The Alberta government said that it will abolish municipal council codes of conduct citing the “weaponization” of the policies, which they say foments mistrust and dysfunction in local governments.

Calgary’s mayor, however, says the province is removing a critical framework to hold elected officials accountable.

Amendments being proposed through the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, call for the repeal of a requirement for municipal councils to have a locally developed code of conduct. It will also forbid the creation of a local code of conduct.

If approved, it would render the existing codes of conduct moot.

The province said that council members can be held accountable for their actions during municipal elections every four years. Local politicians can also be recalled under legislation approved in 2022. 

They also expect to consult with stakeholders on a potential set of common practices for municipal councils and the establishment of an independent ethics commissioner to address ethics matters involving municipal council members.

“Unfortunately, in some cases, we’ve seen these codes become weaponized amongst council members,” Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver told reporters in an embargoed media conference earlier in the day.

“Instead of promoting harmony, codes of conduct have sometimes been used by council members to harass or sideline their colleagues over political disagreements.”

According to the City of Calgary’s Integrity and Ethics Office annual report delivered to city councillors on Sept. 17, 2024, there were 51 complaints made under the Code of Conduct for Elected Officials Bylaw. Forty-eight of those complaints were dismissed, with the rationale being no reasonable grounds, or frivolous or vexatious. The reporting period was from May 1, 2023, to April 30, 2024.

The prior year saw 58 complaints, with the vast majority also dismissed for similar reasons.

Minister McIver said that it doesn’t mean that councillors will have free rein to misbehave. He said a better, more impartial system is needed to deal with the conduct issues.

“When a local council falls into chaos, it’s the residents who suffer as projects stall and trust erodes,” he said.  

“By eliminating the flawed code of conduct system, now we prevent further misuse while we work on better solutions.”

Public trust and confidence impacted: Mayor Gondek

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said that without a code of conduct, there’s a significant gap in managing and challenging inappropriate behaviours on Calgary city council.

“This doesn’t just affect the internal workings of council, but also impacts public trust and confidence in how our city is governed,” she told reporters outside city council chambers Tuesday afternoon.

“The role of a code of conduct is not merely procedural. It is fundamental to ensuring that our elected officials and their staff can be held accountable in a structured way.”

The mayor said that without a code of conduct, allegations of bullying or conflict of interest may not be taken seriously.

“Other concerns may arise around councillor staff, who are not city staff, but whose salaries are paid by taxpayers, potentially working on political campaigns during work hours,” the mayor said.

“This not only misuses public funds, but it also blurs the line between public service and political activities.”

When asked about the weaponization of the codes of conduct, as the province had described, Mayor Gondek said that the province should address those issues rather than penalizing cities like Calgary, which have a strong integrity and ethics adviser framework.

Minister McIver said that elected officials should already be upstanding citizens who hold themselves to a higher standard.  If approved, the current code of conduct complaints and subsequent investigations would be eliminated.

Mayor Gondek, however, said that this legislation couldn’t come at a worse time with an election coming up this October.

“I guess, for people that don’t believe in acting ethically and people that have been exercising terrible judgment and poor behaviour, get off Scot free,” she said.

“The public expects more than we’re all good people here. The public, the taxpayers, expect us to have certain standards and certain codes of conduct that they know we will abide by. They deserve to know that there is a code of conduct in place that will look after situations where we have stepped outside our responsibility to the public, and this simply strips the public of having any kind of reassurance that they can hold elected officials accountable.”