Calgary City Issues ｜ Calgary Ward 1 councillor Sonya Sharp chat with Cory.
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Summary
In this episode, Councillor Dan Sharp joins me to talk about his experience on the Calgary City Council and what it's like to serve as a councillor in a city where there are 14 new Councillors and a new mayor.
Transcript
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Well, thank you very much for coming on the show, Councillor Sharp. I've been looking forward to
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talking to you for quite some time. It's such a huge turnover in the Calgary City Council and
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Mayor. We don't see that very often. This is more of a once in a decade sort of thing. And
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admittedly, there were some concerns about perhaps, you know, it seemed almost as if there
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was a slate or an unofficial party of councillors. But among them, I mean, you've proven yourself to
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be quite an independent thinker and standing up for yourself. You're not, you're not obviously
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not acting as a part of any group. So that's to be respected. And I really been looking forward to
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the chance to chat with you about that. Great. Well, thanks for having me. I really appreciate
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being here today. So, I mean, it's quite a learning curve. I mean, and a huge thing, I guess, at least
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a bit of a disadvantage in coming into such a new council with so many new faces, though there were
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a couple of veterans who came back. I guess just in your experience in this last, you know, you're
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almost halfway through your first year. In a nutshell, how's it been going for you?
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You know, things have been really, I would say, like, things have been going great. You know,
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I came into this job, this role with, I would say, a wealth of experience of dealing with
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municipalities in general. So having that 20 years under my belt already as a previous city
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employee, I was able to navigate the system day one. So I kind of, you know, it was nice to have
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the refreshers those first couple of weeks on orientation. But, you know, I know the system.
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I know how municipalities work. I know the city of Calgary very well. I had pre-existing relationships
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where, you know, I needed to get some work done right out of the gate. That was, you know, kind of
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easy to cross the line. But you are still learning everybody else, right? You've got, you know, 14 new
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colleagues, some with, you know, different agendas, some with similar issues that you're dealing with.
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And you still have to kind of brand yourself and make sure that you're defining who you are part of
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that 15, part of those 15 people. So, you know, my biggest thing was, you know, to represent my
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community, make sure that I'm following through with the things I talked about on the door and being
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me. That was one thing that I promised my constituents, what you see is what you get. And that's
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something that I will continue to do for the next, like, three and a half years. So far, we've been in this
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for six months. And there were some moments, right, where things are up and down. There were
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some issues, you know, personality issues, and you have to deal with that. But you need to deal with
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it the way that you would deal with the situation. How do you deescalate things amongst ourselves? And
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how do you work together? And how do you collaborate to get things across the finish line for the greater
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good? So, you know, those first, I would say, you know, three months, they're their hardest ones
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to learn different personalities and how people operate. And now we're in the like, the next three
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that we were almost hitting six months now. And some of us have really gotten to know each other
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quite well. And, and we kind of even know, like, what triggers that person, you know, and or what
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will make this person like totally collaborate. And those are those are great things. And to think
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that we're already at our almost six month mark is quite insane. Actually, I'll be honest, because
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we've done a lot of work in six months. I know my office has been extremely busy with just
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constituent stuff and everything that's going on in the city. And so I'm looking forward to what the
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rest of this year is going to bring. So great. Well, Mayor Gondek came in, I guess, with a very
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ambitious start, I guess you could say it was very quick hitting. Suddenly, there was the declaration of
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a climate emergency. And then the unexpected issue that really kind of, I think, caught a lot of people
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flat footed was the event center. And it's kind of back in the news now. So I mean, it's on again,
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off again, it seems the deal had fallen apart last fall. And now it appears that there could be some
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new life being breathed into it with some different players. I think you're one of the ones that were
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on that committee, are you not? I am on one of the ones on the committee. So there are three
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councillors out of the five that are on the committee. Myself, councillor Dan McLean and councillor
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Courtney Walcott. We also brought in Deborah Yeldon from the Calgary Chamber and Brad Perry
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from Calgary Economic Development. And so, you know, there was a deal last July, there was changes
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in council. I would say there was some, you know, background information that still needs to kind
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of be researched. There was a break in communication, a project of that scale. You know, thinking back
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now that I think back about all of this is, you know, I think council should have been kind of
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briefed at something like the scale of a new council saying this is where the project's at,
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this is where we're going. Would there have been an opportunity to stop? Maybe, you know,
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things going off the rail could have been. But I would like to say that we've dealt with that.
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And now we need to move forward. So the new council committee was struck the, well, this week,
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sorry, I'm like, I'm wondering what week it is on the eighth. And what's important here is that
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we make sure that now we work together to move forward. The event center is very critical for
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the city. It's critical for downtown. It's a, you know, it's the heart of the Rivers District.
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And so now we need to use that momentum and keep going.
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I think almost everybody would agree that something has to be done with that zone down
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there. I mean, we now have a giant zone of parking lots on the edge of a downtown that's already ailing
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and has already, you know, had challenges being a destination for people to come down and do things.
