Will Mayor Jyoti Gondek wake up and rage against him?

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Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek doesn't seem to have a mirror in her office.

On Tuesday, Gondek will be asked a simple question. You know who asked for it.

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How upset do you think Calgarians are with you?

A simple question is being asked when Calgary business owner Landon Johnston starts a petition to oust Gondek.

He starts without a well-oiled political machine behind him, and even if he can't muster the impossible half-million signatures needed to challenge the mayor, it's not because the man is barking up the wrong tree.

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He was pleased with Gondek and his many friends on the city council.

Most Calgarians resent them. Frustrated and tired.

How did Gondek respond?

Oh, Calgarians are upset, but he's not pointing the finger at himself.

“I think Calgarians are upset about a lot of things right now,” says Gondek.

Here we go.

“I think people are in an affordability crisis. I think people are in a housing crisis. There are many people who struggle with public safety in our public places. I think the world is just a frustrating place for a lot of people right now.”

Oh, it was a disappointment to the world. Not Gondek. Not the majority of the city council. Not the down-the-nose city halls that mock people who have real questions about what they're doing.

Oh no, it's the world.

If this is the world, why aren't other politicians' approval numbers as bad as his?

But his comments are consistent with his latest statement.

Calgarians believe in him, he says.

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Gondek tells us he believes Calgarians will bring balance and stability to the city “at a time when polarized ideologies are supposed to divide us.”

The mayor talks about being a defender of polarized ideologies.

This is the wealth that comes from it.

At City Hall, Gondek is the leader of one side pushing against the other.

And if you dare to speak up, you will be accused of dividing Calgarians.

Gondek won the combined squat. He beat the drum for his own little reasons, and if you don't like it, hard luck.

You'd think Gondek would have been more self-critical and humbled if a reputable poll found him the most unpopular mayor in Calgary's history.

The most unpopular mayor.

This ThinkHQ nose count was largely done before his City Hall menorah lighting, where he lashed out at those who refused to attend his annual Jewish holiday.

Counting the numbers was done well before the start of the new year, with a new standard of stupidity imposed by the city bag law.

The ugly arithmetic also doesn't take into account that Gondek and his cronies are sticking Calgarians with a 7.8 per cent tax hike.

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Dan McLean, a consultant outside the Gondek team, speaks.

“It can be called the winter of protest. I think it would have an equally bad effect on the board as a whole.

“People are protesting because they are not being listened to.”

As for the petition to remove Gondek, McLean says he knows of people who want to see change now and don't want to wait until the next election.

Mark Henry is a ThinkHQ number cruncher.

He believes the petition to give Gondek a glimmer of hope “will create more appetite when people have a chance to have their say 622 days from now,” he said Tuesday.

“There is a reservoir of voters to express their opinions about this mayor and council. At the end of the day, the deadline is looming.

“The recall vote won't get it, but it looks like the election will.”

Meanwhile, Gondek walks down the yellow brick road into nothingness, which Henry says is “like whistling in a graveyard.”

Johnston, the person in charge of the petition, told Postmedia that he needed enough hands for Gondek to look in the mirror and think he might not be doing as well as he thought.

First, Gondek must have a mirror.

On Tuesday at a local store, the chronicles of the disaster at City Hall bought a bag for my shopping and Gondek's name came up.

Of course.

As I was about to leave the store, the salesperson asked, “Is he going to be kicked out?” he asked.

My response was, “I have to admit it's a long shot.”

The secretary answered in two words.

“Too bad.”

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