Naheed Nenshi: Poetic Tax Grab

Naheed Nenshi: Paying The Poet

So, here's a little tidbit to outrage the Calgary tax payer.

You may have heard that city council boosted property taxes this year. The funny thing is, council announced a 4.4% tax hike. But guess what? You'll actually be paying an additional 10%.

And it's quite sneaky the way they did it. Here's how:

Each year, city council approves the budget for the next fiscal year. In doing so, council decides what the property tax rate needs to be to create a balanced budget. Through natural inflation and depending on what spending projects are on the books for the next year, this typically includes a tax increase. This is the same for every city in Canada.

Usually, anything more than 4 or 5% increases causes vocal outrage from the public, so council stayed within the "safe zone".

Additionally, the city is responsible for collecting a nominal charge from property taxes and giving it to the Alberta government to pay for province wide education. This creates a situation where the city sometimes has to "guess" what the provincial tax rate will be, since the city's budget is completed before the province's budget. To this effect, city council collects these fees in addition to it's announced tax hikes.

As it turns out this year, council grossly overestimated the amount of money which was needed to pay the province for education. In fact, it collected an additional $42 million from property owners. Roughly $40 for EVERY man, woman and child in the city.

The Alberta government was rather responsible, and told the City of Calgary that the money did not belong to the province, and was not needed for the budget. So, tax payers were expecting to have the money returned on their next property tax assessment.

Not so. Council passed a motion a couple months ago, allowing them to NOT refund the money, and keep it in a separate fund to be used for "capital and infrastructure" projects for the next 30 years.

That's kind of dirty, no? No. What's REALLY dirty, is that this handy little motion that was passed allows the city to do this any year where provincial taxes have been "overestimated" for the next 30 years.

How cleaver! So in addition to the 4.4% tax hike levied on us by the city, we actually paid an additional 6% for the province that was not needed or required, and the city gets to keep it all!

Now the next question would be: how often do we think the city will UNDER estimate the provincial tax rate? My guess is probably never.

Now forgetting all of that, let's look at the most recent bout of stupidity by city council. A Poet Laureate! Naheed Nenshi and council decided that a valuable use of taxpayer dollars would be to hire a full time poet! You know, so that we can have original poetry at hand for special events or city functions.

Clearly, this is a necessary service that the citizens of Calgary cannot live without! And how handy that they now have a $42 million slush fund to pay the piper (ahem... Poet) with.

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Will and Kate Make Me A Liar (And They Don't Have To "Suck It")

Alright, alright! So obviously, yesterday I wrote a post about the major insult to the City of Calgary, as Prince William and Kate Middleton would not don the white hats that they received upon arriving to Calgary.

As a recap for those of you who don't know, or didn't read my last post, receiving a "white hat" as they are called, is one of the city's highest honours for elite VIP'S or local heroes that have performed extraordinary feats of goodwill or bravery.

The couple received the white hats from the Mayor, Naheed Nenshi yesterday. It was reported by most major Canadian news outlets (ie CBC & CTV) that the Royal Couple wouldn't don their hats. Not even for a photo op. This was confirmed by video footage released by both news outlets.

So, I then went on a rampage of what a terrible insult this was to Calgary and it's citizens. (And I stand by that... not wearing the hat, at least for a photo op IS an insult.)

I posted my blog entry with a smug sense of self satisfaction. I think mainly because I uh... told the Duke... and, uh... maybe the Duchess... um... to "go suck it!".

So then, a few hours later, I was watching the local news update on TV, and low and behold, there was Will and Kate, seen EVERYWHERE in public, wearing their white hats.

Umm. Oops.

Now, suspiciously, this happened a few hours after they had received the white hats. And conveniently, after rechecking both CTV and CBC's websites, stories mentioning the Royals refusing to wear the white hats seemingly disappeared, with no explanation or further discussion on the topic.

So, I contemplated retracting my statement last night, but had got busy and thought I would do so today.

HMMM. In retrospect, I wish I had done this task last night. There were SEVERAL vicious emails in my inbox accusing me of spreading inflammatory lies about the Royals. There were also emails calling me names because I told members of the Royal Family to "suck it!" (which I actually think is rather ironic).

So. I have nothing against supporters of the Royals. And let me be the first to say that I am sorry to any who have taken personal offence. Similarly, I apologize directly to the Duke and Duchess for my comments, and wish them the best. (Though I am still confused as to why you did not don your hats for a photo op when you received them? Any explanation would be great, thanks).

Forbes Magazine: Gary Holden is The 5th Biggest Screwup!

According to Forbes Magazine, Gary Holden, CEO of public-owned energy utility Enmax, is one of the biggest CEO screw ups of the year.

As I recently reported, Holden made national headlines when he sent a ranting email to all Enmax employees chastising a former employee for leaking information to the media about lavish parties that had been held at his home on the company's dime. Holden went so far as to threaten legal recourse against the former employee in what seemed to be a warning to everyone else to keep quiet.

Helen Coster, the author of the article which was published on Forbes.com, said she found it surprising how Holden dealt with the accusations of wild company-fueled parties. She said most CEOs would have used a public relations firm, rather than attempting to control the situations themselves.

