Here in Calgary we are only one week from election day! Next Monday, hundreds of thousands of Calgarians will head to the polls and select a leader at a critical time in Calgary’s history. Not only are we faced with a major financial deficit, numerous issues plague our city infrastructure ranging from transportation to urban sprawl.
As reported by most current polls, Ric McIver leads with 31 per cent of the vote. Barb Higgins is second with 28 per cent, and Nenshi is third with 16 per cent. All of the remaining candidates have less than than three percent of the vote. Finally, an alarming 16 per cent of the people polled are still undecided. These numbers were published just recently in the Calgary Herald at http://www.calgaryherald.com. Considering these numbers, there is a great deal of uncertainly on who will be the next Calgary mayor. Accounting for the undecided percentage and the inherent sampling error, Higgins can easily win the election and even Nenshi has a considerable chance.
For those unfamiliar with the candidates, a brief introduction will be given. Ric McIver is currently an alderman and has the most experience in City Council. His rise to fame was due to his public and vocal criticism of the policies and actions taken by the previous City Council headed by the current mayor, Dave Bronconnier. Barb Higgins is a former news anchor for CTV News Calgary and probably has the least experience within the political sciences. However, her name is known in many households and she does know about the city. Naheed Nenshi is a Harvard graduate and is currently a professor at Mount Royal University. As an affable and enthusiastic man, Nenshi has led or participated in a great number of philanthropic organizations throughout the city and has steadily gained recognition through his campaign.
All three candidates have significant similarities within their platforms. All three vow to reduce city hall spending and improve auditing. They promise initial tax hikes and then a tax freeze. However, the election so far has been divided on some details of these platforms and on a couple of other key issues.
The first issue would be the budget. A projected 6.7 per cent increase in property taxes is needed to sustain current services due to the economic recession. However, cuts will have to be made and the question really does come down to where. Furthermore, disagreements exist about the root of the problem. Some suggest the recession is at fault but some candidates say that irresponsible and wasteful spending brought us here.
The second issue would be transportation and especially the airport tunnel. In a team of financial stress, candidates have different priorities on where the money should be spend, how much should be spent in improving or maintaining transportation and what it should be spend on. Possible construction projects like the airport tunnel, the Southeast LRT, the ring road and the West LRT are all contentious issues.
The third and probably biggest issue would be the audit and oversight. The consensus between the three candidates is that spending at city hall is very wasteful and irresponsible. Reports have exposed the sloppiness of city contracts and the lack of watchdogs on the whole process. However, the exact degree of oversight and who should be auditing are questions that need to be answered.
As an attempt at neutrality I will not present the interrupted platforms of the candidates here. Not only do the candidates have extremely complex models and plans that are open to interpretation, they will oftentimes change those platforms. For the sake of accuracy, I urge you to search for their platforms by yourself and decide on the feasibility and practicality of the platforms presented by each candidates.
Stop quarreling and fighting!
One very simple and straightforward idea to ensure tax payer's dollars spent worthly is to disclose any transactions, contracts, budget, expenses of the tax payer's money to the public. Tax payers have the right to know where and how their hard earned dollars were, are, and to be spent. If the money for any transactions, projects is from the public, not from a private rich, we have the right to know the details and ensure the disclosure policy. Management of the city is like the management of the family. Family members should know how to earn and spend the money.
Don't say the transactions, projects are confidential.
If it is confidential, itself means there is something fishy and related parties are afraid of the daylight.
I think you are right. Transparency is key when city hall builds an unnecessary Peace Bridge when there is a 150 million dollar deficit.
I think part of the problem is the public. We don't participate. The city budget is public knowledge. I think it is even published online and certainly copies are available but no one takes the time to actually see it. Remember the Enmax craze about the CEO who gets 2.5 million dollars? If you do some research, considering the size of Enmax, the number of employees, and revenue, that number is actually pretty modest. If the company was private, then that CEO would be grossly underpaid.
I think the metaphor can be extended to the city telling everyone, but the public has to actually listen and respond rationally for the family to work.