***Correction: The original version of this story indicated councillor Farkas had requested an in-camera meeting to discuss the bus barns document. The Ward 11 councillor's motion was to reconsider the previous decision to make the document confidential***
Details regarding the potential cost of moving Calgary Transit’s Victoria Park garage were recently discussed in secret by city council but surfaced in media reports. Now, Mayor Nenshi is looking to determine who is responsible for the leak.
The relocation of the bus barns would be done to accommodate plans for an athletes village should Calgary issue a hosting bid, and be granted, the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and were the topic of discussion in an in-camera meeting.
Nenshi says the secrecy of the meeting was due to sensitive information regarding negotiating strategy for Olympic funding with the provincial and federal governments but there was discussion of redacting the sensitive information and releasing the rest of the details .
The mayor has requested the City’s integrity commissioner reviewing all emails and text messages sent from the personal and city-owned phones of the members of council.
“The real issue is that if a member of council conducts what, essentially, is an illegal act, than I have no choice as the chair of the council but to investigate that,” explained Nenshi.
“It’s very clear that council passed a motion not to do it and somebody did.”
The barns, located in an area just west of the Elbow River, north of Stampede Park and south of 9 Avenue Southeast, are expected to be demolished at a future date as part of the residential development of the Rivers District Master Plan.
While some councillors support the investigation, others say it’s distracting from the real issue at hand – the potential cost to Calgarians of hosting the 2026 Games.
“What really bothers me is that all the shenanigans really just muddies the water and Calgarians deserve to know what the actual costs are,” said Ward 11 councillor Jeromy Farkas.
Farkas, who has championed for a reduction in the number of in-camera meetings by council, requested on Monday morning that council reconsider its decision to keep the bus barns document confidential but his motion was defeated 12-3. Councillors Chu, Farkas and Magliocca voted in favour of the meeting.
The Ward 11 councillor says was not the one who improperly shared the bus barn details. “Categorically, No. I deny leaking these documents,” said Farkas. “I commit to complying with any investigation, if it occurs, but after a certain point you have to push back against this culture of secrecy.”
Nenshi says he expects the details regarding the potential cost of moving the bus barns will be publicly released in the near future and, to his knowledge, it is the only major potential expense that has not been fully disclosed to the public.
With files from CTV’s Shaun Frenette
