Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra apologizes for failing to disclose Inglewood property

A city councillor has publicly apologized for failing to officially disclose his financial interest in a property in Inglewood in the city's southeast.

Council voted to sanction Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra in early July after the city's integrity commissioner, Ellen-Anne O'Donnell, investigated the Ward 9 councillor's investment in the property. 

O'Donnell wrote in a report that Carra had failed to disclose his interest in the property at 66 New Street S.E. She determined he had violated council's code of conduct by failing to add that property to his publicly available disclosure form.

That form must be filed by all council members. O'Donnell said there were five occasions between 2016 and 2021 that Carra should have updated the form.

Reading from a letter he tabled on Tuesday, Carra said he should have disclosed the interest, adding that the commissioner's ruling was "instructive, clear and fair."

"While this was a paperwork mistake, I take that seriously and I'm grateful that this kind of records management and disclosure is important to how councillors are required to conduct themselves," he said.

"I accept the commissioner's ruling and council's sanction, and I apologize to council and to all Calgarians."

CBC News first reported on Carra's property interest in 2016, at which point he didn't mention he had paid a $300,000 down payment.

Members of council are tasked with completing the disclosure form within 30 days of an election and within 30 days of any changes to their holdings.

In an interview with CBC News in mid-July, Carra took responsibility for the failure to document, saying "The only answer I can give is that clearly my intention was not to hide my ownership in this."

"There were a couple points in time where I should have, and could have, written on that form," Carra said at the time.

He had previously declared his interest in the property during council meetings, in media interviews and in a hearing by Alberta's Land and Property Rights Tribunal.

Carra also apologized on Tuesday for a second matter tied to his social media comments. That matter focused on tweets that criticized his council colleagues for "actively politicking with Coun. Sean Chu" after news reports emerged that focused on the councillor being disciplined for physical contact with a 16-year-old girl in 1997 while he was a police officer.

"While I value disagreement and debate on matters of public interest between members of council and I view social media as an important venue for such discussions, I stepped over the line in how I engaged in some of those discussions," Carra said on Tuesday.

"I accept the integrity commissioner's ruling, council's sanctions, and I apologize to councillors [Dan] McLean, [Andre] Chabot, [Sonya] Sharp and [Jennifer] Wyness."

Wyness said in early July that she was interested in having Alberta's minister of municipal affairs look into the actions of Carra. That motion is expected to be brought forward to council this week.