City council began its 2026 budget deliberations Monday, hearing from dozens of Calgarians about the city’s spending.

The public hearing — which Mayor Farkas predicted will stretch into Tuesday morning, with more than 130 speakers scheduled to speak — saw Calgarians from various organizations either urge council to better fund certain endeavours or rein in the city’s spending.

One of the first speakers was Hamza Tariq, the president of the Future Stars Cricket Foundation and a member of Canada’s national men’s cricket team.

He urged the new council to maintain their predecessors’ commitment for GamePLAN , a long-term strategy to build and more adequately fund public recreation facilities.

GamePLAN, which the previous council endorsed in February, includes a $250 million annual fundin

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