Colin MacLeod is the author of the provocative book “The Case for Alberta’s Independence,” and the force behind @cnm5000 on X.Walk through downtown Calgary today and you’ll see something you wouldn’t have ten years ago — people sleeping in doorways, curled under dirty blankets, faces gray from cold or chemical exhaustion. Some lie so still you can’t tell if they’re breathing. If they are alive, unconscious, or dead.What’s worse is that we’ve learned to step over them. We tell ourselves it’s someone else’s problem — City Hall’s, the province’s, Ottawa’s. But the truth is, it’s ours too..MacLEOD: The cumulative chill: Canada’s legislative overreach on free expression.Let’s call it what it is: failure. Every level of government has turned homelessness into a talking point instead of an emergency. The City touts its “10-Year Plan to End Homelessness” as if plans were progress. The province boasts of a “recovery-oriented system” while mental health and addiction programs remain fragmented and underfunded. Ottawa continues to churn out glossy housing strategies while construction stalls and costs soar.Meanwhile, the Calgary Police Service has been politically neutered — expected to maintain order without the backing of courts, policies, or treatment facilities that can actually deal with chronic addiction. Officers walk past open drug use and violent encampments because arresting someone today means seeing them back on the street tomorrow..This is what political apathy looks like: endless studies, no results, and a public so numb that compassion has turned to resignation.The city’s homeless population now sits around 3,100 people, with roughly 812 living completely unsheltered — in tents, under bridges, or in alleyways. The rest cycle through temporary shelters or short-term programs, constantly in motion but never moving forward..TERRAZZANO: Feds should cut the cost of the bureaucracy and MP pay.These numbers are not insurmountable. In fact, Calgary already has a foundation of existing shelters, transitional housing, and outreach networks. The infrastructure exists — it’s just disorganized.More than 150 different organizations operate in this space, each with their own staff, budgets, and definitions of success. That’s not a system; that’s chaos with funding.It’s time to pull it together. Calgary needs a single point of command — a Calgary Recovery Authority — to consolidate efforts, coordinate data, and hold every stakeholder accountable for measurable results. This isn’t more bureaucracy. It’s leadership..The financial argument is the easiest part. If we target the 812 people still sleeping outdoors, we can get every one of them into permanent housing.Using a blended model of modular construction and converted motels or surplus properties, we can build or retrofit housing for about $150,000 per unit. The total capital investment: $120 million..OLDCORN: Using the notwithstanding clause to end the Alberta teachers' strike was right.And that’s the high end. Using existing facilities, conversions, and partnerships with private developers, that cost could fall closer to $90 million — a one-time spend that’s less than 2% of the City’s annual operating budget.Annual costs, including healthcare, addiction treatment, and job training, would run about $50,000 per person, or $40 million citywide. Compare that to the hundreds of millions we already waste annually on emergency room visits, police responses, and lost productivity from untreated addiction and crime.We are paying for this crisis every single day — the difference is, we’re paying for failure..Calgary’s homelessness response today is a maze: dozens upon dozens of agencies, none truly in charge, each reporting to different funders. The result is duplication, competition for grants, and a total lack of accountability.A centralized Calgary Recovery Authority would fix that by:Maintaining a single by-name list, tracking each individual through housing, recovery, and reintegration.Overseeing capital projects to ensure dollars build permanent units, not administrative empires.Integrating healthcare, policing, counselling, and skills training into one coordinated framework.Publishing quarterly progress reports, with outcomes visible to the public..ROMAN: Ottawa attacks the provinces with a Supreme Court showdown over the notwithstanding clause.Medicine Hat achieved “functional zero” homelessness by applying this exact model. Finland did it nationwide. The formula works — if you’re willing to lead.Calgary is one of the richest cities in Canada. We build billion-dollar infrastructure, fund international energy ventures, and donate generously when disasters strike elsewhere. Yet here at home, we tolerate human beings freezing to death on our sidewalks.This isn’t about ideology — it’s about moral consistency. A society that can afford luxury towers can afford to get 812 people off the street. We are not lacking the money. We are lacking the courage to prioritize human dignity over political optics..To those who want to lead this city: this is your defining issue. You can talk about transit, taxes, or downtown revitalization all you want — but if you can’t keep human beings from dying on your streets, you’ve failed at the most basic function of governance.Calgarians are ready for bold action. They will support a leader who says, “Enough.” Fund the housing. Build the coordination. Demand accountability..PARDY: The Referendum goose is cooked.We need fewer strategies and more shovels. Fewer slogans and more beds. Because this isn’t just about fixing homelessness — it’s about fixing the city’s conscience.A city that steps over its fallen citizens is not moving forward. It’s losing its soul.It’s time to get it back.Colin MacLeod is the author of the provocative book “The Case for Alberta’s Independence,” and the force behind @cnm5000 on X.
