I want to steal your children

So says Calgary’s dynamic Mayor Naheed Nenshi. Can you imagine anyone here saying anything like that? Anything that audacious, that daring?

Nenshi used the phrase as a point of pride. He already has hoards of Kings County kids, youth and young adults. More are packing their bags. In the competition to build a dynamic workforce, Calgary’s the winner. We’re a loser. Why?

The answer lies in how Naheed Nenshi and Calgary found each other.

Nenshi has a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard University. He was first elected in 2010. He was a 38-year old, dark-skinned Muslim—the underdog. He won with 40 per cent of the popular vote. He got over 70 per cent when he was reelected in 2013.

Now he’s a jewel in Calgary’s economic crown, who puts an undergraduate commerce degree, public policy knowledge and his bold personality to use as an outstanding mayor. In fact, four years before he became mayor, Nenshi was the principle author of Calgary’s urban sustainability plan.

“OK,” you say, “Calgary and Kings County are very different places. No one like Naheed Nenshi is ever likely to come our way.” Exactly! Why is that?

In 2012, I ran because I believed Kings County council was tired and failing to provide the quality of governance Kings County deserved. I wanted to see new councillors seated in chambers to bring, or lend support to, new initiatives.

I’ve learned that decisions are more often political than practical. That a 2012 Regional Economic Development Network (REN) can be delayed by two or more years of bureaucratic discussion before an executive director is hired. That an April 2013 county motion to organize dialogue on sustainable communities can be buried despite the hiring of fulltime economic development officers.

Meanwhile, Nenshi is working tirelessly on Calgary’s economic development plan through trade missions and campaigns aimed at attracting new businesses and…stealing our children.

Nenshi says he also wants parents. And he isn’t half joking. Grandpa and Grandma go, too. My neighbour’s house is on the market and empty. They left to be with their grandkids. It’s a daily reminder to me that opportunity is knocking, elsewhere.

Where’s our Nenshi? He or she is unlikely to come our way when pay rates for mayors are so low they can’t entice credentialed candidates with a history of academic or business success. Part time or retired candidates are a result of our current structure and there’s only so much we can expect from those elected under these circumstances. Some great things happen, but economic development isn’t occurring at the pace required to grow our economy and allow families the choice to stay. How can we change that?

Calgary has over one million people, one mayor, 14 councillors. Kings has 60,000 people, three mayors, one warden, 31 councillors and over 40 village commissioners. Governance in our particular setting appears to bring together far too many representatives often too dedicated to their own turf. Partnership committees have been marked by court cases, fractures and contentious contracts and Memorandums of Understanding. A disturbing reluctance to even examine if a smaller, streamlined, regional governance structure endures.

Berwick’s council recently voted, again, against a governance study, in the ongoing saga of whether alternatives should even be looked at. The town cites little interest for regional government or amalgamation as its reason for disinterest.

Is our current local governance a barrier to prosperity? The answer in the Ivany Commission’s Now or Never report is a resounding YES. It says citizens consistently point to problems that stem from “multiple levels of government departments, agencies and programs – each with its own strategies, rules, specialists and agendas.”

From where I sit, town, county and village residents need to get behind the Kings Citizens Coalition’s call for a gover- nance study, or accept a tired and broken system as our answer to Nenski’s call from the west.

Our own “Nenski” for mayor of a new government structure. What would that bring? A brave and bold vision fuelled by expertise and youthful energy. We need to be the change we want to see.

Pauline Raven Municipal councillor for District 3,

Kings County