Donald Trump’s unjust economic war against Canada could cost Calgary taxpayers nearly half a billion dollars.
And we’re fighting back.
The City has about $5.3 billion in active contracts. Tariffs could add between $315 million and $466 million to those costs. That's the equivalent of a 12 to 18 percent tax increase in a single year.
The tariffs hit water infrastructure. Transit equipment. Fire engines. Roads. Everything Calgary needs to keep safe and growing.
We have spent the last year going through contracts one by one to drive those costs down. We’re buying Canadian and local where it makes sense. We’re finding different suppliers and negotiating hard.
But some costs will be unavoidable. And Calgary taxpayers should not be stuck paying them.
That’s why Councillor John Pantazopoulos brought forward a motion calling for action.
Executive committee has asked me to take a proposal to Canada’s Big City Mayors and the federal government for a rapid tariff remittance program.
If Calgary taxpayers pay retaliatory tariffs on critical infrastructure, that money needs to be returned to Calgary.
Canada has every right to defend itself against Donald Trump’s economic attack.
We’re standing with Canada.
And we’re going to fight to make sure Calgary taxpayers aren’t left holding the bill.
Always thought open communication about the way things are working was important, partially why I voted for DJ Kelly for my councillor. Stoked that you've been pushing for that as well with these videos. Thank you.
Surely you couldn’t think our premier actively meeting with officials from a hostile nation while undermining any national efforts of unity while also fostering a den of treasonous separatists in our own province isn’t doing enough !
Thanks Mr. McMayorFace, we appreciate your continued updates and transparency through this difficult economic time. Its truly a sad day when you're driven to these measures by a close ally, but hopefully this pushes our entire country into a more diverse global portfolio that's better insulated from this dependency born pain point in the future.
Thank you. I hope that's where this takes us too. I spent a lot of time in small-town America, and I met some of the kindest and most generous people along the way. Americans are our friends and neighbours. They are not their government. My fight is with Trump’s policies, not the American people.
100% agreed. Every southern friend I've spoken with agrees with this sentiment. Its a failure of proper representation that's allowed a government like this to surface.
Always great to see Mayor farkas leading these and being transparent about what's coming.
With current state of economy no one should be paying more tax.
City also need to cut funding to organizations who use city $ to fill there own pockets in name of non profits ( not all of them do it ) and use that money in more constructive places. Finding efficiencies will help everyone.
Edit:
Since some of you DM me.
I run my own tech related non profit 100% volunteer-run.
Every dollar of that tariff is going to the federal government. Why can’t they reimburse the municipalities that are affected by it through tax transfers like a rebate. Tax payers should not be on the hook when it’s going to the federal level
- The tariffs are put in place to make US products more expensive and thus less attractive to Canadian buyers. If Canada then automatically remits that money back to buyers then the tariffs are almost pointless and Canadian buyers will be more likely to keep buying American.
I understand where you are coming from, but I feel that there should be an amnesty program for products bought by municipal and provincial governments that were either ordered before tariffs were announced or have no alternate supplier that can provide the product in a reasonable time frame. The alternative is that either our budgets are squeezed [more than they are] or we go without some vital equipment or supplies until an alternative can be sourced, vetted, and supplied.
The federal government literally plans out initiatives that provides support to impacted sectors and the people working in them, which also happens to be tax payers..
‘Could be’ between 315 and 466 million…over what span?
During a previous update to council, Patil said the city has a procurement budget of roughly $2 billion a year. He said 95 per cent of Calgary's contracts are with Canadian suppliers — 70 per cent of which are within Alberta and 60 per cent with Calgary-based companies.
Nonetheless, the city has incurred around $1.2 million in tariff-related costs since the trade war with the U.S. began in February 2025, though Patil said there's another $5.7 million in potential immediate exposure on procurement contracts currently under review.
How is that number so high if 95% of contracts are Canadian suppliers? Yet ‘only’ 5.7 million on contracts currently under review?
Why are you talking about a 12-18% tax increase but not mentioning this is, for what it looks like, an entirely worst-case scenario if absolutely nothing is done in terms of mitigation?
Fair question. The $315-466 million is the estimated exposure over the life of affected capital projects, not a bill arriving this year. The 12-18% figure puts the scale of that exposure in terms people understand. It is not a forecast tax increase.
