COUNCIL TRAVEL TAB ‘EXCESSIVE’
Motion urges limit on Halifax junket
Two councillors are proposing limits to the number of council members who can attend a conference in Halifax this June, calling the expense “excessive.”
Coun. Jeff Davison and Coun. Jeromy Farkas filed an urgent business notice of motion on Thursday, calling to cut costs when it comes to the city’s representation at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Annual Conference and Trade Show, which takes place May 31 to June 3.
Davison and Farkas say the city’s representation at the conference should include just the mayor, three councillors and the FCM board director.
“Businesses are employing costcutting practices like scaling back on conferences and so on and I think council should follow suit and lead by example,” Farkas said. “When you think of any other organization, they can have that organization represented without having to send literally everybody from it.”
Registration fees to attend the full conference start at $845 for FCM members, a price that does not include airfare, hotel and some meal costs, Davison and Farkas said.
Councillors attending the conference on Calgary’s behalf would be required to present a five-minute summary of findings to their council colleagues by July, if the motion is passed.
It also calls on council to implement a similar approach for future taxpayer-funded trips to attend conferences.
“If council decides to go by a draw, I won’t be putting my name forward. I think my job is here at home,” said Farkas, adding he doesn’t begrudge other councillors who wish to go.
“I’m still very new in the role and I think my job is here to represent my communities rather than necessarily in Halifax.”
But Coun. Druh Farrell called the notice of motion “a bit of a red herring” and said these conferences are useful learning experiences, especially for newer councillors.
“It’s critical that members of council, especially new members of council, do everything they can to learn about other cities, best practices and how to build a great city,” she said.
“So limiting councillors’ ability to learn from others through conferences and conventions and courses is limiting our potential as a city.”
The city budgeted for all members of council to attend the conference, according to the notice of motion, which will be discussed at Monday’s council meeting. The annual conference draws hundreds of councillors from around Canada each year, however, the size of Calgary’s delegation typically fluctuates.
The mayor, along with an additional 10 councillors, attended the 2011 conference, which also took place in Halifax. But just six members of council attended the following year in Saskatoon and eight attended in Vancouver in 2013.
The City of Calgary did not immediately provide attendance totals for more recent years.
Farrell said she tries to attend the conference at least once every three years. She went last year in Ottawa but skipped out on Winnipeg and Edmonton the two previous years.
She added that she was in favour of the motion’s proposal that would require councillors to present a report on what they learned at the conference, something that’s currently optional, to promote accountability.