I Support a Yes Vote on the Olympics, Here's Why | Nov 9, 2018

A lot of the misinformation that's out there is deliberately trying to create confusion so that normal thoughtful Calgarians feel so unsure about the situation that they don't go out and vote.

Misinformation is also designed to enrage a group of Calgarians who are prone to raging and will go out and vote angrily and not thoughtfully about a big decision about our city's future. That's sort of the state of the landscape, but let's talk about this. I'm honored to be in a position where usually I am one of 15 Calgarians who make big decisions about our city's future. On November 13, 700 plus thousand Calgarians will be asked to participate in that kind of decision making and it's really important to ask yourself what the role of the Olympics are for the city's future.

I was always of the opinion that this was a big question that we had to study, we had to do some serious work because we're talking about a lot of money and a lot of opportunity. It has taken quite frankly too long to get to a point where there's clarity. When I say clarity, I don't suggest for a moment that there aren't a lot of questions that need to be answered moving forward, but we've reached a point of clarity where we can make a thoughtful go, no-go decision as whether this is something we want to pursue. I have moved very recently as the deal has solidified from a qualified yes to an absolute yes on November 13 and I want to share with you my reasons why in the hopes that it clarifies your own thinking.

1. The first thing I want to talk about is the financial deal
The first question is an economic question and to be completely frank with you, the entire project of exploring the Olympics has about economic leveraging. What I mean by that is as a member of city council, I am laser focused on the fact that $0.08 of every tax dollar that's collected inside of the city of Calgary. Every time we pay taxes to the three orders of government as Calgarians, whether it's income tax, whether it's business taxes, whether it's paying at the pump, whether it's GST when we do a purchase at the store, the reality is that for every dollar of tax that's collected inside our city limits, the citizens of Calgary see $0.08 on a dollar back from the three orders of government.

Billions and billions of dollars of taxes that we pay go to Edmonton never to return and they go to Ottawa never to return and they are dispersed across Alberta and they're dispersed across Canada to maintain the high quality of life that we collectively enjoy of Albertans and as Canadians. I have no problem with that, but the argument I make to the other orders of government and that my colleagues make and that the mayor makes is that if you want to continue to have the goose that lays the golden eggs that is Calgary, you have to feed that goose and we are constantly working angles on a year-by-year basis to see what we can do to leverage more than the typical $0.08 on a dollar back to Calgarians so we can build a city that can continue to be that engine of prosperity that floats the boat of the rest of province and the rest of the nation.

The deal that has emerged for Calgarians is spectacularly good. The overall budget for this Olympics is $5.2 billion. The question is how much do Calgarians have to pay in order to get about $4.4 billion of money flowing through our economy that wouldn't otherwise come to our economy. Then of the amount of money that Calgarians would have to pay, and this is the really important question, how much of that money would be money that we would spend anyway over the next eight years on things that we know we need and that we'd prioritize and how much of that money would be stuff that we wouldn't otherwise prioritize or worse-case scenario would be more throwaway money? For me, that sort of nonessential spend, that stuff that we wouldn't spend if it wasn't for the Olympics, my number in my mind in order to get $4.4 billion was somewhere between $100 and $200 million. I am asking us to pursue a $5.2 billion Olympics because I think that that will be an opportunity to get more things that we need. A new arena, I think that that would be a much easy thing to achieve if the entire world was coming to Calgary, transit from downtown to the airport, mass transit.

One of my big, big dreams is that we're able to build a passenger rail that connects us to our hinterland in a much more sustainable, environmentally friendly and world class way. A passenger rail from here to Bev to Lake Louise. That would make this place amazing and I think that that's something that we will be able to achieve with something like the 2026 Olympic games coming to Calgary. An improved urban public rail throughout Calgary. These are things that we will be able to pursue, both with public and private dollars, if we have this. It's something we're going to pursue anyway, but the question is does the games curtail our ability to go after these things or does it enhance our ability?

I fundamentally believe it enhances our ability and it builds a whole ton of things that we need to refurbish and build new in the first place. You've heard the field house, the largest single investment in affordable housing in the city's history are both new things that we would get and the 11 venues that made Calgary the center for winter sports, the most successful Olympic legacy in the history of the games all integral to the bid right now and we have the ability to go after more. That is the city building capabilities of this is what really gets me enthusiastic given that we have such a good financial deal. Then, there's legacy side of things. Outside of sitting building, we are Calgary and we're not the same place that we were in '88.

