Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi has announced his intention to run for re-election in the city’s 2017 municipal election.
He shared the news in a video released to the public at 6 a.m. on Friday.
“We have a lot of work to do. We have to build a resilient economy that can weather the storms and the ups and downs better than we’ve been,” Nenshi said in the video. “We have to build a more resilient city that gets us through natural and man-made disaster. We have to build an even better place to live.”
“I’m announcing today, that I will be a candidate for mayor in the elections in October 2017.”
“I hope that you’ll join with me, and give me a chance to work with you on this journey as we build an even better city.”
Nenshi was first elected mayor in 2010, then re-elected in 2013.
WATCH: Naheed Nenshi confirms plans to run for re-election
Re-elect Mayor Naheed Nenshi from Re-Elect Naheed Nenshi in 2017 on Vimeo.
Reaction to Nenshi’s announcement from Danielle Smith
News Talk 770‘s Danielle Smith said although she hopes people do come forward to run against Nenshi, she can’t see any reason why he wouldn’t be re-elected.
“Any time somebody decides to run for the top job in the city I think they should be challenged. I think it is just good for a democratic process, to ensure that you have got a number of voices out there.”
“There’s really nothing that he has done that warrants him being un-elected. He had a bit of that Uber flap,” Smith said, referring to an anti-Uber rant caught on camera in April 2016.
“That is probably the big black mark on his record. Plus, the fight that he got into with developers, but again, that ended up settling out,” Smith added.
“When you look at the record that they’ve had in the past year, they have worked really hard to run surpluses, to bring down taxes, to defer fees for the green cart and also to be looking at ways of reducing red tape. He’s building the LRT on Centre Street – which was an early election promise, so as far as I can see, he’s lived up to a lot of his campaign commitments.”
Smith pointed out that although Nenshi comes from the “progressive side” of the spectrum politically, he seems to have “incredibly good” relationships with the both the federal government and provincial government.
“He’s probably well positioned to be able to massage those relationships.”
Smith also said she felt Nenshi had done a “great job” of standing up for Alberta’s energy sector.
WATCH: News Talk 770 Calgary’s Danielle Smith speaks with Scott Fee about Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi’s decision to run for re-election next year
Who will run against Nenshi?
When asked who she thought would potentially run against Nenshi, Smith said that although Ward 13 Councillor Diane Colley-Urquhart and Ward 10 Councillor Andre Chabot seem like obvious choices she didn’t think they’d risk losing their seats on council.
“I would suspect that those two would sit out this time around.”
Smith added that she couldn’t think of any potential candidates not currently in city council who would have a high enough profile to run against – and beat – Nenshi.
“An outsider candidate – that would be tough,” Smith said.
“I can’t imagine anybody that would be able to unseat the mayor at this point.”
Calgary’s next municipal election is on Oct. 16, 2017.
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