As councillors got back to work on Tuesday, they did so with the ability to have single-use plastic water bottles at their desks and no climate change emergency declaration hanging over their collective heads.

They made the decision at last week’s Regular Meeting of Calgary city council (May 26), the same meeting in which councillors also voted to kill the City of Calgary’s climate emergency declaration.

At that time, councillors also voted against an affirmation of the City of Calgary’s commitment to the reduction of single-use items, put forward by Ward 9 Coun. Harrison Clark.

In bringing the initial reintroduction of plastic water bottles to city council, Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston initially said it was a performative gesture put forward by then-Councillor Jeromy Farkas.

“It was a performative measure by a performative councillor at the time to reduce where the cameras point and what plastic bottles look like in front of cameras. That’s all it was,” he said at the end of April, referring to the public’s ability to see the bottled water on councillors’ desk during televised meetings.

Last week, Johnston said that this was a simple reversal of a prior bylaw, something that cost taxpayers only $2,100 per year.

Fellow Coun. Dan McLean said while he didn’t mind filling up his own water bottle for council meetings, he thought bottled water should be available. He said that you can go to a barber, a lawyer or other business and you get a bottle of water.

“It’s not uncommon to go somewhere, and then they provide you with a bottle of water. So, when I’ve got guests coming in, important meetings with important Calgary businesses, and then my staff, we’ve got to go in, we’ve got to go fill six glasses of water up. I want to give them a water bottle,” he said.

“I don’t get it. I mean, you can have cans, we can have plastic water bottle thingies. It’s just not a big deal. We’re a $6 billion corporation folks, we can do both.”

Pay for it out of councillor budgets: Coun. Clark

Along with his pitch to affirm Calgary’s commitment to reduce single-use items, Coun. Clark also felt city council should go an extra step, and have all single-use items – snacks, pops, coffee pods, and the like – paid for out of a councillor’s ward budget.

He said that they should further the “virtue” of the conversation by examining it from a cost perspective and allowing citizens to decide if their councillor is spending money in an appropriate way.

“It’s a bit ridiculous, really. I think it costs this city about 25 to $30,000 a year to deliver this service,” he said.

“Each one of us has a ward budget, and instead of wasting council’s time to have a conversation about whether or not we should have water bottles, why don’t we remove them and invite each council member to purchase them through their ward budget, and that way we are not only aligning with our values of transparency and accountability, but each individual then can be measured by their residents as to how virtuous they are.”

When asked if it would include K-Cups (plastic coffee pods), Clark said absolutely.

“Please bring back the coffee pot, bring back the kettle,” he said.

Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness said while she understood the frustration of having to debate the merit of allowing water bottles for city councillors, it was a matter of governance.

“I do get it. It is frustrating that this even had to be a Notice of Motion to fix a policy, but I don’t think we need to level up the frustration of how we have to govern, so I won’t support this,” she said.

Clark’s motion did include a notable exception – plastic water bottles, as it had already been approved to reintroduction earlier in the meeting.