Each of Canada’s cities has a very different system for their mayor – some have parties, some don’t, some have a lot of visible corruption, and others seem clean. In the last year, in Canada’s biggest city, there have been scandals that revealed information previously unknown to anyone about Canada’s mayors. With all these changes occurring, what is really happening in each of these cities executive positions?
Calgary: There are no major changes occurring in Calgary’s mayoral position, but with the election coming up, there has been a surprising lack of candidates who have opened their campaigns. Many of Mayor Nenshi’s previous challengers have touched on the fact that they believe Nenshi has a hold on the position, leading them to not run in this election. There has been a great amount of coverage on institutions trying to get their voices heard in City Council, but there has been no leader that has begun to rally support for Calgary’s highest office.
Toronto: Rob Ford is probably one of the most notorious mayors in Canada. First elected in 2000 to city council, when he got elected as Mayor of Toronto in 2010, he began a record of scandals and mishaps that no other mayor could compete with. Though he attracted praise for fighting against the excesses of Toronto city Councillors in his pre-Mayor terms, his fame has come to him after his election. He has been accused of taking advantage of numerous contracts, putting him in the centre of a conflict of interest scandal (though it was overturned). More recently, however, there have been rumors of a video of Ford smoking crack-cocaine, increasing the media coverage of his actions. Though Ford has yet to specifically acknowledge, deny, or accept these allegations, he has said that rumors about him are false, with this dodge only increasing media interest. Until the video is released, Ford will continue to be in the spotlight – and with the mayoral election still a year and a half away, he will have time to fix his image, though the focus he has put upon Toronto may make it less likely Torontonians will grant him another term.
Vancouver: Vancouver is a city that does not attract as much news as the other cities on this list – not for good reasons or for bad. Their Mayor has done a lot of work in maintaining Vancouver a midst its growth, but has not done anything overly notable. The Mayor, Gregor Robertson, is notable for also being the founder of Happy Planet, and has a relatively clean record, with many of his scandals fixed or forgotten about soon after they occur. Robertson seems to be a similar position to Nenshi, with no one person able to lead the opposition against him.
Mayors have been seemingly random in their influences on the cities they lead, but their leadership is essential, no matter what is happening in the city or what the state of the economy is. Toronto has lost some of the economic dominance it once held over Canada over the course of Ford’s tenure, and though it can still earn it back, every citizen who votes in a municipal election should always be aware of the great power that all mayors have over their city, and how important it is to choose a great leader for the position.