We deserve more from those that are supposed to represent us

I would like to thank the Honourable Minister Deepak Obhrai for responding to my letter, which was sent to all Calgary MP's, regarding the reversal of the decision to fund Calgary's application to P3 Canada.

His letter does seem a bit of a carbon of what I have seen from others, but he did, at least, respond. I can not say the same for my MP Jason Kenney.

Below is the response telling me that Mayor Nenshi has unfairly criticized the Federal Government by demanding that they answer to their decision to deny Calgary's application to fund recreation centres through the 'arm's length ' P3 Canada Corporation.

I do enjoy how the Federal Minister places the blame on someone else for allowing the criteria to be placed on the P3 Canada website - "There was never any legal authority for P3 Canada to fund rec centres. We regret if information on program eligibility was inaccurately provided by P3 Canada. P3 Canada has corrected this error, clarifying that recreational centres do not, and never have, been eligible for funding".

To the Honourable Minister Obhrai, I think that there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. I understand that no one ever likes to admit when they have done something wrong, particularly a government that relies on popular opinion to stay in office, but this is clear failure on your part, the Federal Government.

You and your colleagues know that we deserve more from those that are supposed to represent us.

Below is the response I received the Deepak Obhrai. Enjoy

deepak.obhrai@parl.gc.ca to me

show details Dec 2 (4 days ago)

Dear Adam Chapin,

Thank you for your email of November 27^th expressing your concerns with regards to P3 funding for new recreation centres in Calgary.

Mayor Nenshi has unfairly criticized our government for rejecting a funding request for public-private partnerships for four recreation centres in the city.

Our Government has demonstrated our commitment to Calgary’s infrastructure priorities; we have provided over $200 million in infrastructure funding to support the City’s priorities, on top of $60 million in annual gas tax revenues the City can use as it pleases.

Our Government does not pick winners and losers - federal infrastructure funds are typically allocated on an equal, per capita basis across the country.  Calgary received its fair share of these funds based on the size of the population. 

We’re focused on supporting Canada’s economic growth – especially renewing and improving vital infrastructure. The P3 Canada fund is a limited fund, as one part of our Government’s larger plan to support Canada’s infrastructure.

When the federal government created P3 Canada, limits were placed on what kind of projects could be funded. There was never any legal authority for P3 Canada to fund rec centres. We regret if information on program eligibility was inaccurately provided by P3 Canada. P3 Canada has corrected this error, clarifying that recreational centres do not, and never have, been eligible for funding. This principle has been applied across the country.

I hope the above will serve to help you better understand our government’s commitments through P3. Meanwhile, we continue to stay focused on economic growth and creating jobs for Canadians.

Thank you again for taking the time to write to me. I always appreciate hearing your views.

Sincerely,

Deepak Obhrai
Member of Parliament – Calgary East
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs

Letter to Minister Jason Kenney

Below is an email that sent to each Member of Parliament today as well as each Alderman (and Mayor Nenshi) at the City of Calgary to voice my concern on the recent PPP Canada decision to deny rec centre funding to Calgarians.

_________________________________________________________________________

from [Offline] Y Vote YYC y.vote.yyc@gmail.com

to jason.kenney@parl.gc.ca

cc rob.anders@parl.gc.ca,

stephen.harper@parl.gc.ca,

diane.ablonczy@parl.gc.ca,

devinder.shory@parl.gc.ca,

deepak.obhrai@parl.gc.ca,

michelle.rempel@parl.gc.ca,

lee.richardson@parl.gc.ca,

Peter.Demong@calgary.ca,

diane.colley-urquhart@calgary.ca,

Shane.Keating@calgary.ca,

Brian.Pincott@calgary.ca,

andre.chabot@calgary.ca,

gian-carlo.carra@calgary.ca,

john.mar@calgary.ca,

druh.farrell@calgary.ca,

Richard.Pootmans@calgary.ca,

ray.jones@calgary.ca,

Gael.MacLeod@calgary.ca,

jim.stevenson@calgary.ca,

gord.lowe@calgary.ca,

dhodges@calgary.ca,

themayor@calgary.ca

date Sun, Nov 27, 2011 at 11:25 AM

subject PPP decision

mailed-by gmail.com

hide details 11:25 AM (2 minutes ago)

Hon. Minister Jason Kenney

jason.kenney@parl.gc.ca

Dear Honourable Minister Kenney,

I truly regret having to send this email to you today. It is regretful because of the fact that the issue I write about was quite foreseeable for some time.

