A special meeting of Calgary’s city council will be held Tuesday morning, following the leaking of confidential documents. Listed as the meeting’s purpose is “legal advice regarding unauthorized disclosure of 2027-2030 budget cycle information.” Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston says he was behind the leak. The documents, obtained by Global News, were presented to city council during a closed-door meeting on July 28. They outline a possible 20.2 per cent increase in municipal property taxes next year. They outline more than 100 funding requests for next year from city departments and partners totalling $510 million. Johnston posted to X Wednesday night taking credit for the leak, and did so again before assembled media late Thursday morning. He said he’d do it again. He said it was “public interest,” and that “people have the right to know.” “I’m hardly the first person to release confidential information,” he said. “I was just the first person to not be a coward about it.” Farkas told the press what they saw was “part of the process.” “At this time, city council hasn’t adopted any tax increase,” he said. “We haven’t even adopted a proposed tax increase.” He did say there are reasons why parts of “the process” are kept behind closed doors, key among them being protecting information about third parties. “When it comes to the Municipal Government Act, we are obligated to continue to keep in confidence and keep confidential those types of discussions,” he said. Farkas said otherwise it “could expose Calgary taxpayers to massive financial penalties.” Johnston claimed Farkas is “going around trying to garner support from other council members to kick me out of council for doing the right thing.” Farkas at the time had no comment on repercussions against Johnston being sought.
