A Calgary city councillor was crying foul after an attempt was made to move his proposal about the Olympics off the council agenda and to a committee meeting in late August.
Sean Chu is one of three councillors concerned that Calgary 2026 — the so called Bid Corporation — doesn’t fall under Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP).
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“We’re talking about more than $4.6 billion. Do you think the public has the right to know? Do you think the public expects all councillors to be here to talk about their future, how much we don’t even know?”
Chu’s motion is to ask the federal and provincial governments to change the act to make Calgary 2026 fall under the legislation in the interest of transparency.
Evan Woolley wanted the item off the council agenda, saying it was a case of political grandstanding.
“This was a gas-lighting proposal that I don’t think was meant to further our openness and transparency.
“We’ve worked, and I have personally worked incredibly hard to do that, so I find motions like this to be of great disrespect to our administration as well as council’s time.”
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Woolley chairs city council’s 2026 Winter and Paralympics Assessment and wanted the matter put to a meeting on Aug. 21 but that failed on an 8-6 vote.
The issue will be back for debate later in council’s agenda, either Monday or Tuesday.