About the CMDA

Calgary’s gradual transportation evolution from horsepower to automobiles began more than a century ago, with the first automobile dealership being established in the city in approximately 1915. Few, if any, Calgarians at that time could have imagined the dramatic growth the Calgary automotive industry would experience over the ensuing 100+ years.

Today, more than 4,000 people are employed directly within new-car-and-truck dealerships in the city in a wide range of professions from finance, computer and IT, automotive maintenance and repair, sales, management and a host of others. Salaries and commissions alone paid to those employees total well into the hundreds of millions of dollars, having an overall impact on the city’s economy approaching – or surpassing – a billion dollars annually.

The Calgary Motor Dealers Association, formed in 1951, has 75 member dealerships representing more than 90 percent of new-car-and-truck automotive dealerships in Calgary.
Those dealerships generate a further economic impact in Calgary of hundreds of millions of dollars annually through the purchase and sales of goods in the community, ranging from items as small as paper and stationery supplies, to as large as real estate purchases, construction, equipment and a vast range of other items. Additionally, dealer members of the CMDA pay many millions of dollars in property taxes to the City of Calgary each year, enabling the city to undertake infrastructure and other projects that might otherwise not be possible.

But the full story of the members of the Calgary Motor Dealers Association would be incomplete without examining the industry’s remarkable record of charitable support for deserving groups and individuals in the city. Over the many years of its existence, car and truck dealerships in Calgary have provided tens of millions of dollars in charitable support to hundreds of charities in a board range of disciplines. In the 60 years of the existence of the CMDA alone – the only period for which reliable records have been kept – organized charitable endeavours by the industry have generated many millions of dollars in donations. It is not possible to estimate with any degree of accuracy the many additional millions that have gone to charity from personal – sometimes anonymous - donations by member dealers of the Association.

The Calgary International Auto and Truck Show, which has been staged annually for 30 years, also donates net revenues generated by the show to charity. Over the years, that totals hundreds of thousands of dollars to those who require our assistance.
Another major charitable event undertaken by the CMDA is the Vehicles and Violins Gala, which was started in the year 2000 and has been staged annually since. The Gala traditionally takes place the evening before the opening of the annual Auto and Truck Show and since its inception has raised more than $2,000,000 for charity.

The Calgary auto and truck industry is an active, vibrant, critical component of the economic, social and charitable fabric of our city and the CMDA’s member dealerships are extremely pleased to continue to contribute, and to grow, with this marvelous city.