2. The Legacy

We can really celebrate what we are today, a commitment to our amazing pluralism as Canadians, as Calgarians, a deep commitment to truth and reconciliation, to accessibility, to gender equity, all of the things that set us apart in the sweep in human history as an amazing place, time and people, to live and to work and to build community together. We can tell the world that story and we can enhance it together. The arts and cultural side of it. The Olympics are very much about creating an enhanced legacy of who and what we are moving forward into the future. Does it do that? No, it doesn't do that by itself, but it's a multiplier. It's a leverage machine that allows us to sort of focus and have those great conversations and it's very important for you to ask yourself what is the kind of place that we ideally want to be and become and can this investment and this focus help us get there?

3. The Spotlight

What I hear from all of these amazing business people, these entrepreneurs is that when they go out to the world to sell Calgary to potential workers, it's hard to sell Calgary. They're selling Canada. That's great, but we also want the world to be aware of us and putting a spotlight like the Olympics on us is a very, very helpful tool in getting there. Much more importantly than attracting talent is attracting capital. When they go out and talk to venture capitalists, a lot of them say "Why Calgary? Where is Calgary?" My mission is to get to a point where people aren't asking that question, where people are like "Of course Calgary." The question that you have to ask yourself is does the Olympics help us do that?

I believe it does. Every single one of these business people believes that it does. When you go to the polls, ask yourself about the economics. It's undeniably a good deal, whether it's a 10 to one, whether all of those, every one dollar we put in, whether we get to stick $10 here that wouldn't have come anyway. I'm not going to argue about that, but it is a tremendous opportunity and it's a great deal financially and we can build off of that and we know we will bring the capital projects in on time, on budget, and we'll leverage for more stuff. If you're cool with that vote, yes. If you think that we can leverage, vote yes. Think about the legacy and think about the role the Olympics can and should and ideally will play in shaping our legacy.

Use that to structure your vote. I'm voting yes for all of those reasons. Think about as we transition our economy historically, this is a big shift in time in our economy, will this international spotlight help or hurt us? It will definitely help us. Please vote yes for that reason as well.

Get to the polls. You can check out where your polling station is at vote2018.calgary.ca. The main vote is November 13. You will need proof of Canadian citizenship. You need to be 18-years-old. You have to have been in Calgary since May 13 and a resident of the city on voting day. You need to provide one piece of authorized ID.

If you're a yes vote, please talk to your friends, inform your relatives, your community. Get as many people to the polls as possible. This is a very important decision for our city's future and I encourage you to get very much involved in driving this forward for a yes, so we can ink this deal and we can put the world spotlight on us for the next eight years. Thank you. Gian-Carlo Carra signing out.

Strengthening and Transforming Local Governance in Neighbourhoods | May 18, 2018

Published on May 18, 2018

With files from David Coroux

In my Great Neighbourhoods platform, I suggest that neighbourhoods are not just places, but are people. When we talk about people, what we have traditionally thought about were the people who live there. In reality communities are much more complex than that; they are the people who live there, but they are also the businesses and institutions that share and shape that space. When I talk about community institutions, I mean everything from schools, churches, mosques and temples, to not-for-profits, and of course, community associations and other organized community groups.

Where we've been, where we are, and where we want to go

If you look at the history of our neighbourhoods they have changed; sometimes physically, sometimes demographically.  A great neighborhood is a place where everyone comes together, talks about where they have come from, talks about where they are, and then drives the change that makes the most sense for their community, rather than reacting to it.  

There has always been a general tension between community associations, residents associations, and some organized groups which operate outside of the two that has led to the recognition that we are not as collaborative as we can and should be.

With that, the Community Representation Framework Task Force was born to get people representing different interests in a room, hash things out, and then propose a better way forward.

While there has been quite a bit of mischaracterization of the process that has led to unwarranted fear being spread about the future of community associations, I want to assure folks that as a sitting member of the taskforce, I am excited about where we are, and also excited to engage all of our communities. I believe all of these groups need to be able to come together, be supported by The City, and given the capacity and appropriate level of decision making authority. We have a good process now, but it could be better, and that's what this work is about.

I'd like to take this opportunity to give you an update on where we are and what's next in this process. 

Where are we now and what are the next steps?

Phase 1 Engagement (completed) - summary

The first phase of engagement for the Community Representation Framework wrapped up at the end of April. The intent of the first phase of engagement with community members was to understand where community members and community associations currently are and to understand the current state of affairs o get an initial idea of the opportunities and challenges in including diverse perspectives in the review of planning applications.

