It was another week, and another procedural slap fight between the mayor and one of the new Calgary city councillors.

The row between Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas and Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston was pertaining to the question period at the March 17 Public Hearing meeting of council and the mayor inserting himself into a traditionally councillor-driven process.

Question period happens near the start of Regular, Special and Public Hearing meetings of Calgary city council, and involves councillors asking often previously vetted questions to city administration. These questions are answered in an open public session.

Based on the Calgary city council procedure bylaw, a maximum of three questions per council meeting are allowed.

In this meeting, Mayor Farkas inserted himself into the queue, along with Couns. Kim Tyers and Raj Dhaliwal.

This is when Coun. Johnston asked for a point of privilege.

“I think historically, the mayor doesn’t normally take question period because you’re the only one that knows when you’re going to hit the gavel,” Johnston said.

“I think in the past, question period has been usually used for council members, not for the mayor to ask questions.”

Except on rare occasions, in past years, the mayor has ceded the floor to fellow councillors to ask specific questions of administration.

“Councillor Johnston, I’d say, from my experience, having served on council now for about five years or so, I’ve …occasionally personally seen the mayor ask questions when there’s an important question to be asked of administration on an emergent issue over the previous weekend, or typically, the previous days,” he said.

Johnston challenged the ruling of the chair. The mayor’s decision was upheld; however, Farkas relented and let Johnston ask his question anyway – with a procedural motion to allow it. This was after a debate between councillors.

Mayor Farkas’s question was on how much water it took to put out a big southeast Calgary fire. It was a question that was addressed at the previous day’s Bearspaw water update – seven million litres.

Johnston’s question was around how much is being spent on reconciliation projects. He had been posting about the $7.5 million cost for the Wandering Spirit location at the Confluence Parkland and Historic Site and the removal of the temporary residential school memorial outside Calgary’s municipal building.

Council admin inquiries 30 per cent higher than others

Johnston’s push for a public question comes as LWC obtained data from the City of Calgary showing that since being elected to office, the Ward 14 councillor submitted 216 administrative inquiries through the Council Inquiry Management System.

It’s nearly 30 per cent more inquiries than the next closest councillor, Ward 6’s John Pantazopoulos (171) and nearly 50 per cent more than Ward 1 Coun. Kim Tyers.

“The Council Inquiry Management System is one of several established channels Councillors use to ask questions and receive information from City Administration. It does not replace existing practices. Administration remains committed to responding to Councillors through the channels that best meet their needs while complying with legislative requirements,” read an emailed response from the City of Calgary.

“Councillors and their staff can continue, as they always have, to direct strategy, policy, or urgent ward matters directly to the appropriate Business Unit Director, Department General Manager, Chief Operating Officer, or the Chief Administrative Officer. Councillors may also continue to use 311 to support constituent service requests. The inquiry management system operates alongside these channels.”

Outside council chambers, when asked about the number of admin requests, Johnston said that he digs in with the admin inquiries to find out if city money is being spent appropriately. He said it’s a question of trust.

“We have to know that the dollars are being spent efficiently and not underspent or overspent,” Johnston said.

“There’s got to be clarity, there’s got to be transparency on it, and you’ll see, I’ll fight for that all the time.”

Farkas said that question period is an important part of a councillor’s ability to ask questions of admin in a public setting. Particularly issues of the day. He said there’s often no questions during question period and rare that there’s more than three.

“Administrative inquiries allow us the same,” he said.

The fracas gobbled up about 15 minutes of council’s time before the agenda and minutes were approved.