Calgary Minute: Questionable Expenses, LRT Madness, and even more Taxation Powers

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

This Week In Calgary:

• Today there is a Combined Meeting of Council. Among other items, the agenda includes a civic census review, Beltline and Inglewood facilities rates and fees, 2020 business tax relief options, and several land use amendments.
  
  
• On Wednesday there will be a Standing Policy Committee on Planning and Urban Development meeting. The Committee will review a Calgary–Chestermere Interface Intermunicipal Development Plan.
  
  
• On Thursday there will be a Calgary Planning Commission meeting. The commission will be reviewing several land use amendments and multiple development permits.

Last Week In Calgary:

• Councillor Joe Magliocco faced immense criticism for questionable expense claims from his 2019 trip to the annual Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference - expensing nearly double the next most expensive Councillor, Druh Farrell. Magliocco regularly votes to protect taxpayers, putting him ahead of many on Council, but it's not enough to just talk the talk, he needs to walk the walk. As we made clear back in May there was never a good reason to send 9 councillors to Quebec for FCM in the first place. With a combined $32,000+ in expense claims for the trip, here is our obligatory we told you so.
  
  
• Peter McCaffrey, President of our parent organization the Alberta Institute, was on Danielle Smith's show discussing the City's updated plan for the Green Line LRT. As he explains in the interview, this update is just another classic example of City Staff promoting decision-based evidence-making, rather than evidence-based decision-making. This project continues to fail even the most generous cost-benefit analysis.
  
  
• While residents expressed their discontent over ever-increasing municipal taxes, several City Councillors begged the Province to give them even more new taxation powers! The provincial government is making difficult choices, cutting taxes, and stimulating the economy, and in return, Calgary Council is lobbying for an easy pass-the-buck solution that will undermine all of the Province's efforts to restore our economy. How delightful?

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