In a move that will keep them among the highest paid city officials in the country, Calgary city council voted to keep its 5.35 per cent raise.
The vote was held Jan. 23, following a motion by Ward 10 Ald. Andre Chabot that called for the reduction of the pay hike to roughly 3 per cent.
“A reasonable assumption is that we’re going to get cost of living increases, and not more,” Chabot said. “This is more.”
Chabot’s motion wanted to tie the annual increases to Calgary’s inflation rate, which equals roughly 3 per cent, rather than the current structure which is based around Statistic Canada’s Alberta average weekly earnings.
Council disagreed with the motion by a vote of 10-5, having been also advised by an independent citizens committee that there was no need to change the current system.
Ald. Druh Farrell has previously stated that she believes salary compensation adjustment decisions should be kept at arms-length from council.
The pay increase leaves each alderman with a $107,539 salary as of Jan. 1, and raised Mayor Naheed Nenshi’s compensation to $201,839. By comparison, in 2010 Toronto’s city councillors received $99,619.52 and the mayor $167,769.
It also positions the mayor as the top paid mayor in the country. Meanwhile, a hearing on how provincial elected officials should be compensated has been told that Premier Alison Redford is the most highly paid premier in Canada.
Despite sharing that honour, Redford only makes about $10,000 more than Nenshi.
The mayor voted with Chabot to reduce the pay hike, and regardless of the motion’s failure, has pledged to donate 10 per cent of his salary to charity or back to the city.
“It does make sense for me to reduce my salary,” Nenshi said.
“Unfortunately I don’t have the power to do that with the way council has it currently set up.”
Because the mayor’s salary increase is tied to the same structure as the rest of city council, he is unable to change his own salary without affecting the rest of council.
Nenshi donated the annual 2011 pay raise to charity shortly after taking office last year.
Chabot has previously tried to get council to move on the issue, but was unsuccessful.
Since 2002, the aldermanic salary has more than doubled from $53,712.
A Calgary man will be sentenced Feb. 17 for beating and sexually abusing his roommate in 2009-2010.
Dustin Ward Paxton will be sentenced after being convicted of sexual assault and aggravated assault Feb. 6 by Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sheilah Martin. The convictions capped a lengthy trial which began Sept. 27.
Paxton, 32, was convicted of beating and abusing his 28-year-old roommate and business partner over the 18-month-period they lived together. Publication of the victim’s name was banned by the court.
However, Martin ruled that Paxton was not guilty of unlawful confinement in connection with the same incidents.
Martin said there was a difference between domination and confinement, and that Paxton’s victim, who cannot be named due to a publication ban, had testified that he was never tied down or restrained in any physical way.
In delivering her verdict Feb. 6, Martin dismissed a stay of proceedings motion put forward by the defence that alleged investigators had “coached” witnesses in the trial, and the Crown had, intentionally or otherwise, delayed the disclosure of some evidence. The defence council argued these violations meant Paxton had not received a fair trial.
Summarizing her decision, Martin said “Mr. Paxton did receive a fair trial.”
Chief Crown prosecutor Lloyd Robertson said later the judge’s ruling on the stay of proceedings was “very satisfying” and felt they had run a strong case against the stay.
Martin took about five hours to give her reasons for each ruling, going through the extensive amount of evidence and testimony the court had heard over the course of the trial.
The victim was often seen with black eyes, cut lips, and other obvious injuries over the year and a half long period he was abused, the court heard.
He underwent several surgeries including one which involved using a chunk of bone from his hip to repair a broken orbital bone in his eye socket.
At the beginning of the period, the victim was believed to be around 240 pounds, but when he checked out of a Calgary hospital several months later, he was down to around 120.
Finally, when he was dropped off at a Regina hospital on April 16, 2010, he weighed around 80 pounds.
Martin said there was no doubt that the extensive injuries the victim suffered were the result of continued abuse at the hands of Paxton.
The victim had previously testified that he couldn’t remember a day during his 18 months living with Paxton that he wasn’t beaten.
Martin also said Paxton’s background, which included the use of fake identities, registering the moving business in his victim’s name and having the victim as the sole name on rental agreements, showed that he was not credible and would often lie to protect himself.
