Column: Finding the Christmas spirit in June

Most years (even before I was mayor!) I write a column for the Calgary Herald to support the newspaper's Christmas Fund. Here's my article about finding the Christmas spirit during an unlikely time of the year.

It might be odd to find the spirit of Christmas on a weekend in June, but that’s exactly what happened to me earlier this year.

On June 21, Calgarians held our first annual Neighbour Day. At block parties, work bees, parades, and bbqs, in every quadrant of our city, we celebrated what makes our communities great.

Strength, resilience, compassion. While it may have been the anniversary of a certain natural disaster, the common refrain that day was “we’re going to do this again next year!” Not because we must commemorate a flood, but because we must acknowledge that special spirit we hold dear: the belief that this is a city of opportunity for all and the truth that, regardless of where we live in this city, we are all neighbours who share in each other’s hardships and success.

Supporting our fellow citizens when they need our help the most. Providing the opportunity to live a great Canadian life. Is that not also the spirit of Christmas?

We are blessed to live in a city where that spirit is held in the hearts of many and shown throughout the year. Yet, this does not mean we are free from the social ills that plague society. Too many of us experience hunger, poverty, homelessness, addiction, and family violence. Many more are affected by mental illness.

So let’s take this opportunity to remind ourselves of the need that surrounds us and the role we can all play during this Christmas season.

The beauty of the Calgary Herald Christmas Fund is that it helps us spread our donation dollars between 12 worthy non-profit organizations to maximize our reach on issues that matter to Calgarians. Your donation will go to the Distress Centre to make sure we have support for our neighbours when they are experiencing crisis. But it will also go to the local Canadian Mental Health Association to provide important health programming for Calgarians. And it will also support the YWCA’s Mary Dover House to help women and children fleeing domestic violence.

I’m proud that The City of Calgary also plays a role in funding many of the important non-profit organizations that serve our citizens. Through the recent budget debate, your City Council reaffirmed our support for Family and Community Support Services and the granting work it does in the community. But we know that government support is not enough to tackle every challenge we face. In most cases, government grants only cover a fraction of the need.

So, this holiday season, I encourage you to extend that Calgarian spirit of generosity. We are lucky to live in this great city for so many reasons; it should be our responsibility to give back as much as we can.

May all Calgarians have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

- Mayor Naheed Nenshi

Mayor Nenshi Reads: The Christmas Collection

Merry Christmas, everyone! We have so much fun producing the Mayor Nenshi Reads videos to encourage reading and childhood literacy. However, the holiday books we do are always special.

Many folks have asked for a compilation of all the Christmas Mayor Nenshi Reads videos that are still online (especially after the two great ones we just did with CTV Calgary!). So... voila!

2014 Double Feature

Bear Stays up for Christmas by Karma Wilson (illustrations by Jane Chapman)

The Christmas Orange by Don Gillmor (illustrations by Mary-Louise Gay)

2013 Double Feature

Santa Comes to Calgary by Steve Smallman (illustrations by Robert Dunn)

The Nutcracker (Thanks to The Alberta Ballet and Global TV!)

2011 Classic

'Twas the Night Before Christmas (A Visit from Saint Nick)

All the best of the holidays and the new year from everyone on Mayor Nenshi's team!

Year-end interviews with Mayor Nenshi (2014)

Mayor Nenshi speaks with Rob Brown of CBC TV

Every year, Mayor Nenshi sits down with some of Calgary's media outlets to discuss the year that was and what's coming up in the new year. Here are some of those interviews from December 2014:

CBC TV
Metro Calgary
CTV Calgary with Tara Nelson
660 News
NewsTalk 770
Global TV

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

As we enjoy the holiday season, my message to every Calgarian is simple: let's reflect on all the individual acts of community-building that made Calgary great in 2014. And let's take this time to recommit to doing all we can to make this an extraordinary city of opportunity for everyone.

On behalf of City Council and my 15,000 City of Calgary colleagues, and from my family to yours: may you have the merriest of Christmases and the happiest of New Years! Here's to a terrific 2015.

- Mayor Naheed Nenshi

Video: Mayor Nenshi's welcoming and inclusive Calgary

On Thursday, December 11, 2014, Mayor Nenshi gave a "passionate speech about the tremendous city we live in" to hundreds of Calgary business-people. Hosted by the Calgary Chamber, the speech addressed the state of business in Calgary, but--more important--Mayor Nenshi spoke about the challenges we all face to ensure Calgary is a welcoming, inclusive community of opportunity for all. It is an important speech about the future of Calgary and we are pleased to share it with you.

