This op-ed, written by Jon Cornish, 15th chancellor of the University of Calgary, was originally published in the Calgary Herald on Feb. 11. You can read the original here.
Calgary is on a clear trajectory toward two million people, and there are feelings around this, as there are with any change we experience. Regardless of how we feel about our growing city, our feelings are really the output of the systems we've established. And systems don't respond to vibes or feelings. They respond to clarity.
I've spent my life inside systems that either worked or failed under pressure, on the football field, in financial markets, and in civic institutions. The lesson is consistent: growth doesn't break systems. Misaligned systems break under growth.
Calgary's advantage isn't land, energy, or affordability. Those are inputs. Our real edge is rationality.
This city has a proven habit of deciding what needs to be done, agreeing on it quickly, and then acting. We saw it after the 2013 floods and during our water crisis(es). We see it in how Calgary repeatedly punches above its weight in sport, energy, and applied research.
When that alignment exists, Calgary doesn't argue; we move forward. When it breaks, everything slows. Not because we lack ideas, money, or ambition, but because our shared reality fractures. If Calgary is serious about becoming the best place in the world to live, work, and play (my goal for the city), being rational isn't simply a value. It's why we've been so successful.
Two million people will not change who we are, but they will amplify it.
If we are fragmented, growth will magnify friction via housing shortages, infrastructure strain, polarization, and institutional distrust. If we are aligned, growth compounds our advantages in productivity, cultural depth, economic resilience, and upward mobility.
Take housing. We can debate density, aesthetics, zoning, and neighbourhood character endlessly. But the underlying truth is mechanical: more people require more places to live, and delay converts scarcity into suffering. Pretending otherwise doesn't preserve character. It just offloads the costs onto the next generation.
The same applies to infrastructure, transit, health care, and education. These are not ideological battlegrounds. They are load-bearing systems. They respond to engineering, timelines, and incentives; not outrage or wishful thinking.
One of Calgary's quiet strengths has always been its relationship with risk. Home to Canada's leadership in energy, entrepreneurship, and elite sport, Calgarians know this: uncertainty is not something you eliminate. It's something you price, prepare for, and move through decisively.
As Calgary grows, volatility is inevitable. That's not the threat. The threat is mistaking comfort for stability and narrative for reality. Our city will mature, certainly, but we citizens need to adapt to keep up.
This is where institutions matter.
Universities, the arts, media, financial, and community organizations aren't just there to inform a city; they are the core of it. When we trust our institutions to anchor debate in evidence, trust compounds. When they fail, every problem becomes unsolvable because every fact becomes optional.
A city of two million cannot function on feels.
What gives me confidence is that Calgarians expect truth to exist; we expect arguments to land somewhere tethered to reality. We disagree loudly, but we still believe disagreement should converge toward something real. That cultural reflex is rare and fragile, but it makes our great city what it is.
And two million people will test it.
Our opportunity is enormous. A larger Calgary can be more globally connected, more economically diverse, and more culturally relevant than ever. But only if we treat growth like what it is: a systems upgrade, not a grand exercise in NIMBY-ism.
The best Calgary isn't louder. It's clearer.
Clear about what works. Clear about what doesn't. Clear about what we're willing to change and what we're no longer willing to pretend away.
If we get that right, two million won't feel like pressure. It will feel like momentum.
And momentum, when aligned, is very hard to stop.
Jon Cornish, CFA, is the 15th chancellor of the University of Calgary, co-founder of the Calgary Black Chambers, and a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, inducted after nine seasons with the Calgary Stampeders.
As part of its special series Countdown to 2 Million, Postmedia and the Calgary Herald have gathered a "virtual think tank" of community leaders including UCalgary President Ed McCauley, Dr. Malinda Smith, associate vice-president research (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) and Guy Levesque, executive director of the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking at UCalgary who have been asked to share their thoughts on the future of the city as it approaches the population milestone. For more columns and videos in the series, visit the Herald website.