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I guess a lot of the debate though is going to be how much obligation is there on the part of the
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city of Calgary or taxpayers to participate in filling that void and how much is in the private
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mix. It's going to be quite a discussion, but we can't wait too much longer. I mean,
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Yeah. And that's a great point. So I think the, the, what we need to know, what we really need
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to do first is get the third party up and running and get that going. They will have those conversations
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with the partners and time and speed is important. You know, we do know that everything,
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everything's raising in price. So cost escalations are a big deal. But what we want to make sure is
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transparency on what is going to be taxpayers, what's going to be private funding. That was very
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transparent towards the end of the second deal. And, and really what does this mean for Calgary?
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So that is, what's really important. And so right now I don't have all those answers for you,
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but that is something that we hope to get to sooner than later.
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So Calgary downtown in general, and then I work downtown with the work from home orders listed.
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It's been nice to actually see how crowded it's gotten. It was so moribund down here for so long,
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but still there's a massive amount of downtown vacancies as well as issues of social disorder.
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I mean, that happens when an area ends up getting a lot of vacancy and issues. I mean,
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we're in a unique period of time. It's not in your, your ward, but of course everybody's got to work
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together on that sort of thing. Have you got plans or notions on initiatives to try and sort of, I guess,
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make Calgary downtown more appealing? I think both to citizens and to of course,
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commercial customers to hopefully start filling those spaces. Yeah. And so we do have a downtown
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strategy team. Um, that was, you know, uh, it's taken a couple of years to fill that team properly.
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And so they have just given that team a director. And, uh, so his name is Tom Muller and I've worked
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with Tom for many years and he's in charge of the whole downtown strategy, which is a great, uh,
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what's going to be great for this, this team to work together. And there's a lot of office to
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residential conversions and that's great. So we can start moving people downtown, get that density,
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um, of people living there, but what we really need now is the amenities. So how do we draw those
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people downtown and who's the audience? So are we looking at drawing in students? Are we looking
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and drawing families? Um, you know, this, uh, single folks. So you need to make sure you're
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crafting the downtown to the right audiences that want to live down there. Um, I know it's not really
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part of ward one, but a vibrant and sustainable downtown really does help the, the suburb,
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the suburban communities. Um, we got to get that tax base downtown so that we can look at opportunities
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out, um, you know, outside, outside of that area. And it's been struggling for a long time. We were,
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you know, um, I'm trying to think like pre pandemic, we're looking 2016, 2017, when things started to kind
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of go, you know, sideways. Um, and then, you know, we had the pandemic and it just kind of got worse.
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And I think that's what we now need to look forward and say, okay, how can we draw the right balance
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of people and amenities downtown to increase that tax base so that the rest of the city can really
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benefit from it? So, I mean, it's kind of tied into it and related, uh, you know, back to that, uh,
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area though of social disorder and challenges. And I mean, that's a, I think a multi-government level
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sort of thing. We've got mental health issues to deal with. We've got addiction issues to deal with
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and poverty issues, but it's still, it does tie into the municipal and transit.
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Uh, some LRT stations are still remaining closed. I know there's been more initiative to bring, uh,
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security and police on, but people are kind of wondering, well, how long are these facilities
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going to remain shut down? Cause it's, it feels like a bandaid solution to a bigger problem. I mean,
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it's understandable. It was out of control down there. Something had to happen quickly, but,
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uh, what's on the go to try and get things, I guess, kind of closer to normal. Cause that's what will
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draw people downtown as well, more if they feel safe when they can ride downtown and enjoy it.
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So we, we had, um, a couple of weeks ago, we had an emergency meeting, um, with transit. And so
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they offered some solutions right away, uh, to what was happening in some of the more northwest
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stations that we've seen an increase of, you know, homelessness and crime and mental health issues.
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Um, so, you know, we, and, and not just that it's gotta make sure that it's safe for everybody.
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And so we've added more officers. There was 18 graduating, uh, class that was able to jump on right
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away. I believe there's another class of new transit officers, um, going through the system
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right now. And, and this is a bigger, this is a bigger problem, right? Like the, the, the,
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the transit stuff we're seeing is just, you know, it's a, it's a piece of it all, but what we really
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need to focus on is how are we working towards our mental health strategy? How are we working
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with our provincial partners in order to make sure that there's funding to get the right resources
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in place to support what's happening? Um, you know, we had a meeting today with CPS as well.
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It's one of the areas that's, you know, got some issues happening in the community because of what's
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happening in the transit. So we have to make sure we're working together, but we, we as a city need
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to work with all levels of government to get the proper funding and resources to support our communities.
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This is really important. Um, what I would also say is that there are some of these, these train
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stations, um, they might need a little bit extra, you know, equipment. Uh, do we need turnstiles?
