Municipal government overreach has left core services in a mess
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
204.89801
Summary
On June 6th, a water main break hit a critical point in the city of Calgary, leaving millions of people without water. Mayor Jodie Gondek tried to blame Premier Danielle Smith, but it was actually the fault of her own government.
Transcript
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For people in the Calgary area that on the morning of June 6th, all of us probably remember,
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nothing huge and tragic, but an emergency alert came out. You know, that emergency sound comes
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on your phones, it's on the radio, it's on TV. Everybody, we're talking millions of people in
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Calgary and area. We're told that water supply levels had hit a critical level and people
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shouldn't wash dishes or even shower or try to even put off flushing the toilet for fear of
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running out of water. Yeah, that's what they were warning us in the emergency alert. Because there
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was a water main break in North Calgary and apparently it was so bad that even outlying
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towns from the city were placed under emergency water restrictions. Now, questions were quickly
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asked, of course. I mean, how is it that over one and a half million people are dependent upon a
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single line for their water supply? What caused the break? How long is it going to be before people
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could use their water normally again, which they still aren't by now? The city of Calgary didn't
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have too many details to offer. And then everyone to try and expand upon her already massive personal
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unpopularity among Calgarians. Mayor Jody Gondek came on out and held a press conference that offered
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few details on what happened. But she took the opportunity to try and blame the mess on Premier
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Smith. Gondek, of course, was slammed by the local media and other people and citizens on the weekend
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because she, I mean, it was just beyond the pale. But on the weekend, she did something really rare for
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Gondek. She offered a rare apology for her terrible communications at a time of crisis. Gondek's not much
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one for apologizing. It really wasn't a time when Calgarians wanted to hear the mayor trying to take
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cheap shots at the provincial government. It doesn't help that whenever Gondek does anything,
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it looks like she's got a mouth full of poop. She really despises talking to you guys, and it shows.
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So either way, whose fault is the water crisis? Well, Mayor Gondek isn't directly and personally
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responsible. But this mess lands fully in the lap of Calgary's city hall. I mean, it isn't Trudeau's fault.
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Lots of things are. It isn't Smith's fault. Responsibility lands with the city. And Gondek,
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for better or worse, usually worse, is at the helm right now. The city of Calgary, I mean,
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they've had surpluses over $200 million a year. Yeah, they've been overtaxing everybody by that
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much. They have a contingency fund of over $4 billion. So how is it that a city awash in so much
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money can't fill the bloody potholes in the streets or maintain a reliable source of water? Well,
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it's because Calgary, like most other cities, has allowed their politicians and administration to
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drift way out of their designated lanes. Cities are wasting time and resources on countless projects
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that aren't within their jurisdiction, while they ignore the obligations that land within
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municipal jurisdiction. I mean, Calgary's wasted time and money on everything from, what, failed
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Olympic bids, subsidizing ridiculous business startups. Remember Rocket Space? Spending $4.8 million
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for a three-word slogan. Hideous public art installations, woke social engineering initiatives,
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banning paper bags. That was a brilliant one, wasn't it? And of course, Gondek's $87 billion
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climate change plan. None of these things should be in the domain of a municipal government.
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Municipal politicians, though, they're driven by vanity. And every one of them wants to lay claim
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to a legacy for their time in office. Bridges, roads, water pipes, those are boring. They want to cut
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the ribbons for exciting new expenditures, whether the city needs them or not. Unfortunately, of course,
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it means they're ignoring the important stuff. Calgary's far from alone. It's happening in cities
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and towns across the province and likely across the country. That's what inspired Premier Daniel
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Smith and her government to create legislation giving the provincial government more powers to
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intervene when a municipal government goes off the rails. The province always had those powers,
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but now they're more clarified. Now, the overreach of municipal governments shouldn't be brought in
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to check for expanding the reach of another level of government, however. I don't like that.
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The only way to correct, actually, the bloated, large, inefficient civil governments is for citizens
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to get off their asses at election time and start firing their mayors and councils. Part of what
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created the apathy and cynicism among the electorate has been what they fire one mayor or councillor who
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misrepresented themselves on the way into the office. They end up electing another one who misrepresents
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themselves on the way in. Well, with the political party system coming into place, it's going to be
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harder for faux conservatives and faux common sense people to slip by the electorate as they used to
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be because they're going to have to go through a nomination. Nobody in Calgary campaigned on a
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massive climate change plan, paper bag bans, and spending millions on three-word slogans. Yet that's
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what the city got when this latest crop of councillors came in with Mayor Gondek. The mandate for
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municipalities is pretty basic. They exist to provide road and water infrastructure, some policing,
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fire services, taking care of the trash, and a small degree of municipal bylaws and zoning to
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ensure neighbours get along. So far, the city of Calgary is doing a terrible job on all those top
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priorities, even though they're constantly increasing taxes. The mayor and council, they're
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constantly distracted with personal vanity projects and virtue signaling while they ignore the basic
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needs of the city. Meanwhile, the civil service continues to bloat while delivering worse services
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every year. Sometimes solutions can be simple. Calgary and other municipalities have to replace
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their mayors and councillors with common sense candidates, and they get the chance in a little more
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than a year. The contenders need to campaign on going back to the basics. Unlike their predecessors,
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though, they have to mean it. Citizens have the power to reduce the taxes and reduce the overreach
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and improve their basic services, but they need to exercise it and effectively. So yeah, with political
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parties holding candidates to account before they even reach a ballot, I'm tentatively optimistic
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that municipalities in Alberta are about to experience a mass change and hopefully for the better.
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Either way, everybody, you got to put off washing your privates for at least another week in Calgary,
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I guess, because they still haven't figured out exactly how long it's going to take to get the
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water back to normal. And we really need some answers. I mean, the legacy media is busy with
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their lips locked on Gondek's tired butt and saying, oh, look, she's learned now. She's been
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communicating excellently. Sure she has, but she hasn't been saying a bloody thing. We still haven't
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found out why this happened, how this happened. I mean, again, accidents happen, but we're talking a
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city of one and a half million people. This is not a minor oversight or minor problem.