🙏Thank you!

In response to your advocacy and the decade high number of deaths and fatalities on Calgary streets this year, the new City Council approved $7.5-million in new pedestrian safety improvements that will enable the City to double the number of improvements than was previously planned around Calgary for next year.

New funding for street safety initiatives has been approved by the City of Calgary as part of the 2026 budget adjustments . (Image source: City of Calgary)

The life-saving street safety improvements (opposed by Councillors Johnston and Ward) are part of the City's Vision Zero program and include more:

• Rapid Flashing Beacons
• Overhead flashing lights
• Curb extensions
• Speed cushions
• Speed humps
• In-street pedestrian signs

While much more work still needs to be done to actually stop the unnecessary traffic deaths and injury on Calgary streets, including adequately funding a citywide protected cycle track network, this was an important step in the right direction.

💸Chabot's cruel austerity push fails

Image source: City of Calgary

Fresh off his previous city council term approving an $831-million arena subsidy for the billionaire Flames owners, Ward 10 councillor Andre Chabot proposed budget amendments that would have forced harsh austerity on Calgarians by:

❌ Axing the existing free transit for kids aged 6 - 12 (Farkas, Pantazopoulos, Chabot, Ward, Jamieson, McLean, Johnston)

❌ Killing Calgary's Downtown free-fare transit zone (Tyers, Wyness, Yule, Chabot, Jamieson, McLean, Johnston)

Thankfully, the majority of Council disagreed and his motions failed.

📡2026 Budget Adjustment Highlights

You can check out a more in depth overview from Sprawl Calgary, but here are some of the highlights:

☺️ The Good News

Council voted to:

• 🏛️ Invest $1-million in the Old YWCA in the Beltline to begin a proper assessment of the full scope of repairs needed to restore the building (Farkas, Wyness, Yule, Kelly, Dhaliwal, Pantazopoulos, Atkinson, Schmidt, Clark) 
• 🚌 Boost transit service $6-million for the primary transit network (Tyers, Wyness, Yule, Kelly, Dhaliwal, Pantazopoulos, Atkinson, Schmidt, Clark, Chabot, Ward, Jamieson)
• 🚌🚌 Invest $11.25-million in procuring new transit buses in 2026 (Farkas, Yule, Kelly, Dhaliwal, Pantazopoulos, Atkinson, Schmidt, Clark)
• 🏀 Invest $96.7-million in new recreation facilities (Unanimous) 

☹️ The Bad News

Council also voted to:

• 🪙 Increase transit fares to $4 (up from $3.80) and adult monthly passes by $8 to $126 (Wyness, Yule, Kelly, Pantazopoulos, Chabot, Jamieson, McLean, Johnston)
• 🌳 Cut $9-million in one-time climate and environment operating expenses that would have provided solar panel installations on below market-housing and supported water conservation efforts (Tyers, Wyness, Dhaliwal, Pantazopoulos, Chabot, Ward, Jamieson, McLean, Johnston)
• 🛣️ Spend $24-million to fast-track a new sprawl development in Glacier Ridge against the advice of City Administration, which called the move "premature" (Farkas, Tyers, Wyness, Yule, Clark, Chabot, Ward, McLean, Johnston)
• 🏥 Cut $6-million in funding for mental health from base budget and moved it to more precarious one-time funding (Tyers, Wyness, Yule, Kelly, Chabot, Ward, Jamieson, McLean, Johnston)

💫 Support Project Calgary’s 2025 Funding Drive!

The 2025 Project Calgary Funding Drive is now live, running December 10th - 19th. We need your help to keep going so we can continue to advocate for a better city for another year. Please consider chipping in!