That should be sound advice for Mr. Holden during his future business dealings. Not only did he make the situation worse, but according to Forbes, Holden sounded "paranoid" when he warned employees not to speak to the press.

Also under the public microscope at Enmax is the executive pay scale. Salaries for executives have skyrocketed in the last few years.

Company documents show the chairman of the board, a part-time position, is currently banking $180,000 a year. Astounding, considering that only 8 years ago in 2002, the same position paid $18,000. For you statistic folks out there, that is a 1000% pay increase in 8 years. Talk about a cost of living increase.

Gary Holden himself seems to be enjoying regular pay increases. In 2002, his position paid a paltry $700,000 including salary and bonuses. In 2009, Holden took home nearly $2.7 million. That's a pretty good paycheque considering it's funded by City of Calgary taxpayers.

Newly elected Mayor Naheed Nenshi says he is awaiting a full report that will detail how Enmax chooses it's compensation packages. The Mayor also stated that past increases to board of directors salaries had been approved by previous city councils.

Nenshi stated he was most interested in having a long conversation with Holden regarding how current salaries are justified.

For the time being, we will have to wait until next week to find out more.

Naheed Nenshi Gets Zipped with Rick Mercer et al.

Naheed Nenshi was getting down with television personality Rick Mercer, as well as Canadian Songstress Jann Arden and Olympic Gold Medalist Kyle Shewfelt.

The quartet's visit to Canada Olympic Park (or C.O.P) to experience North America's fastest zip line was featured on tonight's episode of The Mercer Report on CBC.

Rick Mercer

(Photo by Robin Wong www.robinwong.ca)

The zip line starts at the top of the ski jumping apparatus and can reach speeds up to 140km/h before you reach the bottom, which is slightly slower than what people drive on the Deerfoot Trail.

Nenshi, always the ambassador, jokingly ranted on about the various things to see and do while in Calgary, as his cohorts shipped him off down the zip line, thereby ending his verbal diarrhea.

Meanwhile, Calgary's own Jann Arden looked as though she would rather soil herself on national television rather than go through with the experience. Both Mercer and Shewfelt looked like pros.

Oddly, Nenshi's appearance was presented more as a cameo, rather than a feature of the skit.

However, for being in office less than 2 months, he has certainly been in some good company.

Naheed Nenshi: "Bad Enmax! Bad!"

A little over a week ago, an email written by Enmax CEO Gary Holden, was leaked to the media. The email was apparently a heavy handed response against a former Enmax staffer who leaked details of Holden's salary and lavish parties held at Holden's personal residence at the expense of the taxpayers. The email went on to say that Enmax would be seeking legal charges against the former employee.

Talk about making a bad situation worse.

Enmax is a city owned utility that provides power to Southern Alberta. So, of course details of $100,000 private parties put on at Holden's home and funded by Enmax caused quite a bit of stir with the citizens of Calgary. Add to that the details of Holden's $2.7 million compensation package for last year, and you have a very bitter public opinion.

Holden has tried defending the parties, which included invited rockstars such as Tom Cochrane and Gord Downy from the Tragically hip, saying that they were meant to showcase Enmax's foray into renewable energy to industry heavyweights. Holden's home was fitted with wind turbines and solar panels and waste-to-energy recovery technology. Holden stated the most recent party in question had 300 invited guests, and 25 Enmax employees who helped stage the event with a cost over $100,000.

It is unclear at this point exactly how many parties have been held.

To add to public outrage, Gary Holden's internal email stressed a firm hand with employees who leak information to the media, and indicated that legal action would be taken against the former employee-turned-whistleblower.

This did not help matters. Several employees who spoke anonymously to media expressed fear for their jobs, should they say the wrong thing to the wrong person. The email also implied an effort of cover-up of Enmax expenditures.

Naheed Nenshi

Last week, new Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi weighed in on the Enmax ordeal, demanding an inquiry into the parties, and why Enmax board of directors seemed to receive a 60% increase in compensation last year.

Nenshi met with Enmax board member Clifford Fryers and laid the smack down. The first verbal bitchslap Nenshi gave Fryers was "no more lavish parties". The second was to suggest the taxpayers and Enmax customers would not appreciate the Corporation spending taxpayers money to persecute a whistleblower.

Seems like a reasonable solution. However, in an apparent effort to make a point, Holden has now cancelled the upcoming company Christmas party, citing Mayor Nenshi's insistence of no more parties. Holden also implied that the outrage from Calgarians was to fault for his employees not being entitled to a Christmas party.

Nenshi hasn't made any public statements about the cancellation of the Christmas party, but somehow I doubt he would begrudge city employees their yearly dose of merriment. However, one of the lavish parties in years past was a Christmas party entertained by Tom Cochrane, who performed a 3 hour set under a reported $100,000 contract. A little over the top, no?

Clearly Gary Holden is an all or nothing type man. Either there is a Christmas party which can only be described as an Orgy of Excess, or no party at all.

This man's disturbing attitude needs to be corrected. If he continues his antics, it would not be unreasonable to assume that he will be removed from his position very soon. And good riddance.

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.