While the entire hour is worth viewing, here is a list a quick links to get you to specific parts within the speech:

• Opening from Adam Legge, President of the Calgary Chamber (0:00)
• Introduction by John Piercy, SVP of Shaw Business (8:32)
• Mayor Nenshi on the state of business and citizen satisfaction (11:12)
• "We're about much, much more than one number"
• Calgary's new four-year budget and business plan (18:10)
• "Efficiencies are baked in." "Calgarians consistently tell us they want more and better services."
• The challenges facing Calgary business (23:52)
• "The world is not all sunshine and roses."
• The promise of a great city (26:05)
• "The opportunity right here, right now, to live a great Canadian life."
• Improving hiring practices in Calgary (27:33)
• "How are our hiring practices... maximizing the potential of the people that live here?"
• Affordable housing and secondary suites (35:32)
• Ensuring a welcoming city for all; thoughts on Bill 10 (41:48)
• Concluding thoughts on the kind of city we want (47:01)
• "I saw the Christmas spirit in June."
• "Recommit ourselves to community, to citizenship, to compassion."
• Lightning round Q&A (54:52)
• Thanks to Mayor Nenshi from Jerry Rudelic, President and CEO of Alberta Blue Cross (59:39)

Column: City of Calgary a lean, efficient machine; Latest budget contains more than $50 million in efficiency savings

I haven't written an op-ed in the Calgary Herald for over a year, so the passing of The City of Calgary's new four-year budget and business plan seemed like a perfect opportunity to return. Here's my column as it appeared in today's newspaper:

This week, after six days of pretty intense debate, your city council passed its four-year business plan and budget, with a final vote of 14-1. Before I tell you a bit about what the budget means to you, it's helpful to step back and take a look at the process.

First, why is it that you never see such intense scrutiny of a federal or provincial budget? After all, over 90 per cent of the taxes you pay go to the provincial and federal governments (and Calgarians, as a whole, send nearly $4 billion a year to the provincial government, and over $11 billion a year to the federal government, than we get back from either of those governments).

The answer is two-fold: first, your municipal government holds itself to a very high level of transparency and accountability. We started discussing this business plan and budget in January, and more than 24,000 of you participated in helping to build it - online, at public events, even on the Engagement Bus. You told us what you wanted more of, what you wanted less of, and how we should pay for it.

Second, the city calculates our taxes and budgets differently than other governments. Our only source of tax revenue is the property tax. I'll save the lecture on why this tax is regressive and unfair for another time, but allow me to explain that the city uses a revenue-neutral process, meaning that we don't get any benefit from increases in property values - the tax rate is reset every year to ensure that the dollars raised are the same as last year.

This means that, to cope with inflation and growth, we must explicitly change the tax rate. This is unlike the other governments, who automatically get more: if your income goes up, your provincial and federal taxes go up. If more people buy stuff, the federal government gets more GST.

Your city council has also chosen to have the budget discussion in public, live on TV and the web, with every senior manager coming to council to defend every budget line - talking about what they do and what value they add to the community.

And do they ever add value. In the recent city satisfaction survey, 79 per cent of you were satisfied with city services (up from 68 per cent in 2009) and 65 per cent said you get good value for your tax dollar (up from 49 per cent in 2009).

So, what's in this budget? First, know that your city is lean and efficient. The budget is full of benchmarks comparing our work to other governments and to the private sector.

A few random examples: Calgary's labour cost in fleet services is 20 per cent below the Calgary market. The number of water main breaks is the lowest of any major city, and our wastewater treatment costs are far lower than places like Toronto and Winnipeg. Our road costs per lane kilometre are the lowest of any major city.

But we can be better. We are undertaking zero-based budget reviews of all our departments and are already seeing savings in places like roads and parks. In addition, this budget contains over $50 million in efficiency savings. We continue to make structural changes to reduce energy use and create a more financially sustainable city.

In this budget, you'll see a number of positive changes, including the launch of the Green Line Transitway and introduction of four-car CTrain service, replacement of two major bridges, building three interchanges, and the widening of McKnight Boulevard, new fire stations, and new police, fire and bylaw officers, as well as new and refurbished parks, recreation centres and arenas to keep up with growth.

And you get all that for the lowest property taxes of any large city in Canada.

- Mayor Naheed Nenshi