Calgary Minute: Taxes, Taxes, Taxes, and Junkets

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

This Week In Calgary:

• On Tuesday, the Priorities and Finance Committee meeting will be discussing a "Tax Shift Response Plan" to deal with the insane tax increases that have been imposed on businesses (more below).
  
  
• On Wednesday, the Standing Policy Committee on Planning and Development meeting will discuss the usual development matters, as well as a new idea to create a "Downtown Convention District" - sounds like just another bureaucracy and waste of money to us.
  
  
• Finally, on Thursday, the Calgary Planning Commission will meet. The Event Centre Assessment Committee meeting has been cancelled.

Last Week In Calgary:

• Calgarians began receiving their tax bills and 8,000 Calgary businesses are facing yet another massive tax hike. Once the sheer severity of the problem finally became apparent (apparent to council that is - we've been warning about it for years!), the Mayor and 13 councillors devised a last-minute plan that finally cuts some spending but also asks the provincial government for a $60 million bailout.
  
  
• Councillor Farkas has his own plan to fix Calgary's budget that doesn't rely on a provincial bailout and his plan seems more realistic, as Alberta's new Municipal Affairs Minister, Kaycee Madu, rejected the idea of a bailout almost immediately, citing years of irresponsible financial management at City Hall: "What's happening to businesses in [Calgary] is completely unacceptable. The City must show courage and get its spending under control now."
  
  
• Nine Calgary Councilors attended the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Annual meeting in Quebec this week to run a workshop promoting Canadian energy. This pro-energy workshop was relegated to a small meeting room and given the undesirable time slot of 7:15am on the last day of the conference. Meanwhile, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May was given the conference's Keynote speaking slot, taking center stage in the main hall to discuss uniting against climate change.