Skip to main content

Naheed Nenshi - Mayor of Calgary

Naheed Nenshi is the Mayor of Calgary.  He’s young, just over 40, and he’s innovative.  Mayor Nenshi spoke at Memorial University last week and in St. John’s.  His hour long talk and question and answer session is a fascinating look on how we can renew municipal government and engage citizens in the process.  It’s well worth the watch – see it here

Key discussion themes that Mayor Nenshi raised in his discussion.  I reflect on them as LESSONS FOR CLARENVILLE:
  1. On Involvement - people will be involved in their community if they are asked to be involved.
  2. On being open as a country  - Nenshi noted that in order to continue our growth we are going to need imported talent.  We have to be more open.  Nobody should care where you are from - be concerned about what you can bring to the table
  3. On Transparency - People want honesty and transparency. Transparency breeds honesty and citizen engagement
  4. On the importance of Municipal Government - If the federal or provincial governments disappeared it would take a while to notice.  If municipal governments disappeared you would notice almost immediately - We underrate its importance and value.
  5. The Three Things for Calgary project - This is an engagement project launched in Calgary where citizens were asked to do three things to make their city a better place and then tell someone about it. http://www.3thingsforcalgary.ca/
  6. On taxes – If there is a clear link between services and the community and if people perceive value for what they are paying they will pay more gladly pay taxes.  A town's/city's job is to show vale for the taxes being collected.
  7. On Engagement:  Using a novel process, Calgary engaged 24,000 citizens in their  consultation process.  They used many techniques including social media.  This proved that it's not the people that's the problem (as we are told), it's the process used. 
  8. On the importance of Immigration -  Immigration is the promise of our community - embrace it.
  9. On why governments fear social media - Social media is hard to manage, and as a result politicians tend to fear it.  but the fear is the reason to embrace it.
  10. On Homelessness: Calgary has a successful anti-homelessness plan that we can learn from - http://calgaryhomeless.com/assets/research/Social-Policy-Frmwk-July2012.pdf

Comments

  1. You have a well-written article , very informative. I will be bookmarking this blog and subscribing to your feed so i can regularly read more articles.
    Digital media and marketing company

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We are in a Very Different Spot - Finance Minister Wiseman on Budget 2015

Finance Minister Wiseman summed up the Province's 2015 Budget reality succinctly: “We are in a very different spot”.  In a period in which oil is less than half the value than it was a year earlier, “different spot” is may be a bit of an understatement.  Things have changed a lot in a year and the minister and the government is facing some serious challenges.  Minister Wiseman talk to the Clarenville Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday evening focused exclusively on how and why the government is planning to deal with the downturn – while trying to have a minimal impact on the economy.   In his address he covered the following topics – each of which spoke to the basic principles government has looked at in its crafting the budget: ·                   A Culture of Cost Management     A Refocus our Health System           A Refocus of the College of the North Atlantic           A Focus on long range planning for infrastructure with 5 year planning           A Readjustment

The Bare Mountain Centennial Star - College Community Involvement

  Bare Mountain is one of the prominent features of the Clarenville's skyline. It towers some 156 meters above Clarenville’s harbour .  You can reach the peak of Bare Mountain relatively easily along the Bare Mountain hiking trail that can be accessed at numerous points in the town.  At the top, you can overlook most of the town, Random Island and Smith Sound as it leads into Trinity Bay.   Beyond Clarenville residents, people are familiar with Bare Mountain because of the prominence of the large star that sits at its top.   Each Christmas season the star is lit - making it visible from the Highway many kilometers beyond Clarenville's boundaries.   The Bare Mountain Star was a 1967 Centennial project of the Town of Clarenville. The original Centennial Star was designed, welded, wired and assembled by students and faculty in drafting, carpentry, electrical, welding and pipefitting programs at Clarenville campus.  They even helped the Town erect the structure.

2013 Business Awards - Clarenville Honouring its Own

> Clarenville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Sixth Annual Business Excellence Awards. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL NOMINEES  2013 Clarenville Area Chamber of Commerce Awards Recipients (L/R) Jason Strickland, Lee Bennett, Chad Fisher, Stephen Chaytor of Meridian Engineering, Large Business of the Year; Wendell Moore, Clarenville Business Hall of Fame inductee for 2013; Dan Moody - SW Energy, Small Business of the Year; Daniel Allan, Salvation Army & Jill Monk - Kraft Celebration Tour, co winners of the Community Cares Award. The Clarenville Chamber of Commerce's Business Excellence Awards are designed to recognize businesses and the people behind these businesses who contribute to making our community and our region one of the best places to live and work in this province.  It is an opportunity to showcase what we do well – something that I believe we need to do more of.  Over 90 people attended the awards ceremony this past Wednesday evening, and in considering th