I will admit up front that I am a strong supporter of both the Provincial and Federal Conservative Party, but in the last Federal election, you name was not the one that I put an X beside because of the events that lead up to the Federal Election.

As my Member of Parliament, I expect a modicum of representation from those that are are elected serve their constituents. I feel that you have not a fair job at that.

During the last civic election, you openly used the position of your office as Minister to endorse a civic candidate, for which I had contacted your office several times to voice my concern. Granted there may not have been any regulations about using a Minister's office to endorse a political campaign, particularly when that campaign does not deal in party politics, but the optics were quite murky.

During the Federal election, you neglected to campaign or even meet with constituents throughout the process, instead, you spent your time and efforts bolstering candidates in Quebec and Ontario.

Now comes the decision to overturn the PPP application that would have seen 4 recreation centers in Calgary. One of which would have been in your riding.

I watch the Prime Minster speak about how recreation centers were never part of the program, though the application criteria clearly states ,, from Mayor Nenshi's online documents, that they are. I can't help but hear the sounds of silence from your office as the communities demand a rational response from anyone.

To refer back to my first paragraph of this letter, there is no indication to the contrary that your office was unable, or unwilling, to support the interests of the residents/voters who gave you and the Federal Progressive Conservatives a majority government.

For you, as an elected official, to assume that Calgarians would blindly follow your party because of its incredible support in this city for the past several decades, is an insult.

I expect better than to be taken advantage of.

I know that your party will likely be victorious come the next Federal Election as the ideals of the PC Party do not transfer to other parties yet. Regardless, Calgary expects you to be our representative first, not Ontario and not Quebec.

Sincerely.

Adam Chapin

Ric McIver - Did I really agree completely with your column?

On September 1st, former Alderman Ric McIver, penned another Calgary Herald supported critique of everything to which he laments with the new order in Calgary's City Council titled "Searching for shepherds among the sheep", referring to both the civic and provincial governments..

Plugged on Facebook and Twitter, the former mayoral candidate promoted his article and engaged in conversation.

It is no secret that I am not a huge fan of the themes of the former Ward 12 Alderman's musings in the Calgary Herald, for no other reason than that they only seem to serve the glorification of negativity, not progress (I invite you to read the archives of Mr. McIver's Calgary Herald articles and take a drink every time you read something positive; you won't even get a buzz on). I digress.

I did make a few comments, via social media, on the latest article themed on how there are no leaders in Council or in the current PC Leadership race, only followers.

My comments on twitter to Mr. McIver served to clarify why he feels that the only way for governments to function properly, and to serve the interest of the public, is to argue and bicker (see below).

Now, I will also include the link to the Calgary Herald article (http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/Searching+shepherds+among+sheep/5337898/story.html) to allow everyone a chance to read it. I could be completely out in left field with how I interpreted the piece.

What I took from the roughly 676 word essay on how cordial-to-a-fault Calgary's elected council is was that, unless there is distension, or the presence of a 'Dr. No" in chambers, the interests of voters aren't being met. That is until, as Mr. McIver presumes,  the current crop of future incumbents begin gearing up for election 2013.
 
My whole line of thought and questioning, to the 'Dr. No' article is that, last October, the people of Calgary put a new face on Council. A face that is made of of forty percent new experiences, new personalities; and forty percent less of what was there one year ago.

The current field of elected officials may not have stood up to cause open revolt on all council decisions, but if you take a moment to look at what this current crop of the press's patsies in Council have discussed and voted on, you may find that the City of Calgary has gone beyond the hickster status that we had decades ago and have become a modern municipal leader all without the verbal bloodshed you seem to be waiting for.

• The Airport Tunnel - a decision that could have been decided on by those Councillor who sat in Chambers prior to the recent election but was deferred onto the new council who voted favor of the tunnel.
• Green Trip - Another deferral that was saddled on the shoulders of a fresh council to accept horrific recommendations from the previous administrative direction. If I remember correctly, it was the rookie who succeeded Mr. Mciver that kept the interests of Southeast Calgary in mind to rework the proposal.
• Fluoride - Yup, if you recall this was a slam dunk decision. A decision that involved much 'distension' and discussion. Without pandering to lobby groups, Council voted to remove Fluoride from the water system.

