Calgary foreign flag ban stalled as council ducks urgent vote in first setback for Farkas

Calgary’s new mayor, Jeromy Farkas, suffered his first setback on Tuesday as city council refused to fast-track a proposal that he supported to ban foreign flag-raisings at Calgary City Hall

Calgary City Hall (Wikimedia Commons)

Calgary’s new mayor, Jeromy Farkas, suffered his first setback on Tuesday as city council refused to fast-track a proposal that he supported to ban foreign flag-raisings at Calgary City Hall, punting the debate to a future meeting.

Because the motion failed only as urgent business, not on the merits of the motion itself, it can still return through council’s executive committee before being brought back for a full debate.

The urgent-business motion, introduced by Ward 13 Councillor Dan McLean, failed on a 7–8 vote, meaning council did not consider the substance of his proposal. Because the rejection was procedural, the policy itself remains alive and is expected to return through council’s executive committee for a full debate.

McLean emphasized in a post to X that the issue is far from over.

“This Motion failed as Urgent Business today, but I am happy to bring it back before Council through Committee because I think most would agree with my comments,” he said.

Introducing the motion earlier that morning, McLean argued that national flag-raisings other than Canada’s have contributed to community conflict.

“What was once intended as a unifying, symbolic gesture has increasingly become a source of division in our community,” he said. He added that Calgary should not be “picking sides” in international disputes.

“The City of Calgary shouldn’t pick sides in international disputes by hoisting any country’s flag other than Canada’s,” he said, noting the policy has “inflamed tensions” and been linked to “anti-Semitic messages.”

The motion followed shortly after various Canadian cities raised the Palestinian flag after Prime Minister Mark Carney recognized it as a state.

Mayor Jeromy Farkas supported hearing the motion immediately, arguing that delaying it could create inconsistent treatment of upcoming flag-raising requests.

“If we were to accept this at a later meeting, we’d risk potentially having dozens of additional applications come in under the current rules,” said Farkas, according to Postmedia.

He warned waiting could “expose council to both political criticism and potential legal scrutiny about why some groups benefitted from the timing and others did not.”

Opposing councillors argued the item did not meet the threshold for urgency. Ward 2 Councillor Jennifer Wyness said the timing was transparent.

“Let’s not kid ourselves — this is purely because of the Palestinian flag-raising,” she said.

However, the debate primarily focused on whether the motion met the urgency threshold, rather than the substance of the proposed flag policy.

Ward 8 Councillor Nathaniel Schmidt added that major changes to Calgary’s flag policy require stakeholder engagement, not a same-day vote.

“That would allow us to inform the notice of motion through the collaboration and input from all the different communities that would be affected,” said Schmidt.

Six councillors and the mayor voted in favour, while eight were opposed. Farkas noted it would have required 10 votes to pass under procedural rules.

Despite the setback, McLean reiterated that the proposal will return.

Calgary has raised 36 national flags this year, with two more—Bosnia and Herzegovina on November 25 and Albania on November 29—still scheduled under the existing policy.