Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas’s bid to establish a database of lobbyists who seek to influence council’s decisions will be explored — though some of his council colleagues criticized the proposal as performative politics.
On Tuesday night, council voted 13-2 in support of the mayor’s notice of motion that called for administration to assess the feasibility of creating a registry of special-interest groups who meet with council members.
The report, which will study other cities that have similar registries, is to be completed by the end of this year. It will look into best practices and estimated costs for establishing a lobbyist registry in Calgary.
“We know this is needed now more than ever, because Calgary is growing,” Farkas said after the vote. “We manage budgets that rival or exceed that of many provinces in the country.
“So when we think about billions of dollars at stake, not just the money but also the potential impacts on neighbourhoods and quality of life, it’s really important for Calgarians to have that line of sight, in terms of how decisions are made.”
The motion was amended by Ward 12 Coun. Mike Jamieson during council’s debate to ensure the proposed database would also apply to lobbyists’ engagement with senior members of city administration.
Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot and Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Yule voted against the proposal.
Chabot said his concern was that needing to be added to a registry may deter constituents from attempting to speak to him about city matters.
“There’s a lot of individuals within community associations, specifically, that wouldn’t likely go through the formal process of actually getting into the registry,” he told reporters Wednesday. “Does that limit their ability to then make a presentation to me about concerns that they have?”
Calgary Ward 10 Councillor Andre Chabot voted against the notice of motion to research creating a lobbyist registry.
Chabot argued that while a lobbyist database may make sense at the provincial or federal government level, many of the concerns brought to his office are for small-scale matters, citing backyard fire pits, as an example.
“I’ve always said my door is always open,” he said. “I will meet with anybody and everybody, and then, if necessary, I will record those names.
“But the idea of having to be registered under a registry, to me, puts additional burden on regular folks that I don’t think is necessary.”
Farkas introduced the idea in June, the day after an ongoing corruption investigation involving past and current Calgary city council members began the court process.
The RCMP investigation alleges that a local developer consultant was offering council members campaign donations above the legal limit if they managed to table a successful reconsideration motion for his clients’ failed land-use applications. The allegations, which stem from a council vote on a reconsideration motion for a land-use item last summer, have not been proven in court.
The mayor said the investigation is coincidental, noting he’d campaigned on a lobbyist registry in both 2021 and 2025. However, he said the RCMP probe emphasizes the need to improve transparency of decision-making at city hall, regardless of its outcome.
While council members are required to disclose their expenses and campaign donations, Farkas said there’s no mechanism to disclose which lobbyists or special-interest groups they’re meeting with.
“Calgary is soon becoming one of Canada’s biggest cities, and it’s warranted for us to have accountability measures to keep match with what we see in other jurisdictions like Vancouver, Toronto, or even elsewhere in the United States,” he told reporters afterward.
“Nobody’s talking about this applying to say a constituent calling about a pothole or a local student council looking to have an upgrade to the playground. We’re only talking about paid lobbyists who are paid to influence a major decision of Calgary city council.”
Although the vote was overwhelmingly in support, some councillors suggested the motion was “performative” and perhaps redundant, considering the provincial government is set to introduce a province-wide code of conduct for municipal councils, after scrapping individual codes last year.
“This council leans on campaigning before we go into governance,” said Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness.
“(It) is very concerning to sit here and see notices of motion that are not prioritizing outcomes for Calgarians; we’re prioritizing sound bites.”