The province has announced long-awaited code of conduct legislation for elected officials, but some Calgary councillors want to see it in action before they pass judgement.
The Alberta government announced proposed changes to the Municipal Government Act (MGA) on March 26, introducing provincewide standards for councillor conduct, alongside a third-party system to investigate complaints and appeals.
Minister of Municipal Affairs Dan Williams said the changes are meant to restore trust in local government.
“It’s designed to support professional, fair and transparent decision-making every Albertan expects,” he said
“Greater clarity of expectation would ensure councillors across Alberta are held to the same standards, regardless of their municipal size.”
If passed, the legislation would establish the ‘Councillor Accountability Framework’, or a universal code of conduct. It would cover issues such as misuse of municipal assets, conflicts of interest and improper influence, among others. Complaints would be handled by independent investigators selected from a provincially appointed roster.
The City’s Code of Conduct for Elected Officials Bylaw was repealed in May of 2025, when the provincial government amended the MGA to eliminate municipal specific codes of conducts. Calgary city council has been operating without a code of conduct since then.
Minister Williams said the province’s decision was to prevent abuses of the system, which he said led to ‘costly, inconsistent, drawn-out situations.’
But at Calgary city hall, the reaction from some councillors has been mixed.
Ward 4 Coun. DJ Kelly said while a code of conduct is necessary, the province’s approach raises questions considering last year’s repeal.
Coun. Kelly highlighted that transparency measures, like clearer disclosures and visibility into who councillors are meeting with, are long overdue. Still, he’s cautious to praise the new framework until he sees how it benefits Calgary.
“I haven’t seen it yet, but the devil will definitely be in the details about if this is the kind of thing that delivers the kind of transparency that Calgarians deserve,” he said
Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston struck a more pessimistic tone, questioning whether a provincially run system can truly hold elected officials accountable.
“If it was ran by citizens, I would be more inclined to think anything will come out of it,” he said.
“But if government’s in charge of themselves, nothing’s going to happen.”
He agreed that there should be a municipal code of conduct, but that meaningful enforcement will be key.
“Only if there’s punishment for breaking the rules,” he said
“The same as if a regular person were to break it, whatever that punishment would be, is what we should get as well.”
New amendments could fix abuse of system
Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean is leaning more hopeful, as he said he was glad to see the city’s code of conduct repealed last year.
“I’ve talked to several councillors, nobody’s missing the old code of conduct rules that we had at city hall because they were abused,” he said.
“They took up a tremendous amount of time for councillors’ offices, batting down useless and frivolous complaints.”
Coun. McLean said his full opinion is ‘to be determined’, but is hopeful the province’s framework will be better.
Williams acknowledged past concerns about the ‘weaponization’ of code of conduct complaints, saying the new framework is intended to prevent abuse while still allowing legitimate issues to be addressed.
“We want to make sure that there are guardrails on the code of conduct,” he said.
Those barriers extend beyond the accountability framework. Minister Williams spoke on additional amendments to the MGA that will strengthen transparency to the public. One would require municipalities to publicly disclose salaries of senior staff above a certain threshold, or a ‘sunshine list’. Another would mandate that CEO’s report certain decisions to council in writing.
“These proposed changes are proactive steps to reinforce checks and balances in local government,” he said.
“To bring trust to the way they operate and make sure that we continue to have collaboration with oversight from the municipal government and our municipal partners.”
The legislation would come into force this May, but by design doesn’t have set regulations yet. Williams said that is so he and Alberta Municipalities President, Dylan Bressey, can see how the legislation is implemented at the local level, and fine tune accordingly.
While there is broad agreement on the need for clearer standards and accountability, the question remains whether a provincially designed system can strike the right balance between oversight and local autonomy.
Coun. Kelly said, ‘it’s better late than never to do the right thing’, but whether this is the right solution is still an open question.
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