Vote Prior for Mayor – Our Plan for Calgary
People Before Politics
01
The Core Solution: Human-Centred Capitalism
The foundation of a strong city is an economy that works for its people. Local businesses give life to our communities. Big Corporations bleed them dry. We have traded our souls for convenience, and it’s left us poorer in every sense.
We need to…
Empower Small Business:
All new businesses will pay zero municipal taxes for 3 years. Existing small businesses making under 2 million will have all municipal taxes frozen.
Large conglomerates and corporations making over 75 million will get a 10% tax increase on their municipal taxes.
Prioritize Calgary-based businesses for city contracts (housing, infrastructure, etc.).
Keep Calgary’s Wealth in Calgary:
We will lobby the provincial government to ensure a direct share of tax revenue from all sales generated in Calgary by large conglomerates and foreign corporations (like Walmart and Amazon) is returned directly to Calgary. That way, the money made here stays here.
Institute a “Buy Local” rebate for Alberta-owned producers and farmers.
Create an incubator program for family-run and cooperative businesses, for example, vertical farms in the future within converted offices and vacant buildings downtown.
Work with ATB and other banks to allow help for the unbanked to access banking so the most vulnerable aren’t preyed on by money lenders.
02
Affordable Housing
The people who built this city should be able to afford to live in it.
We need to…
Foreign taxation means working class relief:
Freeze municipal taxes on all properties valued below $1.2 million.
Lower municipal taxes on properties valued below $600K.
Corporate and Foreign Buyer Restrictions: Tax 30% (CFBT) on all properties purchased by foreign buyers and entities. Add a yearly 20% municipal tax increase on all properties owned by foreign investors and corporations (FOT).
First-in-City Policy: Prioritize people who live and work in Calgary before foreign investment (out of province or country).
Close loopholes that allow large corporate landlords and offshore investors to dominate the market.
Tax vacant buildings and residences downtown that have been vacant for over a year. UBT (Unused Building Tax) 3% Annually.
Cut Red Tape, Working Class incentives, Conversions:
We need to build homes (PERIOD). It’s about our kids and grandkids’ future. Move ahead with the rezoning, but make sure to specify that these homes are going to fill the “missing middle,” not be $800K townhouses or only rental apartments.
Use the revenue from the (CFBT) and (FOT) to help working-class Calgarians get into a home with down payment help and/or essential buyers programs subsidies.
Continue with the large-scale conversions downtown but incentivize home ownership not just rentals. Working with developers and/or small businesses to develop vertical gardens in reconverted buildings to improve livability, reduce energy costs, and bring natural space into urban housing. This also ties into Calgary being self-sufficient, addressing food insecurity and helping with future food scarcity.
03
Homelessness
What we’re doing now isn’t working for anyone. Not for the people on the streets, not for the families going downtown, and not for the small business owners. Compassion doesn’t mean letting people freeze in tents or ignoring overdoses. We need to stop pretending that this is empathy, and instead see it for what it is, apathy.
We need to…
Care enough to be hated: We must start seeing the homeless for who they are, someone’s family, someone’s friend, part of our community. Anyone who has had a family member suffer from addiction and/or mental illness knows that the ones who try to help the most are often the ones who are hated. We must care enough to be hated.
Enforce the law: Open drug use, vagrancy, public intoxication, and disruption of small businesses can’t continue to go on downtown.
Structured Recovery Support: Calgary already has a robust system in place to help those who want help. How do we help those who refuse it. We will partner with the province and federal government for 24/7 access to detox and treatment beds—no waitlists. Anybody detained for the above offences will be given mandatory support into a detox/rehab facility. This is not the end of the project, but only the beginning. Once a person is clean and sober, they can have a base to work from. Then we offer housing, counselling, social work, education and job assistance. Lets swim with the current, if the Provincial Government has already offered 180 million, then by getting people help off the street, we can secure more funding easier, do to actual visual change. Allowing for more social workers, harm reduction advocates, and police.
04
Transit-Built for the people who build Calgary
Transit isn’t a luxury. It’s the circulation system that keeps the working class and their families moving around the city. We need to extend service hours for the people keeping Calgary running when the rest of us are asleep.
We need to…
Extend Transit hours: Pilot Program to extend C-train hours to 24 hours daily except Mondays. Let’s make downtown more accessible to employees who are working downtown and the customers who want to enjoy it.
World-class city, lacking connection: While cities around the world are rolling out faster, cheaper, and smarter transit, Calgary is still stuck waiting decades for half a train. As Calgary sprawls, we become less connected. We need innovation when it comes to transit. Looking at places like Japan, Europe and South America, we can research/implement things like monorails or gondolas. Calgary is the innovation core of Alberta; therefore, our transit should be the same.