James Albers is a Calgary-based management consultant specializing in leadership development.Soon Albertans will shuffle off to the polls once again to elect mayors (or reeves), councilors, and school board trustees, both public and separate. It is a civic ritual performed every four years — a kind of democratic sacrament in which, we are told, the governed remind the governors who works for whom. That is the story. Reality, as ever, is more pungent.I have long chuckled at the metamorphosis of the freshly elected. One day they are ordinary citizens pleading for your trust; the next they are mandarins, enlightened by the fumes of office, possessed of insights unavailable to the common voter. The old quip fits, “Last year I couldn’t even spell MLA — now I am one.”This would be tolerable were it not for the larger atmosphere in which these elections now occur. Unless you have been living under a rock, you will have noticed the Western world is engaged in a grinding clash between the progressive left — forever instructing you on what to think, what to fear, and even what words may pass your lips — and a resistance on the right that still clings to the belief that freedom means freedom: to speak, to raise your children, to order your lives without bureaucratic sermonizing..THOMSON: Canada’s silent war: Losing to terrorists without a fight.Victories and defeats in this contest are scattered across the globe — advances in Hungary, Poland, Argentina, and the United States; retreats in England, France, Brazil, and, alas, here in Canada. Our own governments trip over themselves in a race to crush dissent while sanctifying every passing fad of social justice.What has this to do with municipal elections? Everything. School boards, for instance, increasingly see themselves as missionaries of ideology rather than custodians of education.Trustees who dare speak for parents — their actual constituents — are shoved aside if their views cross the rainbow catechism of board bureaucracies..Municipal councils fare little better. Take Calgary: one candidate, who never breathed a word about climate change on the campaign trail, declared a “climate emergency” the moment she had the mayoral chain about her neck. The bill for this post-election revelation? An estimated $200 million of your dollars, siphoned from ratepayers without so much as a by-your-leave.But what is “good government” meant to be? School boards, by law, are governing bodies, not social engineers. Their duties are to ensure that students have access to education, manage resources responsibly, oversee the superintendent, and — let us emphasize — represent parental interests. Nowhere in their charter is there a warrant for social activism or covert ideological indoctrination. Trustees who indulge in such mischief should be shown the door.At the municipal level, good government is simplicity itself. Balance the budget. Maintain the streets, water, sewers, power, and gas. Provide effective policing, fire, and ambulance services. In larger centers, ensure safe and affordable transit and keep community facilities in order. That’s it. You should be able to drive to your home, flip on your lights, pour a glass of clean water, heat your house, and live in safety. If your mayor or councilor is dabbling in side hustles like “declaring climate emergencies,” they have already abdicated their role. .KUSIE: Don’t get fooled again, Calgary!.Calgarians, take note.Yes, recall legislation exists in Alberta. But the true negligence has been ours. Too many of us treat elections as a quadrennial chore and assume that, having cast our ballot, our job is done. It is not. Accountability is not episodic. It is continual.This October, it is time to put away illusions. Our leaders are accountable to us, not we to them. If they forget that, the ballot box is there to remind them. Make your voice heard, make your vote count, and for once send a message that the status quo is not eternal, nor is your patience.James Albers is a Calgary-based management consultant specializing in leadership development.
