Calgary Minute: Tuition Increases, Federal Funding, and a Beltline Protest Injunction

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

This Week In Calgary:

• City Council is in recess this week, returning to Chambers on March 29th.
  
  
• The Calgary Planning Commission will meet on Thursday at 1:00 pm. Multiple land use amendments are on the agenda. An in-camera portion of the meeting will discuss the Chinatown Cultural Plan and culturally-informed Area Redevelopment Plan.
  
  
• Calgarians will be deciding on the city’s official bird in the coming weeks. Councillor Kourtney Penner’s Notice of Motion is headed to the upcoming City Council meeting on March 29th to approve a new bird-brained idea. Our pick isn’t on the short list, but we’re hoping to write in Tax Vulture.

Last Week In Calgary:

• At a special meeting on Tuesday to address the ongoing Beltline protests, Council voted to send a letter from Mayor Jyoti Gondek to the Police Commission. The letter outlined the grievances of Beltline residents and businesses. On Friday, the City applied for - and received - a temporary injunction against the protests. The injunction was intended to prevent the blockage of traffic on roads and sidewalks including marching in the middle of the street, commercial activity in a park without a permit, unnecessary horn honking, and gathering in a park in such a way as to disturb enjoyment of the park. Despite police warnings to stay away, the protest continued on Saturday, but was mostly contained within Central Memorial Park and in front of City Hall. Police say six arrests were made.
  
  
• The federal government announced funding to assist with Calgary’s downtown revitalization. The $3.4 million investment will support 13 projects including $200,000 provided to the Beltline Neighbourhoods Association for an outdoor stage, fire pits, seating, murals, and activity stations in High Park, as well as $750,000 for the Calgary Zoological Foundation’s new bison habitat. A further $22.3 million in funding was announced for interest-free repayable funding to Calgary’s blossoming tech sector. We're sure the group receiving this taxpayer-funded handout will appreciate it, but we'd be far better off with broad-based tax cuts that benefit all of Calgary, rather than just those with the best political connections.
  
  
• Exceptional tuition increases were approved by the Province for some University of Calgary programs. The engineering program will see an increase of just over $2,000, the medical doctor program will increase by $2,781, and the master of business program will increase by $4,776. These increases amount to 32%, 25%, and 15% respectively and apply to new domestic students.

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