The City of Calgary’s climate emergency declaration remains in place, after city council defeated an attempt to rescind it and audit climate-related spending.
The motion from Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp, Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong, Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean and Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot called for the declaration to be rescinded as well as a “comprehensive value for money audit” of all city climate-related spending, including funds tied to the emergency declaration.
Sharp called the declaration a “symbolic gesture” and questioned the city’s climate spending “without a clear return on investment.”
The motion was defeated after some back and forth with just Sharp, McLean, Chabot and Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu voting in favour of rescinding the declaration.
“I think the declaration serves no purpose, and it should be eliminated,” Sharp told reporters after the debate.
“The work moving forward in making sure we are putting money towards good climate practices within our scope of municipal government should continue.”
During the debate, several councillors made accusations of grandstanding and bad faith politics as the motion’s four co-signers will represent the Communities First party in the upcoming election, with Sharp running as the party’s mayoral candidate.
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“Maybe it’s good politics, not as I define politics, but it’s terrible leadership,” said Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra in his debate.
Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner, who is running for re-election, said the motion was “egregious,” after some councillors claimed the city has spent billions on climate-related initiatives.
“You are intentionally obfuscating good communication,” she said. “I am not willing to signal to Calgarians and to the market that we are not committed to action that truly supports residents and small businesses.”
However, Chabot and McLean argued the motion is about greater oversight over city spending.
The councillors pointed to the city’s climate and environment department’s budget of $26 million in 2025, as well as $22 million in one-time operating programs and $22.7 million in capital spending.
The motion noted an additional $214.6 million in climate related spending planned across city departments next year. However, $165 million of that is to pay for Calgary’s electric bus fleet.
“We have a duty to ensure every tax dollar we spend produces measurable results and right now we don’t have a cost-benefit analysis to any of this spending,” McLean said.
City council approved declaring a climate emergency in November 2021, which promised to make action against climate change a strategic priority for the city.
It also committed to a net-zero target by 2050, and directed city departments to work on reducing emissions.
Administration told council Tuesday that there has been $200 million in climate-related spending, but the declaration has allowed the city to be more competitive for grant funding and leverage $287 million since 2021.
City officials also noted administration produces a progress report on climate initiatives every two years.
“This was not a rejection of the fact that business units need to be responsible for expenditure,” said Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, who is running for re-election in the fall. “This was simply stating that this notice of motion was grandstanding at best.”
Despite co-signing the motion, Wong also voted against rescinding the climate emergency declaration but did support the other aspects of the motion including the audit.
“We individually represent our constituents and our communities,” Wong told reporters. “I listen to my communities, I didn’t listen to a party.”
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