City councillors approved new rules around remote meeting participation, with a little tweak to allow for greater flexibility for current and future members of Calgary city council.

Changes to the city’s procedural bylaw and the councillors’ code of conduct came to city council’s Executive Committee meeting on Feb. 13.

The bylaw revisions asked that councillors make the best efforts to participate in council and committee meetings in person, unless there was an urgent personal or medical matter, or if a councillor was out of town on city business.

The City of Calgary’s Ethics Adviser, Dr. Emily Laidlaw, said that the new rules weren’t specifically devised because of an Integrity Commissioner report into Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean’s attendance at a golf tournament and subsequent remote meeting participation during a public hearing.

She said it’s been a problem for more than 18 months despite several attempts to solve the ambiguity around remote participation.

“Since remote participation became available, it has sometimes been chosen by members of council, not because they need to participate remotely, but because they choose to,” she said.

“So, the result is that council chambers is regularly missing several individuals and at times it is almost empty.”

Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian suggested an amendment to the proposed rule changes, essentially to allow a member, based on protected grounds in the Alberta Human Rights Act, to also qualify. The claimed accommodation must be disclosed to the ethics adviser.

“I appreciate that we need more guardrails around remote work for councillors but the way that these bylaws have been written is too restrictive, or at least the public interpretation of them is quite restrictive,” Mian said.  

“Councillors should be representative of the public that we serve, and we should allow remote work in certain circumstances to ensure equitable access to this role.”

Not the Councillor Mian Clause

Coun. Mian said the world has changed, as has the way council is conducted. She said it was important to recognize that there are many situations where reasonable access to remote work should be allowed.

As a new mom, she said if remote work is forced out, city council risks enabling the same caregiver dynamics it’s always had.

“I think that we owe it to moms and dads and society and the future to allow care dynamics to look a little bit more equitable,” she said.

“Since asking to continue access to remote work, I’ve received some significant online criticism and on radio call-in shows, saying that I should have just taken a mat leave. And, if women elected officials take mat leave, they’re criticized for not voting on behalf of their constituents. If we bring our kids into chambers we’re criticized for being disruptive, and if you decide that you’re not going to have children, you’re asked on the doors, ‘how can you possibly understand what the world is like for families?’ We just cannot win.”

Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner, who moved the main motion, said both work and life balance is evolving.

“As I look around this council chambers we have more parents than not. We have people who are also taking care of grandkids, who have partners who may have health challenges,” she said.

“We have people who have parents who they are the caregiver for, grandparents who they’re the caregiver for, and in that way, we are representative of the population, and so at times we are going to be humans and we are going to need to miss work.”

She said they do strive to be there in person so they can have conversations on issues important to Calgarians.

The item will go to a full meeting of Calgary city council where it could be debated and amended again.