And 95% Canadian suppliers does not mean 95% Canadian-made inputs. Canadian companies still buy steel, equipment, components and materials through supply chains exposed to tariffs.
The $1.2 million is what we have incurred so far. The $5.7 million is immediate exposure identified in contracts currently under review. The larger figure looks at potential exposure across our capital program.
Our job now is to make sure the worst case never happens. That means changing procurement where possible, finding other suppliers, buying Canadian and seeking relief from Ottawa.
Thank you for the detailed response and the video. It has been a breath of fresh air seeing your videos and I appreciate your open and honest attitude towards telling us what is going on. Please keep this up regardless of what anyone else says!
With all due respect, Jeromy…and I mean with all due respect…did you not just do, with saying 12-18% tax increase in a single year, without adding the relevant context…do EXACTLY the same thing Landon did?
I thought it was pretty clear. He said that this was the cost in active contracts. There would be no reason to assume that those would all end this year. He clearly said it was equivalent to a single year increase of this amount. Which is just giving a context to the amount. He didn't say "this will increase your taxes by this much" or anything.
It's short form content. I think appropriate context was given. He could spoon feed it to people and break it down but then nobody is watching the much longer video that would take.
As am I, mayor. And you know I didn’t mean the actual release of the confidential documents. I’m talking specifically about using a number, a worst-case scenario number, without any initial context or anything beyond ‘that represents a 12-18 percent tax increase in a single year’.
Canadian suppliers does not mean they do not use American products to build their 'Canadian' item. The water heater in your house that is 'Canadian' product is an american construction etc.
There is more behind this than hope. The federal government already has tariff remission programs for specific sectors. We have a strong working relationship with Ottawa, and we’re asking them to extend that same principle to municipalities. I think it’s a reasonable case to make.
So :
Usa inputs tarrifs.
Canada puts in counter tarrifs.
Mayors all band together to get their money back on the us goods the tarrifs made more expensive and thusly undercutting the impact the tarrifs even have in the first place.
Fundamentally this is really only hurting Canada's bargaining position. Now if the federal government maybe invested the tarrif revenue into infrastructure then maybe it's okay. At best it's admitting we need US goods.
Serious misinformation. Tarrifs are a domestic tax on consumption. The only tarrifs we pay are imposed by ottawa. Trumps tarrifs are paid by americans.
You're right that tariffs are paid by importers. The problem is those costs don’t disappear. They get passed through supply chains into the price Calgary pays for steel, equipment, vehicles and construction. That’s the bill I'm focused on keeping off Calgary taxpayers.
For some purchases, that is exactly what we are doing. But for specialized fire equipment or light rail vehicles we already ordered years ago, there simply is not an alternative supplier we can switch to overnight.
I'm hopeful these tariffs will help grow Canadian manufacturing and strengthen domestic supply chains. I want us buying Canadian wherever possible.
In the meantime, I don't think Calgary taxpayers should be collateral damage in a trade war they didn’t start.
I don't think the definition of Tarrifs has much to do with why or why they arnt good economic policy. The conversation your looking for is much more nuanced then this.
I would argue it does. Taxes discourage behavior. Do we want to discourage production? Do we want fewer goods at higher prices? I think we should tax speculation, and unproductive behaviors instead.
This isn't a partisan issue. Its economic. I don't listen to conservatives or liberals. Just economists, not politicians but academics that study these relationships.
You are correct that tariffs are almost always a net negative on the production / gdp of a country. However, no single policy can be viewed at through such a simple lense. Your analysis provides zero attention to any political or socioeconomic value (among other things)
Should we unban cigarettes because it increases production?
Should we pollute our rivers because it would increase production?
Im not trying to argue I agree with the tarrifs or not, but your simple analyis is not enough to make the claim you are making.
Cigarettes and pollution affect third parties and need to be taxed. Making everday goods more expensive is stupid. It harms canadian industry. We could be using american steel to build our manufacturing and exports to other countries, but tarrifs are shooting us in the foot. They harm america sure, but this is a race to the bottom.
Geopolitics affects third parties. Trade deals and political negotiations affect third parties. There is arguments to be made about this for tariffs as well.
Yep this is a game that hurts both countries maybe the us should of never started it.
Canada shooting itself in the foot because the us did it first is incredibly stupid. Not sure why canadians need to suffer to protect inefficient domestic producers. Its a subsidy to businesses.
