Democracy, particularly as expressed through city councils, is an awkward, messy thing.Councils at the top of their game can display the collective wisdom typical of directors of a multibillion-dollar corporation. At their worst, they produce the frenetic philosophical inconsistency of an anarcho-syndicalist collective.Calgary City Council, for example, unblushingly produced a smoking bylaw a couple of years ago that banned smoking outdoors on pub patios but allowed it indoors. Puzzling even to council itself, this made Canada's second most powerful city the only one in the country, perhaps the world, in which people could be told, "Excuse me sir, I'm going to have to ask you to take that cigar indoors."Fairness demands clarity. These observations concern the actions and decisions produced collectively, not individually. Calgary's council is not much different from those that represent most big cities. It is comprised of hard-working people with inclinations that vary from conservative to socialist. Herding these cats is Mayor Dave Bronconnier, a capable leader who has built a solid reputation as a spirited fighter for more provincial money to bolster a transportation infrastructure overwhelmed by the boom.Still, this is the council that collectively decided, by an 8-7 margin, to proceed with implementing a curbside recycling program that involves a mandatory $8 (or so) monthly user fee for all property owners. Apartment and condo dwellers are for the time being exempt from this mandatory user fee that interestingly enough is applied regardless of whether you actually use it or not which makes it, well, a tax.Forcing Calgarians to do something that has come naturally seems unnecessary. We may well have a soft spot for rugged individualism, but have always had a healthy approach to the environment. Yes, the air above the city can have that rancid, yellowy-brown look with which Torontonians are all too familiar, but our commuter trains run on wind power and we have recycled our papers, bottles, milk cartons, cardboard, flyers, magazines, cans, glass, tires, etc., for a very long time.A strong sense of environmental stewardship has preserved the Eastern Slopes from resort development, ranchers pine for the preservation of open range and, yes, we have dutifully toted our stuff to community recycling depots for decades.Curbside/blue box recycling service, for shut-ins and those who prefer it, is handled by private operators for $10 or $11 a month.The only thing new about recycling in Calgary, despite expressions of delight that our "embarrassment" had finally ended, is that instead of it being executed by combining city resources with the volunteer labour of citizens and the entrepreneurship of the private sector, it will now be done exclusively by the public sector.The merit of this decision, according to the Sierra Club, is that the coercive power of the state, enforced by a market monopoly and tax, is required to get Calgarians who do not currently recycle to do so. Perhaps, although choosing to suppress Calgary's vaunted civic volunteerism rather than taking advantage of and further encouraging it is certainly a fresh twist on city-building. Another popular argument is that the city will do a better job than the private sector. Maybe, but not only is this inconsistent with a culture prone to frenetic fits of free-market breast-thumping at the first hint of government intervention, very little evidence exists that the public sector is inherently better than the private sector at just about anything.This is a market in which even $16.50 an hour may not be enough to recruit unskilled outdoor labour, so there's always a chance the city might decide -- despite opposition from public-sector unions -- to contract private curbside recyclers to achieve its ends.As it stands, however, the City of Calgary's collective wisdom, albeit narrowly reached, is poised to "nationalize" the curbside recycling business, raising taxes to wipe out businesses and suppress volunteerism in this, the once swaggering city of entrepreneurs.It doesn't seem like a very "Calgary" thing to do. Unless of course, you think smoking is something better done inside than outside. Then it all makes sense -- in an awkward, messy kind of way.