Smith encourages Calgarians to launch referendum campaign on blanket rezoning

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said there is a mechanism in the Municipal Government Act for people to request a plebiscite on blanket rezoning in Calgary. The bar for people to have a plebiscite on a municipal government policy is 10% of the voting population signing a petition. That works out to 100,000 signatures in Calgary. “So I put that to you,” said Smith in a Saturday interview on Your Province. Your Premier. on Corus Radio. “It is up to Calgarians to give us the feedback about how angry they are.” Corus Radio host Wayne Nelson started off by reading out a text from listener Garrett, who pointed out 70% of Calgarians are against blanket rezoning. “The fact we didn’t vote on this is not a democracy,” said Garrett. “Council knew they would lose the federal money if the rezoning was turned down.” Garrett asked if the Alberta government could reverse blanket rezoning. He called this “not a democracy.” While people have voiced opposition to blanket rezoning, Smith said it is “tough for me to really gauge that.” However, she said she had been watching the hearings. She concluded by saying she has been monitoring social media. “If somebody wants to get a petition campaign to put that on the ballot in the next election, there’s a mechanism to do that under the Municipal Government Act,” she said. Calgary city council voted nine to six to approve the proposed blanket rezoning bylaw on Tuesday. READ MORE: UPDATED: Calgary city council votes to approving blanket zoningCalgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek voted in favour of the bylaw. The councillors voting against the majority of presenters in the longest, largest public hearing in council history were Evan Spencer, Jennifer Wyness, Courtney Walcott, Kourtney Penner, Raj Dhaliwal, Richard Pootmans, Gian-Carlo Carra, and Jasmine Mian. The vote came after more than three weeks of public presentations in council chambers, with 736 submissions in person or over the phone. Additionally, the City of Calgary received 6,101 written submissions, with about three-quarters of them against blanket rezoning.

Smith encourages Calgarians to launch referendum campaign on blanket rezoning

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