Mayor Nenshi and Calgary City Council need to be removed from Office. In addition to continuous overspending and a lack of fiscal responsibility in a downturn, they have recently made another poor decision that is going to negatively impact thousands of Calgarians.

Council had a deadline on Monday May 27th to come up with a solution to the Commercial Property Tax Crisis facing businesses in Calgary. They argued and argued and ended up missing the deadline with statements such as: “We have failed Small Business in Calgary”.  

Only upon the outcry from Calgarians that they resign or be fired did Council finally come together to save their jobs and offer a sub par solution. Not once has anyone from Council accepted responsibility for their mismanagement of Calgary. They need to be held accountable. This latest blunder is going to cause Commercial Property Tax rates to increase to a level that is going to do one of two things: 

1. Businesses are going to pass on this increase to you, the customer

2. Businesses are going to be forced to shut down

Think of your favourite coffee shop, fitness studio, bike shop, bakery, mechanic, florist, brow studio, nail and hair salon. The list goes on and on. 

You will be forced to either pay substantially more for the same service OR have that favourite business close. 

I am a small business owner. I have personally guaranteed loans that I have taken from the bank to build my business. My partner and I started from one fitness studio in Calgary and grown to 5. We have reinvested every dollar we have made. We are not getting rich off the backs of our clients, we are increasing the quality of life for thousands of Calgarians.  If my business fails and I have to be on the hook to repay those bank loans, it should be because I failed to operate my business properly. Not because an inept City Council couldn’t do their job and now I am forced to be held monetarily accountable for their poor decisions.

Daily since Wednesday May 29th, I have contacted my ward councillors and the Mayor through emails, phone calls and social media asking for answers. No one has responded which is why I am starting this petition. 

I don’t pretend to know all of the answers, but what I do know is that this Council should not be able to continue operating status quo. In ANY OTHER JOB, they would have fired. We need to enact the mechanism to remove them from office now. They need to be held accountable. 

There are many intelligent people in Calgary. Let’s bring some auditors in to look through the City's books and figure out where we can stop wasting money. Let’s have qualified citizens who understand how to balance a budget and be prudent in spending have a hand in turning our municipal government around. We do not have to stop all spending, we just have to be smart about it. Something this current Council is unable to do. 

Please sign this petition and share it with your friends, family and co-workers.  I will submit it to Premier Kenney and Minister Madu. I will commit to seeing this through, if you will commit to signing this petition. Let’s stand up to Council and hold them accountable. 

Thank you, Kristi Stuart