The vote this week to begin the repeal of Calgary’s single-use items bylaw, it triggers a process that will transpire over the next few months.

This week’s item at Calgary’s regular meeting of city council only started the process – it doesn’t mean the bylaw is repealed yet… or that it will be. It would still require a majority vote at a public hearing meeting of council, when the time comes.

It has a process to go through before we get to that point. The City of Calgary’s Procedure Bylaw clearly states that a bylaw that has had all three readings approved (this happened in January 2023), and signed, cannot be reconsidered – it must be repealed.  

According to Alberta’s Municipal Government Act (MGA) a municipal bylaw that is repealed must go through the same process that it took to become a bylaw.

Here’s how that works:  

First, there’s a Notice of Public Hearing that must appear once a week for two consecutive weeks in at least one newspaper circulating in Calgary, according to City of Calgary administration.

A repeal or amendment cannot come into force until 60 days after the advertising is complete, “to allow for the potential of a petition for a vote of electors.”

Should it be advertised next week (Feb. 5) and the week after (Feb. 12) the 60-day countdown conceivably begins. Should those be the exact dates this happens, the earliest it could come to a public hearing meeting of council would be roughly April 12, 2024. That would miss the window for the April 9 public hearing meeting, but it could come to the April 22 meeting.

That’s if it follows the LWC imaginary timeline. It could take time to produce and insert the newspaper advertisement. Administration and other councillors have said it would likely come before council in May.

Here’s an important note, however.

“Even though the process to repeal has started, legal stipulations require that the current bylaw remain in effect until the repeal process is complete,” read an email response from the City of Calgary.  

“Therefore, until the bylaw is repealed in accordance with the above timelines, it remains in effect and therefore enforceable.”

Potential new single-use items bylaw

Councillors decided not to amend the current bylaw (which would have had to go through a similar process as the repeal), opting for a “clean slate” and the full repeal.

Ward 12 Coun. Evan Spencer said he would support the intention to have a cooperative conversation on a new single-use items bylaw but didn’t want it mired in “political dynamics.”

“Using this as a political wedge and bringing this as something as punishment and extending this conversation for the foreseeable timeline is not something I’m particularly interested in,” he said.

Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness, who brought forward the repeal motion, said she had every intent to ensure a new bylaw was created that worked on the waste management side, and also for Calgarians.

“When we just say put a fee on it that is taxable is somehow going to change behaviour. No,” she said.

“Your measuring stick is when citizens stop complaining, it’s a success. That should not be the success of a program.”

The process for a new bylaw is the same as the aforementioned repeal process (advertising, 60 days after advertising before public hearing and potential vote.) However, the City may build in time for additional public engagement, stakeholder feedback and time to draft the new bylaw. Plus, like the last bylaw, it may be approved with a one-year enactment date – like the last bylaw – to build in time for a public awareness campaign.

Some groundwork on a new bylaw could be done concurrently with the repeal process, but advertising a new bylaw public hearing while having dates set for the public hearing on the repeal could pose a conflict.

It’s realistic to assume a new bylaw may not appear this year.

City of Calgary administration did not want to speculate on the admin time or costs to perform this work.