There is a reason that Nenshi, Pootmans, MacLeod, Keating, Carra, Demong are sitting in Council Chambers and Hawksworth, Fox-Mellway, Connelly, Ceci, and McIver are not.

Progress does not always come at the expense of dissent.

Who is Your Front Runner?

With one month to go until the first ballot to find the new leader of Alberta's PC Party, I wanted to take a cue from, well, everyone else these days, and throw out an unscientific poll to see who Alberta feels is the front runner.

In the coming days I will do what I did with each mayoral candidate during Calgary's civic election and post the platforms of the various hopefulls.

I have taken some effort (though only through Twitter as that is best my schedule can accomodate) in engaging some of the candidates so far, and so far, very few have either responded or posted what they plan to do to make a better Alberta.

Thank you to Stephen Carter from Alison Redford's team and Doug Griffiths for engaging me in the discussion so far.

I look forward to chatting with the other 4 leadership hopefulls.

Dear Mr. Griffiths

Mr. Griffiths, You had asked me what issues I would like to see addressed that are not being discussed during the leadership race for the Conservative Party.

Chances are quite likely that either you, or one of the other five candidates, will be the Premier of Alberta following the next provincial election; I have little doubt about that.

What I do have is the same doubt that I had with a majority of the Mayoral candidates during Calgary’s civic election last October.

There were a lot of platitudes put forth by each candidate on how they would work with the province and the feds to accomplish what Calgarians needed.

I am hearing a lot of the same from the various leadership camps. I have referred to them as  “PR spun quotes”, the verbiage being attributed to the various policy statements.

I would provide examples of some of what I am talking about with respect to your campaign, as this is primarily a response to our discussions , but to be honest, I am having a hard time finding policies and specifics that you are proposing. 

I did come across your five points of interest: Education (kindergarten to post secondary), land stewardship and environment, reforming government, healthcare solutions and reinvigorate the PC party, though I have had a difficult time finding further information.

Each candidate seems to have a great writing staff on board to draft these high level talking points, but there is very little in the way of specifics.

Of course there are the hot topics that have popped up (Queue jumping and Calgary’s versus Edmonton’s crime statistics) that seem to get a lot of ink in the media, but still little in the way of specifics.

You had asked what the issues were that I was referring to. The gas price issue was a bit of a red herring and is something that baffles me, though my issues focus more so on some of the following.

Healthcare

Canada has what I consider one of the best health care systems in the world.

Wait times are a huge issue, for non life threatening services. I have gone into the ER to experience the long wait that comes with a trip to the Foothills, though I appreciate that someone with a compound fracture will be seem much faster than someone with a scraped knee.

Has the province considered opening or contracting out, walk-in type clinics at the hospitals to funnel the scraped knees from the urgent care centers so that those clients on stretchers in the hallway don’t have fight through the hoard of headaches waiting in the ER.

I have noticed that the Foothills Hospital Pharmacy is now a Shopper's Drug Mart. Great move if they are paying a fee to the hospital/government. What other partnering can be done throughout the province.

So much of health care is managed and doled out to the province/city through the federal government. There was a time when universal health care meant 'universal health care'; eye glasses and dental care would not cause a family of 2 adults and two children to go into debt.

Those days have changed. I couldn’t expect a return to the days when a trip to the dentist and optometrist wouldn’t leave a $2,000 dent in my pocket book (multiply that by 4 family members).

Single parent families or even families with a low income go years without checkups because the cost of eyesight and painless eating is too much.

I don’t know the answer to this, but I am posing the question to you. What real ideas or plans do you have to for health care?

Transportation

Specifically what will you do as Premier to work with the City of Calgary get an LRT in the Southeast? 

How is it possible that the entire Southeast portion of Calgary is shut down because both the city and the province couldn’t, or didn’t, communicate and opted to move ahead with major construction in the same area at the same time?

Your five key areas of interest

What specifically will you do for education? There is already plenty of access to post secondary education in the province; the issue facing students is the cost of education. There is no way now that I could afford the Post Secondary education that received when I was in college.

I will be honest, I m not aware of the Land Stewardship issue having live in the city. But for those who are affected by the bill, what do you propose?

Reforming the government, healthcare solutions and reinvigorating the PC party; I truly want to hear more from you and the other candidates, not the guy that writes the Blog articles and press releases

Like I said in one of my last tweets to you Mr. Griffiths, I don't expect you to know it all or have all the answers (I would be likely quite skeptical if you did), but I think that I, and the millions of Albertas that you are vying to govern, would expect that plan.