As a result, Martin said she had no reason to doubt the victim’s claim of sexual abuse and reject Paxton’s denials.
The victim had testified he was never directly ordered to perform sex acts on Paxton, but that Paxton had a certain way of leading things there. He said he would do anything to avoid another beating, and was basically in survival mode.
Hearing the verdict on the sex abuse charge, Paxton buried his face in his hands.
Afterwards, Crown prosecutor Joe Mercier said he was happy with the judge’s decision
“We put forward a credible case, and we thought it was a fair trial,” Mercier said. “We were pleased with the result.”
Paxton’s lawyers, Jim Lutz and Andrea Serink, declined to comment following the ruling.
Paxton also faces two charges of assaulting a prison guard in December. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and is expected to stand trial next month.
Crown Prosecutor Joe Mercier addresses the media following the verdict reading by Justice Martin. "We thought it was a fair trial, and we were pleased with the result," Mercier said. Photo by: Richard Hardisty
Financing your education is about to become a lot easier in Alberta.
On Feb. 13, the Redford government announced changes to the way student loans are to be approved.
According to Greg Weadick, the minister of advanced education, the changes will cut through the red tape that currently ensnarls the process of applying for student loans.
Graham King, 27, believes the planned changes will encourage more people to look at post-secondary education.
“I think that the process being so complicated in the past could very well have been a reason some people avoided additional education,” King said.
By eliminating the complicated calculations used to determine loan eligibility, including spousal and parental incomes, and savings, the government hopes to streamline the process for current and future students.
The new application, which goes into effect Aug. 1, is only primarily concerned with one thing: can you put down $1,500 towards your own education?
Additionally, single parents will not be required to make a contribution.
In his announcement, Weadick said the changes would make the application process more transparent and predictable.
Another change to the program is the establishment of a one-stop portal for students called Student Aid Alberta.
For King, who plans on attending Red Deer College this summer, the new program hasn’t convinced him to use the financing route yet.
“I make enough money as it is,” King said. “But it’s nice to know there are more options available out there.”
The new program will also include grants of $1,000 for those who graduate with a technical certificate, $1,500 for a diploma and $2,000 for an undergraduate or graduate degree.
There also are plans to establish a $1,000 ‘retention grant’ for graduates of applied programs in high demand professions who stay in province for three years. Professions to be included will be medicine, nursing and other health care specialties, education and social work.
The current total budget for student loans is now $274 million, up from $267 million last year. The budget may fluctuate depending on the number of applicants.
At least that’s what some mainstream Calgary news outlets have been saying.
But some young Calgarians believe that in the 21st century, being accessible is what politics is all about, and using Twitter and other social media tools is the way for a politician to stay in touch.
A recent column by Karin Klassen in The Herald suggested that Mayor Naheed Nenshi was spending too much time on the social media website Twitter, and such a distraction may be detrimental to his job.
Despite Klassen’s concerns, for many young voters a candidate or leader’s social media presence can play an integral role in determining whether this voting group will support them.
“It’s one thing to hop on the social media bandwagon to get elected, but someone who is willing and able to maintain it after the fact gets big points in my books,” said Kyle MacQuarrie.
MacQuarrie, a Mount Royal University student in his early 30s, said the maintenance is huge part for him because it means the candidate remains accessible while they’re in office.
Rob Ford, Toronto’s current mayor, and Gregor Robertson, Vancouver’s current mayor, both have active Twitter profiles, as does New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
Quick facts on Twitter. Click here to expand, opens in new window
This type of social media presence isn’t just limited to mayors either.
At least half of Calgary’s 14 aldermen have Twitter profiles, with activity levels ranging from almost none (61 total tweets from Ward 14 Ald. Peter Demong) to highly active (just shy of 6,000 tweets from Ward 8 Ald. John Mar.)
The criticism hasn’t slowed Mayor Nenshi’s tweeting down.
He was especially active in the hours following the major windstorm that tore through Calgary on Nov. 27, tweeting information about the city’s efforts to restore the downtown core to a functional state.
“Nenshi usually tweets useful stuff,” Damien Prud’homme, 28, said.
“He was tweeting until after midnight about the status of the core after the storm, which I thought was cool.”
For some voters, the content of the information provided by a social media platform is just as important as having one.
