Barb Higgins takes stand on ring road

Calgary Votes

2010 Civic Election

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Accused of lacking policies, mayoral candidate Barb Higgins rolled out her transportation platform Wednesday, including her intention to renew negotiations with the Tsuu T’ina to build the southwest portion of the city’s ring road on the reserve.

This came in advance of an evening forum at the University of Calgary where mayoral candidates addressed top issues and traded digs.

Higgins unveiled her transportation and transit platform late Wednesday afternoon. It included proposals such as eliminating the $3 daily park-and-ride fee and increasing the number of cycling lanes in the city.

In a statement, she said she would reject any plan to route the ring road through the Weaselhead or down 37th Street S.W. "I don’t like it, and I won’t vote for it."

Higgins, who resigned as news anchor at CTV to seek the mayor’s job, has been running a strong second in polls to Ald. Ric McIver. She has been criticized by other candidates for not taking a stand on contentious issues.

A deal reached between the Tsuu T’ina band council and the province on running the ring road through nation land west of the city limits was rejected by band members in a 2009 referendum.

The band later suggested it would be open to negotiating once again. However, the provincial government said the Tsuu T’ina route was dead.

Chief Sandford Big Plume said the Tsuu T’ina reserve and the City of Calgary are good neighbours, so it makes sense to have regular, constructive dialogue.

"I welcome any dialogue with Calgary and a new administration at city hall," said Big Plume in a statement. "We have a number of issues in common, including transportation, and I’ll happily sit down with the new mayor for a frank discussion about those issues."

Meanwhile, the zingers were flying Wednesday night at the university as mayoral candidates took shots at one another on everything from expenses to track records on council votes to raising backyard chickens.

The loudest reaction came when former alderman Craig Burrows accused McIver of flip-flopping on several big-ticket issues.

"Ric is the kind of guy you take for dinner and he says ‘Wait, I’ll get my wallet’ and then he doesn’t come back," said Burrows.

Not to be outdone, McIver got in a few digs, too.

Candidate Oscar Fech had the 500-strong crowd of students in stitches over his repeated mention of officials "throwing him out" of council chambers for asking too many questions, and Ald. Joe Connelly was chastised for not heeding debate protocol.

Former alderman Jon Lord revealed he went disguised to homeless shelters several times to get a better understanding of the issues.

The forum’s questions were taken from a survey of the top concerns Calgarians had for the future of the city.

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