That goes for all of the candidates.

Thnak you

Suite Sounds of Controversy in City Hall

It appears that the suite sounds of controversy have begun to bellow in Calgary, a mere four months into Council’s newest term.

At the centre of this recent debate is veteran Alderman, John Mar, and rookie Alderman, Shane Keating.

What started out as an important discussion on the concept of legalizing secondary suites in Calgary has turned into a circus of the small town variety, with Calgarians on both sides of the door arguing, not the logistics of the issue, but the fact that the two Alderman had excused themselves from the vote.

Alderman Mar, who became a proud new father during the debate, had realized that his involvement in the discussion had put him into a conflict of interest. Prior to the birth of his new child, Alderman Mar began the process of building a Nanny suite with an application to rezone his home.

Alderman Shane Keating, who is planning to apply for a secondary suite in the “near future” to accommodate some family members who will be moving into his house, was forced to remove himself from the discussions as well, as, according to both Alderman, ‘by applying for a secondary suite, they, or their immediate families, may benefit as a result of their vote’.

That seems fair and easy enough. Not so apparently.

In a council that heralds only 15 votes, losing 2 votes due to abstention may hurt the proponents of secondary suite legalization in Calgary.

I have only ever conversed with both Alderman via Twitter, but I may be safe to assume that Alderman Mar and Keating are pro secondary suite, being themselves in the process of legalizing theirs.

However, their vote will not count during this debate in Council, bringing the voting pool down to 13 from 15.

So, instead of an 8-7 majority, the secondary suite issue needs a vote 7-6 either way. If there are 7 Alderman who oppose the legalization of secondary suites, then the swing votes of Alderman Mar and Keating could be the difference.

Having involved myself in the ongoing discussion that is taking place on Twitter, I have read the comments like “I wish my Alderman would represent the interests of the ward over his own” and that “the residents of Ward 8 & 12 won’t have a voice if they don’t vote.” The fact is, they are both representing the interests of their ward over their own.

If both Alderman join Council and take part in the next discussion, and vote on it, they would be breaking the law.   Not a criminal law but a law that instructs all elected officials in Alberta to remove themselves from any discussion where they, or their family, could benefit directly from the vote.

Likewise, if both Alderman join Council and vote on the issue, their votes could easily be challenged and their swing vote could be negated and end up doing more damage to the secondary suite issue, the City of Calgary and Wards 8 & 12 in the process.

To claim that Alderman Mar and Alderman Keating are not representing their wards, the fact that they could be removed from council by voting on an issue that they know could provide a benefit to them tells me otherwise.

To also say that Alderman Mar and Alderman Keating only declared an interest in the issue to avoid voting on the subject is sad.

I tweeted this comment before and I will write it here, I am pretty sure that no one in Council, or anyone who has ever ran for a government seat, has ever done so only to be able to avoid a vote that affects their constituents. Some people really have to grow up.

Calgary Herald - http://bit.ly/i8Fhgy

Alderman Keatin's blog - http://bit.ly/eFyZnu

Mayoral Candidate Cheat Sheet

With so many candidates running for Mayor in Calgary, how is a voter supposed to choose where to mark their X?

I have not found any website that has a comparrison of each mayoral candidate's policies and issues listed. I have taken the opportunity of trying to assist voters by listing each of the candidates' issues/policies on this blog.

I have only listed the ones that have their information posted on their website, or in a place that is easily accesible to the public. I am a believer that if you don't make your information easy to access, on the web for instance, then you don't want your issues known.

I used the website listing from http://calgarydemocracy.ca/levels/calgary/elections/2010/ballots

During this process, I did very little in terms of editing format, aside from spacing and numbering (where appropriate). All content relating to the candidate's policies/issues was copied as is from their website.

Enjoy, and I hope this helps you compare and decide.

Craig Burrows
http://craigburrows.ca/issues.php
Printable Version

The main Issues in Calgary

  Transportation

We will prioritize and manage construction projects in order to minimize the impact on today’s roads. With this in mind, we need to focus on three key transportation projects for this new Council.

