Calgary councillor wants investigation into colleague after report on Inglewood property

A city councillor says she’s interested in having Alberta’s minister of municipal affairs look into the actions of one of her colleagues.

This week, council sanctioned Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra for failing to disclose his financial interest in a property in Inglewood in the city’s southeast.

That is something council members are required to report in a publicly available disclosure form.

Coun. Jennifer Wyness said Wednesday she wants to refer the matter to the provincial government to investigate further, to see if there were any violations of the Municipal Government Act.

“I think there’s a challenge with the process where we’re just getting handed these reports. We don’t get time to digest it. And we also have to balance, like, what sanctions are we putting on a fellow councillor?” Wyness said.

“So I think, having slept on it overnight, I thought, why didn’t we do what precedent had been set by the last council? And I’d like to hold that standard and I think that’s why I brought the urgent motion.”

Wyness was referring to controversy surrounding former Ward 2 councillor Joe Magliocca, who was found to have improperly claimed expenses. 

Magliocca was charged with fraud and breach of trust following an investigation into his council expenses on Oct. 8, 2021, 10 days before Calgary’s election. Last October, Magliocca lost his seat to Wyness.

Carra said he has no comment on the suggestion that his actions be investigated.

Calgary’s integrity commissioner, Ellen-Anne O’Donnell, filed two reports on Carra on Tuesday, writing in one of those reports that Carra had made a down payment of $300,000 towards the Inglewood property in 2015.

The second report involved Carra’s tweets disparaging some of his council colleagues, including Wyness, for “actively politicking” with Coun. Sean Chu.

That was around the time of news reports of Chu being disciplined for physical contact with a 16-year-old girl in 1997 while he was a police officer.

O’Donnell said Carra failed to disclose his interest in the property until 2021, though said he had “numerous opportunities” to do so, including at a March 7, 2016 public meeting.

On Feb. 24, 2016, Carra had filed a notice of motion seeking to lift building restrictions in Inglewood. But at the March 7 meeting, Carra disclosed he had an interest in the Inglewood property, O’Donnell wrote, and abstained from voting on the notice of motion related to the community.

At that time, O’Donnell wrote, Carra stated he did not have a pecuniary interest, as “his interest was held in common with the majority of electors in that community, and stated he was planning to build a house.”

Council voted in favour of the motion.

Council has now asked that Carra write a letter of apology to Calgarians and take records management and ethics training.

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said Wyness’s idea could be added to the next executive committee meeting, to which Wyness agreed.

She is expected to bring that motion forward for council to discuss later this month.