Mayor Naheed Nenshi calls for booze ban in councillor offices

Recent stories about the use of alcohol by city councillors at public expense have prompted the mayor to suggest its time to ban booze from city hall itself.

• Hospitality suite for Calgary city councillors at FCM conference raises concerns
• Calgary councillors can no longer expense alcohol for city staff

Naheed Nenshi was reacting after the CBC News revealed Monday that councillors used public money to pay for a hospitality suite with liquor and snacksat a recent conference in Ontario.

Late last month,council voted to prohibit council members from using tax dollars to buy alcohol for city staff.

Nenshi says he wants to have a broader conversation about alcohol in city hall.

The mayor said he would support a "no booze on the premises" rule for councillors' offices.

You know, if you want to have a bottle of scotch in your office and have a drink after work after a really long council meeting well you know, more power to you, I guess. Drive home safe, he said.

But the taxpayer ought not to be paying for that and we ought not to be having that kind of activity happening during the work day. And during the work day means during council meetings, even if they go 12 or 13 hours.

The city auditor is conducting a review of the current alcohol policies and looking at best practices in other cities and the private sector.

A report will go to council in January.