The 43rd federal election on Monday saw Calgary and most of Alberta return to Conservative representation in the House of Commons under a minority Liberal government.
During the federal campaign, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi directly asked all parties about what they were going to do to help the city’s slumping economy and was a vocal opponent of Quebec’s Bill 21.
Calgary Today radio host Joe McFarland caught up with Nenshi on Tuesday afternoon to get his thoughts on the results of the election and Calgary’s future under the new government.
LISTEN: Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi joins Calgary Today the day after the federal election
McFarland: Where do you see Calgary today?
Nenshi: I’m not sure that Calgary today is all that different from Calgary yesterday. Maybe a little bit better off. And let me explain that.
I know that a lot of people were concerned that a Liberal minority would mean, for example, the end of the Trans Mountain pipeline. I don’t think so. I think the Liberals and the Conservatives have both said that they want this thing to move forward. They, between the two of them, have a commanding majority.
I suspect what will happen is the prime minister will have to look for votes on every item, just like Prime Minister Harper when he was in the minority.
I’m not overly concerned that this election result changes things, but what I am very concerned about is that the message of the real challenges we have in Calgary and in Alberta is not really being heard.
Last night, I was on the CBC national election panel, and I said a few things which wouldn’t surprise anybody from Calgary, that you and I have talked about many, many times, about how the rest of the country is running on all cylinders but the economic engine of the country and Alberta is really sputtering. And we don’t feel like anyone is willing to help us out here.
Although we’re talking a lot about it, we seem to be shouting in a vacuum.
I was surprised by the response that I got on that, that a lot of folks were surprised to hear that.
When you’re online, people were like, “Huh, thanks for explaining because I never really understood why everyone in Alberta seems to be so angry.”
And it was shocking to me because we’ve been saying the same thing for so long, but it feels like the message is not at all getting through.
The big problem, of course, with this election result is that there are no Liberals in Saskatchewan or Alberta. And so it’s going to be incredibly important to figure out how to make sure that our concerns are heard in the prime minister’s office around the cabinet table and so on.
M: How difficult of a challenge is that going to be?
N: This is always a challenge that we’ve had in Alberta.
The problem we have in Alberta is that one party sort of knows that they’ve got a good base here, that the other party thinks that there’s no upside here. And so the danger we run into is: does that mean that they take us for granted one way or the other?
Our issues around pipelines, around supporting the energy industry, around a thoughtful response to climate change are critical issues. You cannot ignore them. If you ignore them, you’re not going to balance the federal budget and the country’s not going to work.
Regardless of who is in power, they’ve got to figure out how they’re going to deal with this stuff.
M: Do you think that we, being a conservative province, has painted us in a negative light in the eyes of liberals across this country? And conversely, do you think we have unfairly painted liberals across this country as being anti-Alberta?
N: I think that’s true in terms of the political discourse. I don’t think that’s true in terms of people.
There’s a diversity of people and diversity of views regardless of what gets elected. I think most Canadians are reasonable and want their neighbours to do well.
The question is, how do we get to that conversation?
So I think what we’re looking for now across the board in the prime minister’s office, of the prime minister himself and other leaders, is let’s see where we can find that statesmanship because we’ve got to solve these problems.
And it’s clear that the divisiveness that we saw in this election isn’t solving the problem.
M: How concerned are you that we’re starting to see a swell in the separatist movement, whether it is for Alberta or for Western Canada?
N: Let’s start with this: it’s a crazy notion.
The poorest countries in the world are small, landlocked countries. Why would you want to turn yourself into one of those? So, it is crazy.
I know that sounds very Pollyanna-ish, but it’s clear that just sort of divisiveness and yelling at one another didn’t get us a result that’s going to help us.
M: Where do you think the jumping-off point is? What is the one issue that can get the ball rolling to get us working together and understanding each other?
N: Everyone wants to preserve the environment and everyone wants economic prosperity for the country. How are we going to do that?
If you want to get more specific, there are very few people in the entire country who say we should be buying foreign oil rather than relying on our own resources in the country, that we should be energy independent.
So let’s start there and let’s figure out how we can protect and grow the energy sector while maintaining the highest standards of environmental stewardship.
The problem is when it becomes energy versus the environment or everyone who’s pro-energy is painted as a climate change denier or anyone who is concerned about climate change is painted as wanting to destroy Alberta’s energy sector.
I think the vast majority of Canadians wouldn’t identify with either of those caricatures.
And we’ve got to figure out how to involve them more.
Some of the questions and answers have been edited for clarity.