  Airport Tunnel

I believe that construction of the Airport Tunnel is an absolute necessity. Let me explain. Currently, the airport runways are positioned between Deerfoot and Barlow. This allows north-south access to the airport via Deerfoot and Barlow. The Calgary Airport Authority is a quasi governmental body which is able to implement decisions independently from the City of Calgary. They have decided that the Calgary International Airport requires a new runway and they plan to build the new runway east of Barlow Trail. The result is that Barlow Trail will be permanently closed effective April 2011 without any plan to maintain the present amount of access to the airport or to increase it. This is wrong to me. In fact, we need more east-west corridors in the northeast quadrant to move goods and people, not less.

  LRT to the airport

To be a world class city, we need a LRT to the airport and we will extend the line to the airport by 2015. Why would we choose the LRT to the airport? Consider this: the Airport is the third largest employment sector in the city and third largest international airport in Canada - welcoming more than 14 million visitors per year. It is crucial that YYC remains a readily accessible gateway to further travel, tourism and economic development for Calgarians and Alberta as a whole. Ottawa has supported major public transportation in Toronto, Montreal, and recently in Vancouver. It’s time for Ottawa to invest in the city that actually drives Canada’s economy.

  Build the Southwest Ring Road

We need a solution for the Southwest ring road. The people who live in the deep southwest have had enough. As the former member of Council who warned the Province and City Council about approving a casino before the ring road deal was reached, I am as frustrated as the people who live in the area. We need a better north – south corridor in this quadrant. We will begin the process of a collaborative approach with the province to find a solution and deliver a vital transportation corridor for the people who live in this area. And we will do this, right now.

  Build a Safe & Vibrant Community

Calgary is a great city poised to be a world class city. We will build a vibrant and safe downtown by:

- Creating a test pilot for Friday and Saturday nights to have the LRT run 24 hours with a visible enforcement presence. This will encourage Calgarians to enjoy downtown and leave their cars at home

- Establish taxi stands in specific areas of the downtown so people actually know where they are when they need them. For example, let’s make Stephen Avenue after 10pm was one large taxi stand. This will add greater convenience and access for people who choose not to drive

- The East Village and the future Stampede redevelopment is a blank canvas that could be at the core of our future festivals and entertainment district. Imagine a district with art galleries, little blues and jazz clubs, comedy clubs, and bistros to enjoy an evening of fun. What a great way to create an eclectic environment for artists to highlight the great talent that lives in Calgary.

- But you can’t be a vibrant city if you’re not a safe city. As a former Police Commissioner, I made public safety my #1 priority. We introduced beat cops, the Bad Behaviour Bylaw, safety audits on the LRT and +15 networks to establish a visible presence to deter crime. As your Mayor, I will continue to make public safety a key priority at City Hall

  Building an Affordable & Sustainable City

To be more affordable, to be more sustainable, we need to be realistic. You can talk all you want about a plan but if it can’t be executed, it’s useless.

I have a four point plan that balances affordability and sustainability. We will implement in the first 100 days of office a plan to encourage a better process which will help drive down costs and encourage redevelopment in existing communities:

- Remove Members of Council and administration from the Planning Commission and the Subdivision Development Appeal Board (SDAB). I want a peer review of applications. Political views will be held in Council Chambers.

- We will enshrine entitlement rights to land. The debate regarding multi-family units and high rise development will be done at Council’s Public Hearing, not 3 or 4 years later at the permit process. Entitlement rights are key to affordability and redeveloping the inner city

- Give professional engineers and architects the authority and responsibility for their work and eliminate the red tape that delays development and artificially increases costs

- The key to urban sprawl is to be a leader in the Calgary region, not the bully. It is in our own sustainable interest to provide water, sewer, and transportation to our regional partners as long as they believe in sustainable growth

  Creating an Accountable & Accessible City Hall

Currently, there are too many decisions being made by Council behind closed doors. As Mayor, I will open up City Hall in four major ways:

- Job One will be to create an independent task force of respected volunteer business leaders who will head up the external audit investigation on this Audit fiasco. We will open the books and start at ground zero. I want the report to be unfettered by the Mayor’s Office, City Council, and the City Manager’s Office. We will learn from this and City Hall will take its lumps and we will publicly disclose warts and all

- We will conduct value audits on Enmax, Calgary Parking Authority, and the Corporate Properties Department. Enmax alone represents almost 1/3 of the City`s growing debt. Why are taxpayers at risk of subordinating private business debts?