“It’s good as long as they use it to disseminate actual information instead of nonsense,” Brent Reuther, 26, said.
The general consensus is clear: Accessibility is important.
With the rise of the Internet, people are becoming more and more accustomed to the idea of immediate accessibility.
As politicians (and campaign managers) who are social media savvy, including Mayor Nenshi, Alberta Premier Alison Redford and President Barack Obama, continue to become active in campaigning and in the political scene, it is likely the notion of an arms length disconnect between voter and candidate, or leader, will be a thing of the past.
When Nenshi was elected, his campaign was praised for its use of social media, though it is difficult to put into quantifiable numbers what impact it had.
But a Leger Marketing poll conducted a week before the election showed Nenshi’s support among the 18-34 age group swelling from nine per cent at the beginning of his campaign to 43 per cent.
Graham King, a 29-year-old former Calgarian, summed up his feelings about the situation succinctly via Facebook:
“Didn’t social media help Nenshi win?”
Please click here to view the article as published. (PDF format)
Sysomos has published several reports on Twitter. You can find them here and here.
You can find a list of most or all the Canadian politicians on twitter here. Also on politwitter.ca is a live stream of the tweets sent by those accounts.
Originally published Dec. 2, Polytechnic Press – Vol 12. Issue 6
By Richard Hardisty
Real mayors don’t tweet.
At least that’s what some mainstream Calgary news outlets have been saying.
But some young Calgarians believe that in the 21st century, being accessible is what politics is all about, and using Twitter and other social media tools is the way for a politician to stay in touch.
A recent column by Karin Klassen in The Herald suggested that Mayor Naheed Nenshi was spending too much time on the social media website Twitter, and such a distraction may be detrimental to his job.
Despite Klassen’s concerns, for many young voters a candidate or leader’s social media presence can play an integral role in determining whether this voting group will support them.
“It’s one thing to hop on the social media bandwagon to get elected, but someone who is willing and able to maintain it after the fact gets big points in my books,” said Kyle MacQuarrie.
MacQuarrie, a Mount Royal University student in his early 30s, said the maintenance is huge part for him because it means the candidate remains accessible while they’re in office.
Rob Ford, Toronto’s current mayor, and Gregor Robertson, Vancouver’s current mayor, both have active Twitter profiles, as does New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
This type of social media presence isn’t just limited to mayors either.
At least half of Calgary’s 14 aldermen have Twitter profiles, with activity levels ranging from almost none (61 total tweets from Ward 14 Ald. Peter Demong) to highly active (just shy of 6,000 tweets from Ward 8 Ald. John Mar.)
The criticism hasn’t slowed Mayor Nenshi’s tweeting down.
He was especially active in the hours following the major windstorm that tore through Calgary on Nov. 27, tweeting information about the city’s efforts to restore the downtown core to a functional state.
“Nenshi usually tweets useful stuff,” Damien Prud’homme, 28, said.
“He was tweeting until after midnight about the status of the core after the storm, which I thought was cool.”
For some voters, the content of the information provided by a social media platform is just as important as having one.
“It’s good as long as they use it to disseminate actual information instead of nonsense,” Brent Reuther, 26, said.
The general consensus is clear: Accessibility is important.
With the rise of the Internet, people are becoming more and more accustomed to the idea of immediate accessibility.
As politicians (and campaign managers) who are social media savvy, including Mayor Nenshi, Alberta Premier Alison Redford and President Barack Obama, continue to become active in campaigning and in the political scene, it is likely the notion of an arms length disconnect between voter and candidate, or leader, will be a thing of the past.
When Nenshi was elected, his campaign was praised for its use of social media, though it is difficult to put into quantifiable numbers what impact it had.
But a Leger Marketing poll conducted a week before the election showed Nenshi’s support among the 18-34 age group swelling from nine per cent at the beginning of his campaign to 43 per cent.
Graham King, a 29-year-old former Calgarian, summed up his feelings about the situation succinctly via Facebook:
“Didn’t social media help Nenshi win?”
Please click here to view the article as published. (PDF format)
Originally published Nov. 4, Polytechnic Press – Vol 12. Issue 4
By Richard Hardisty
The pressure increasing on Mayor Naheed Nenshi to call a halt to the Occupy Calgary camp in Olympic Plaza, opponents and supporters squared off Nov. 3 over which law should apply to the situation.
