Mayor Jyoti Gondek insists Trudeau’s $228.5 million had nothing to do with citywide rezoning
To quote the legendary John Lennon: “All I want is the truth, just gimme some truth.”
The day starts at Calgary city council where Dan McLean, the councillor who is one tough cookie on the citywide rezoning file, wants a simple answer to a simple question.
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There was supposed to be a no-holds-barred chinwag on whether city council would have lost some or all of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s $228.5 million to the city of Calgary if they’d voted No on citywide rezoning.
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That was put off until next month.
McLean was left with only being able to ask the city’s chief operating officer the Yes or No question.
If council voted No to city rezoning would the city have lost some or all of the Trudeau money?
Yes or No.
The city big shot answers.
“Perhaps I’ll start by …” Here we go.
McLean says a Yes or No answer is fine.
Gian-Carlo Carra, a councillor well known to readers, jumps in and says McLean’s question is not a Yes or No question.
Enter Mayor Jyoti Gondek.
“In fact, Coun. McLean, you have asked a question to which you want a Yes or No answer. However, it sounds like the chief operating officer is trying to tell you why it’s not.”
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The city hall big shot, a man by the name of Stuart Dalgleish, takes us on a journey.
Hang on.
He says if council did not approve the rezoning the final payment out of the $228.5 million “may be impacted” if city council could not achieve the “housing supply growth targets.”
Hang on. We’re almost there. We’re getting to Gondek.
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“Nothing in the agreement will fetter the discretion of council as to future decisions” and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has an “openness to flexibility in assessing the city’s progress on the implementation of the initiative.”
Any lawyers in the house?
McLean still wants a Yes or No to take back to the people of south Calgary who elected him.
Gondek tells McLean: “He’s given you the response he feels he can give you.”
“I was looking for clarity and that wasn’t very clear,” says McLean.
At the noon-hour breaker Gondek lays out her position.
The mayor says the city applied for Trudeau dough last year identifying several ways they could deliver on 41,000 housing units.
The Trudeau government doled out $228.5 million to the city tied to the delivery of 41,000 housing units using the various tools the city indicated within their application.
One thing the city indicated was they “would attempt to do a zoning change.”
Within that contract, continues Gondek, “it says we will undertake to do rezoning.”
It also says “council is unfettered by this contract to make the decisions it must make.”
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So, Gondek concludes, “we did not say in that contract we would do the rezoning.”
On Tuesday, three councillors sent a confidential letter to the city auditor asking for an investigation by the city whistleblower program.
The three councillors are McLean and Sonya Sharp and Andre Chabot.
They want to find out what went on between the Trudeau government, the mayor and councillors and the city higher-ups.
How does Gondek feel about the probe?
The mayor says she has no idea what the councillors want investigated.
She calls it “an interesting concept.”
Then she says: “I’ve got absolutely nothing to hide.”
Gondek also goes after Sharp, the councillor who talked about what could happen if there was wrongdoing and Calgarians were misled by the mayor or senior city hall administration about what was behind the city rezoning decision.
“If heads need to roll, heads need to roll,” said Sharp.
Gondek weighs in.
“What I will say is when you use words like ‘heads will roll’ and you’re talking about administration, you need to be pretty careful about the threats you’re putting out.”
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Then there’s Evan Spencer, the southeast Calgary councillor who was seen as a maybe Yes or maybe No vote on citywide rezoning.
Spencer says he’s “not a particular fan on how we met that decision point” on rezoning.
He says it left a lot to be desired and “was not a comfortable conversation for Calgarians.”
“It became the lightning rod for a much wider sense of frustration in this community.”
But Spencer doesn’t want people to “quickly jump to the assumption that all these decisions were made without their best interests in mind.”
In the end, Spencer voted Yes to citywide rezoning.
The day ends with McLean still in the dark.
The councillor soldiers on.
“It’s a big deal. People want to know more. That’s what the people want so that’s what they should have.
“Let’s shine a light on things. That’s kind of what democracy is all about, right?”
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