Calgary’s mayor tinkered with the politically charged idea of a plebiscite around what he’s referring to as the city’s equalization transfer payments to the Government of Alberta.

Mayor Jeromy Farkas questioned the potential for a plebiscite during the tail end of a March 4 special meeting of council on the Alberta government’s budget impacts on the City of Calgary.

Farkas asked Chief Returning Officer Kate Martin about previous referenda questions the province has put to citizens, including a 2021 question on removing equalization payments from the Canadian Constitution.

“It seems to me, we’re in a very similar transfer payments and equalization situation here in the Calgary municipal context, as it compares to the rest of the province,” Farkas said.

He quizzed Martin about potential costs and a timeline if council were to determine that such a question should be asked.

Martin said that council would have two options: One to tack on a question for the 2029 municipal election (like a fluoride question added in the past), or as a standalone vote like the 2018 municipal plebiscite on hosting the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

They could pursue a course of action once a question – one that’s within the jurisdiction of the City – is determined.

“From the time that council provides that resolution and we have the clarity of that question, Elections Calgary would need approximately six months to execute on the vote of the electors, which would be citywide,” Martin said.

Martin said that the cost of a standalone question (not tacked on to a municipal election) would be roughly $12 million to administer.  The cost of the recent municipal election was $16 million.  

The province has scheduled a different set of referenda questions for October 2026 on access to public services for immigrants and on a variety of constitutional questions.

Akin to Alberta’s treatment in confederation, Mayor Farkas said

During the budget impact briefing, councillors heard that there’s been a nearly 60 per cent increase in what Mayor Farkas dubbed the “provincial property tax transfer payment.”

“The property tax increase from the provincial government is akin to how some would describe Alberta’s treatment in terms of confederation,” Farkas told reporters outside council chambers on Wednesday.

“That was largely the mandate that was brought as part of the provincial government, placing a question on equalization and tax fairness, on the question to Albertans to be able to build a mandate to be able to work with the federal government on that.”

Mayor Farkas said that the City of Calgary does want to collaborate and partner with the province when it can.

“We want to partner as much as we possibly can, but we’re willing to push back as well when we have to,” he said.

“To see this level of over taxation and under representation, it begs some serious questions.”

Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean said he was a fan of plebiscites and putting these questions out to citizens. McLean had put forward a Notice of Motion for a plebiscite on citywide rezoning that didn’t garner enough support to move forward.

“There’s no more direct democracy than that, even if there is a cost,” he said.

“There is a discussion to be had whether maybe the City of Calgary collects our education taxes in the province. So, I’m willing to have the conversation.”

Ward 6 Coun. John Pantazopoulos said it’s the first he’d heard of the notion of a plebiscite floated on the issue.  He said he thinks there are other avenues to hear from Calgarians.

“I personally would rather just have this conversation with Calgarians, and Albertans as well,” he said.

“Just saying, ‘hey, you know what, we pay a disproportionate amount of our income tax, our royalties, obviously our property taxes here.’”

Pantazopoulos encouraged Calgarians concerned about the issue to contact their MLAs and their councillors to share their feelings about the provincial education tax increase.