An online petition started Nov. 1 by failed Wildrose Party candidate, and founder of the now-defunct Alberta Independence Party, Cory Morgan, demanded the city move the protestors out of the park because they didn’t have a permit to be there.
“Can we get out of compliance with city bylaws simply by claiming that we are expressing ourselves for some vague cause? I don’t think so,” Morgan said in the blog post on his website that introduced the petition.
Confident that the City of Calgary would enforce other bylaws, such as snow removal or parking, Morgan questioned why an exception was being made for the group of demonstrators.
Under Calgary bylaw, it is illegal to set up a camp or a tent in a park without a permit.
With roughly 20 tents erected in the southwestern corner of Olympic Plaza, the protest appeared to be in violation of this bylaw.
But backers of the Plaza occupants took their stand on the constitution.
“(Morgan) should read the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” said Jay Erickson, a long-time Calgarian, of the petition.
Under section two of the Canadian Charter of Rights, Canadians are guaranteed the Freedom of Peaceful Assembly.
This freedom, which is considered closely related to the Freedom of Expression, means that as long as a protest remains peaceful, it is protected under law.
Erickson and others believe it’s these freedoms that should allow the demonstration to continue.
On his blog, Morgan cited an early ‘90s federal case in which a group attempted to set up camp on Parliament Hill to protest against the testing of cruise missiles in Canada.
The camp was shut down by the RCMP and when the case went to court, it was ruled that the removal of the camp did not infringe upon the organizer’s freedom of expression.
“I think the petition is great,” said Jane Morgan, a provincial director of the Wildrose Party, in a Twitter post.
Morgan admits that being married to Cory may mean she’s biased, but explains that she feels that the petition respects both the Charter and Calgary bylaws, allowing for a potentially fair resolution.
Specifically, the petition states:
“We support the Charter of Rights and the Constitution of Canada. ‘Occupy Calgary’ protestors may assemble and express their concerns daily. Having them abide by the laws imposed upon all Calgarians does not threaten or violate the Charter rights of this group.”
The issue may not be so cut and dried, as there is no clear legal language that differentiates words like “demonstrator” or “protestor” from “squatter.” Nor is there a timeline on how long someone can protest before they are considered to be squatting.
In a 2000-2001 Ontario provincial case, a group was charged with trespassing under the authority of the Speaker of the House.
The five individuals charged had previously been banned from Toronto’s Queen’s Park for protesting.
The group was charged when they attempted to protest in the area again.
The judge ruled in favour of the protestors, saying the freedom to protest on public land was a value cherished in a democratic society.
“I find the individual rights of the defendants on public property under the Charter outweigh the Speaker’s right to exclude,” the judge said.
Ald. Diane Colley-Urquhart, who represents Ward 13 on city council, recently conducted an online survey on whether the protestors should be allowed to stay.
The results, which she published on her website, showed an overwhelming majority of respondents, 71.4 per cent of the 871 people polled, believed the camp should be immediately removed.
But that sentiment wasn’t shared by all Calgarians.
“By telling them that they must leave now is like saying that the city has the power to determine when a protest is done being a protest, which I think would be wrong,” said Elena Cicnuk.
As long as the group continues to be peaceful and spread their message, Cicnuk, a local student, thinks they should be allowed to stay where they are.
“They are not stepping on anyone else’s rights by being there,” she said.
She also feels the question whether the protestors should remain in the park, or not, has started to overshadow Occupy Calgary’s message.
“I don’t think they’re making a big enough effort to have their message heard anymore.”
A new petition aims to put an end to the 20 or so Occupy Calgary tents currently set up in the southwestern corner of Olympic Plaza. RICHARD HARDISTY, Polytechnic Press
Please click here to view the article as published. (PDF format)
The Calgary Parking Authority is hoping a new price promotion will help tempt Calgarians to visit the downtown core this coming holiday season.
The promotion began Oct. 14 and offers $5 parking every Friday from 11 a.m. until 6 a.m. Saturday. It will run until Dec. 30.
