Bell: Trudeau oversees Calgary City Council's housing rezoning scheme

Content of the article

It just doesn't pass the smell test. Basically, the stench is getting stronger.

How much does Calgary City Hall have to dance to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's tune on rezoning and other housing issues to get $228.5 million from the federal Liberals?

Content of the article

Many Calgarians, including city councillors, believe Calgary needs to fall in line with the federal Liberals to get Trudeau's dough.

Content of the article

Topic. Fed awards Mississauga $113 million for allowing four plexes.

Local politicians voted it down, but then turned around and gave the green light, allowing four-unit housing anywhere in the city to receive Trudeau money.

The city of Windsor, Ontario, didn't buy what Trudeau was selling and said four units per lot was the minimum to get dough without requiring a public hearing.

They did not budge and failed. They got zero from Trudeau.

Halifax held a public hearing Wednesday on their zoning changes, and the local press even called them the “Housing Acceleration Fund's Proposed Zoning Changes.”

This fund is Trudeau dough.

And let's not forget that on Sept. 14 last year in Calgary, Trudeau's housing bully, Sean Fraser, sent a letter to Mayor Jyoti Gondek.

Fraser wrote how excited he was that Calgary would legalize “much-needed middle-of-the-road housing such as four-block multiplexes.”

Trudeau's top housing man tells Gondek he needs to rezone Calgary to get the money.

“You need to stop special zoning in your city,” Fraser wrote.

Then there was Frazier's tweet at X in March of this year.

The article is published. Federal housing funds are not necessarily tied to urban-wide rezoning, the Calgary Planning Commission says.

What did Fraser do?

He tweeted the article and wrote the following remark.

“If Calgary or any other city doesn't meet the conditions they agreed to, we will stop funding under the agreement.”

You can't get much clearer than that.

Content of the article

Content of the article

But Gondek says there is no connection to Trudeau's money. The city says there are no brass bands.

Why don't the people going through the city's redevelopment want Calgarians to think Trudeau's dough is in the shadows?

Because it's Trudeau.

Calgary City Council is following Trudeau's proposal. It's just not a good topic. A majority of City Council would have faced even more blowback from Calgarians.

It seems like it's time to get a fuller explanation of the relationship between federal Liberal millionaires and the federal Liberals in approving redistricting and making other housing decisions.

A detailed explanation from the top of the city, with an opportunity to ask any and all questions to council members.

After all, what is it?

The City Hall website has a summary of Trudeau's action plan for housing dollars.

What's this?

“The city will rezone Calgary's single residential areas to allow for multiplexes” and “help open up missing infill projects such as high-end homes and townhouses.”

At a City Council committee gabfest Wednesday, someone from City Hall tried to explain Trudeau's cash.

Content of the article

He basically gave a summary of the action plan you read. It talks about rezoning the city as a whole and “increasing the development of underserved middle class housing.”

You know, row houses and townhouses.

Later in the meeting, on the issue of city taxpayers cashing in on the development of the second suites, councilor Dan MacLean asked what would happen to Trudeau's dollars if the plan wasn't approved.

“Any commitment we don't meet could put the fourth funding in jeopardy,” says someone in the city hall.

That's $57 million from Trudeau.

McLean's response?

“So there are ways.” Threads for federal coin, hoops for jumping.

The state is called by the person who paid the piper.

Wednesday was a drone-a-thon about Calgary's housing plans.

In a housing crisis, you expect clear goals, firm commitments, and direct communication.

Hit all three and they're out.

The city's planning chief is gone in six weeks, but City Hall is hiring a $213,000-a-year Housing Authority CEO and, if past behavior is a good indicator of future decisions, will be another ideological true-believer pick.

Content of the article

One of the qualifications. Well-developed political and organizational sensitivity. What does this mean?

It's clear that a few old-school bureaucrats are trying to work their way into Calgary City Hall. They were replaced by people who spoke as if they were on a mission. This is where pride comes from. This is where the reluctance to listen comes from.

Their job is to convert you to the cause, a nebulous fake script written in a language far removed from plain English to make it sound much deeper than it already is.

The meeting ends. Where Trudeau fits into all of this is more confusion than ever.

Question.

If this were in the court of public opinion, where would the jury sit?

[email protected]

Content of the article