- Corporate Governance – Council sifts through the minutia and lets administration deal with the big picture. It should be the other way around. A perfect example is snow clearing. We had thousands of people at risk of no emergency services while Council took weeks to decide if a Chinook would take care of the problem. This is unacceptable.

- Budget Process – Members of Council need to be vigilant throughout the year not just at budget talks. Members of Council need to start acting like a Board of Directors. We will create a business like atmosphere by holding quarterly budget meetings to review financials. We will then send out with the people’s utility bill a quarterly update on the budget so all Calgarians will see actual and projected numbers. This is how you keep to a 3 year business plan and inform Calgarians of how their money is being spent

- To be more accessible, as Mayor, I will visit each ward twice a year so the ward alderman and I can meet with our constituents. We will meet prior to budget and mid season to get valuable feedback from Calgarians. I never, ever want to lose touch with the people I serve. We will take City Hall to the Community Halls of Calgary. I will work with ward alderman to help solve the local issues. Issues that appear to be across the city will become city priorities

  Bring Innovative Ideas to Old Challenges

As Mayor, I plan to introduce to Calgary the Smart Card; a prepaid card that you can buy at retail outlets across Calgary and reload on line. This card will allow access to all city services like transit, parking, and recreation facilities. It’s secure, convenient, and it’s quick. Instead of different Business Units building their own IT empires, we can consolidate into one business unit reducing duplication of internal services. We will save costs and better yet, we will provide superior service to our customers. This card will generate millions of dollars in cash flow. We will take this cash flow and eliminate the $3 fee at the Transit Park ‘n Rides.

  Open and Transparent

We will achieve a more transparent and open City Hall by offering Calgarians the 3Cs of leadership: communicating, consensus, and commitment. We will lead through open communication. We will be respectful of each others’ opinions; not only with other Members of Council but for the people we serve. We will build consensus through understanding the needs of each community. We will build a plan that puts the long term needs for all Calgarians as our top priority. Once we have openly communicated, once we have built a plan through consensus, we will be committed to action.

Joe Connelly
http://joeformayor.ca/my-take/

Issues
JoeConnelly TakeBackYourCity (PDF)

Bonnie Devine

http://bonniedevine.com/#pl

Platform : Brochure  

  "People Before Profit"

- Reduction of all public transit fares by 50% for one year. The following year, elimination of all public transit fares. Public transit, as a necessity for people to travel to work, shop, etc. should be a right. - Immediate return to free transit parking at C-Train stations.

- Creation of Low-income housing. Homelessness is not a crime. The lack of affordable housing is. This should be the focus of capital projects in Calgary, not un-needed and expensive bridges or tunnels.

- New residential construction must include a percentage set aside for subsidized housing.

- Portion of the City Budget set aside for creation of new low-mortgage housing construction program.

- Greater funding, transparency, and public input into the running of the Calgary Housing Company.

- Greater funding for education in Calgary. Specifically the Calgary Board of Education and our post-secondary institutions.

- Elimination of all public school fees and fees for lunch programs. Education, as a duty and right, should not penalize those with less.

- More investment and initiatives in order to increase the number of teachers in the CBE. 1 teacher for 35 students should not be considered acceptable.

- More investment and initiatives in order to increase the number of nurses and doctors in Calgary. Lack of staff is a major obstacle to improving health care delivery in Calgary.

- Greater funding for Calgary's food banks. The problem of access to food for those in poverty will not be solved by perennial food drives, but by placing the question of food banks in an important and permanent position in the City Budget.

- All projects and jobs to be staffed by local labour pool. Any temporary foreign workers hired to be paid same union wages and benefits, with same protections.

- More positive approach to public/civic trade unions.

- End to union busting and undercutting, especially via outsourcing. End to privatization.

- Childcare space. Increase access and spaces.

- Greater leadership from City Hall in the fight against racism, homophobia, prejudice, and bigotry.

- Reduction of property taxes on all homeowners and increase those of corporations that do business in Calgary. Specifically, ending special property tax exemptions for corporations. As of 2008 and earlier, Calgary continues to host more corporate headquarters than any other city in the west. If corporations want to do business in Calgary, they should be obligated to pay property taxes.

- Rent control and more rights for renters.

- Work with the provincial government to improve and extend renters' rights within the Residential Tenancies Act.

- Schedule of maximum and minimum rents to be established.

