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Calgary's new mayor: "Politics in full sentences"

theglobeandmail.com

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Re: Calgary's new mayor: "Politics in full sentences"

#6

Post by j_b_f »

neilk wrote: post #3

Nenshi did a good TEDx talk on Calgary and city development here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNAMH2_CLfo I hadn't heard of him until he won (I'm from a different part of Canada), but I'm a big fan now.

I love his "better ideas" series of videos: http://www.nenshi.ca/new/policy

I don't know anything about Calgary, but I was fascinated by the detail provided in the videos.

Re: Calgary's new mayor: "Politics in full sentences"

#8

Post by charlief »

I live in Toronto, and as the author suggests, I feel the pain. I really hope Nenshi succeeds and delivers some unequivocal, sweet results, then takes his record and runs federally. It would be awesome to have someone like Nenshi as prime minister, and what a great example this would set for all levels of Canadian government.

Re: Calgary's new mayor: "Politics in full sentences"

#9

Post by mast »

While it is nice to see good people run for office, I'm not he will ultimately be able to fulfill his promises.

I hate to sound cynical but without the support of Council, the mayor won't be able to do anything. And Councillors, in general, are only focused on what it good for their own wards, and not the good of the city as a whole.

(One solution might be to have a group of like minded people run as a team. Party politics at the municipal level?)

Re: Calgary's new mayor: "Politics in full sentences"

#10

Post by Tiktaalik »

mast wrote: post #9

While it is nice to see good people run for office, I'm not he will ultimately be able to fulfill his promises. I hate to sound cynical but without the support of Council, the mayor won't be able to do anything. And Councillors, in general, are only focused on what it good for their own wards, and not the good of the city as a whole. (One solution might be to have a group of like minded people run as a team. Party po…

That sort of exists in Vancouver.

Recently the Vision Party won a majority of seats in council and their coice for Mayor won in a landslide victory. Vision had some sort of agreement where COPE (Coalition of Progressive Electors) wouldn't run a candidate for Mayor so that the two progressive parties wouldn't split the vote. COPE has two councillors and they often vote with Vision. The other party, NPA (Non-Partisan Association) (yes that's the real name...Wikipedia for more details) has one seat on council.

The end effect of all of this is that Vision has very quickly been able to implement their agenda. Most recently several separated bike lanes and a street food cart program.

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