03-05-2025
Opinion: City engagement with citizens needs complete overhaul
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This time last year, the city was gripped by the longest-ever public hearing in city council's history. More than 700 Calgarians spoke on the blanket rezoning policy proposal.
Following its approval by council, city administration is implementing it by preparing amendments to the existing land-use bylaw. Proposed changes include consolidating dwelling type categories and enabling more lot coverage, meaning less space for greenery.
Other recent policy changes include the new 20-year Parks Plan, and the GAMEPlan for public recreation facilities.
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All of these policies are supposed to flow from the Calgary Plan, the new 30-year strategy for Calgary's overall growth and development. The Calgary Plan was delayed after some 40 community associations wrote a joint letter to council outlining their concerns. It will return in 2026.
Yet, at this very moment, administration is proposing strategies and bylaw changes without the guidance of the Calgary Plan. It gets worse, because October's municipal election is right around the corner, when many issues will be up for debate. Already, candidates under the Community First banner have committed to reversing blanket rezoning in the next council.
It makes little sense for administration to move forward with contentious policy changes that are clearly not yet resolved.
We, the people, govern ourselves. We should not be stuck with the direction of unelected officials — they recommend, our representatives decide. Instead, we have a situation where administration produces multi-year policy changes, council rubber stamps them, and Calgarians are left bewildered at how the city is run.
It gets even worse. City administration's engagement with Calgarians is broken.
At a parks plan presentation to community volunteers last month, a confusing strategy document was outlined. To take one example, it considers schools, parks and green spaces to be interchangeable.
There's little in it to help Calgarians understand what will happen to our parks. Will communities get playgrounds? Will washrooms be added? Even the data on which the plan is supposedly based does not exist.
Complicated strategies need real engagement. This is engagement that gathers and incorporates public input into documents. Then, a two-way verification process refines additional feedback to compose a plan for presentation to council.
To see what really happens, let's return to the parks plan. Its public engagement occurred in 2023. Two years later, it's presented to council with no time for additional input from those who made the effort to provide feedback.
Or consider the bylaw changes to accommodate blanket rezoning. Engagement is ongoing, but will comments be incorporated and amendments validated before they go to council next year?
Then there's Cowboys Park. It was announced and construction was underway before public outcry forced administration to conduct engagement. Why would anyone provide feedback when decisions have already been made and shovels are in the ground?
Such a process generates the feeling that people's time is being wasted. And it creates a scramble to reach councillors before a vote. This is not collaborative policy-making; it's prescription and imposition.
So what can we do?
First, make sure to ask questions of candidates during the municipal election campaign. There are plenty of issues to raise. Do they support blanket rezoning? Will they protect park spaces? Will they ensure administration conducts real engagement? How will they fund city services and infrastructure?
Ask until you get answers. Don't accept any runaround. Election campaigns are precisely the time to evaluate candidates' commitments and intentions.
Then there's the most important thing to do: get up and vote. Turnout can be low for municipal elections. But this next election isn't one to miss. Major changes are coming or are being developed, and administration is doing a poor job of engaging Calgarians.
Inform yourself and vote. Otherwise, decisions about Calgary's future will be made without you.
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