End of an era? Progressive Alberta mayors make exits
DEPARTURE OF NENSHI AND IVESON THIS FALL MAY SIGNAL A CHANGE IN DIRECTION
I LONG FOR THE DAY WHEN WE ACTUALLY HAVE A PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT THAT UNDERSTANDS THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO ACTUALLY BE HELPFUL AND FRIENDLY TO THE CITIES INSTEAD OF SEEING THE CITY GOVERNMENTS AS THEIR ENEMY. — NAHEED NENSHI
TIME FOR THE CITY TO CHOOSE WHERE IT WANTS TO GO.
Both of Alberta’s big city mayors are making their exits come October, leaving a void in Edmonton and Calgary and marking the end of two notably progressive leaders in a province inclining toward the right.
Naheed Nenshi, 49, announced April 6 he would not be running for another term as Calgary mayor in 2021 elections. He’s been mayor since 2010. And, last November, Don Iveson, 41, in the Edmonton mayor’s chair since 2013, also announced he wouldn’t be seeking another term.
“Calgary, thank you, for everything,” Nenshi wrote on Twitter. “It’s been the honour of my life.”
For Iveson, who was a councillor before he became mayor, he’s done what he wanted, and says it’s time to move on.
“Fourteen years is a long time and I have accomplished most of what I came here to do,” Iveson said in an interview.
Over the past decade, both men led their cities through ups and downs, development and pandemic, growth and economic collapse. They were mayors in 2015 when the New Democrats broke the 40-year run of conservative government in Alberta; and they were there when the United Conservatives took over in 2019.
Now, after years of strong progressive mayoral leadership, they won’t be around anymore — it’ll be a new era for whoever comes along next.
In both cities, candidates are already lining up, with the elections roughly six months away. Calgary has 10 people vying to replace Nenshi, and Edmonton has six hoping to replace Iveson. While neither Nenshi or Iveson were in power for as long as some others — such as Hazel Mccallion, who served as the mayor of Mississauga, Ont., between 1978 and 2014 — they’ve no doubt made a mark on their cities.
The pair also had, in Nenshi’s words “been friends for a couple of decades,” before they got into politics, leading to a solid working relationship, even if they didn’t always agree.
“We’ve had some pretty big disagreements behind closed doors,” Nenshi said.
Kate Graham, a political scientist who teaches local government at Western and Huron University College, said it’s an “important moment” for Calgary as Nenshi leaves. His election changed international perceptions of Calgary and Alberta.
Both men also had outsized effects on the rest of the country, she said.
“They’re both very skilled leaders within their own city, but also punched way above their weight, both of them have played major leadership roles in advancing federal-municipal relationships in Canada,” Graham said. “Their departure from that table definitely leaves a big hole.”
For many Albertans, the question of who should replace Iveson and Nenshi is also a question of what political bent the replacement might be. Like most major cities in Canada — the exceptions being Vancouver and Montreal — Edmonton and Calgary do not have parties at the municipal level. However, Nenshi and Iveson were both widely perceived as progressive mayors and they focused on issues like housing, transit infrastructure and urban development.
Now, there’s a palpable desire in Edmonton and Calgary for change — at least according to the small-government types aiming to take over at city hall.
Nenshi’s ride to the mayor’s chair was an unexpected one.
He first won in 2010, a bit of an upset victory as his “Purple Revolution” came from behind — starting out the campaign with just eight per cent support — using viral marketing and social media to win over younger voters.
It was a noted victory for another reason: Nenshi became the first Muslim mayor of a major Canadian city and, he brought further international attention to Calgary in 2014 when he won the World Mayor prize.
Over his time as mayor, Nenshi received plaudits for shepherding the city through devastating flooding in 2013, but also found himself a booster for the city’s failed 2018 bid to host the 2026 Olympics, which will now be in Italy. He also oversaw substantial property tax increases and expansion of city funding, and by June 2019, Nenshi’s approval rating was 39 per cent, down from a whopping 74 per cent in June 2014.
Iveson, who seemingly had a less tumultuous mayoral tenure than Nenshi, has been criticized for a focus on downtown — on bike lanes and transit, revitalization and infill housing.
His career began with two terms as a city councillor, first elected in 2007, before running for mayor in 2013 with a campaign The Canadian Press described as “Kennedy-esque.”
Reflecting on his time as mayor, Iveson points to the city’s development plan and climate change vision as his major accomplishments.
“So, it’s time for the city to choose where it wants to go next,” Iveson said.
Still, Iveson has had his share of controversies. While it’s not entirely his fault — it began before he took over — he’s had to wear problems with the city’s Metro Line light-rail system. The Valley Line — the next leg in the LRT — is already causing controversy and it, too, is likely to be a ballot question for Iveson’s replacement. One candidate, Coun. Mike Nickel, who Iveson defeated in 2007 to first become a councillor, said it should be put on hold in favour of rapid bus transit.
