Calgary has wasted time and money on everything from failed Olympic bids, to subsidizing ridiculous failed business startups, spending $4.8 million on a new slogan, to hideous public art installations to woke social engineering initiatives, to banning paper bags to an insane $87 billion climate change plan. None of these things should be in the domain of a municipal government. Municipal politicians are driven by personal vanity though and every one of them wants to lay claim to a legacy for their time in office.
On the morning of June 6, an emergency alert greeted millions of people in the Calgary area on their phones and all broadcast stations. We were told water supply levels had hit a critical level and people were not to wash dishes, shower or even flush the toilet for fear of running out of water. A water main break in North Calgary was apparently so bad, that even outlying towns from the city were placed under emergency water restrictions.
Questions were quickly asked of course.
How is it that over 1.5 million people are dependent upon a single line for their water supply?
What caused the break?
How long would it be before people could use their water normally again?
The city of Calgary didn’t have many details to offer.
Ever one to try and expand upon her personal unpopularity, Mayor Jyoti Gondek held a press conference that offered few details on what happened but took the opportunity to try and blame the mess on Premier Danielle Smith. Gondek was slammed by citizens for her crass response and on the weekend, she even offered a rare apology for her terrible communications in a time of crisis. It really wasn’t a time when Calgarians wanted to hear the mayor trying to take cheap shots at the provincial government.
So, who’s fault is the water crisis?
Mayor Gondek isn’t personally responsible, but this mess lands fully in the lap of Calgary’s city hall. It isn’t Trudeau’s fault. It isn’t Smith’s fault. Responsibility lands with the city and Gondek, for better or worse is at the helm right now.
The city of Calgary has had surpluses ranging over $200 million per year. The city has a contingency fund of over 4 billion dollars. How on earth is it that a city awash in so much money can’t fill potholes on the streets or maintain a reliable source of water?
It’s because Calgary, like many other cities has allowed its politicians and administration to drift way out of their designated lanes. Cities are wasting time and resources on countless projects that aren’t within their jurisdiction while they ignore the obligations that land within municipal turf.
Calgary has wasted time and money on everything from failed Olympic bids, to subsidizing ridiculous failed business startups, spending $4.8 million on a new slogan, to hideous public art installations to woke social engineering initiatives, to banning paper bags to an insane $87 billion climate change plan. None of these things should be in the domain of a municipal government. Municipal politicians are driven by personal vanity though and every one of them wants to lay claim to a legacy for their time in office. Bridges, roads and water pipes are boring. They want to cut the ribbons for exciting new expenditures, whether the city needs them or not.
Calgary is far from alone with poor municipal governance. It’s happening in cities and towns across the province. This is what has inspired the Danielle Smith government to create legislation giving the provincial government more powers to intervene when a municipal government goes off the rails. The province always had those powers, but now they are more clarified.
The overreach of municipal governments shouldn’t be brought into check through expanding the reach of another level of government, however.
The only way to correct the bloated, inept civic governments is for citizens to get off their butts at election time and fire their mayors and councils. Part of what created apathy and cynicism among the electorate has been that when they fire one mayor or councillor who misrepresented themself on the way into office, they end up electing yet another person misrepresenting themself. With a political party system coming into place, it will be harder for faux-conservatives to slip by the electorate as they will have to get through a nomination.
Nobody in Calgary campaigned on a massive climate change plan, paper bag bans, and spending millions on three-word city slogans. Yet that’s what the city got when the latest batch of councillors came in along with Mayor Gondek.
The mandate for municipalities is pretty basic. They exist to provide road and water infrastructure, policing, transit, fire services, taking care of the trash and a small degree of municipal bylaws and zoning to ensure neighbours get along. So far, the city of Calgary is doing a terrible job on all of those priorities despite constant tax increases. The mayor and council are constantly distracted with personal vanity projects and virtue signalling while they ignore the basic needs of the city. Meanwhile, the civil service continues to bloat while delivering worse services every year.
Sometimes solutions can be simple.
Calgary and other municipalities have a chance to replace their mayors and councillors with common sense candidates in a little more than a year. The contenders just need to campaign on going back to the basics. Unlike their predecessors though, they have to mean it.
Citizens have the power to reduce taxes, reduce government overreach and improve basic services. They need to exercise that power effectively though. With political parties holding candidates to account before they even reach a ballot, I am tentatively optimistic that municipalities in Alberta are about to experience mass change and for the better
https://www.westernstandard.news/opinion/morgan-city-governments-must-get-back-to-basics/55263
Berta Dad nailed it. Copied from FB.
Jeff Rath’s behaviour toward Danielle Smith is not a good look for this movement, and he does not speak for me.
When this started, I had respect for him. But as this has played out, it has become harder to ignore what appears to be a push for power inside the movement, not a sincere focus on Alberta independence.
Danielle Smith is a major reason Albertans were even able to collect signatures in the first place. Compared to any other premier in this country, I believe she has been the strongest one standing up for her province.
I will not forget her accomplishments.
She stood up for parental rights when others wanted schools keeping parents in the dark.
She took action against political ideology being pushed in classrooms.
She made sure kids got back to school when the system tried to hold families hostage.
She has strengthened Alberta Sheriffs and continued exploring ways to free Alberta from relying on the RCMP.
And that is only part of it.
This ...
WEF/UN/Globalists have proven they can’t be trusted now given the key to Canada. Are you awake yet Canadians??
REPORT: UN Climate Scientists Flip on the Climate Doomsday Narrative | Stand on Guard CLIP
WATCH Have they been lying about climate change this whole time? Are they cancelling climate change doomsday scenario for the data centers?
The UN climate scientists admit the high emission doomsday scenarios were overblown. UN climate change scientists flip: climate change not too bad anymore according to a new report. No doomsday on the horizon.
On this Stand on Guard clip, we question why the UN might be backtracking on previous dire predictions, suggesting a new agenda at play. We examine how this shift could be tied to the proliferation of data center construction and the increasing demands on our power grid from artificial intelligence. It's crucial to consider the broader implications for our communities and hold big tech accountable.
Thank you to @jimmy_dore for pointing out this...
Listening to Ganum today on the meeting that Premier Smith is having with Lukasek I am wondering why not just have his referendum on the vote in October? If enough say no to his question isn't it the same as a referendum that the other side wants? I for one want this to wake up the East and don't care how it happens. Another caller said she needs to call an provincial election in October and take the rest of questions off the ballot - this could be risky but I am leaning toward it as terrified that the NDP will get in again and right now Nemshi is their handicap IMHO.