- Pay cut as Mayor. The role of Mayor is no more important than the people who take away the trash, fight fires, pack our groceries, stock our shelves, or pump our gas. All these roles together, and more, make Calgary what it is. With this view in mind a pay reduction of 50% is necessary, because you cannot represent people unless you understand their conditions of their lives. These funds can be better allocated to serve the Calgary Food Bank, as food should be a basic right.

Bob Hawkesworth

http://bobhawkesworth.ca/the-issues/

Great things happen when people come together to decide what they need to live the life they want. Great things happen when people listen to each other with respect for differences, but with a common commitment to the community they share.

Bob Hawkesworth believes in Calgary as a community and has a program to bring out the best in our wonderful city.

He has the right priorities for Calgary’s future.

Bob Hawkesworth on the Right Priorities for Calgary

Open Roads
Creative Calgary
Invest in Families
Open Government
Sustainable Development
Green Power Capital
The Wrong Priorities for Calgary
Airport Tunnel

Barb Higgins

http://barbhiggins.ca/issues.html

Framework for a Vibrant City

Barb Higgins' Policy Book is now available for download.

"We must not wait for the future to define Calgary. We must create the city we want. It is time for us to set the course that will shape our future.

My commitment, as the Mayor of Calgary, is to inspire a city that focuses on opportunity, lifestyle and performance—for our people, businesses, families and communities.

The Mayor of a vibrant city must create a vision and a framework to set priorities. As your Mayor, I commit to the seven priorities outlined here."

• Financial Responsibility
• Public Safety
• Improve City Hall
• Transportation and Infrastructure
• Planning and Development
• Health and Lifestyle
• Arts, Culture and Sports

Dan Knight

http://www.knightformayor.ca/KnightForMayor.ca/Issues/Issues.html

Issues

Peace Bridge

Transportation - Public Transit and Downtown Parking Fees

Transportation - Ring Road

Transportation

City Growth - Urban Sprawl

Airport Tunnel

Police Funding

Jon Lord

http://www.jonlord.ca/content/issues-priorities

Issues & Priorities

To sum it up quickly, here is what I propose to do as Mayor:

1.      Greatly improve our Snow removal during Winter.

2.      It will be much better if we organize all we can using City employees, private sector contractors, neighbors, people with big trucks and so on to do a huge "blitz" after every major snowstorm.

3.      Much more Soccer, Hockey, Lacrosse and other sports for our Children:

4.      I propose building at least 20 new single or twin arena/field steel-span structures in communities throughout the City,  plus 3 large Regional multi-sports larger facilities, all could be complete within 3 years using my Sport4Calgary plan.

5.      Promote "Work from Home"  Telework to reduce cars on the road, improve work/life balance

6.      Telework, e-work initiatives - people working from home on computers instead of fighting traffic to work downtown. Productivity, actually improves from 10% to 50% with proper implementation using electronic monitoring and Management by Objective instead of Management by Walking around. People really like it, are happier and healthier, get more done, eyes in the community by day cuts down crime, jobs for the disabled, less CO2 emissions from cars - its a win win all they say around. I have said: 20% of City Hall employees at least one day per week, maybe more...set the example for the private sector. Thats a lot of cars off the road.

7.      RACE CITY: Keep it, and enhance it as an economic engine for Calgary

8.      TUNNEL: YES   do the emergency part ( under the runway) NOW ( $30 million?) to avoid the $1B cost later. See my blog (on the spinning carousel of this web page) as to why and how.

9.     

SW RING ROAD

:  YES, get going on it NOW......using the plan shown on this web page page under the Video section - our 4 part plan to get going on it ASAP. We have the ideas, the plans, and believe the money will be in place. No houses lost in Lakeview, better for Lakeview than they have now, better for the environment of Weaselhead, doesn't use T'su T'ina land......we have solved all the major problems everyone is complaining about.

10.  ARTS and CULTURE:  Promote a vibrant underground scene similiar to Austin Texas and other successful places, working with small business, BRZ's artists, musicians, landlords and others.

11.  GET a MULTI-MEDIA FILM STUDIO built and operating, by resolving the political squabbles preventing it ( just like we did in resolving the 30 year battle over Stampede Expansion.) Stampede, and all other potential industry players, and anyone else interested, could make this a whole new beginning for Calgary in this industry. 

