenda is the approach to the 2027-2030 Budget Cycle, which will be discussed behind closed doors. The item is being held confidential under the advice-from-officials provision of the Access to Information Act, with a review date of December 31st. The only other business listed is a verbal item on rescheduling the start of the October 8th Audit Committee meeting. The closed-door budget discussion follows Ward 14 Councillor Landon Johnston's leak of a confidential document from an earlier closed meeting, which showed a potential 20% property tax increase to cover $510 million in funding requests. Johnston has since asked Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams to review Council's use of closed meetings and confidentiality powers. Premier Danielle Smith has also suggested the Province may place limits on councils holding policy discussions behind closed doors.
  
  
• City Council has approved a street-level route for the Green Line LRT into the Beltline, in a 12-2 vote on September 22nd. Trains will run west along 10th Avenue SW to a new station between 1st Street and 2nd Street SW, stopping short of downtown, and the route north through downtown has yet to be finalized. Administration's two alternatives, both using elevated tracks, would have come in $1 billion and $500 million over available funding, with the City on the hook for the extra costs. The chosen option was the least expensive, but it also carries the lowest projected initial ridership, at 41,000 daily. The Green Line's projected cost is $6.2 billion, with $2.2 billion committed so far and $400 million expected to be spent this year. Ward 5 Councillor Raj Dhaliwal and Ward 2 Councillor Jennifer Wyness voted against, with Dhaliwal arguing the plan was a concept without enough concrete dollar figures behind it. Administration will also bring forward budget requests for planning the southeast extension to Seton and the north corridor as part of the 2027-2030 budgets.
  
  
• The Calgary Firefighters Association is calling on the City and the Province to respond to a surge in overdose calls that it says is straining fire crews. Firefighters responded to 5,941 overdose calls between January and July, which the association describes as a 143% year-over-year increase. In July alone, crews responded to 1,161 overdose calls, more than 35 a day, with calls concentrated downtown in Wards 7 and 8. Association president Jamie Blayney says crews are increasingly being drawn from neighbouring districts to cover other emergencies, affecting response times. Mayor Jeromy Farkas says the City is incurring millions, potentially tens of millions, of dollars responding to what he calls a health-care issue, and that the cost will be part of upcoming budget discussions. The Calgary Public Library says its security costs have risen roughly 90% since 2019, an increase supported by a City community safety grant. Ward 7 Councillor Myke Atkinson argues that addiction and mental health supports are the Province's responsibility, and criticized the closure of the Sheldon Chumir safe consumption site without a plan in place for what comes next.
  
  
• Also on fire services, Council voted 14-0 on September 22nd to create a new advisory committee dedicated to the fire department, along with a one-time budget request of $454,000 to be considered in the upcoming four-year budget. Ward 2 Councillor Jennifer Wyness brought the idea forward, noting the fire department accounts for $356 million this year, nearly 8% of the City's operating expenses, while Council rarely hears directly from the Fire Chief. The committee will include four Council members and three public members, and will meet six times a year to receive reports on the department's capital and operational needs. Fire service calls rose 14% in 2025 to 92,000, and the department now employs 1,889 full-time equivalent staff. At the same meeting, Council voted 13-1 to raise fireworks penalties, doubling the fine for discharging fireworks without a permit from $500 to $1,000 and setting a $3,000 fine for retailers caught selling illegal fireworks. Ward 12 Councillor Mike Jamieson cast the only vote against the fireworks changes, which followed a motion from Ward 5 Councillor Raj Dhaliwal over a rise in illegal fireworks in his ward.
  
  
• City Council has voted 14-1 in favour of a national unity statement affirming Calgary's place "as a vital part of Alberta and Canada", ahead of the October 19th provincial referendum on separation. Mayor Jeromy Farkas brought the motion forward as urgent business on September 22nd, and Council voted on it without first debating it. Farkas argued that Calgary faces a large flight of capital and investment if Alberta separates, pointing to a University of Calgary School of Public Policy report estimating that establishing a new country could cost $50 billion - $170 billion over five years. Ward 12 Councillor Mike Jamieson cast the only vote against, saying it was not right for the City to take a position when residents are on both sides of the debate. Ward 14 Councillor Landon Johnston voted in favour but called the motion a performance by the Mayor, arguing it was not urgent business and that Council could be more focused on the budget. Edmonton's city council took a similar stance earlier this year.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

We’ve got two great Pints & Politics events coming up this fall: October 1st with Ward 7 Councillor Myke Atkinson, and October 28th with Mayor Jeromy Farkas.

Join us for a pint, ask the questions that matter to you, and hear directly from the people making decisions at City Hall.

Check out the details and be sure to RSVP today:

🪙 This Week’s Sponsor: 🪙

This week's sponsor is you! We don't have big corporate backers, so if you like what you're reading, please consider making a donation or signing up as a monthly member.

Having said that, if you are a local business and are interested in being a sponsor, send us an email and we'll talk!