There were a few tense moments in Calgary city council chambers on Tuesday after four councillors introduced a notice of motion to look into whether Calgary's government was making laws that infringed on responsibilities of the Alberta and federal governments.The councillors, Sonya Sharp (Ward 1), Andre Chabot (Ward 10), Dan McLean (Ward 13) and Terry Wong (Ward 7) (all members of the Communities First municipal party) were calling for all city reports to be labelled to identify the level of government to which each report pertains, as well as identifying how many reports coming to council are focused on municipal issues versus provincial or federal ones. “Right now, the City of Calgary is spending over $135 million a year on programs and services that aren’t even municipal responsibilities,” said Sharp. “That’s $135 million of Calgarians' property taxes being used to fund things that belong to the province or Ottawa.” “Instead of taking everything on ourselves, we need to make better use of advocacy tools like Alberta Municipalities and other intergovernmental channels to advocate for the funding and support Calgarians need,” she said. Once a notice of motion is brought to council chambers, it is open to debate by all councillors to gather opinions and consensus for or against the notice..And that's when tensions rose, as some councillors argued, some heatedly, that it was their job to discuss and govern issues that come under provincial or federal purview, because citizens don't always see the difference between the levels of government.After all councillors have had their say on a notice, the sponsoring councillor closes the debate with his or her reasons for supporting the notice.It was during her close that Sharp took other councillors to task bringing up legislation passed by council that she said was outside the responsibilities of Calgary city council, such as the infamous, and repealed, bag bylaw, that was posted to XIn the post, she wrote, "It’s too bad some councillors and the mayor don’t seem to know what’s in their job description. And worse, they don’t want to find out. Today, the majority of #yyccc voted against a simple Notice of Motion that would have clarified who does what: municipal vs. provincial vs. federal responsibilities.""It would have helped Council make better decisions, and helped Calgarians understand where their tax dollars go. I’m disappointed, but not surprised.""Calgarians deserve leadership that stays in its lane, respects taxpayers, and actually gets the basics right."
