Divided Calgary council approves looser limit on attendance at annual conference of municipalities

Calgary will limit the number of council members who can attendan annualconference this year, but the limit will be looser than originally proposed by a pair of rookie councillors.

Coun. JeffDavisonsaid the point of a motion introduced by himself and Coun. Jeromy Farkas was simple: council could show some restraint by sending no more than five of its members to Halifax for the upcoming meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

Davisonsaid registrationfees for the conference are about $1,000per person, not including airfare or hotels.

While it's not a huge amount of money for a city with an annual operatingbudget of$4 billion, the pair argued it would show leadership for council to restrict its spending on the conference this year.

The motion prompted pushback from councillors who said the conference is a valuable learning experience, along with criticism that Davison and Farkas were simply grandstanding and trying to embarrass other members of council.

In the end, council narrowly approved a looser limit which allows the mayor and up to six councillors to attend.

Tone of debate 'completely ridiculous'

Davisonsaid he left Monday's council meeting frustrated by the outcome and the tone of the debate.

"The way we talk to people here is completely ridiculous," he said."You want respect but you don't want to issue it."

Mayor Naheed Nenshi dismissed any notion there are bigger problems forming in the group, saying council is just finding its way.

"Iwould have preferred that this had either come out much earlier or that it was [dealt] with the following year," he said of the motion.

The conference runsMay 31 to June 3.

Council also voted in favour of requiring the council members who do attend the conference to report publicly what they learned when they get back.