More than 200 surveys were completed, with input from 97 community associations from all around Calgary, as well as several of business improvement area groups, resident’s associations and other community organizations. If you who took the time to participate and complete the survey, thank you very much. Two ‘What we Heard’ reports will be added to the Community Representation Framework webpage soon, under the ‘Links’ tab.

 Phase 2 Engagement - purpose and structure

The information gathered from the first round of engagement helps the Task Force better understand the current state of community representation in Calgary and your views about the feasibility of a district forum approach. This was an important step that will allow us to design the tables and questions you will be work on during the second phase workshops.

During those workshops, participants will have an opportunity to explore and work through different thoughts of what was gathered through the first phase of engagement. This is a complex topic and we need representatives from all organizations to come and work collectively with other members of community to generate ideas, discuss opportunities and problem solve in a collaborative environment with workshops running from June 5 to June 14. 

If you're organization has not yet received the invitation, please contact David Couroux at  dcouroux@calgary.ca for more information to get involved.

Next steps 

When all of the workshops are completed a final report will be created on everything we heard.

This will be available on the project website, and that information will be used by the Community Representation Framework Task Force as they prepare to make recommendations to City Council later this year in 2018.

If you're looking for more background, please read the Community Representation Framework Information Brief  and the two ‘What we Heard’ reports that will be coming soon, under the ‘Links’ tab on the Community Representation Framework webpage.

Conclusion

I am proud to be part of this work, unafraid of tackling our challenges in an uncertain future, and excited to direct that change to make our neighbourhoods the best they can be.

I look forward to working with people dedicated to the best possible future of Calgary and ensuring that we create neighbourhoods that thrive and are prosperous for a long time.

What the 2018 Budget Means for Calgary | Nov 28, 2017

Today Calgary City Council is in the middle of our week-long budget deliberations. This budget is the last of the four-year budget, the 2015-2018 Action Plan, that we started one year into the last term and so it carried over into this one.

In January 2018, City Council and City Administration will begin the year-long process of establishing the next four-year business plan and budget cycle, that will be called One Calgary. I'm really looking forward to working with Calgarians in general, and Ward 9’s East Calgary communities specifically, on that. We're going to do very deep and meaningful engagement and we're setting ourselves up to be in a position to take the Great Neighborhood's transformation to the next level.

Getting back to the budget before us, this 2018 budget was a really difficult one. City Council gave City Administration some very tough marching orders. We directed them to reduce taxes and increase services (this is the kind of balancing act you can only perform when you're in the middle of transforming the organization).

I think we're striking that balance well. This year we're looking at putting almost $2 billion of capital work into the economy, building the city that we need and keeping Calgarians employed.

This budget balances that direction pretty well. One important feature of this 2018 budget is that the City of Calgary will be using $23 million of tax room to pay for the financing fees for the Green Line, making this historic project in connectivity and city building even more viable.

Another important aspect of the 2018 budget is something that City Council has heard prior to, and during the last election - safety, safety, safety. This year, the Calgary Police Service is asking for $20 million to increase their ability to serve us in this downturn in the economy, whose effects have been exacerbated by this fentanyl-driven crime wave. I'm very supportive of this ask from the Calgary Police Service and I expect Council will support that as well.

Lastly, another significant add-on in this 2018 budget is $4 million to maintain our soberingly and amazingly successful low-income bus fare project. What City Council learned is that there are many more citizens in Calgary who need the low-income bus fare program that we planned for. While this is a provincial responsibility, the City of Calgary cannot and should not deny mobility and access to the users of this program. We will be pursuing the province for them to pay their appropriate portion of this program in the very near term.  

The discussions from City Council that is emerging is very interesting and I look forward to hearing and participating in the debate that is soon to come.  We’ve had a lot of thoughtful insight, and a lot of that thoughtfulness is translating into what we're going to be doing over the next four years.

As the last budget in the 2015-2018 Action Plan, City Council is dealing with the downturn of the economy, and I will be looking towards ensuring a budget that puts the Calgarians, Calgary businesses, organizations, and institutions in a position where we are coiled and prepared to move forward into years of growth and prosperity over the next four years.

Gender, Equity, and Diversity at the City of Calgary | July 21, 2017

On Monday, July 24, Gian-Carlo will be bringing forward an incredibly important Notice of Motion on Gender Equity and Diversity at the City of Calgary. 