“People are done with, basically, my opinion is, a failed agenda,” Nickel said.
While 54 per cent of Edmontonians give Iveson, and the current council, positive reviews over the past few years, that skews wildly by age, according to Leger polling from October 2020. It shows 61 per cent of voters aged 18 to 34 give excellent reviews, while only 43 per cent of those aged 55 to 64 agree — a differential pollsters attribute to Iveson and council’s handling of social justice issues, such as Black Lives Matter rallies in 2020.
In both cities, there is perhaps some room for a more conservative, no nonsense mayor: Someone who will cut spending, reduce taxes and reconsider bike lanes and transit infrastructure. But the two top contenders for “conservative candidate” in each city don’t identify themselves by a partisan moniker.
Nickel’s that candidate in Edmonton.
“It’s just a common sense agenda. People are done with these 20 years of tax increases, of red tape, of these almost never-ending virtue signals and processes,” Nickel said.
In Calgary, that title probably falls to Coun. Jeromy Farkas, though there are at least two other candidates who are far to the right of Farkas — and pretty much anyone else in Alberta politics — running to be Calgary mayor.
“This election isn’t about whether Calgarians want a Liberal or Conservative mayor. It’s about jobs and the economy,” Farkas said.
Jared Wesley, a University of Alberta political scientist, argues there are issues on the ballot, such as an equalization referendum, that could bring more conservative-leaning voters to the polls, a potential boon for candidates such as Farkas and Nickel.
But the UCP is polling poorly. With controversies, such as the education curriculum rewrite, and school trustees up for election, progressive voters, too, might be motivated to get to the polls, and candidates could face a litmus test on these issues.
“It’s a bit premature to (declare) the death of progressivism in civic politics in two big cities,” Wesley said.
The United Conservative government has had an attimes fractious relationship with municipalities. And, with Iveson and Nenshi leaving, that power dynamic could shift a bit, said Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt.
“It’s not unusual for the big city mayors to have problems with the province, that’s an ongoing thing,” said Bratt. “But, under Nenshi and Iveson they were able to put a common front together.”
Bratt said he’s argued the United Conservatives “see municipalities as a form of opposition to this government,” but Ric Mciver, the provincial municipal affairs minister, disagreed.
“We’ve got a good relationship now, and I expect we’ll have a good relationship in the future,” Mciver said. “The fact that the province and municipalities don’t agree on everything I think sometimes just means everybody’s doing their jobs well.”
Iveson describes the UCP as “hostile to all local governments in Alberta,” a trend that respects no political persuasion.
“Perhaps others will be able to reset what has been at this point a dysfunctional relationship,” Iveson said.
Nenshi takes a slightly different view, citing just two premiers — Ed Stelmach and Dave Hancock — as the only two easy premiers out of the five he’s dealt with.
“I long for the day when we actually have a provincial government that understands that it is possible to actually be helpful and friendly to the cities instead of seeing the city governments as their enemy,” Nenshi said.
“People who live in cities are in fact Albertans who do in fact have Albertan values and who do deserve support.”
Wesley said, “provincial governments want to keep municipalities under their thumb.”
“I don’t think it matters who’s going to be filling those chairs necessarily, but it certainly didn’t help that they were ideologically different from the party in power in Edmonton.”
For whomever comes next, there will be considerable challenges ahead in both cities.
Adam Legge, president of the Business Council of Alberta, said after the economic recession — which started in 2014 with a collapse in oil prices and has lingered and intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic — the next mayors in the Calgary and Edmonton will need a solid strategy for boosting business and investment.
Legge said ensuring Calgary and Edmonton are competitive, solid places to do business is going to need to be “job No. 1.”
Both Nenshi and Iveson will be on the sidelines, watching whatever happens next — at least for now. There’s near-constant and fairly widespread speculation that either, or both, will make an appearance in federal or provincial politics.
Iveson, asked about his future, said he hasn’t even had time to think about it. He has a wife, Sarah Chan, and two children. He does say, though, that he’s “not running for anybody at this point.”
“There’s still so much I want to tidy up and set up for success into the coming years that I haven’t really had a chance to think about that yet,” Iveson said. “But no doubt some decompression after 14 years non-stop will be welcome.”
Nenshi, who thinks of riding a horse at the head of the Calgary Stampede as one of his fondest memories, also has “no idea” what’s coming next, though he expects to remain “a part of the story of Calgary, Alberta and Canada.”
“The biggest thing is that, I am told, these last 10 years have been an exceptional year for creation in the field of television so, basically, I’ve got 10 years of TV to catch up on. I hear something called Game of Thrones is worth my time.”