Well, thank goodness Calgary’s city council did the right thing yesterday and repealed its single-use bylaw, after one of the biggest public reactions to anything it has done in the last ten years.It really was a do-gooder vanity project from the start, something earnest little wokesters could take to a municipal convention to brag about to other earnest little wokesters concerned about climate change, while back in Calgary people are put to cost and inconvenience.The single-use bylaw came into force on January 16, requiring grocery stores, restaurants and other food vendors and retail outlets to impose a minimum 15-cent surcharge on customers for a paper bag or $1 for a new reusable cloth bag at the point of sale. You actually had to ask for a paper bag for your hamburger and then pay extra, as though the cost of the bag had not already been priced into the food.Calgary residents took this opportunity to tell their council they’d had enough of this mentality.Hint to councillors: You want people to take you seriously? When a city council responds to a revenue shortage by cutting costs instead of raising taxes, they will.But what this really shows is how much we need the Government of Alberta’s Bill 20 — The Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act. (Or, as we call it around here, an Act to Have Local Governments Stay in Their Own Lane.)For, municipalities in general and Calgary’s particularly it seems, are far too fond of fiddling with things that are none of their business — such as making grandiose, quixotic gestures on the climate change file. We don't much appreciate it from the provincial government, whose business the environment is, but municipalities are a lower level of government, the fixers of roads and sewers, and the providers of police and fire services. They have no standing in this discussion.Sure enough, in terms of futility and a walk up the wrong road, only the-then newly elected mayor’s city climate-change emergency of 2021 comes close to the single-use bylaw. Making the downtown generally inhospitable to motor cars is a strong also-ran of course, along with bike lanes. (Seriously? Last Friday was ‘Ride your bike to Work Day.’ It sure didn't look like it to me, on the commute.) Councillors, nobody’s listening.But, there they go. The motives are always much the same, take the public dime to do ‘good,’ so that you — as a municipal politician — can then feel good.Anyway, with Tuesday's vote, problem solved. Once more you can receive your fast food in a paper bag at no extra cost, and bag your vegetables in the supermarket. No more greasy mess on the steering wheel, or brussel sprouts running around loose on the bottom of your recyclable shopping bag. Even Mayor Jyoti Gondek voted for repeal. For once, I applaud her.All is well, then?Not quite. Three slow learners voted against repeal. That would be Councillors Carra, Penner and Walcott.Worse, even some of those councillors who voted to repeal this bylaw, apparently want to bring back a revised version of it, at a later date.As reported yesterday in the Western Standard, speculation in council chambers was that a revised bylaw could be ready within 60 to 90 days — or 12 months — from now.Given Councillor Don McLean’s comment that the bylaw went down because the councillors ‘want to get re-elected,’ twelve months would put it a little too close to the next municipal election for comfort. So, my bet is that if there is any remaining enthusiasm for this idea, it will come after the next election, in October 2025, not before.But don’t assume it will just go away. Whether it’s restricting smoking or putting fluoride in the water, do-gooders have a habit of keeping up their efforts until finally they get what they want, then guillotine further discussion.I can hear the objections: Aren't people who want to do good, a civic benefit? What do you want, harm-doers?Let me think about that. Given the choice in local politics between do-gooders and a little low-level corruption, I almost prefer the latter. After all, you can usually do a deal with a crook. Idealists will come for your gas stove.On this file, we’ll have to see what the do-gooders come up with.And Bill 20? Whether the Government of Alberta would actually want to get into the middle of this, I have to wonder. But as a taxpayer and a citizen, it’s pleasing to think they might be able to.For now, I think I'm headed for the drive-thru.
