A Calgary city councillor wants to send the integrity commission complaint file on a fellow councillor to the province and the Calgary police.
Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness initially brought the item as urgent business Wednesday to the continuation of the Combined Meeting of Council.
Wyness said she’d like council’s approval to send the integrity commissioner file of fellow councillor, Ward 9’s Gian Carlo Carra, to both the province and the Calgary Police Service.
Carra was sanctioned by the city’s integrity commissioner after two investigations. One file was on a social media post. The other, the one Wyness wants examined further, involved the lack of disclosure on a property in which there was no paper trail for a $300,000 purchase on a property in Inglewood.
“I think precedent was set on past Council,” Wyness said during an afternoon break. She was referring to the RCMP matter involving former city councillor Joe Magliocca.
“And when it comes to money, we really need to be referring it up the food chain.”
Mayor Jyoti Gondek suggested that it should come as a formal notice of motion to Executive Committee. That would be July 20. From there, should it be approved, it could go to the July 26 combined meeting of council.
Wyness accepted that suggestion.
Both province and police
Coun. Wyness said that they just discussed the report during a closed session the day prior. After sleeping on it, she felt more should be done.
Wyness said that given the gravity of the issue it was important to have it looked at by both the province and police.
“There’s potential gains and there’s a financial interest involved in owning an asset and not disclosing it – the (Municipal Government Act) is involved,” she said.
“That’s why I think it needs to go to the minister. And then the police investigation, again, because it’s we have a fiduciary duty that’s involved.”
Wyness said it’s important to take that next step given that public officials can make potential decisions that affect home values.
When contacted Wednesday, Coun. Carra said he had no comment on the potential for the file to move to another office for review.
“I accept the decisions of the integrity commissioner and am working on my apologies,” Carra said via text message.
Mayor Gondek was asked if the integrity commissioner’s report fully addressed Carra’s file.
“We got the integrity commissioner’s report yesterday, after a long day of council,” she said.
“We got home after 10:30 p.m. and we started up again with meetings this morning and we’re in council right now. So, all of us need a bit more time to digest what’s in it.”