This Notice of Motion is twofold.

First, it requests that the City of Calgary join the Diverse Voices for Change initiative facilitated by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which works to increase the number of women from diverse backgrounds participating in local government, leadership roles and decision-making positions. 

Second, it directs Administration to work with Council to better understand how we can advance the profile and awareness of gender equity and diversity in our communities, on all City of Calgary Boards, Commissions, Committees and Council, and within The City's workforce. 

Calgarians Love Their Rivers - Update on the River Access Strategy | Feb 7, 2017

Calgarians want a healthy, vibrant and sustainable river culture and many are concerned about how they can get in, and out, of our rivers safely.

Last year, Gian-Carlo and Councillor Shane Keating put forward a Notice of Motion requesting that a policy report and implementation plan to address river access be completed by the end of the first quarter in 2017. 

On February 1, 2017, Administration presented their report to the Standing Policy Committee on Community and Protective Services (CPS). The Calgary River Access Strategy recommends several significant short-term moves to access our rivers is a more meaningful way.

These recommendations include:

• Create more drift boat access (these are essential for the fishing community)

• Create more formalized access for people carrying their boats into the rivers (i.e. kayaks, rafts, etc.)

• Look to improve economic opportunities and access along the rivers. 

Both the public and CPS demonstrated support for the River Access Strategy. Next it will go to Council for final approval. 

The World Needs More Canada (& Calgary) | Feb 1, 2017

Calgarians have been divided around the idea of hosting another Olympic Games. On the one hand, those who oppose Calgary putting forward a bid for 2026 believe that the Olympics have become a deeply corrupt organization that costs a tremendous amount of money with little return for the hosting city. On the other hand, many reflect on the success of the 1988 Winter Games and the spirit of volunteerism and pride that showcased our incredible city in this stunning part of the world. 

On January 23 at a Regular Meeting of Council, City of Calgary Administration presented an update on the work of the Olympic Bid Exploration Committee. This issue will be coming back to Council in June 2017 with Administration's recommendations on the outcome of the Olympic Bid Committee's work. It is at that point that Council will be making a decision as to whether they should pursue the Olympic bid or not. 

Though the concerns expressed by many Calgarians around putting forward a bid to host the 2026 Winter Games are compelling, we also have an opportunity to prove to the world what good government, an amazing business community and an incredible natural environment can do for the Olympics. At the end of the day, the Olympics need Calgary more than Calgary needs the Olympics. 

Tax Update - How We're Helping Our Business Community | January 26, 2017

On January 23, 2017, City Council decided to endorse the Municipal Non-Residential Phased Tax Program,  which will dramatically help ease the tax burden for Calgary businesses  during this economic downturn. 

This program has been given $45 million in funding to limit the increase in municipal non-residential property taxes to 5% in 2017. This means that any business facing an increase in the municipal portion of their non-residential property tax will not have to pay an increase of  more than 5%. Property taxes will be finalized later in the year, after the Government of Alberta approves its budget and the 2017 provincial property tax requisition in the spring. 

There is no application process required for this program. It is a one-year program and will not affect the provincial portion of non-residential property taxes or the business tax. 

Did you know?

• Ward 9 is the second largest economic engine outside of the downtown core. As a result of the downturn in the economy, many of the Ward 9 businesses have been picking up the 'tax slack' created by the lower downtown office vacancy. 

• During the Mid-Cycle Adjustments,  Council approved a $183 million in benefits to help Calgarians. This included: 

  • $73 million in tax relief 

  • $66 million in user fess/utility rate freezes 

  • $9 million in targeted initiatives

  • $35 million in lower revenue (absorbed) 

• Through Mid-Cycle Adjustments, Council also approved $42 million in capital investment to help spur economic growth and diversification, maximize investments to create jobs, build and maintain needed municipal infrastructure, and attract and retain people, business and investment to Calgary. 

Property tax bills will be mailed in May and are due June 30, 2017. 

How Can the Land Use Bylaw Create ore Space for Child Care Services in our City? | March 10, 2016

On Monday, March 14th Gian-Carlo is putting forward a Child Care Notice of Motion requesting that Administration review all the City of Calgary owned buildings, and future buildings, where child care services are not allowed and look at what it would take to make child care services legal within these buildings. 

Allowing for more child care services in city owned buildings, including social housing and offices, could have a significant impact on families in Calgary and help work toward our mission of Great Neighbourhoods.