🙏Thank you!

Thanks to the joint advocacy of hundreds of Calgarians like you, the 2025 budget was spared from the worst of the punishing austerity cuts to services for Calgarians.

Source: CBC News

💸Sharp's attempt to impose austerity cuts fails

Fortunately, the worst possible outcome for these budget adjustments was avoided. Councillor Sonya Sharp, who as chair of the Event Centre Committee infamously spearheaded the $831-million public subsidy to build a new arena for one of the richest billionaires in Canada, led a group of councillors in a failed push for harsh austerity cuts to funding for the most vulnerable Calgarians struggling with affordability, mental health and addictions to help pay for the proposed subsidies to fund four new unnecessary sprawl developments in the 2025 budget.

(Image source: Global News)

The above councillors voted to:

❌ Cut $4M from the Secondary Suites / Backyard Suite incentive program (Sharp, McLean, Wong, Chu, Chabot, Demong)

❌ Cut $6M funding for Calgary's Mental Health and Addictions strategy out of the city's base budget (Sharp, McLean, Wong, Chu, Wyness, Demong, Chabot)

❌ Cut $20M from the City-Wide Transit Oriented Development budget for affordable housing (McLean, Chu, Wyness, Chabot)

❌ Cancel $325M in federal funding for the purchase of new zero-emissions buses for Calgary Transit   (Sharp, McLean, Wong, Chu, Wyness)

After failing to succeed in imposing their harsh austerity cuts on Calgarians, Councillors Sharp, McLean, Chu, Wong, Wyness and Chabot ultimately voted against the budget adjustments.

🛣️The good, the bad and the ugly - Council votes to sprawl baby sprawl

The 2025 budget adjustments are a mix of good and bad news. 

☺️ The Good News

Council voted to:

• 🚃 Sustain funding to the low-income transit pass after Danielle Smith cut provincial funding
• 🌆 Implement Downtown Safety Leadership Table recommendations
• 🏘️ Initiate Transit Oriented Development design work to help build more homes on under-utilized lands
• 🏡 Invest life-cycle upgrades in City-owned affordable housing

☹️ The Bad News

Unfortunately, the City continues to treat transit users, pedestrians and active modes users as second class citizens. As an indication of just how bad things are today, 40% of Calgary Transit riders are now low-income pass users. This would indicate the Calgary Transit's poor underfunded service has pushed more Calgarians who have the means to use other modes of transportation.

The following investments remain unfunded:

• 🌜🚌 The Calgary Transit Night Bus Network 
• ❄️ City-wide sidewalk snow clearing
• 🚲🛴  Protected pathways continue to be built at a snails pace
• 🏬 Main streets continue to be mostly ignored by Council

Despite the above pressing needs, Council somehow found funding for:

• 🔫 $23-million to pay for a new shooting range for Calgary Police
• 🛣️ $20-million to fill more potholes on the city's ever-sprawling, costly road network 
• 🛣️ $16.1-million to widen a short 1.4km stretch of Country Hills Boulevard into a suburban highway

🤢 The Ugly - Council still voted to sprawl baby sprawl

The City of Calgary's new process for approving new sprawl developments was supposed to be an opportunity for City Council to weigh  the needs of existing communities against the costs of building new sprawl developments.

Unfortunately, this Council kept hush and made no effort to meaningfully debate whether the diversion of $100's of millions from existing communities to new sprawl developments was necessary or financially prudent when their own reports show Calgary already has over a decade's worth of new sprawl approved. Ultimately, all of City Council succumbed to appeasing the suburban development lobby.

City of Calgary Mid-Cycle 2023-2026 Budget Adjustments (C2024-1097) Figure 2 shows the locations of the four new proposed sprawl communities and the massive capital costs required. 

💫 Support Project Calgary’s 2024 Funding Drive!

The 2024 Project Calgary Funding Drive is now live, running November 25th to December 2nd. We need your help to keep going so we can continue to advocate for a better city for another year. Please consider chipping in!