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Calgary city council recently rejected holding a plebiscite on rezoning by a vote of 8 to 6. During the discussion, a comment was apparently made that councillors were elected to govern. Rezoning to allow densification of the entire city is not a normal operations issue and is outside any mandate the voters gave them. Also of concern is to hear the stated intention to not change city green spaces while still including them for rezoning.
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Several opinions supporting the changes have appeared since the vote while not offering any information on the writer’s housing situation.
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I live in a single-family home in a community of single-family homes. Ours is a larger home backing onto a large city park. A case of nimbyism? Of course. That is why the home was purchased 35 years ago.
A plebiscite is clearly required before proceeding.
If it is to be part of the next civic election, every candidate should be expected to clearly declare their position.
Alan Holt, Calgary
Expensive homes can’t solve shortage
The problem with the introduction of multiplex houses into R1 zones is that it does very little in terms of affordability because their building costs run between $250 and $300 per square foot (plus land cost).
Therefore, those who are in a homeless situation are highly unlikely to benefit from the city’s proposed action. The solution would be building government-subsidized houses linked to social agencies that will help people climb out of a downward spiral. This will require money and lots of it.
But, as one letter writer mentioned, we are spending billions on an effort to reduce the world temperature on a scale that cannot even be measured. There is an alternative.
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We’re waiting for our governments to make the right moral choices: what is more important, being a poster child for the WEF/COP28 or allowing people the dignity they deserve?
Theo van Besouw, Calgary
PM is wrong: Canada is leading on emissions reduction
The PM said ‘not a chance’ to removing the emissions cap. His reasoning is that global investors are looking to invest in decarbonization projects as the world demands lower carbon barrels.
I would venture to say that none of the top 10 countries (U.S., Russia, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iraq, China, UAE, Brazil, Iran, Kuwait) that produce 60 million barrels a day have anything close to the emissions, environmental or social standards of Alberta and Canada. We already have projects to lower emissions in the planning stage.
What are the other countries doing specifically? Are we really the laggard that our PM suggests?
Please provide us with your spreadsheet of projects and policies for the top 10 countries, and we will then all have a common data set as a reference document.
Not a chance.
Brian McConaghy, Foothills County
Power shortage raises questions
How odd that there were brownouts during a period of relatively low usage, when there was no reason to believe it would produce any serious problems but would be inconvenient.
Immediately, Premier Danielle Smith told us how deficient the renewable energy production system was — witness the brownouts.
How naive does the UCP think Albertans are? It was a made-up emergency to prove a point.
There was no blackout, just a way to allow the premier to condemn renewable energy.
Gilles Danis, Drumheller
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