Calgary’s city council voted on Tuesday to conduct the next civic census in 2028, delaying the door-to-door count by one year from the originally planned 2027. The decision comes after a report from city administration earlier this month indicated that a suitable contractor could not be found to carry out the census in 2027. Instead, the city will use in-house staff and custom-built software for the 2028 count.
Background and Cost-Saving Measures
Calgary’s last civic census was held in 2019. The following year, council supported a recommendation to eliminate the annual door-to-door count as a cost-saving measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, council directed administration to consider reinstating the civic census every two years, starting in 2027. They later approved a budget of $10.7 million, spread between 2025 and 2030, to hire an independent contractor for the count.
Since the civic census was discontinued, the city has relied on population data from the 2021 federal census, which recorded Calgary’s population at approximately 1.3 million. However, the city currently estimates its population at around 1.6 million, based on projections using building permits and other growth metrics.
Need for Granular Data
“With the unprecedented growth we have seen in Calgary since our last civic census, restarting the program will provide important data on how our communities are evolving on a more granular or ward by ward level,” said Yousaf Shah, census program co-ordinator, in a city news release. The federal census, conducted by Statistics Canada every five years, is currently ongoing, but Calgary’s population data from that count are not expected until late next year, staff told council on Tuesday.
Council Amendments and Debates
Council voted 10-5 in support of an amendment from Ward 6 Coun. John Pantazopoulos, directing administration to present regular updates on the program’s delivery, timelines, budget, and risk mitigations, starting this October. However, council voted down a request from Ward 12 Coun. Mike Jamieson to conduct the civic census every five years instead of every two years. Jamieson argued that his amendment would ensure at least a two- or three-year gap between the federal and municipal counts. He said he supports bringing back the civic census in 2028 but wants the next one in 2033, two years after the next federal census. “A census almost every year, in my opinion, is overkill and is not fiscally responsible,” he said.