12.  City Finances: Independant Auditor guaranteed autonomy, plus enough power to get the job done!

13.  Triple E Government:  Efficient, Effective, Ethical   Ethics is the key goal for me.

14.  Small Business and Poverty alleviation: Double the success rate of Small Businesses start-ups in Calgary, from one out of 5 to two out of 5......80% of all NEW jobs and all NEW wealth, come from our local small businesses that succeed. Let's double this!  My comprehensive plan has been developed over 20 years of working on behalf of small businesses- at one point, as FedBRZ chair, I represented over 4000 small businesses......I know what needs doing, and we CAN do this!

15.  Homelessness and Affordable Housing: I asked for and Co-Chaired the committee which got secondary Suites legalized Provincially under the BLDG codes. Few people know this issue better than me. Seniors housing is a MUST and see our Midfield Mobile Home park video on this web page in that regard.  

 

Naheed Nenshihttp://www.nenshi.ca/new/policy

Policy

#1 – Nenshi proposes common-sense policy on secondary suites

#2 – Nenshi proposes audit changes; brings transparency to city hall

#3 – Calgary will be the best place in Canada to start and grow a business

#4 – Calgarians will have convenient, quick access to their airport.

#5 – Calgary Transit will be a preferred choice, not the last choice.

#6 – Political campaigns should be about the best ideas, not the most money

#7 – Calgary will be a city of sustainable, walkable, livable, complete communities

#8 – Calgary City Council will be more transparent, more efficient, and easier for citizens to engage

#9 – Calgarians will be able to get around easily by any mode of transportation

#10 – Calgary will reduce the number of people living in poverty and ensure opportunity for all

#11 – Calgary will be a city where every neighbourhood is a safe neighbourhood

Ric McIver

http://www.ricmciver.ca/issues/

Ric’s Vision for Calgary
The McIver CAT Test – Cost Control, Accountability and Transparency
Taxes and the November Budget
Independent Auditor General
Re-defining the Customer Service Culture at City Hall
The McIver Parking Plan
Snow Removal

As the campaign progresses additional detailed policies will be released on a regular basis.

Sign-up for our “Stay Informed” email update list (at the top of the page) to recieve copies of each platform policy as they are released. 



Wayne Stewarthttp://www.waynestewart.ca/


Why Should You Vote for Me?

When I first announced that I was going to run, my friends asked me “why am I running for Mayor?"

My answer is simple – I love this city – it has so much going for it – but it desperately needs new leadership – and new thinking.

Our spending is out of control – our public service has too many layers and needs an attitude adjustment – people tell me that they no longer feel safe – they don’t feel they have a voice in transportation and infrastructure decisions that affect them – and city services like garbage & recycling collection – road and park maintenance – snow clearing etc. are not doing the job that they’re paid to do. In addition there are sectors of our city that aren’t getting enough support – like our senior citizens – our communities - our arts community – and those who are marginalized and need a helping hand.

When I looked around at who might be the next Mayor I didn’t see any evidence of that kind of leadership. All I saw were a bunch of people who have been part of creating this mess – and some others who have never balanced anything – let alone manage anything of any consequence.

Today people say to me “why should I vote for you?”

My answer here is simple too – because I have the experience and track record of success to provide that new leadership and new thinking. I understand what it takes to meet a payroll – balance a large budget – to bring people together with different perspectives to collaborate in finding solutions to complex problems. I know how to develop a vision for the future that will be shared by all the stakeholders – how to put together a strategic plan to achieve worthwhile goals. I also realize that one of the biggest challenges is to bring a new form of leadership and governance to city hall, one which will encourage people to work together for the common good, while demanding accountability and higher levels of performance.

“If you care about the future of our city as much as I do – then that’s why you should vote for me.”

Governance & Leadership

• Transparent tendering
• Community Presidents' Council
• Strengthen servicesfor families, seniors & ethnic communities
• Safer neighbourhoods
• Tax Freeze & Independent Auditor

Public Private Partnerships (P3)

• New downtown library
• Airport tunnel
• P3 plan for Calgary

Economic Diversification

• Plan for world energy capital
• Partnerwith post-secondary institutions
• Regional tourism strategy

Enriched Environment

• Expanded blue box
• Compost collection
• Bike friendly city

Passenger Focused Transit

• LRT to the Airport
• Bus RT to Mount Royal University
• Plan for SE LRT & beyond
• Rider Focused

"My Calgary will be a world class city. Everything we do, all that we become, will be judged against that standard….a place where the best and the brightest come to work and stay to make it their home."