Change to remote council participation rule approved by Calgary city councillors

City councilors have approved new rules for remote meeting attendance with a slight tweak to allow current and future Calgary City Council members more flexibility.

On February 13, at the meeting of the Executive Committee of the city council, changes were made to the procedural charter of the city and the code of conduct of council members.

Bylaw revisions requested that councilors make every effort to attend council and committee meetings in person, unless there is an urgent personal or medical issue or the councilor is out of town.

Dr. Emily Laidlaw, ethics consultant for the City of Calgary, said the new rules were not developed specifically because of the integrity commissioner's report to District 13. Dan McLean's attendance at the golf tournament and teleconference during the public hearing.

He said it had been a problem for more than 18 months, despite several attempts to resolve the ambiguity surrounding remote participation.

“Once remote participation became available, it was sometimes chosen by councilors not because remote participation was required, but because they chose to,” he said.

“So the council chambers are always missing a few people and sometimes it's empty.”

3rd district. Jasmine Mian proposed an amendment to the proposed rule changes, which would essentially allow a member to qualify based on grounds protected by the Alberta Human Rights Act. Alleged accommodation must be disclosed to the Ethics Counselor.

“I appreciate that more fences are needed for council members to work remotely, but the writing of these rules is too restrictive, or at least the public interpretation of them is too restrictive,” Mian said.

“Councillors must be representative of the public we serve and to ensure equal access to this role we must allow telecommuting in certain circumstances.”

Counselor is not a branch of Mian

Number. According to Mian, the world has changed, and so has the way council is run. He said it's important to recognize that there are many circumstances that allow for reasonable access to telecommuting.

As a new mother, she said the city council always risks ensuring a caregiving dynamic if she has to work remotely.

“I think we need to allow mothers and fathers, society and the future to see the dynamics of care a little more fairly,” she said.

“Since being asked to continue working remotely, I have received considerable criticism online and on radio call-in shows that I should have taken bed rest. And if elected officials take a vacation, they are criticized for not voting on behalf of their constituents. If we bring our children into the ward, we will be criticized for breaking them, and if you decide not to have children, you will be asked at the doors: “How can you understand what the world is like for families? ?' We just can't win.”

11th district. Courtney Penner, who led the grassroots movement, said work-life balance is evolving.

“When I look at these council chambers, we don't have many parents. We have people taking care of their grandchildren, they have partners who may have health issues,” she said.

“We have people who have foster parents, who have foster grandparents, so we're representative of the population, so we're human sometimes and we go. work should be missed.'

He said they try to be there in person to talk about issues that are important to Calgarians.

The matter will be brought to the full Calgary City Council meeting where it can be discussed again and amended.