I don't believe that the economy has changed people's thinking politically in Alberta. However, obviously we elected a brand new government for the first time, some people say, in 44 years. It's actually the first time in over 70 years, because the previous government, prior to the PCs, was really just PCs with a different name. And I think what that did, it doesn't suddenly mean that Tom Mulcair is going to win a whack of seats here in Alberta, but I think it did open Albertans' eyes to the fact that, you know, something different is possible and we can do something different.
Naheed NenshiI'm happy that Canadians are having a good debate about infrastructure, and not whether it's important but more how we're going to pay for it.
Naheed NenshiWhen we look at cutting people's commute - like that word infrastructure is boring. Who knows what that means? But what it really means is we got to cut people's commutes, we got to reduce congestion. Congestion costs the economy tens of billions of dollars a year to have people just stuck in traffic and non-productive time. So we got to fix that. And the best way to do that is invest in transit. And - so I'm happy that all three of the main parties seem to agree that investing in transit is important.
Naheed NenshiI'm not shy about stating my opinion on political issues, so I can state my opinion, which is, on this one, Premier Notley's right. Because cap and trade systems have not been shown to work. And if you want to price carbon, then I would listen to the CEO of Suncor, who suggests a clean, transparent carbon tax makes a bunch more sense than a cap and trade system that just creates jobs for traders. I - I kind of agree with that.
Naheed NenshiYou know, the key issue is that city issues are not to be put in a box and say well, that's what the mayor wants. They're Canadian issues. Cities account for 75 percent of our GDP. If you don't have a plan for cities, it means you don't have a plan for the economy.
Naheed NenshiAll three of the leaders looked like they were surprised to be asked about housing. And really none of them had anything interesting to say. And so this is something we need to push hard on to ensure that they understand that our housing crisis is really a major economic issue. It's not a social issue; it's an economic issue.
Naheed NenshiI think it's a good thing that we can have relatively non-partisan political conversations because I don't think that my premier necessarily should agree with everything the federal NDP says. I don't think she should disagree with everything the federal Conservatives say. I think that Albertans and Canadians as a whole, as I always say, are looking for pragmatic politicians with pragmatic solutions to their problems, and they want the best ideas to move forward, regardless of who has that idea.
Naheed Nenshi