Atchison genuinely wanted Saskatoon to succeed
Even those who did not support Don Atchison in the recent civic election feel a sense of regret for the man who served our community for 22 years.
His hard work ethic and genuine love for Saskatoon are undeniable. His relentless commitment to ensuring every person and event felt singularly special enough to warrant time in his busy schedule was admirable.
However, even without formidable competition, five straight terms as mayor would be a challenge for anyone. Atchison has already broken records as Saskatoon’s longest serving mayor and his impact on our community won’t be forgotten soon.
People often stereotyped Atchison as focused solely on the business community, to the detriment of all other issues. However, even a quick analysis of his voting patterns proves otherwise. Atchison supported a wide variety of projects such as curbside recycling, funding active transportation (including a bike lane master plan) greenhouse gas capture programs at the landfill, revitalizing playgrounds, paddling pools and many more.
Although he vocally supported all of these initiatives, he never seemed to receive any credit when the programs were implemented.
Also lost in the hubris of being mayor is that Atchison is a very nice man with a kind heart. He genuinely wanted Saskatoon to succeed, seemed personally touched by every volunteer in our community, and, literally, could not wait to get out of bed each morning to serve the public.
Please say thank you to Mr. Atchison the next time you see him. He deserves it.
At the other end of the election emotional rubicon, there is mayor-elect Charlie Clark. From his kind demeanour to his Tom Brady good looks, Clark is the guy you wish lived next door to you. Even the people who didn’t vote for Clark still like him.
Clark had the best organized campaign, from a spectacular launch to his use of social media, endorsements, video statements, volunteer capacity and a thoughtful platform and vision.
At city council, he was often the person who called for calm, and encouraged his colleagues to look at issues differently, talk again and try to achieve a compassionate and fair result. It will be interesting to see, as the chair of the meetings, if Clark is able to remove himself from the trenches of the debate and allow the councillors to bring forward ideas instead.
There are political fences to be mended with Clark. Organizations such as the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) and North Saskatoon Business Association (NSBA) took huge public swipes at him during the election campaign.
The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) publicly supported mayoral candidate Kelley Moore with social media endorsements, money and volunteer efforts. Given the outcome of the election, the ATU shouldn’t expect any capitulation on their pension demands anytime soon and likely will see their retroactive pay jeopardized as well.
There was no effort by the ATU leadership to engage their membership before deciding to endorse Moore. ATU members might want to consider that lack of consultation when they elect their own leadership in November.
The NSBA is another organization whose members were likely awkwardly staring at their shoes after Clark won. In the middle of the election campaign, the NSBA stated that Clark’s opposition to lowering business taxes was “out of line with what the majority of people think.” Whoops … Although it would be in Clark’s best interest to have a good relationship with the business community, advocacy organizations like the NSBA shouldn’t have high expectations of him working closely with them anytime soon.
To be fair, the NSBA should be acknowledged for actually getting involved in the mayoral race. Too many businesses cite a false fear of retribution as a convenient excuse not to engage themselves with elections. However, in the middle of a campaign, making personal accusations against Clark of throwing their organization “under the bus” may warrant serious reconsideration of political strategy by the NSBA.
At the end the day, whether you liked the result or not, the voters have spoken and, in the words of Don Atchison, “the voters are always right.” And if you don’t like the result, there’s always 2020.