The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) said people need to tell Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek they are opposed to the single-use item bylaw. The single-use item bylaw forces Calgary businesses and restaurants to charge a minimum fee of 15 cents per paper bag and $1 per reusable bag. Under this bylaw, people are forced to ask permission to use items such as napkins and wooden forks at restaurants. “Like Premier Danielle Smith said, this silly law nearly caused a ‘mutiny on wing night’ in Calgary,” said CTF Alberta director Kris Sims in a Friday email to supporters.“Calgary needs to scrap the bag tax.”To tell Gondek the bylaw needs to go, Sims said they should email her at themayor@calgary.ca. When people craft their emails, she said they should write their true thoughts about it. After hitting send, the emails will go straight to her. “This bag tax might seem like a small issue, but give government an inch and it will take a mile,” she said. Calgary shoppers and diners began to pay a little more for the luxury of napkins, straws, stir-stix and ketchup packets after the city’s new single-use bylaw came into effect on January 16. READ MORE: Calgary’s condiment bylaw comes into effectEffective January 16, businesses would have to charge a fee for paper and cloth bags and require customers to ask for foodware accessories. These fees will increase in 2025.Calgary city council voted 10-5 to begin the process of repealing the single-use items bylaw on January 30. READ MORE: UPDATED: Calgary city council votes to begin repeal of single-use bylawThe five members who voted against eliminating the bylaw were Gondek and Calgary councillors Courtney Walcott, Kourtney Penner, Gian-Carlo Carra, and Jasmine Mian. “This is the cleanest way because we will actually be able to repeal the bylaw and have a fulsome conversation rather than Coun. Mian bring a segment of repeal and Coun. [Richard] Pootmans bring a segment of repeal,” said Calgary Coun. Jennifer Wyness.
