“Mayor of the Year?” Calgarians Know Otherwise.
Calgarians identify their mayor, Jyoti Gondek, as the most unpopular mayor in the history of the city. Indeed, sixty percent of Calgary voters polled have said as much. Yet, Mayor Gondek is now trying to re-invent herself in preparation for the next municipal election. She has announced that she will be running. Most Calgarians can't typically name a worthwhile thing the mayor has accomplished in office.
As her campaign works to reinvent her, there is no more talk about the Climate Emergency Gondek declared in the first few hours of her mandate, a fantasy that would cost Calgarians hundreds of billions of dollars over time. There will be no talk from her about electric buses, for example, and the debacle that caused the city to spend hundreds of millions on electric buses that don't work. The city is unlikely to receive the buses that don’t work since the manufacturer they gave the money to is out of business. There will be no talk from her about her position to defund police at a time when crime has shot up in Calgary and the tent cities only metres away from her office keep growing. There will be no talk from her about her snubbing of the Jewish community at a time in which the community being assailed needed support. Gondek defied the will of the electors upon being installed by rejecting a duly elected representative in Ward 4 because she disapproved of him. There will be no word of that either.
Instead, Gondek is presenting herself as the fiscally responsible candidate. Her new website says so. She is also presenting herself as the mayor who can bring people together. Ironically, the pictures in her blog are pictures of her alone, posing as a model in extravagant clothes and expensive boots, showing off her material wealth only steps away from the highest concentration of homeless people in Calgary. The only picture of the site with other human beings is one with city workers, who probably had no choice but to be in the frame when the picture was taken.
Days after she announced her candidacy for re-election, an Ottawa-funded Ontario magazine, Municipal World, surprisingly declared Gondek Mayor of the Year. The news seems to have left Calgarians, who have experienced her decisions first-hand, scratching their heads.
In a tweet on December 11, 2024 (see above), the magazine expressed the reason for Gondek receiving the award: "For her efforts in addressing a number of challenges." Let's have a look at what that means. One has to wonder what is "a number of complex challenges"? Mayors of major cities face challenges every day, some of which are more complex than others, but municipal affairs in the 21st century are complex. That applies nesrly everywhere in the developed world. And "a number" is undefined and does not tell us how many. A number is a weasel expression left undefined on purpose. Zero is a number, one is a number, and so is two. Saying a number means nothing.
An award for efforts indicates that this award is not being bestowed for any accomplishments. An award for efforts has the ring of being a ribbon for participation, just like children in elementary school might. An award for effort is condescending. You may not have accomplished anything, but you at least tried, and this award is for you to keep trying. So, Gondek may have faced a dozen challenges and made efforts, which drive progressive Ontarians to give her an award. Ontarians bestowing the award say they were impressed at how Gondek handled the water crisis. Most Calgarians were not.
It reminds me of the Norwegians granting the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama in 2009, only a couple of months after being elected for what they expected he would achieve for peace. He had not made a single decision leading toward peace, and only days after receiving the award, he ordered drone attacks on Yemen and Somalia—some peace.
The Ontario award smacks of condescension not only upon Gondek, who intemperately thinks that she deserves it despite what her constituents think. It is condescending to the Calgary voters who have experienced the mayor's incompetence. Ironically, the award also draws attention in the minds of Calgarians to Gondek's failures and unpopularity. But worse yet, it appears as an attempt by Ontarians to tell Calgarians differently.
This would not be the first time Calgarians experienced that kind of condescension from Ontario progressives, and it will not be the last. But precisely because Ontarians are likely the last people Calgarians would seek advice from to choose their elected officials to run their city, the move may backfire. It will likely be seen as a clear attempt to manipulate and improve the political fortunes of a woke mayor who wants to be re-elected despite her abysmal record and unpopularity among Calgarians. It is bound to look as though the mayor is seeking their aid --and her response to the award shows no evidence to the contrary. It is almost as bad as Hamas thanking Justin Trudeau's government for his support. Almost.
To add to the optics and the terrible timing, the Ontario award is also touted as inaugural, which is interesting if we consider the word's origin. Inaugural is derived from the verb "inaugurare" in Latin, which means to consecrate, dedicate, or install into office through ritual or ceremony. Embedded in the word comes the reminder of the attempt to manipulate Calgarians. Inaugurare derives from "augur," a concept linked to seeking approval from the gods before starting significant ventures or ceremonies. Like the re-election bid, the progressive Ontario award is part of the "Hail Mary" effort to orchestrate a comeback for Gondek. The root "augur" refers to Roman priests or diviners (called augurs) who interpreted omens, especially by observing the behaviour of birds.
The bottom line is that Calgarians are not about to be influenced by the opinions of progressive Ontarians at any time. This business of Jyoti Gondek being the best mayor in the country is a harebrained effort to influence Calgarian voters; it is a scheme for the birds.