Achi news desk-
Ward 13 Cllr. Dan McLean accuses a third-party advertiser of “whipping votes” in favor of RC-G’s proposed rezoning bylaw.
In a scrum Thursday afternoon, McLean accused Future Calgary of being a political party trying to influence votes on city council.
Currently, neighborhoods in Calgary are zoned to allow single-family homes only by default.
A public hearing is currently being held with around 181 panels due to speak and is expected to last all week.
Calgary’s Future, a registered third-party advertiser on the City of Calgary website, endorsed Mayor Jyoti Gondek and councilors Sonya Sharp, Jennifer Wyness, Gian-Carlo Carra, Courtney Walcott, Raj Dhaliwal, Evan Spencer and Jasmine Mian during the 2021 municipal election after the group raised more than $1 million in donations.
McLean said the group’s director had been watching the hearing and believed the group was trying to influence the vote.
“So today, in the back corner of the public hearing, there is what I consider to be a party whip from the leader of Calgary’s Future union. It’s here every time there’s a public hearing,” McLean said.
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“Calgary’s Future themselves have come out with posts saying they are basically whipping their candidates to vote the way they want them to. So parties already exist, let’s not be naive.”
This charge comes after the Alberta government introduced proposed changes to the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act on Thursday, which would enable political parties at the local level if passed. However, a candidate is not required to join a political party in order to run for office.
The province said political parties will be enabled in a pilot project for Edmonton and Calgary.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek said she was not aware of any third party advertisers trying to influence votes from councillors.
“I don’t know where he gets this information from. It is certainly not something that has come across my sight,” he said.
Alexander Shevalier, president of Calgary’s Future, said the organization is not a political party and has not “whipped” any votes related to the proposed rezoning bylaw. He said Calgary’s Future encouraged members to reach out to councilors and share their thoughts on the proposed bylaw.
Shevalier added that although Calgary’s Future endorsed several councilors in the last election, he does not know who the organization will endorse for the 2025 municipal election. Each of the councilors they endorsed have different views on different issues , with whom the organization sometimes disagrees.
“We encourage people to get involved,” he said. “We support the RC-G (rezoning bylaw) because there are a lot of people who are being left out of this conversation. I can’t talk anyone into voting in any way because they will vote where they feel it’s balanced.”
Ward 8 Cllr. Courtney Walcott called McLean’s accusations “ridiculous.”
“Most of this conversation that I’m hearing from a lot of my colleagues is based on a lot of conspiracy theories about who’s whipping up votes and what’s not,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Ward 11 Cllr. Kourtney Penner said McLean accused her and other Calgary’s Future-endorsed councilors of not having an “independent mind” when it comes to the RC-G redistricting debate.
“I think that’s an insinuation from my fellow councilor McLean that none of us have thought independently about this, and none of us act with independent thought. So, yes, that is quite incriminating,” he said.
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