After two pedestrians were killed over the Family Day long weekend, Calgary city councillors are awaiting a response from the provincial government to find new measures to help improve traffic safety.

A toddler in a stroller was killed after being hit in a marked crosswalk in the city’s southwest Sunday afternoon, and a senior was also struck in a marked crosswalk less than 24 hours later in northwest Calgary.

They were Calgary’s seventh and eighth fatal collisions in 2026 — a concerning trend, according to the Calgary Police Service, after 38 fatal crashes were recorded in 2025 including the deaths of 15 pedestrians.

“We did see an increase overall last year so to see the year start at this volume is definitely concerning for how the rest of it is going to go,” said A/Insp. Shelby Stewart told reporters Monday.

1:53
New photo radar rules in effect in Alberta

During city council’s meeting Tuesday morning, Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Yule asked the mayor about any progress in advocating the provincial government to restore photo radar enforcement.

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Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said he spoke with Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen late last year about improving traffic safety, but is waiting for a response to a formal letter he sent the minister on Feb 12.

In that letter, Farkas said the removal of photo radar “has led to an upswing in speed-related collisions,” noting there were more than 900 pedestrian collisions and 27 fatalities between 2024 and 2025, which he said is a “critical public safety crisis.”

Farkas called on the province to restore the municipal share of traffic fine revenue, which was clawed back in 2020, as well as a review of the decision to restrict photo radar enforcement.

According to Farkas, any restored revenue would be allocated to traffic-safety improvements, including safer intersections, crosswalk upgrades, school-zone protections, and traffic-calming measures.

“That’s the way I think this solves the problem, it takes the politics out of the issue and lowers the heat,” Farkas told reporters. “If the fine revenue is being earmarked specifically for road safety improvements, it makes a lot more sense to me as a Calgarian, and I think we can help build the case with the public that this isn’t just another cash grab.”

Farkas said the move could unlock upwards of $30 million annually for the city to invest in traffic safety.

In a statement to Global News, Dreeshen said the province, “has no plans to expand photo radar beyond the current framework.”

“I am scheduling a meeting with Mayor Farkas in the coming weeks to discuss support for safer streets through targeted infrastructure improvements,” Dreeshen said in a statement.

“Our government established the $13 million Traffic Safety Fund, which municipalities can access to improve high-risk intersections through measures like better signage, signal timing, lighting, and road redesign.”

During budget deliberations last year, city council approved funding for each ward to install two new rectangular rapid flashing beacons at a location of their choice.

Another $7.5 million was also approved to fund traffic and pedestrian safety improvements in the city’s Vision Zero plan, which aims to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities by 25 per cent by 2028 through street design and crosswalk improvements.

Yule told reporters that city council is aligned in its goal to invest in pedestrian safety

“We’ve got our four-year budget coming up and you’re going to see a lot of investment from our side,” Yule said.

“Definitely looking for other levels of government to make sure that we have all the tools at our disposal.”

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Calgary police issue nearly 26,000 fewer speeding tickets since photo radar ban announced

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The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has written to the City of Calgary to provide clarity on how council’s upcoming decision to repeal citywide rezoning could impact federal housing funds.

It comes as the city’s Infrastructure and Planning Committee meeting was presented a report Wednesday that said CMHC “may deem” the City of Calgary to be non-compliant with the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) Contribution Agreement if city council fully repeals citywide rezoning.

Calgary was awarded $251.3 million, including top-ups, from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, with $122.9 million allocated so far. The next instalment of the fund is set for the end of March 2026.

In the statement sent to city administration and councillors, obtained by Global News, CMHC said Calgary agreed it “would eliminate exclusionary zoning city-wide,” and enable a variety of missing middle housing types.

“In order to remain compliant with the agreement, any updated zoning must not reintroduce exclusionary (single family only) zoning, allow for at least four units on a lot across the city without additional approvals, and must not reintroduce approval processes or other barriers that slow down development,” CMHC said in its note to the city.

CMHC said it looks forward to working with Calgary on “options to achieve this” in the coming weeks.

Calgary city council is set to hold a public hearing March 23 on whether it should repeal citywide rezoning, but the issue has created an ongoing back and forth about whether the city’s federal housing funding would be affected by the decision.

City councillors are interpreting CMHC’s statement differently, with Ward 4 Coun. DJ Kelly saying he believes Calgary’s HAF funding will be terminated if citywide rezoning is fully repealed.

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“Throughout this entire process we’ve been waiting to hear back from the federal government about what their take is on it,” Ward 4 Coun. DJ Kelly said.