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Maybe do we need more cameras? Maybe, you know, we need to start looking at municipalities that are
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much larger than Calgary and learn from them. Um, I don't think I've been to a train station
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in Vancouver, um, or Toronto that you can get in without a ticket on the platform. So these are
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things we need to start reconsidering and, um, and transit's been really great. They've been really
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open to like hearing our suggestions and, you know, will it cost more money? Possibly, but these are
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the conversations council has to have in order to keep our transit and our roads safe.
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So we've got to really fundamentally focus on our priorities, uh, particularly this year,
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moving forward for the next three and understanding from the last couple of years that we're in a
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different place now will increase ridership. Um, you know, I would, you know, a lot of people think
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increased ridership is going to change everything and, you know, everything's going to go back to
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normal and we don't know that. And so I think you'd be naive to say, yeah, well, but I think we've got
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to be very cognizant. We're at a totally different time in our lives now. And the city is a different place.
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Yeah. So, uh, in talking with multiple levels, that's always been a challenge of municipalities,
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the relationship of the last administration and the, and the provincial government was
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pretty toxic. Uh, and the current one, unfortunately, at least to a degree is,
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it's been a little bit, uh, challenged to say the least, uh, when it came to things like health, uh,
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authority, who has the authority to, uh, look out, I guess, for, for, on health regulations,
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whether it's municipal or provincial, and if there's a difference of opinion, it seems to
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have been resolved for the moment, but is there been any discussion, an item that comes up
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periodically quite often is, is the pursuit of a city charter or adjustments to the municipal
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governance act. Uh, is there, are you taking part in or looking at any of those kinds of, uh,
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initiatives in the future? Um, I mean, I, I keep myself with like, I, we, we keep ourselves
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a prize of all the information. I believe, uh, this morning I heard that, you know, Minister MacGyver
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has made some, you know, surgical changes to the MGA regarding, um, just putting some,
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some positions in place for the cities not to, um, put specific health regulations on their own cities.
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But, um, you know, that's where we're sitting with that. And I'm not putting any initiatives forward
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to change the MGA at this point, um, or allowing the cities to have more power or less power.
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Um, the province has gone in to do a surgical change. That's good because if we're going to
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open up the MGA to do bigger changes, that's a whole different story. Um, there's things in
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the MGA that, you know, that's not just health, um, and, and safety there's, there's planning things
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that, that can be looked at as well. So this is something that I heard this morning that it was
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very minor, very surgical. And, um, and then we just kind of learn from that and say, does it ever have
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to change again? And, and I always think like you can, you can always go back if you need to.
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Um, it's really important to have those conversations and that relationship is really
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What about in the, the regional area of things? I'm actually living in Prittis. I'm right on
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the edge of the city, even though I work in the city and I lived in the city for, for 30 years.
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So I'm still concerned with city issues, of course, but, uh, there's been a lot of clashes again when
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it comes to, uh, uh, the metropolitan plan and some possible overriding of authority of, uh,
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municipalities, foothills, Rocky view and such, um, you're on at least, uh, one of the more
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suburban, uh, wards. Are you going to be looking into some of those issues as things go forward?
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It's been quiet, I guess, on the front of the new administration so far, but I can imagine as the
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city considers outward growth is, as is normal, we're, we're going to see some, some sparks probably
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flying pretty soon. So, so perhaps we could preemptively, preemptively avoid some of those.
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Um, so I don't sit on any of the committees with, um, that for like the, the MD of Rocky
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view or, or the, the other municipality committees at this point. Um, but there's different important
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issues, obviously bordering, um, each of the municipalities. Um, we do share, um, a very fine
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more border with the MD of Rocky view. So, I mean, I have like links Ridge, for example,
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and it's kind of split between bear spa, but bear spa is not in ward one. So there's always little
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issues that we may have to work together as a city municipality together, which is important.
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And that's again, relationship building and making sure you have that, um, you know, uh,
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those conversations at the table. But right now, what I'm really focusing on is listening to the
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constituents, um, and, and those that really do border that those lines and making sure that
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they're taking, they're being taken care of. And if there's issues happening on the MD side,
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that's affecting them, then it's my, then it's my responsibility to have that conversation with the
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MD of Rocky view. Okay. Well, I appreciate that. I think covered a lot of what I wanted to cover.
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There are a few issues you'd like to address before I let you go here.
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No, I, I mean, I think this has been a great opportunity to have a conversation and, uh,
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I would say there's a lot more to come for sure in the next three and a half years. So happy to
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come on the show again, uh, one day, Corey, thank you so much.
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Excellent. Thank you. That's part of why I wanted to stay a little broad. I'm hoping to talk to you
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again in the future as we get specific issues and things like that, but just to get a feel with a new
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counselor on where you're going and what you're looking to do. But as I said, so far, I, you know,
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I'm not out for, for plain flattery, but it's just good to see that you've been looking at issues
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broadly, it seems, and you're your own person, which is, uh, really, uh, appreciated and not
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always the case in city hall. So, uh, thanks and thanks for coming on. And I hope we talk again soon.