Accusations of bad-faith politics flew during debate over the rescinding of Calgary’s climate emergency declaration, and subsequent audit of climate-related spending at the city.

A Notice of Motion put forward by Ward 1 councillor and Communities First mayoral candidate Sonya Sharp, and initially supported by her party colleagues, would have seen the 2021 climate emergency declaration rescinded and an audit of climate-related expenditures since that time.

It also called for review of jurisdiction, cost savings and alignment with city policies.

Calgary city council declared a climate emergency shortly after the last municipal election, and it has since been a politically charged issue right through to the final meeting of this city council’s term.

Sharp’s motion was soundly defeated, in a 4-10 vote, with original sponsoring Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong also voting against. All of the subsequent motions around an audit and review of value for money were also defeated, except for the acceptance of a Climate Advisory Committee letter for the corporate record.

“This motion has two goals, rescinding the climate emergency, that was, I guess, a symbolic gesture that I still don’t know what we got from that, and so really, some open-ended spending obligations without a clear return on investment,” Sharp said in her opening on the item.

“Not to say that we’re not committed to ensuring our city has green practices. It’s about sending a message that we have an opportunity here that needs to be balanced with municipal priorities.”

Fellow Communities First councillor and Ward 13 candidate Dan McLean said he supported it, largely due to the oversight he felt was needed on the climate file.

“We have a duty to ensure that every tax dollar we spend here produces measurable results, and right now, we do not have a cost benefit analysis to any of this spending,” he said.

“We don’t know whether these investments are producing real, tangible results or benefits, or whether we’re simply adding to a growing bureaucracy. That’s not accountability. That’s not responsible stewardship of Calgary taxpayer dollars.”

Impact of rescinding the climate emergency declaration

One of the arguments made by the sponsoring councillors was around the use of the word emergency in the climate declaration.

City solicitor Jill Floen clarified that the word wasn’t used under the context of the province’s Emergency Management Act, and therefore prescribes the City of Calgary no additional powers afforded it during a State of Local Emergency.

“Secondly, council may choose to use that word for a value statement or to highlight an item of concern. That isn’t necessarily a legal consideration,” she said.

“It’s more as a statement of something that is very important, and I can tell you, council, that clearly falls under the purposes of a municipality.”

Floen also noted that, as included in the Municipal Government Act, the purposes of a municipality are also to foster the well-being of the environment.

City administration also said that when Calgary declared the climate emergency, they were playing catch-up with hundreds of municipalities nationally and globally.

Debra Hamilton, General Manager of Planning and Development Services with the City of Calgary, said that as a result of the declaration, new businesses and funding has come to the city.

“We have seen new clean technology businesses open and invest in Calgary, and we have also been able to leverage over $287 million dollars from provincial and federal and private sources,” she said.

City admin also said that, while not a requirement, the declaration of the climate emergency was part of the eligibility criteria for funding applications. It made the city more competitive, they said.

Dawn Smith with the City of Calgary said that they are currently working with other municipalities to create a benchmark for quantifying the benefits of climate risk reduction, but that it was an evolving field.

Smith said that the City already produces a climate progress report every two years, with the last one in 2024.

“We also include details on… the climate governance and reporting and tracking and our work in the climate-related financial disclosure, which is part of the annual financial report,” Smith said.

Political grandstanding on climate issues

Ward 12 Coun. Evan Spencer, who isn’t running for re-election, said that he understood the need for a review of climate-related spending, and would welcome and support a call for an audit after the next council was elected.

He said that the rescinding of the climate emergency declaration and the politicization of it risks losing great conversations about how the city can move climate work forward.

“To me, what we’re doing right now is we’re reigniting a very political conversation in a very political season of our city. I would encourage council to revisit this after the election and to be thoughtful,” he said.

“The timeline where we are right now, the work that is on the table, the timelines that we’re talking about, this stinks.”

Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian said it was funny that this was one of the last items that this council would debate, when it was also one of the first in their term. She said there’s been a lot of talk about how it was just a symbolic gesture to start, but added that it’s equally symbolic now, ahead of a municipal election.

“The reason I agree that it’s not in good faith is not only because it’s been publicly stated that … Communities First is going to defund all the climate work, but also even in the last budget, Councillor McLean wanted to bring an amendment to the budget to just cut the climate department altogether,” she said.

“It’s really hard to watch this group go after this over and over and over again, just from such a bad faith perspective. We could have an audit on the arena and figure out how much money we spent on urinals. It’s probably more than we spent on retrofits. There’s any way to politicize something, and I think at some point you have to ask yourself – who are you really doing this for? Are you doing it for yourself and your own political success? Are you actually doing it for the citizens and for the betterment of the city.”

A wedge issue in Calgary’s municipal election

Communities First candidates have been forthright about the direction they’ll take the city on specific hot-button issues, like the repeal of citywide rezoning.

Outside council chambers, Sharp responded to questions of the climate declaration being a political wedge issue.

“At least I’m being open and transparent,” she said.

“In 2021, I didn’t even know where the climate emergency came from.

“No one campaigned on that.”

Coun. Wong defended his decision to vote against his fellow supporting colleagues after hearing from constituents. Wong is running for re-election in Ward 7.

He said in his 40 years with the City of Calgary, he’s seen the ongoing good work they’ve done on the climate file. Making a declaration in November 2021 didn’t mean the work had started there.

“Whether you use that declaration as a starting point or an end point, is not the point,” he said.

“The point is that we have continual work that needs to be done.”

Wong said he’s heard many different concerns from residents, and it isn’t about the symbolic declaration of a climate emergency.

“It’s about, are we prioritizing the work that Calgarians want right away?” Wong said.

The Ward 7 incumbent also noted that Communities First was based first and foremost on representing residents first, not the party itself.