Naheed Neshi: New Mayor of Calgary

So I have been terribly busy these last few weeks. It seems like I have a million things to do each day, and I never get them all done.

That being said, never fear, as I always keep track of topics I want to write about on the blog.

One hot topic this week was the municipal election here in Calgary. This is the first election that I have not voted in. With recently relocating here, I felt that I did not know enough about the history of the candidates to make an informed choice on who to vote for. Sure, you can always find the candidates online and read their platform, but I like to know some history about the candidates: were they in politics before? Did they live up to previous promises they made? Are they reputable business people? Personally, I believe idiots that make an uninformed decision on who they are voting for are far more dangerous than those who abstain.

But I digress.

Much to many people's surprise, Naheed Nenshi, who was considered a distant third runner up during the entire campaign won by a reasonable margin.

Naheed Nenshi Celebrating (photo from www.nenshi.ca)

Naheed Nenshi ran against Barb Higgins, a well know former news anchor on CTV news, and Ric McIver, an older white businessman and former city alderman, who people seem to either somewhat like or openly despise.

Barb Higgins, a well known television personality and attractive white female, was considered the front runner in the race the week prior to the election, though she jumped on the political band wagon relatively late in race.

But, in a rare turn of political progression, Naheed Nenshi pulled ahead when it really counted. Naheed is a Harvard Graduate with a Masters in Public Policy, and has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calgary. He currently is a professor at Mount Royal University here in Calgary.

So he has solid credentials. Why would this be considered a progressive political choice? Because not only is Naheed a visible minority, (a first for Calgary mayors) but he is now the first Mayor in Canada who is Muslim.

Yes, I said Muslim.

Lets be honest. Muslim is an attention getting word these days. I think draws more attention in the US, certainly, but even still it is capable of causing heated debate here in Canada.

Now the funny thing about it all is I have heard a few people talking about the record voter turn out for the recent election. There were more than 300,000 votes cast which means an estimated eligible voter turn out of approximately 46%. I have heard several people mention that they felt Nenshi won because many of Calgary's visible minorities made sure they got to the polls this year.

While that may be true, I am not sure that the motives were race or religion oriented. Calgarians en masse were definitely ready for a change. Over the course of the last year, most of the local media ran editorials about how the city needed a political change. Additionally, many opinion based publications called for an all out recall of city council. And, if that wasn't convincing enough, there were a record amount of candidates for the mayors chair. At one point during the election, there were 15 declared candidates.

As an added analysis, here are some brief statistics about Calgary:

Population: 1,079,000 (2006 census)

Visible Minorities 23.7% (2006 census)

Number of declared Muslims 26,000 (2001 census)

So looking at all of the numbers, even if every declared Muslim in the city of Calgary was eligible to vote, and casted a ballot for Nenshi, it still would be less than 25% of the votes received. Add that to the amount of eligible minority voters, and it still would not have put him over the top.

After all of that, I think the only fair way to sum up this election, is that the best man won. Simple as that. Nenshi is a well educated, succinct speaker who ran a clean campaign and had a solid platform.

I don't believe the media will let the minority issue or religious affiliation drop anytime soon. But, I hope that Nenshi is clever enough and tactful enough to use it to his advantage. If he spins the media attention correctly, he can bring more positive attention to the city of Calgary and attract a lot of important investment and cultural opportunities to the city.

Good Job Naheed, and good luck with the political career.