McLean accuses Calgary third-party advertiser of ‘whipping votes’ in favour of rezoning bylaw

Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean is accusing a third-party advertiser of “whipping votes” in favour of the proposed RC-G rezoning bylaw.

At a scrum on Thursday afternoon, McLean accused Calgary’s Future of being a political party trying to influence votes on city council.

Currently, neighbourhoods in Calgary are zoned to only allow single-family homes by default.

A public hearing is currently being held with around 181 panels scheduled to speak and is expected to last all week.

Calgary’s Future, a registered third-party advertiser on the City of Calgary’s website, endorsed Mayor Jyoti Gondek and councillors Sonya Sharp, Jennifer Wyness, Gian-Carlo Carra, Courtney Walcott, Raj Dhaliwal, Evan Spencer and Jasmine Mian during the 2021 municipal election after the group raised more than $1 million in donations.

McLean said the group’s director has been watching the hearing and believes the group is trying to influence the vote.

“So today, in the back corner of the public hearing, there is what I consider a party whip from the Calgary’s Future union leader. He is here every time there is a public hearing,” McLean said.

“Calgary’s Future themselves have come out with posts saying they are basically whipping their candidates to vote the way they want them to. So parties exist already, let’s not be naive.”

This accusation comes after the Alberta government introduced proposed changes to the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act on Thursday, which would enable political parties at the local levels if passed. However, a candidate is not required to join a political party in order to run for office.

The province said political parties will be enabled in a pilot project for Edmonton and Calgary.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek said she isn’t aware of any third-party advertiser that is trying to influence votes from councillors.

“I don’t know where he’s getting this information from. It’s certainly not something that’s come across my line of sight,” she said.

Alexander Shevalier, president of Calgary’s Future, said the organization is not a political party and he has not “whipped” any votes related to the proposed rezoning bylaw. He said Calgary’s Future has encouraged members to reach out to councillors and share their opinions on the proposed bylaw.

Shevalier added that while Calgary’s Future endorsed several councillors in the last election, he doesn’t know who the organization will endorse for the 2025 municipal election. The councillors they endorsed all have different opinions on different issues, which the organization sometimes disagrees with.

“We encourage people to participate,” he said. “We’re supporting the RC-G (rezoning bylaw) because there’s a lot of people who are left out of this conversation. I cannot talk with anybody to vote in any way because they will vote where they feel is balanced.”

Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott called McLean’s accusations “humorous.”

“Most of this conversation that I’m hearing from a lot of my colleagues are based on a lot of conspiracy theories about who’s whipping votes and whatnot,” he told reporters Thursday.

Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner said McLean is accusing her and other Calgary’s Future-endorsed councillors of not having “independent thought” when it comes to the RC-G rezoning debate.

“I think that’s an insinuation from my colleague councillor McLean that none of us entered this with independent thought, and none of us operate with independent thought. So, yeah, that’s pretty accusatory,” she said.