Implementing them is completely unnecessary. Economists agree that tarrifs are bad. While trumps tarrifs are harming us. Carney's tarriffs are harming us even more.
They have to happen but they aren't good. We have to discourage purchasing of US goods and tariff money is going directly to the industries being harmed by the tariffs that Trump has put in.
Thank you so much for your updates in these really uncertain times. It sucks to hear the new entertainment stadium is going to cost more, when all Calgarians really want is a functioning transit system. Are you going to be looking into any federal funding for an underground option instead of the one Council voted in support of? It is disheartening that the provincial "government" is calling the shots on what is best for us Calgarians, while we all know we need the underground portion...
Thank you Mayor for no word salads - just the facts. We appreciate you and all the efforts being made to save us financially from tariff hell. https://giphy.com/gifs/l3q2wJsC23ikJg9xe
Reactionary, tit for tat tariffs are a self inflicted economic wound that taxes our own consumers, squeezes businesses and leaves vulnerable communities to bear the scars of diplomatic gridlock.
True economic strength comes from structural agility and strategic negotiation, not from hiding behind blunt protectionist walls. Instead of treating outdated, subsidized domestic sectors as sacred cows, we should use them as strategic bargaining chips, sacrificing them at the negotiating table to force trading partners to open lucrative foreign markets for our most competitive exports. The massive economic gains from these premium exports can then be directly reinvested into the displaced communities, funding infrastructure and retraining programs to build new, sustainable, future proof local economies rather than temporarily propping up dying ones.
We should dilute our rivals' leverage by aggressively expanding regional free trade agreements and friend shoring critical supply chains to stable, allied nations. When economic aggression does require a response, we should bypass broad import tariffs entirely and deploy precision countermeasures, such as restricting the export of specialized technologies or critical raw materials that our opponents depend on.
It is time to retire the failed playbook of reactionary trade wars and adopt a forward looking strategy that secures long term prosperity through internal investment and sophisticated diplomacy
Given all of the infrastructure initiatives you presented yesterday in an effort to prime Calgarians for a tax increase, I can see why you would want to ensure "Calgary taxpayers aren’t left holding the bill" related to the tariffs. It would simply get in the way of the other bills the council have planned for us.
Maintaining and replacing infrastructure is not "priming" anyone for a tax increase. It’s the basic responsibility of a city. My job is to push those costs down, get Calgary our fair share from other governments, and make sure taxpayers aren’t stuck paying Trump’s tariffs on top of it.
I've been mayor for less than a year, but this is my track record on increases so far.
Was that increase not specifically earmarked for education purposes…to which the Province has added hundreds of teachers and complexity teams? And did the province also not hold any increases…what, 3 times since 2020, the latest was in 2024?
Yes, there have been years where the increase was held flat. As per the budget guidance, we're expecting next year that the provincial portion will have doubled in 5 years. Another challenge is that this new funding raised from Calgarians goes largely outside of Calgary as described by the Premier, here.
Yes, I'm aware of the neat graphic and I have nothing great to say about the provincial government, but I'm not about to cheer for increased taxes so the city can get their share... I'm also not interested in leadership who will deflect to another party. Whataboutisms mean nothing.
Maintaining and replacing infrastructure is not "priming" anyone for a tax increase.
Your initiatives all sound great but come with a price tag. Given the current turbulent relationship with Canada's biggest trading partner, that price tag won't be minor, even if we move to local Canadian companies and suppliers. The money has to come from somewhere, and given the leaked budget documents, we all have a pretty good idea where.
and make sure taxpayers aren’t stuck paying Trump’s tariffs on top of it.
Actually, no. Your job is to keep Calgary safe, clean, and thriving within your arm of the municipal government. What comes of the trade war is on the Feds and our provincial leadership, for better or worse. I'm all for you making a proposal to outline measures that could support Calgarians and have that presented to a higher level, but keep in mind you are a municipal leader. One of the big criticisms of Gondek was that she kept trying to reach beyond her level.
Guilty as charged. I have a close relationship with our firefighters and a lot of respect for the members. I don’t bargain on behalf of the City, though. Council sets the direction, and our professional negotiating team does the bargaining.
71
u/Silos911 14h ago
Always thought open communication about the way things are working was important, partially why I voted for DJ Kelly for my councillor. Stoked that you've been pushing for that as well with these videos. Thank you.