By any measure, it was the most blatant attack on the democratic principles that guide politicians at every level of government. Last spring, in the largest public hearing in the history of Calgary, councillors voted 9 to 6 to approve an up-zoning bylaw that would allow the construction of multi-family homes in areas of the city zoned solely for single-family homes (also known as exclusionary zoning.) without requiring a rezoning permit from the city. The vote came despite the fact 736 Calgarians spoke at the public hearing, with 65% being opposed to the bylaw, Additionally, the city received 5,362 written submissions, with 88% in opposition. But it was more than council ignoring the wishes of the majority. There was a bribe from Trudeau’s government to the tune of $228 million with Trudeau’s housing minister, Sean Fraser, writing in a letter to Mayor Jyoti Gondek, dated September 14, 2023, that read in part... ”I wish to inform you that Calgary’s Housing Accelerator Fund application will not be approved unless you follow through to create the new missing middle zoning designations of H-GO and R-CG as you laid out in your application. Otherwise said, in order to receive a positive decision from me on your application, you must end exclusionary zoning in your city.” Those who bowed down to the Liberals bribe were Mayor Gondek and Cllrs. Penner, Walcott, Carra, Pootmans, Dhaliwal, Spencer, Mian and Wyness. Saying no to the dough were Cllrs. Sharp, Chabot, McLean, Chu, Wong, and Demong. Joining them on the no side is a group of almost 300 Calgarians who, in June, filed an application challenging the decision to proceed with the bylaw that will be heard in a Calgary courtroom on December 11. Accompanying the application is an affidavit from Calgarian George Clark. The Municipal Government Act stipulates city councillors must go into public hearings with an open mind and be open to persuasion, but Clark’s affidavit shows the fix to approve the bylaw was likely already in. In sworn testimony, Clark said in the affidavit Ward 9 councillor Gian-Carlo Carra’s mind was firmly made up to vote yes to the bylaw before the hearings began. Clark said on April 13, 2024, before the public hearing began, he attended a training session by two organizations, ‘More Neighbours Calgary' and ‘Calgary’s Future’ both of which he understood to be in favour of the upzoning bylaw. At the meeting, speakers connected with the organizations provided advice to attendees on how to present to council in favour of blanket rezoning, said Clark. “When I attended the event, I was surprised to find Gian-Carlo Carra who is my councillor in Ward 9. I sat close to him at the event and he and I discussed the blanket rezoning proposal near the end and after the training session,” said Clark in his affidavit, adding the initial presenter was Kathryn Davies. “During her presentation, she described Calgarians who were against blanket rezoning as ‘racist’ and that their opposition was based upon a class system to exclude ethnic diversity and lower middle class Calgarians from accessing housing,” said Clark. “She stated that those who were against blanket rezoning were trying to prevent the mixing of races and maintain socio-economic patterns of development that favoured the wealthy.” “I looked over at Councillor Carra as Ms. Davies described Calgarians opposing blanket rezoning as racists. He nodded his agreement.” Asking to speak, Clark suggested Calgarians opposed to blanket rezoning may have other reasons, such as property rights and expectations of buying property in low density neighbourhoods, for opposing blanket rezoning, but was told by Davies he was wrong “and that the predominant motivator for opponents was race-based.” Clark says he was then surprised when Carra spoke for roughly an hour at the session. "During his presentation, he described opponents to blanket rezoning as “racist” and “blowhards”. He stated that he ‘was under no obligation to hear, consider nor include anything’ that constituents opposing blanket rezoning might wish to inform him of since he was simply completing the work of “re-engineering Calgary”. He stated that he had been advocating for this process since 2010.” Carra also told attendees there were two councillors —Wyness and Spencer — they needed to focus on, saying they both had “agreed” to support blanket rezoning, but that they were open to persuasion, they did not have a closed mind and that for that reason presenters needed to focus on them, according to Clark. “He specifically informed attendees that he believed that he had a 9 – 6 lock in favour of blanket rezoning, 8 – 7 if Councillor Spencer changed his mind,” said Clark. “Councillor Carra also advised attendees to ignore Councillor Sharp as she was capable of swaying the debate." Clark said he asked Carra why he hadn’t held a public townhall to hear from Ward 9 residents. “His response was that he ‘had no interest’ in hearing their concerns and that ‘they would not have any bearing on his decision to promote and pass the [blanket rezoning] bylaw’”. The affidavit will be heard in court on December 11, as will the application challenging the bylaw’s validity. The application asks the court “to overturn the bylaw due to numerous procedural and legal errors made by Council in reaching its decision. The errors outlined in the Application include bias, acting outside of the authority granted to City Council by the Municipal Government Act (“MGA”), the unreasonable encroachment on private property rights, the wholesale elimination of a citizen’s right to a hearing on a zoning change and the failure to provide accurate and consistent information regarding the impact of the City’s agreement with the Federal Government for Housing Accelerator Funding.” “It’s a half day of the official judicial review,” group spokesman, Robert Lehodey, KC, told Western Standard. “We will make our formal arguments as to why the bylaw, as approved by city council, should be overturned or declared void and the city will make its argument in response and we will have a chance to rebut the city’s arguments.” Lehodey isn’t expecting a quick judgement. “The judge will probably go away and not issue a decision for, who knows, it could be a week, it could be a month, it could be three months.” Lehodey added Clark’s affidavit has been reviewed by the city’s lawyers, with no damage to Clark’s credibility. The application is not about preventing development, says Lehodey, but making sure property owners have a say in what goes in next to them. "This isn't about development per se. It's about taking your right away without the full consideration by council and study of the infrastructure and the impacts on community," he said, adding there are 311,573 properties affected by the bylaw. “By approving zoning changes to that number of properties without procedural fairness, without properly considering the impacts of that change on water infrastructure, electricity, garbage, parking, the environment,” he added. “Just look at the water break we had, that’s just one example of an infrastructure defect that will be compounded if you increase the density throughout existing neighbourhoods, which is what they’re proposing. This rezoning will significantly change these districts.” “And it will not result in more affordable housing for Calgarians, but instead create smaller, equally unaffordable homes.” The application by Lehodey’s group is being funded by a go fund me page, which has raised close to $119,000 as of Monday morning. Donations can be made at:
