Calgary councillor wants to reverse plastic water bottle ban, other ‘performative’ policies

Landon Johnston says he wants to get rid of a plastic water bottle ban in chambers and rescind the city's climate emergency declaration.

A Calgary councillor is tabling a handful of motions to roll back several policies he calls “performative,” including a plastic water bottle ban in council chambers and the city’s climate emergency declaration.

Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston will have five notices of motion heading to next week’s executive committee meeting at city hall.

Johnston’s water bottle battle aims to rescind a policy introduced in 2019 that discontinued the use of bottled water for council and committee meetings to align with the city’s “commitment to reduce waste from single-use items.”

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“It was a performative measure by a performative councillor at the time to reduce where the cameras point and what plastic bottles look like in front of cameras,” Johnston said.

The councillor that brought forth the 2019 motion arising was Jeromy Farkas, the current mayor.

“We should not be spending more time on bringing in fancy water bottle service for city councillors,” the mayor said Wednesday.

“We have the best [water] products in the entire city. The water that we produce is clean, it tastes amazing,” Farkas said.

He compared council’s situation to how a board of directors at Coca-Cola, for example, wouldn’t hold a meeting with everyone drinking Pepsi products.

“If I have to, I will buy everybody a reusable water bottle and we can fill up at the tap just like everybody else,” the mayor said.

Johnston wants the policy reversed and wants bottled water stocked in ward offices, council chambers and meeting spaces immediately.

“We have plastic apple juice that’s stocked in council chambers, but we remove plastic water bottles. It doesn’t make sense,” Johnston said.

The Ward 14 representative is also planning to introduce motions to provide randomized and fair timing for council question period; an item to remove an endorsement statement for public speakers that acknowledges the city’s commitment to anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion; and a motion to end Calgary’s climate emergency declaration.

“Again, it was performative and actually, by the administration’s own terminology, was a symbolic declaration,” Johnston said about the 2021 climate emergency item.

“It didn’t provide us any extra funding, it didn’t put us on the world stage and, matter of fact, I believe it put a dark cloud over the administration.”

Johnston’s motions will be assessed at Tuesday’s committee meeting to determine whether they should go for full debate at council.