His Worship Naheed Nenshi, Mayor of Calgary, spoke to the Toronto Real Estate Board Civic Connections event last week via Skype. Unfortuately the technology didn't work as well as hoped but what we did hear was very interesting.
He said that people choose where they live by city, not by country- e.g. people choose to live in London, not England; in New York, not USA; in Toronto, not Canada. The choose a place where they can make a great life and a great living- a lifestyle and the means to support it. However, the constitution of Canada doesn't recognize the importance of cities. He points out that if the federal government closed down, you wouldn't notice for several weeks; if the provincial government closed down, you wouldn't notice for a few days; but if the city governement closed down you would notice immediately. The city provides the services that people value the most but have the least ability to raise funds.
He is very big on civic engagement, giving people the power to use their own hands, hearts, and voice to accomplish things, and have real dialogue. He mentioned the example of the City of Calgary making parking at transit stations free. He asked people to give input to this by email or twitter. Surprising to him, the biggest response wasn't for or against the proposal but a thankyou for asking.
He was also a big proponent of mixed income neighbourhoods. He says poorer people moving to the suburbs for cheaper housing isn't really good for the public because it requires a need to build more schools, while other schools go lacking for students.
He mentioned that the City Council in Calgary is not ideology driven and that there are really no political parties there, compared to Toronto, where there are de-facto civic political parties.
Also, at the event several Royal LePage realtors were recognized for their civic or TREB volunteer service, including Cailey Heaps Estrin of the Ryal LePage Bayview Branch.
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