REMPEL GARNER: City Council must find a way to let the show go on

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What do Jason Aldean, The Chainsmokers, Ella Langley, John Summit, Chris Lake, and dozens of other world-class music acts have in common?

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They are all supposed to perform, remarkably, in downtown Calgary during several top international rated outdoor music festivals this year.

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But if the City of Calgary administration has its way, they might not be.

In a recent notice, city officials informed Calgary’s world famous Stampede-adjacent downtown music festival tents they must significantly change their scheduled operations just days before their events are scheduled to kick off. In fact, if the City proceeds with their plans, festival operators have suggested the noise from traffic leaving the nearby Stampede grounds could be louder than what the festivals generate at the point of reception.

Ensuring manageable noise levels in an urban setting, through collaboration with residents and businesses, is a laudable goal for city officials. Downtown residents deserve to have their concerns addressed. At the same time, event organizers need reasonable and clear rules to deliver world-class experiences. However, issuing a formal notice to reduce sound levels to standards stricter than those that may be applied to other similarly situated music festivals after tickets have been sold, staff hired, and international acts contracted is highly problematic.

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One downtown festival operator has said that in spite of diligently working with city officials to be a good steward, the city’s sudden rule change will create big problems for their operations. Given these festivals are planned a year to 18 months in advance, they are warning some big-name performers may pull out if the city doesn’t reverse course, and that hundreds of workers who depend on the event for income could be laid off. This is especially troubling amid Calgary’s youth jobs crisis, and while the city spends hundreds of millions on a new entertainment centre precisely to attract the calibre of acts that downtown festivals already deliver.

It’s hard to imagine Calgary’s city council would actually want this kind of high-profile investment uncertainty to percolate out into the international entertainment industry, or for those jobs and all that revenue generated for the city to be lost.

Tourism Calgary, the advocacy group that promotes the city as a top destination, seems to agree. In a letter to city council the group warned the city’s proposed changes could cause significant negative economic impacts, particularly for the city’s already struggling downtown core. Since the city provides significant funds to this tourism advocacy group, it seems wise for them to pay heed to their concerns.

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On that note, Calgary city council and the mayor have rightly been focused on trying to make Calgary’s downtown a more vibrant, economically viable, and fun place to be. They now need to figure out how to protect the Stampede-adjacent music festivals that organically bring that vibrancy to downtown Calgary every year, while managing the concerns of downtown residents.

Clearly, that balance has not yet been struck.

Mayor Farkas and many of his new colleagues on council have proven they care about uniting the city. In the past year, I’ve watched the mayor deftly defuse difficult sore points that have been allowed to fester by previous administrations. He deserves credit for that leadership.

He and city council must do the same thing with this particular issue, and do it fast.

On behalf of our shared constituents who rely on the downtown festivals for jobs, revenue and yes – fun  I call upon the mayor and all of his colleagues on council to work with city administrators to quickly solve this problem. I am more than willing to help in any way I can, and I’ll bet leaders at all levels of government of all political stripes would be willing to do so, too. There is a win for Calgary to be had here.

Because as they say in the biz, the show must go on.

Michelle Rempel Garner is the Member of Parliament for Calgary Nose Hill

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