Calgary Minute: Speed Limits, Tax Hikes, and the Mayor's Reelection Plans
Calgary Minute: Speed Limits, Tax Hikes, and the Mayor's Reelection Plans
Calgary Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Calgary politics
This Week In Calgary:
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This morning there will be a Combined Meeting of Council. Council is set to make a big decision regarding lowering speed limits, which could have a significant negative impact on your commuting time. There will also be a number of land use amendments, more debate about EMS dispatch, an update about the Integrity Commissioner, and an update from the City Manager - with the latter two parts of the meeting being held in secret.
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On Wednesday there will be a Standing Policy Committee on Planning and Urban Development meeting. The Committee will primarily consider a pilot project that would expand the Center City Enterprise Area. Strangely, the City is proposing to only expand the area into parts of the City that are already supportive of the plan. It's not clear exactly how the City plans to judge whether this "pilot" project is popular if they've already biased it by only holding the trial in places where they know it's already popular.
- On Thursday the Calgary Planning Commission will meet to consider several land use amendments and policy amendments, as well as the North Hill Communities Local Area Plan.
Last Week In Calgary:
- Speaking at a Calgary Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Mayor Nenshi claimed that the Olympics, which Calgarians resoundingly rejected, were a "missed opportunity", said that Council needs "more freedom when it comes to taxing Calgarians", and confirmed that, yes, taxes will rise again in 2021 in accordance with whatever inflation number the city makes up to justify their increased spending. He also asked whether he should run again for Mayor. Let us know what you think!
- The Calgary Herald finally discovered that Calgarians' taxes went up this year. Talk about hard-hitting investigative journalism - the decision to increase your taxes only happened last November! Fun fact: Calgary recorded the second-highest jump in residential property tax rates among major Canadian cities in 2020 because other Cities know better than to crush people with ever-higher taxes during a recession and global pandemic.
- There was also big news in the energy sector, with negative implications for the Calgary job market. Cenovus Energy will be merging with Husky Energy with early indications suggesting that this merger will result in a 25% reduction in staff for both companies, though their headquarters are expected to stay in Calgary.
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