The Main — March 29
1. Madu Gives Lethbridge an Ultimatum 2. A Calgary Candidate Gets Arrested 3. Mayoral Race Gets Interesting in McMurray 4. Surprise — Nenshi Is Still On The Fence
Madu Gives Lethbridge a Ticking Clock
Alberta Justice Minister Kaycee Madu certainly polarizes when it comes to municipalities and now, policing.
In September, Madu responded to the growing calls to cut police funding in cities due to systemic issues like racism as “ridiculous.” At the time, Madu said his department was instead dedicated to police reform to tackle racism and had even started a review the Police Act’s complaints process.
Then, last week, Madu stepped in on the growing dysfunction in Lethbridge. Following reports that five officers with Lethbridge Police allegedly monitored New Democratic Party MLA Shannon Phillips and the subsequent, bizarre “MemeGate” story about shared images that saw Lethbridge Police suspend five officers (including one already suspended for the Phillips scandal — as we said, dysfunction), Madu issued an ultimatum. He wrote Lethbridge’s mayor, Chris Spearman, its police chief, Shahin Mehdizadeh, and its police commission chair, Robert Van Spronsen, and gave them three weeks to develop a plan to restore public confidence.
He wrote (emphasis ours):
Should I not see a plan for addressing the acknowledged issues, or should I not see evidence of progress in relation to acting upon that plan, then I will be in a position to truly consider utilizing the extraordinary authorities available to me under Section 30 of the Police Act.
There are several interesting things to unpack with Madu’s ultimatum. One, it’s a thinly veiled threat by the province to unilaterally reform the Lethbridge Police (see “extraordinary authorities”), which is ostensibly under at least partial municipal control.
Second, it’s hard to read all of this and not reflect on Madu’s tense relationship with municipalities during his tenure as the former municipal affairs minister. Things got so bad that representatives with the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association said the relationship was “broken.”
Third is what others are saying:
Our take: The main interest in this at Rage Against the Municipal is what this could mean for the 2021 municipal election. If Madu does step in and clear house in Lethbridge, it will establish a strange precedent during an election year.
We’re watching this one. Closely.
Did A Calgary Mayoral Candidate Just Get Arrested?
A man identifying himself online as Kevin J. Johnston has posted a video of himself being arrested at a No Frills supermarket in Dawson Creek, British Columbia. The incident made the Alaska Highway News and a radio-station news site in Ft. St. John.
But who’s Kevin J. Johnston, you might ask? Well, it seems he’s also running for mayor in Calgary.
Johnston made news earlier this month when he launched a coffee brand that included a racist brand name, “Wasted Native.” The slogan? “Forget gas, huff this.” Marilyn North Peigan, a Blackfoot woman running for council in Calgary, said in the APTN story that: “This is the reason we need diversity, native voices sitting at the table so we can discuss this openly.”
Johnston has posted the arrest video on his Instagram, which is linked to from his mayoral site. The Calgary Elections information about the candidate also lists Johnston’s Facebook page, and this page has a video where people show the video and discuss it.
The Calgary Elections page lists Johnston’s candidacy as being accepted on March 24.
This landed on our desk at deadline. We’re looking into it further.
Mayoral Race Gets Interesting in McMurray
The race for mayor in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) now has two candidates — Verna Murphy and Mike Allen.
Close followers of politics in Alberta may remember the second candidate’s name. Allen is a former Progressive Conservative MLA who has also served several times as a councillor in RMWB. He made news in 2013 when he was arrested trying to buy sex from an undercover officer in Minnesota, all while on a government trip. Allen pled guilty on the charge.
The PC Party kicked Allen out of its caucus but welcomed him back in 2014.
Allen was elected to the RMWB council in 2017. When he announced his mayoral run, Allen told Fort McMurray Today voters have moved on from the past.
Nenshi Still On the Fence
Will he? Won’t he? Every Calgary pundit has an opinion and reasons to show they’re right about whether Mayor Naheed Nenshi will seek re-election this October. But really, with other city mayors bowing out and allowing the campaign to replace them to organize, Nenshi’s indecision is starting to feel excessive.
Thankfully, Nenshi broke the silence on this recently to let everyone know he’s going to make a decision. Soon.
Thankfully, we here at Rage Against the Municipal have you covered.
This Wednesday evening, join our co-editor Tim Querengesser in conversation with former Calgary city-hall journalist Annalise Klingbeil, former mayor’s office staffer in Edmonton Ryan Kelly, and current Spruce Grove councillor, Erin Stevenson, to discuss all the change — from Nenshi on the fence to Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson and Lethbridge Mayor Spearman (discussed above) deciding to call it a day.
We’ll probably also talk about Amarjeet Sohi in Edmonton — who many here expect to announce a run for mayor shortly.
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