Calgary Minute: Provincial Budget, YMCA Closing, and Mayor Nenshi Backtracks

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

This Week In Calgary:

• Today at 9:30 am, there will be a Combined Meeting of Council. Council will, amongst a busy agenda, review an Update on Moving to an External Operator for City Golf Courses, a report on the Non-Residential Phased Tax Program, and amend the terms of reference for the Anti-Racism Action Committee to add an additional committee member after complaints were received that no Black Woman had been appointed to the committee. An update to the City's collective bargaining agreement will also be held confidentially.
  
  
• On Wednesday at 9:30 am, there will be a meeting of the Standing Policy Committee on Planning and Urban Development which will review Multiple Municipal Historic Resource Designations, as well as a Citywide Growth Strategy: Industrial Growth Plan.
  
  
• On Thursday at 1:00 pm, there will be a meeting of the Calgary Planning Commission which will review Land Use and Policy Amendments in Wards 5, 6, 7, 9, and 11, and a follow-up briefing from City staff on the Historic East Calgary Communities Local Area Plan.

Last Week In Calgary:

• The provincial government introduced their 2021 budget which includes an increase in funding for big cities in 2021, but a reduction in future years. Mayor Nenshi complained, "they're taking away our ability to build stuff and create jobs", though we'd note that he seems to have struggled to do those things under three successive governments now.
  
  
• Mayoral contender, Councillor Farkas, put forward a plan to save the downtown Gray Family Eau Claire YMCA, while several of his fellow Councillors complained that he voted against their "Downtown Strategy" of throwing money at an economic development slush fund, subsidizing favoured businesses, building multiple competing event centres. This is the part where we remind you that all those proposals passed, were implemented by the City, and they're obviously not working. If Calgary Council could spend their way out of this mess there wouldn't be a mess!
  
  
• Speaking of gyms, Mayor Nenshi was forced to "clarify" (aka backtrack) on his earlier comments that reopening gyms and fitness centres wouldn’t make a significant difference in people's mental health or the economic health of the community. Mayor Nenshi is now claiming that his comments were "in the context of the ridiculous protests that are risking public health". Here are his earlier comments, we'll let you decide.

-----

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.