On Day Two of Calgary’s new council, it suddenly looked just like the old council.

Members were faced with Mayor Jeromy Farkas’ urgent motion to ban other countries’ flags from running up the city hall pole on national days.

It was defeated by an 8-7 vote .

Farkas had been working on this since he discovered that the Palestinian flag had official permission to fly last Saturday .

He drafted a bylaw to keep it from happening again, essentially by flying no flags of other nations on national days.

Then Farkas took the political equivalent of a gut punch.

When the votes were called, he lost.

City hall veterans cannot recall another time when a mayor was refused debate on a matter of urgent business.

It’s usually routine, a simple matter of respect for the mayor’s concerns.

Not this t

See Full Page