Mayor Nenshi and his Opposition

By: Gillian Steward The West, Published on Tue Jun 04 2013

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/06/04/secretly_recorded_video_reveals_scheme_to_thwart_calgarys_popular_mayor_steward.html

CALGARY—There is no sign of drugs in a secretly recorded video that involves Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi. And it is not being shopped for $200,000 by shadowy figures.

But despite that, this video has garnered a lot of attention in Calgary because it involves money and some very powerful people: Nenshi, former Reform party leader Preston Manning and Cal Wenzel, one of the city’s most prominent and prosperous homebuilders.

The story begins last November when Wenzel addressed a closed meeting of 150 people from the development industry about how they can thwart Nenshi’s plans for the city by backing candidates in the upcoming municipal elections who will “swing our way.”

Someone in the crowd used a cellphone to record his remarks and then in April turned the recording over to the local Global television station, which broadcast excerpts and then posted the entire 18-minute video on its website.

Wenzel, founder of Shane Homes, is extremely forthright in the video about his distaste for Nenshi and what he perceives as his anti-development stance, especially in the sprawling suburbs.

But Wenzel also concedes that since there is no one waiting in the wings who has even a faint hope of beating Nenshi in the October elections the developers need another strategy if they are to realize their agenda.

Because the mayor has only one vote on city council out of a total of 15, the developers need to get eight city councillors on board, Wenzel told the meeting. He then goes on to name current councillors and candidates for city council who deserve financial support from developers.

This is where Preston Manning comes in.

Gillian Steward is a Calgary writer and journalist, and former managing editor of the Calgary Herald. Her column appears every other week. gsteward@telus.net