If you’ve been living under a rock (or if you’re not Canadian) you may not have heard, but Calgary has a new mayor. What image did you have in your head? A 50-60 year old WASP, probably a fan of Atlas Shrugged (sometimes I wish rich people would go on strike) and sporting a cowboy hat.
Well you would be wrong. I know, it’s shocking. Seriously. When I read that a man named Naheed Nenshi is now the mayor of a city best known for it’s saddle-shaped arena and massive annual rodeo that is responsible for killing more horses than Elmer’s glue.
Naheed Nenshi. A 38-year-old muslin immigrant son who was raised in Calgary’s rough-and-tumble north east. Naheed Nenshi. A guy who actually assumes his voters are actually intelligent enough to understand policy. Naheed Nenshi. A dude who got elected wearing purple. In Calgary. And his name is freakin’ Naheed Nenshi and he’s an openly practicing muslim.
*Brain Explodes*
You know what? He’s freakin’ awesome too. He’s Harvard educated in the Kennedy School of Governance and is a business professor. Most importantly, he wants to overhaul Calgary’s horrible transit system.
We in Vancouver bitch and moan about how shitty Translink is, but at least I can go from Richmond to Downtown easily in about 30 minutes. In Calgary, it takes hours to get anywhere. The city is so sprawled, and the rapid transit line is barely useful.
What endears me most to Nenshi is his manner of campaigning. In a race that routinely favours short, one liners and dumbed down talking points, Nenshi took a chance and treated his electorate with respect. He treated them as intelligent individuals. He appealed to people’s logos as well as their pathos. WHile federal politicas are becoming more partisan, it’s refreshing to see a campaign run in this manner. His extensive use of Twitter and Facebook are interesting to note as well. The times they are a-changing (editor’s note – why is it that this phrase from a song recorded 40 years ago is still relevant today? Would this be irony, perhaps?)
As a westcoast, liberal, hippy, douche, I couldn’t be more delighted. I probably still wont be going to Calgary any time soon, but at least now I’m not embarrassed for them. Now to work this magic on Edmonton, Red Deer and Fort McMurray.
A man can dream though…
*Quick post-post update – Check out Nenshi’s site here. I’m amazed to actually see strightforward policies posted. He also engaged commenters who disagreed with him in a civil and intelligent manner – not just espousing talking points! MY GOD! We need more politicians like this in our country.
Am I really jealous of Calgary?
Wait what? No way. Never. Not in the slightest.
