Calgary city councillors are expressing conflicting opinions on whether senior administrators should lose their jobs in the aftermath of a damning independent report into the repeated failures of a critical water main and the city's long-term mismanagement of its water infrastructure.
A Call for Accountability and Support
The debate emerged during an executive committee meeting dominated by a lengthy questioning of city officials about the third-party review into the June 2024 rupture of the Bearspaw south feeder main. The investigation, led by Siegfried Kiefer, concluded that the city had mismanaged its water utilities since at least 2004, leading to deferred inspections on vital infrastructure and an ineffective governance structure.
When asked about the potential for firings, Mayor Jeromy Farkas framed the council's dual role. "The expectation from Calgarians is that city council is going to hold our city administration to account, but also to support them in providing the resources, the culture to get that work done," Farkas told reporters.
Report Reveals Systemic Failures
The independent panel's findings paint a picture of systemic neglect. The report suggests that the combination of deferred maintenance and poor governance directly contributed to the catastrophic pipe burst on June 5, 2024. In response, city officials, including Chief Administrative Officer David Duckworth, told the committee they fully endorse the report's recommendations and will present an implementation plan next month.
Key recommendations include establishing a water utility oversight board staffed by experts and, eventually, creating a standalone organization similar to Enmax to manage Calgary's water services with more focused oversight. "We have lessons to learn," Duckworth stated during the meeting.
Duckworth also pushed back on the idea of pinpointing blame on a single individual or administration, noting the report's findings span two decades. "There isn't one smoking gun, there is not one council, not one CAO, not one employee (who let this happen)," he said.
Communication Breakdowns Highlighted
The report also included a High Priority Action Report (HPAR) with urgent steps to stabilize the vulnerable feeder main and speed up its replacement with a new steel pipeline. This HPAR was submitted to the city in mid-October 2025.
However, one councillor revealed they did not see these critical recommendations until the full report was released publicly last week. Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston suggested that failing to flow this interim update to council before their November 2025 budget deliberations was a prime example of the communication failures the Kiefer report criticized.
As Calgary grapples with the fallout from the feeder main breaks and the sweeping report, the path forward involves not just implementing technical fixes but also navigating the difficult political question of accountability for failures that have unfolded over generations of civic leadership.
