Background

On June 6, 2023, Calgary City Council directed Administration to recruit a Commission to review the effectiveness of Calgary’s 14-ward system. Part of this review includes a public engagement which will inform the Commission’s recommendations to Council.

This review won’t change the number of wards or Councillors in Calgary, and it is not about individual members of Council. The purpose is to understand how Calgarians want to be represented by Council, what that could look like in the future, as well as looking at the role of Council and the effectiveness of the systems they work within. Your feedback will be used to inform recommendations made to City Council by the Commission.

Following the public engagement phase, the Commission will analyze all feedback, alongside relevant research and data, to develop comprehensive recommendations. These will be presented to the Calgary City Council in September 2024, with the aim of implementing changes that will enhance the effectiveness and responsiveness of the city’s governance.


Role of Council

For information about the role of Council:


Public Engagement

We want to understand what effective representation means to you. We are looking for your input on what is working well, what could be improved, and even your ideas on how representation could be reimagined at a systems level. Your input could impact some of the ways Council represents you in the future. For this engagement, we are focusing specifically on the activities performed by Councillors (e.g. legislative duties, resolving local issues, communicating with constituents, advocating to other orders of government), as well as the systems Calgarians use to communicate with their Councillors (e.g. 311, email, social media, public hearings, meetings and events).


The chart below outlines what we mean by Effective Representation. The parts that are in scope for this engagement fall under the Activities and Communication sections:


image of different aspects of effective representation

You can participate in this engagement through our online questionnaires below, or by attending one of our pop-up events listed on the right of this page. Your feedback will be anonymous unless you provide personal information in your responses. The feedback we receive will be used to inform the recommendations that the Commission makes in its review. A “What We Heard” report will also be published summarizing the feedback we receive from the public engagement.