A Calgary city councilman wants an investigation from the integrity commissioner into Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra referred the provincial government and the Calgary Police Service.
County District 2 Jennifer Wyness attempted to add the referral as an urgent item during Wednesday’s council meeting.
Instead, Wyness opted to wait until the July 20 Executive Committee meeting to request the referral.
Carra was cited Tuesday by the city’s integrity commissioner, Ellen-Anne O’Donnell, for two separate incidents. The first involved a post on social media.
The incident Wyness wants further investigated is the integrity commissioner’s ruling that Carra did not disclose his interest in an Inglewood property for six years while serving on the city council.
“This is the only job where the decisions we make impact real estate values and the growth and beautification of neighborhoods,” Wyness told reporters. “That’s why I think we should always do that extra step of due diligence.”
Read more:
Two Calgary City Councilmembers Sanctioned After Integrity Commissioner Investigation
According to the integrity commissioner’s findings, Carra and his wife made a $300,000 down payment on the house in 2015, but “there was no written agreement or document of any kind” setting out the terms of the transaction. He later paid another $36,000 to the property, according to the report.
The investigation found that Carra had publicly disclosed her interest in an Inglewood property to the city council and abstained from voting on a notice of motion related to lifting a restriction on the community, but did not add the property to her disclosure statement. council members, which is a requirement in the Municipal Government Law.
Carra updated her financial disclosure form to include the Inglewood property following the 2021 municipal election.
“I could accept the initial failure to disclose the interest in 2015 as a real error in judgment, since the Carras made a payment to a limited company that owned the land, and I accept that Councilman Carra believed at the time that this did not amount. to an interest in real estate,” O’Donnell said in his report.
“However, I cannot find, on a balance of probabilities, that the continued lack of disclosure was
trivial or inadvertent after March 7, 2016, since Councilman Carra knew and claimed to have a financial interest in the property on that date.”
O’Donnell ruled that Carra had “multiple opportunities” to disclose ownership between 2016 and 2021, and the violation was of “moderate severity.”
“In coming on board as a freshman councilmember, we were made to disclose our financial interests and make sure we ask the question,” Wyness said.
Related news
-
![]()
Calgary Councilman Gian-Carlo Carra under investigation for road rage incident
“Here we have a veteran councilman who was elected twice and didn’t disclose… I don’t see how he could get around that.”
Read more:
Calgary County. Gian-Carlo Carra breaks the silence on the police investigation
Carra was removed from his position as chairman of the Infrastructure and Planning Committee, and he cannot serve as chairman of any board, committee or commission he is a part of, but he can still participate in them.
However, that sanction is related to a social media post.
The District 9 councilmember must also write a letter of apology to Calgarians for not complying with the disclosure policy and attend training with the ethics advisor within 30 days.
Carra told Global News that she plans to respond through her written apology and has previously said that she accepts the integrity commissioner’s decisions.
Wyness said the council did not have time to “digest” the integrity commissioner’s report and felt it needed more attention after reading it after last night’s meeting.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek did not comment on the details of the situation, but said Wyness raised a “good point” regarding the report.
“We received the report from the integrity commissioner yesterday after a long day of advice; we get home after 10:30 pm and start again with meetings (Wednesday) morning,” said Gondek. “All of us need a little more time to digest what it contains.”
–with files from Paula Tran of Global News
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.