“Planning decisions need to be made for planning reasons, but that being said, we as a council need to sit down and figure out what that answer really means for us.”

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Calgary requires at least $5.7B over next 10 years for critical infrastructure 

Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean, however, said he doesn’t think the funding will be impacted if council moves ahead with repealing the policy.

“Nowhere in that agreement does it say that the funding is tied to exclusionary zoning or four units as a right. It doesn’t say that anywhere in there, in my interpretation of the agreement,” McLean told reporters Wednesday.

In its report to committee, city administration highlighted two initiatives in the agreement that CMHC could interpret as the city no longer satisfying if citywide rezoning is repealed, including “undertake city-initiated redesignations to streamline approvals to increase housing supply,” as well as “undertake land use bylaw amendments to promote missing middle land use districts.”

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas recently returned from a trip to Ontario where he met with federal officials and CMHC, seeking clarity on the future of the funding.

Farkas said he received reassurances the federal government wants to work with Calgary to build housing, as the city has led the country in housing starts over the last three years.

“Obviously, the federal government would like to see much more density, much more zoning applied across cities from coast to coast to coast,” Farkas said. “But the local context really matters, and also the written words of the agreement really matter.”

During the election, Farkas ran on a platform to repeal and replace citywide rezoning. Although a replacement plan hasn’t been unveiled,  Farkas told reporters it is part of the ongoing discussions.

“The worst case scenario is that council goes back to the way things were without any type of replacement plan or approach in terms of how we’re going to build the housing,” Farkas said. “The worst case scenario will never materialize here.”

As it stands, the motion to repeal citywide rezoning directs city administration to revert the city’s land-use bylaw to what it was prior to the previous city council approving citywide rezoning, but would exclude properties that had development permits approved prior to the motion or any currently under review in the permit process.

City administration said the implications to federal funding won’t be fully known until after council decides on whether to repeal citywide, but the report to councillors outlined $861 million in funds that could be impacted across multiple streams. 

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot, who drafted the motion to repeal citywide rezoning, said administration is “risk averse” when it comes to a potential “loss in revenue.”

“The way I look at it is, it’s not money we have so it’s not money we’ve lost,” Chabot told reporters. “It’s money we could have and so let’s work with our federal counterparts to see what we can get while still delivering what Calgarians expect from us.”

Committee went behind closed doors for nearly two hours Wednesday to discuss the impacts and the recent communication from CMHC.

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The City of Calgary has confirmed the second stage of replacing the ailing Bearspaw feeder main will result in significant impacts for residents in Bowness, with plans to dig a large trench through the neighbourhood.

In an update released Friday morning, city officials confirmed crews will use an “open-cut” method for the project’s second stage, which runs from 73 Street N.W. to 87 Street N.W.

According to the city, crews will be excavating a trench along 34 Avenue N.W. and installing the new pipe directly into the open trench, which will be followed by backfilling and surface restoration once work is complete.

The existing feeder main is located just one block away along 33 Avenue N.W.

The open-cut construction will be sequenced in large sections along the alignment, according to city officials, with “one or two” sections completed at a time.

“Open-cut construction will result in significant impacts for residents in the area, including traffic disruptions, noise, street parking impacts, dust and changes to local access,” the city said in a news release. “Plans are rapidly evolving, and teams are currently assessing the full scope of impacts.”

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According to the city, the roadway will be reopened after each section of construction is complete and crews move to the next area.

The city said the approach helps “reduce the duration of localized impacts.”

Construction is expected to last five months, with shovels scheduled to go in the ground in May. Estimates show pipe construction should be completed by October.

“Over the coming weeks and months, the city will work closely with the community to provide greater detail of construction activities, address unique needs of individual residents and support mitigation efforts where practical,” the city said in its release.

Earlier this year, city officials announced it was expediting the project to replace the Bearspaw feeder main after two critical ruptures in less than two years.

The project is now scheduled to be completed in December, after the original timeline had its completion date sometime in 2028.

City officials cancelled the competitive bid process for the project and instead awarded a sole-source contract to Ward & Burke Microtunnelling Ltd. and Graham Construction to fast-track the work.

Construction on the first phase of the project is already underway, which will see microtunneling used to install a new steel pipe between the Shaganappi Pump Station and 73 Street N.W. on the west side of the Bow River.

According to the city, microtunneling was chosen for the first stage due to the alignment having “significant crossings” at 16 Avenue, the Bow River, Sarcee Trail and the CPKC rail line.

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