Summary#

Calgary City Council passed Bylaw 15M2026 at third reading on March 31, 2026. It amends the Councillors’ Budgets and Expenses Bylaw, 36M2021. City staff say the changes aim to keep councillor expense rules aligned with City staff procedures and clarify event expense disclosure and councillor selection for two events.

• For large hosted events open to the public, councillors must provide an approximate attendee count instead of every attendee’s name. The existing name-list requirement remains for hosted events by invitation.
• A councillor may express interest in attending the Grey Cup or Quebec Carnival only if they have attended neither event during the current term, and may express interest in only one event each year.
• If a selected councillor can no longer attend, the City Clerk’s Office must invite eligible councillors to express interest again and redraw based on those responses.
• The bylaw also updates its schedules to align councillor expense rules with the City’s Accounts Payable Policy and supporting procedures. The report does not list the specific schedule changes.

What it means for you#

• Councillors: For large public events they host, they no longer have to provide the names of all attendees. For invited, non-public events, the attendee-name disclosure rule remains.
• City Clerk’s Office: It must use the new expression-of-interest and redraw process if a selected councillor cannot attend either event.
• Public: Expense disclosure continues, but public records for large public events will give an approximate attendance count rather than a full list of names.

Money#

City staff report no anticipated financial impact.

• The materials give no separate estimate for staff time or costs to make and disclose the changes.

What is unclear#

• The report does not set a threshold for what counts as a “large” public event.
• The supplied materials do not include the proposed bylaw text or detail the exact Accounts Payable Policy and procedure changes.
• The report does not explain how attendee counts will be estimated or recorded.

Case for#

• City staff say the changes align councillor rules with the Accounts Payable Policy and procedures that apply to City employees.
• City staff say requiring names for everyone at large public events is impractical; using an approximate count follows the City’s practice for similar staff hosting expenses.
• The revised event-selection rules set out what happens if a selected councillor cannot attend.

Case against#

• A possible trade-off is less detail in public expense disclosures: people will see an approximate count, not the names of attendees, at large public events.
• The report does not define “large,” leaving unclear which public events qualify for the less detailed disclosure.
• The materials do not include the bylaw text, so the full effect of the Accounts Payable schedule updates cannot be assessed.