Ordinarily, the same amount of parking time would cost $27 at a city lot, making the promotion a substantial deal.
“I’d take advantage of it, but there would have to be enough available spots,” says Joey Bretzloff, who works downtown for Shaw Communications and has a typical Monday to Friday work schedule.
He also feels that 11 a.m. is too late of a start time.
The CPA’s official release, however, suggests Bretzloff and other citizens who work downtown aren’t necessarily the promotion’s target audience.
Troy McLeod, CPA’s acting general manager, said in the release they hope to lure more Calgarians downtown to experience its shopping, entertainment and dining during the promotion’s 12-week run.
“We’re hoping our $5 Fridays promotion will help Calgarians rediscover what a great downtown we have,” McLeod said in the release.
The promotion includes the Centennial, McDougall, City Centre, James Short, and Civic Plaza parkades, five lots that are spread throughout the core.
However, with the high demand for downtown parking during the day, the deal has lead to some scrutiny.
Justin Fredrick, another Calgarian employed in the core, feels the promotion starts too late in the day Friday for him to use it and it doesn’t affect the current early morning rates.
“I might take advantage of it if I knew I could get a spot close to work,” Justin Fredrick said.
“I think it would be so busy that I wouldn’t even try.”
It also does little to offset Calgary’s notoriously high parking rates.
According to a report published by real estate firm Colliers International in July, Calgarians pay a median rate of $472.50 a month for parking.
That rate is more than double the average of major Canadian cities, and makes Calgary as the second most expensive city for parking in North America, only behind New York City.
By comparison, the province’s capital has a significantly lower median monthly parking rate of $275.
Brad Enman would be more supportive of a deal that would allow him to pay one fee and park throughout the area, a promotion that would be more akin to a parking pass.
As a TELUS technician, his job takes him to a variety of places over an average work day.
“Right now, I have to pay every time I move my truck. If I could pay one fee, that would be awesome,” Enman said.
Earlier this year, city council ordered Calgary Transit to remove the daily rate at the park and ride lots, which may also help to encourage patronage to the core.
Centennial Parkade is one of the lots offering Calgary Parking Authority's $5 Friday promotion. RICHARD HARDISTY, Polytechnic Press
Originally published Oct 14, Polytechnic Press – Vol 12. Issue 2
By Richard Hardisty
Calgarians are cautious about a proposed one per cent municipal sales tax increase that is being championed by a group of Calgary business leaders.
The group, calling itself Transformation Calgary, has proposed the increase, dubbed the ‘penny tax’, as a way to generate an estimated $350 million annually to pay for building new athletic and cultural centres for the city.
According to Matt Olson, a controller at a Calgary industrial company, it will be a tough sell at a personal finance level.
“If I told you to give me one per cent of your salary so I could potentially build something with it, but it may or may not be something you would use or would even be located near you, would you take that deal?”
Olson also voiced concerns that the tax may stifle municipal business if it is only levied locally. It may lead to consumers heading out of town to buy big ticket items like cars.
Proponents of the penny tax have suggested that this issue could be circumvented by making it a regional tax so that other nearby municipalities like Airdrie and Cochrane would be included, limiting the competition.
Kyle MacQuarrie believes the proposal has merit in theory, but has reservations about its implementation.
“City council has a bad record of questionable spending,” said MacQuarrie, a U of C student and father of one.
“I can see the money ‘leaking’ over into other areas contrary to what it’s supposed to be earmarked for.”
The Transformation Calgary group, headed by West Canadian Industries chief executive officer George Brookman, has proposed that a plebiscite on the issue be held in 2013.
But even if the proposal is approved by local voters, it still faces a hard road before it can become reality.
It would need to be approved by the provincial and federal government before being put in place, and the Harper government may be hesitant to allow it to come into force.
The Conservative Party reduced the GST from its original rate of seven per cent to six per cent in 2005, and again to five per cent in 2008.
Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has already denied an Ontario mayor’s request to keep the rate at six per cent locally in 2007, and the party stance has historically been to reduce taxes for Canadians.
A one percent sales tax increase has been proposed by Calgary business leaders to generate revenue for the City, but Calgarians are skeptical about the idea. RICHARD HARDISTY, Polytechnic Press
Please click here to view the article as published. (PDF format)
