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2025-2029 Strategic Plan+ 2025 Business Plan
The making of a better Calgary.
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Land Acknowledgement
We respectfully acknowledge that our work in the Rivers District is located at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers in a place called Moh’kinstsis, a Blackfoot word that means elbow. It is in the spirit of truth, respect and reciprocity that we honour and acknowledge Moh’kinstsis, and recognize the traditional territories and oral practices of the Blackfoot Confederacy, including the Siksika, Piikani and the Kainai Nations; the Îyâxe Nakoda, including the Chiniki, Bearspaw and Goodstoney Nations; and the Tsuut’ina Nation. The City of Calgary is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Districts 5 and 6.
How to use this document
This business plan aligns with the first year in CMLC’s new 2025–2029 strategic plan. The year ahead will bring several major project initiations and advancements, each supporting the three ambition statements and four strategic pillars of our new plan.
This digital version of our strategic plan offers a condensed overview of key insights and information. For the full report, click here.
Your document will automatically scroll horizontally and vertically. You’ll be able to access different sections of the report from a table of contents.
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The NextFive Years
"Through 2025, as we begin to expand our city-building efforts beyond the Rivers District’s boundaries, we will do so with our usual unflagging focus on delivering value for our shareholder and the city we serve.” - Kate Thompson, President and CEO of CMLC
2025–2029
Since 2007, CMLC has been driving value to our shareholder and delivering significant impacts to the city’s livability, connectivity and global appeal.
Together, through trust and transformation, we are building the future in Calgary.
In 2007, CMLC embarked on our mandate to redevelop East Village from the ground up—a monumental master-planned undertaking to be delivered over 20 years. In 2018, with East Village’s resurgence well underway, CMLC and the Calgary Stampede unveiled a 20-year master-plan vision to transform east Victoria Park into Calgary’s Culture + Entertainment District.
Over the past 18 years, our creative placemaking efforts in the Rivers District have dramatically reshaped Calgary’s downtown experience, and our vision for the east end is taking shape through and around some of the world’s most impressive structures including the Central Library and the newly expanded BMO Centre.
And we'rejust getting started
In 2020, to guide our ongoing redevelopment of East Village and our delivery of several major infrastructure expansion, the 17th Avenue SE extension and Victoria Park/Stampede Station rebuild, and Stampede Trail among them—CMLC developed and adopted a strategic plan for 2020 to 2024.
During that busy five-year period, our team nearly doubled in size—from 21 to 38—while the value of projects under our purview grew by nearly 400 percent, from $245 million to $1.2 billion.
While we authored our 2020-2024 Strategic Plan prior to the pandemic, its four priorities—maximizing impact, relationship management, community-building innovation, and excellence in project execution—proved resilient, and we steadily stayed the course for the full five years. Our recently released five-year Impact Report details our progress against the strategic plan.
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CMLC’s new strategic plan for 2025 to 2029 will guide our talented team’s efforts as we continue to drive the Rivers District’s growth and as we begin seeking opportunities to apply our expertise in communities outside the Rivers District to help advance The City’s housing strategy and deliver a new model for
transit-oriented communities (TOC).
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Our strategicplanning process
Creating our 2025–2029 Strategic Plan entailed nearly two years of careful planning with our Board of Directors.
We considered how best to prepare for CMLC’s continued growth and expansion, how to support the needs of East Village and The C+E to realize their full potential as established communities, and how to drive value to our shareholder through new opportunities both inside and outside the Rivers District.
This follows from Council’s direction in 2016, when it evolved our mandate to enable us to work beyond the Rivers District’s boundaries.
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Our planning process included interest-holder consultation regarding our performance with major project delivery and our key differentiators.
In addition, our management team performed a rigorous assessment of our performance against our existing strategic plan.
We also carefully considered the market landscape and how it might impact our future needs.
Building on the momentum and direction of our 2020–2024 Strategic Plan, we crafted our new plan around three ambition statements—the essence of our strategic vision and an expression of what we as an organization are growing and reaching toward over the next five years and beyond.
We also analyzed the four priorities that underpinned our 2020–2024 Strategic Plan and modified them as required to reflect our plans and support our ambition statements.
We then began identifying and articulating the outcomes through which we will measure our success.
At every step, we ensured our new strategic plan aligns seamlessly with the vision, mission and values that unify and inspire our team.
