Nelson: Calgarians, give us your voice, not your opinion

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A surefire way for a politician to feel the heat is when they start disparaging the idea of ​​popularity.

One sign of this deep-seated desperation is that they litter the word populist with derisive statements, because there seems to be nothing more humiliating than feeding the masses, even if that's what they've chosen as a career path.

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Come on, “Vote for me, and I'll do what I want” is not an election slogan that will garner much interest among potential voters in Calgary. It is doubtful that such messages will play well even in Moscow.

It certainly wasn't the platform Mayor Jyoti Gondek adopted during her successful lobbying to become Calgary's civic leader in 2021. In fact, after winning this vote easily, he promised to rule with humility.

Perhaps someone recently redefined the word, because a leader who prides himself on actions that directly contradict the will of the majority is not what most people call humble.

For example, let's recall that a few months ago, our mayor welcomed the 8.6 percent rate hike, declaring that it was the right decision, not the decision of the majority.

This civic money grab comes despite City Hall raising nearly half a billion dollars more than it needs over the past two years, while reaping $186 million in annual profits because utility access costs are three times higher than Edmonton's. (One wonders what they're going to do with this truly slush fund. Perhaps the council is putting it aside to help pay for the massive cost overruns on the Green Line boondoggle, which will be too big to hide, especially as Premier Daniel Smith has struggled recently. any additional provincial funds will be directed towards this looming budget fiasco.)

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Of course, the latest and most egregious disregard for the opinions of many ordinary citizens came last week with the forced introduction of rezoning regulations despite unprecedented opposition from Calgarians who fear the end of single-family neighborhoods.

Indeed, hundreds of people took the time to go to City Hall to protest, so councilors who still felt it was their duty to listen listened.

A number of elected officials have previously been contacted independently to assess the degree of heat generated by this proposed redistricting. One was longtime consultant Peter Demong. The number of objections he encountered was 10 times more than he has heard in his 14 years on the council, helping Demong join five colleagues in opposing the plan.

Of course, it was not surprising that such grassroots opposition did not go down well with some councilors. Gian-Carlo Carra's arrogant conclusion was exactly what we expected: “What I heard was great fear, some of it hidden, some of it simple.”

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Yes, indeed, the simplicity of spending days listening to concerned Calgarians must be mind-boggling. Democracy hurts the eardrums of the elite, doesn't it?

But at least Karra didn't dare ask us to feel sorry for her when she approved the rezoning. Leave it to councilor Evan Spencer, who polled his constituents for the first time and found they strongly opposed the housing change, but voted for it anyway.

“I had to weigh the long-term consequences of what I'm saying against the short-term pain that might cause some consequences for me,” he explained, bitterly about betraying the majority of those who elected him.

At the end of the speech, let's hear from the mayor himself. Yes, indeed, populism rears its ugly head.

“For people who are concerned about re-election and doing populist things, this is not the job we were elected to do. We have come to make difficult decisions,” Gondek said.

And if he runs for re-election — unlikely, I'd wager — Calgarians won't face such a tough decision when they go to the polls.

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