Calgary city council meets behind closed doors on Tuesday, September 8 at 9:45 a.m. to receive legal advice about a leak that one of its own members has already admitted to.
The notice from the City Clerk's Office states the purpose plainly: "Legal Advice Regarding Unauthorized Disclosure of 2027-2030 Budget Cycle Information."
Under the Municipal Government Act, only the matter named in the notice can be discussed, unless the whole council is present and agrees otherwise.
What was leaked
Preliminary budget documents, presented to council during a closed session on July 28, and obtained by Global News.
They showed that property tax revenue would need to increase by 20.2 per cent next year alone to fund an additional $510 million in operating spending, if council approved every spending request from across city departments and partners.
The documents also projected increases of 8.5 per cent in 2028, 9 per cent in 2029 and 8.9 per cent in 2030 on the same basis.
Who leaked it
Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston, who said so himself on social media.
Johnston argued taxpayers should know council was considering an "unconstrained budget," so they could be brought into the decision-making process.
"Let's actually have a conversation about the real numbers," he said.
"I'm sick and tired of having to hide spending behind camera," Johnston said Thursday. "If there's potential repercussions for me leaking anything, then it's going to be for every council member that's leaked any information up until this point. It's not just me."
What the mayor says
Mayor Jeromy Farkas called the meeting after consulting members of council and the city solicitor.
"I have reasonable grounds to believe that a serious privacy breach may have occurred, posing potential safety risks to City personnel and significant financial or legal exposure," Farkas said in a statement.
He has described the leaked figures as a wishlist, saying no decisions have been made about a property tax increase, and raised concern about legal risk to the city if third-party information was included in what was released.
On CBC Radio's Calgary Eyeopener, Farkas framed it as a governance question.
"As elected governors, if it's optional which elements of the code of conduct that we want to adhere to, it sends a chilling effect through the rest of the organization," he said.
His office declined an interview request from Global News on Friday.
The part that makes this unusual
There may be nothing council can do.
The Alberta government eliminated all municipal codes of conduct in 2025, arguing that some councils were using them as political weapons. The province said it would propose a universal code of conduct instead. That replacement isn't in place.
Which means the mechanism a council would normally use to sanction a member for breaching confidentiality doesn't currently exist.
Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Yule said as much directly.
"Every leak is inappropriate and every leak should be investigated, but without a framework to do that, we're just left hanging," Yule said. "Whether people think this is a big deal or a nothingburger, it is a breach of trust of this council and our oath of office."
"My integrity is making sure that I keep confidential information confidential. And if other councillors want to break that confidentiality, there should be consequences for that."
Yule said he's disappointed but isn't confident there will be any repercussions, and hopes the provincial government is paying attention.
How Calgary handled this before
There's a precedent worth knowing, and it's instructive about what's changed.
In 2018, a confidential document about the debt burden of the 1988 Olympics was leaked during the debate over Calgary's bid for the 2026 Games. Then-mayor Naheed Nenshi said he would write to the integrity commissioner requesting a full investigation, and the city manager directed corporate security to investigate.
An integrity commissioner is the office a municipal code of conduct creates. Without a code, there is generally no commissioner to write to.
What council is actually meeting about
Not, apparently, sanctions.
The notice specifies legal advice on the unauthorized disclosure, and Farkas's statement points to three things: potential damage, the city's obligations, and what action is required to protect employees and taxpayers.
The reference to safety risks to City personnel suggests the concern includes whether identifying information about staff was in the released material, which is a privacy question rather than a political one.
Whether the meeting produces anything public is unclear. Legal advice sessions are held in camera, and council may or may not report out afterward.
The budget itself
None of this changes the timeline.
The proposed spending plan is released publicly in early November. Council deliberates the 2027-2030 budget on November 23.
Whatever the leaked documents showed, the numbers council actually debates will be the ones administration proposes in November, and those will be public.
The other thing happening Tuesday
The special meeting sits at the start of a busy day.
Council's Executive Committee is scheduled to endorse an option for the downtown leg of the Green Line LRT, which is its own significant decision.
That's a full morning at the Municipal Building.
Sources
Notice for a Special Meeting of Council — City Clerk's Office, September 3, 2026
Municipal Government Act, section 194(5)
Statements from Mayor Jeromy Farkas, and comments from Coun. Landon Johnston and Coun. Andrew Yule, as reported by CBC News and Global News. Leaked budget figures as reported by Global News. The 2018 Olympic document leak as reported by CBC News.
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