Our Ambition Statements
Serving as our ‘north star’ as we advance our work each year, our ambition statements will guide CMLC’s efforts and shape our city-building initiatives through the next five years and beyond.
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Transform the Rivers District into a vibrant and established community
- 02
Drive social impact, investment and economic value outside the Rivers District.
- 03
Achieve best-in-city excellence and national recognition for delivering stand-out projects
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StrategicPriorities
Our new strategic plan is supported by four strategic pillars that underpin our work over the next five years. Each pillar will have a range of strategies that we’ll advance each year in its service. We will continue to update our strategies annually and report on our progress against them each year.
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- 01
Future-focused city-building
- 02
Community-building leadership
- 03
Development innovation
- 04
Project execution excellence
For the full range of our community-building efforts over the next five years, we will define specific targets and then measure the impacts of our work in pursuit of each target. To gauge our success, we’ll employ measures like the value of private investment we attract and secure, the housing development initiatives we enable, the community benefits we deliver by improving access to amenities and enhancing the public realm, and the impacts of initiatives we advance and deploy to elevate community safety and well-being.
Each outcome will help fulfil our organizational ambitions and drive social and economic value in our communities.
Outcomes
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2025Business Plan
- 03
Our Work in the Community
The placemaking and programming and safety and vitality initiatives that turn a master plan into a community.
- 04
Corporate Services + Financial Strategy
CMLC's Corporate Services and Financial Strategy guides and supports our daily operations, IT systems, facility and property management, and all financial activities, including our innovative Community Revitalization Levy (CRL).
CMLC +IDEAS
Our work with respect to inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility and sustainability— IDEAS—is stewarded by three internal working groups whose members represent all areas of our organization and all aspects of our work.
As we advance our new five-year strategic plan, we will develop our IDEAS work plans in alignment with our ambition statements and our strategic pillars to ensure that our work continues to meaningfully reflect the diversity of the city we serve and enhance the lives of its citizens for generations to come.
And we will incorporate, wherever possible, high standards for sustainability—carrying out our mandate with due consideration for the long-term environmental, social and economic well-being of our fellow citizens and our planet.
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Diversity, Equity + Inclusion: In 2025, we will build on the momentum of the D,E&I Committee, prioritizing learning opportunities and introducing new, relevant ways to educate and engage our team and our partners through;
- 01
Commitment to education: Equipping our team with the knowledge and resources to advance DE&I with all stakeholders
- 02
Recruitment & procurement: Enhancing diversity in our hiring practices and integrating DE&I considerations into procurement to support under-represented groups
- 03
Workplace culture: Fostering an inclusive, equitable environment that encourages diversity at all levels
- 04
Community connections: Engaging with under-served communities within CMLC’s reach to ensure inclusivity in our projects and programming
- 05
Mentoring & championing talent: Supporting and elevating diverse talent, especially from under-represented groups
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Accessibility: In 2025, our accessibility working group will continue to explore;
- 01
Knowledge & education: Delivering education, training and awareness of accessibility challenges, universal design standards and supporting technology to CMLC staff
- 02
Immediate improvements: Exploring, through our ongoing stewardship of Rivers District communities, opportunities for small but meaningful improvements to the accessibility of the places and spaces within our purview
- 03
Engaging expertise: Continuing to engage consultants and advisors to inform, support and elevate our work to ensure we continue to be welcoming, inclusive and accessible to all Calgarians.
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Sustainability: In 2025, we will continue to build upon our progress and support of The City of Calgary’s ambitious climate resiliency targets by;
- 01
Leadership commitment: Leading, mobilizing and inspiring efforts tied to reducing our climate change impacts and responding to both challenges and opportunities
- 02
Growing our knowledge: Establishing and supporting a learning orientation at CMLC to grow our knowledge and understanding of climate change and environmental sustainability
- 03
Continued leadership in delivery of environmentally efficient and climate resilient buildings, infrastructure and communities: Promoting best-in-class performance related to climate change and environmental sustainability to promote early adoption and innovation
- 04
Procurement & industry relationships: Evolving CMLC processes, tools and practices and growing industry relationships to better support and enable climate change and environmental sustainability initiatives.
A print version of the 2025 - 2029 Strategic Plan + 2025 Business Plan is available.
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