Calgary Minute: Transport, Taxes, and Quebec

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

This Week In Calgary:

• We hope you all had a good long-weekend break. There is no council meeting this week due to Victoria Day, but there will be a Transportation and Transit committee meeting on Wednesday.
  
  
• Councillor Carra, during that committee meeting, will propose a series of safety changes regarding the interaction between electric bikes, scooters, and city traffic. Most of the changes seem sensible, and they might even mean the cycle tracks get some use.
  
  
• Councillor Farkas will also propose changes to how the city plans and notifies the public about road closures. This was prompted by significant traffic delays in his Ward in recent weeks, caused by a lack of coordination that led to multiple concurrent road closures.

Last Week In Calgary:

• It was announced that the pro-energy workshop being put on by Calgary Council's at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in Quebec, a conference for councillors from across the country, will be held in an undesirable 7:00 am Sunday time slot. Telling Calgary's story was the primary justification for sending so many Calgary councillors to the conference - it remains to be seen how many people will show up to an early morning presentation after Saturday night festivities.
  
  
• Usually, at budget time, city administration present council with a budget plan that has tax increases built in already. This year, thanks to a motion by Councilor Farkas, council will be given a series of different plans, with tax increases ranging from 3% all the way down to 0%. We can't emphasize how positive of a shift this could be in the long run if this actually happens.
  
  
• Council's Priorities and Finance committee also rejected a small business grant program that would have required businesses to apply to council for a small tax rebate. Council should confirm the committee's decision and ditch this program. Taxes should be cut for everyone, not just for a special few businesses hand-picked by councillors.