On the night of November 15, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek and the majority the city’s council boldly declared a “climate emergency”..On Tuesday, November 16, Gondek proved the declaration to be little more than empty virtue-signaling as she welcomed the entry of the new “ultra-affordable” Lynx Air into Calgary..Lynx Air plans to set up shop in Calgary and will be putting 46 new Boeing 737s into the air providing low-fare service for travelers. The airline headquarters will be in Calgary and they anticipate employing hundreds of Calgarians..Gondek called the announcement a “big one” and said, “It means new and diverse jobs, it means greater inter-regional movements, it means a boost to our tourism industry, it means more opportunities and greater access for Calgarians who travel for business and pleasure.”.I agree with Gondek. This is indeed good news for Calgary, but how does this gel with Gondek’s words when it comes to declaring a climate emergency?.According to Gondek, climate change is such a huge and pressing issue it needed to be the first major order of business for her as Calgary’s new mayor. When the second order of business is to embrace the expansion of casual air travel – and the significant emissions that come with it – it appears Gondek is trying to suck and blow at the same time..Air travel is one of the world’s highest contributors to climate change and emissions. Just ask one of the 40,000 people who flew to Glasgow last month to attend a conference to fight climate change. Around 2.4% of global CO2 emissions come from aviation. Coupled with other gases and water vapour trails, aviation has been considered to be responsible for 5% of global warming. People are lectured to vacation close to home rather than fly. To bring down the cost of flying will only bring about increased demand, as progressive activists like to say..If Gondek truly cared about climate change, she would be decrying the expansion of this Earth-killing industry. She would say “thanks, but no thanks” and make an example of these environmental miscreants. What better way to establish herself as a climate crusader who will put the world’s climate interests ahead of the almighty dollar?.It’s good news to see the tempering Gondek’s virtue signalling, when the reality hits the road. We are better off if she is two-faced on environmental issues, rather than staying true to her promised crusade. In this case, we should be grateful that her promises were just talk..Gondek has gotten more than one reality check in her short time as mayor..Gondek’s response to the entry of Amazon’s cloud computing hub into Alberta has been oddly muted. Isn’t this exactly the sort of tech industry Gondek and others have claimed they want for Calgary? Amazon will be spending billions and employing hundreds within Alberta with this hub. Shouldn’t Gondek have been popping champagne corks from the rooftops over this?.I suspect the reason Gondek isn’t celebrating Amazon’s announcement is that the hub won’t actually be within Calgary’s city limits, and therefore reach of the taxman. I noticed most of the press covering the Amazon expansion speaks to the hub being in the “Calgary area” rather than in the city itself. While the hub will probably be predominantly employing Calgarians, it may very well be just like the Amazon distribution hub and be located right on the outside boundary of the city..Investors are keen on Alberta, but less so on the City of Calgary itself due to high taxes and a city council known to have an anti-business attitude. Developments just outside of the city limits have proven this rather clearly..Even if the Amazon data hub is within Calgary’s city limits, it won’t be downtown. Years of public art installations and bike lanes haven’t turned the city core into the blissful paradise attracting tech campuses as some had hoped. The reality needing to be faced, is that dollars and cents win in the end. Companies claim to be targeting green, bicycle-friendly cities in their mission statements but you can bet when they are making decisions in the board room, tax and regulatory costs are the items highest on the agenda..When she was a city councillor, Gondek railed about developments outside of the city limits, such as the Cross Iron Mills super-mall. She has even flirted with the term protectionism when speaking of how the city should conduct itself with mega-projects nearby the city. Perhaps she no longer believes that her feelings don’t really matter. Capital is going to flow to friendlier jurisdictions and she will need to emulate them rather than complain about them if she wants to draw investment into the city..Gondek already insulted Calgary’s oil and gas sector in saying we must move beyond them. Never mind the bulk of the city’s commercial revenues are still coming from the remaining oil and gas companies still hanging around in Calgary’s moribund downtown. At best, we can hope to retain the energy companies we have downtown. I can’t see other hydrocarbon-based companies being enthusiastic with the prospect of setting up shop in a city governed by a mayor and council so openly hostile to them..I will offer a tip for Gondek. There’s a great market to be tapped for head offices that just opened up — that market is in Quebec..Quebec’s premier Francois Legault has ominously stated he wants to identify CEOs within the province who don’t speak French and will convince them to learn. How intrusive will his witch hunt for non-French business leaders get and how aggressive will be his efforts to “convince” them to switch languages? I imagine there are a number of CEOs who are both offended and afraid of where Legault is going with things. What better time could there be to reach out to these business leaders and try to draw them to Calgary?.Calgary could provide a stable home for CEOs and the companies they represent. The city could be a safe haven for business leaders fleeing the crippling, linguistic and ethnic insecurity demonstrated by Quebec’s political leaders. These would be diverse new businesses for Calgary, and wouldn’t be a part of that oil and gas sector that Gondek so loathes..Could Gondek be so pragmatic though? Is she starting to face the realities of what attracts businesses and what doesn’t? I’m not too optimistic, but there’s hope..One good sign Gondek has already been learning lessons is in how quickly she abandoned her consideration for the world’s climate emergency when a new business appeared on the doorstep. Maybe a sense of pragmatism will overtake Gondek’s idealism before she can do too much more damage to Calgary’s ailing economy..Cory Morgan is the Alberta Political Columnist for the Western Standard and Host of the Cory Morgan Show
On the night of November 15, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek and the majority the city’s council boldly declared a “climate emergency”..On Tuesday, November 16, Gondek proved the declaration to be little more than empty virtue-signaling as she welcomed the entry of the new “ultra-affordable” Lynx Air into Calgary..Lynx Air plans to set up shop in Calgary and will be putting 46 new Boeing 737s into the air providing low-fare service for travelers. The airline headquarters will be in Calgary and they anticipate employing hundreds of Calgarians..Gondek called the announcement a “big one” and said, “It means new and diverse jobs, it means greater inter-regional movements, it means a boost to our tourism industry, it means more opportunities and greater access for Calgarians who travel for business and pleasure.”.I agree with Gondek. This is indeed good news for Calgary, but how does this gel with Gondek’s words when it comes to declaring a climate emergency?.According to Gondek, climate change is such a huge and pressing issue it needed to be the first major order of business for her as Calgary’s new mayor. When the second order of business is to embrace the expansion of casual air travel – and the significant emissions that come with it – it appears Gondek is trying to suck and blow at the same time..Air travel is one of the world’s highest contributors to climate change and emissions. Just ask one of the 40,000 people who flew to Glasgow last month to attend a conference to fight climate change. Around 2.4% of global CO2 emissions come from aviation. Coupled with other gases and water vapour trails, aviation has been considered to be responsible for 5% of global warming. People are lectured to vacation close to home rather than fly. To bring down the cost of flying will only bring about increased demand, as progressive activists like to say..If Gondek truly cared about climate change, she would be decrying the expansion of this Earth-killing industry. She would say “thanks, but no thanks” and make an example of these environmental miscreants. What better way to establish herself as a climate crusader who will put the world’s climate interests ahead of the almighty dollar?.It’s good news to see the tempering Gondek’s virtue signalling, when the reality hits the road. We are better off if she is two-faced on environmental issues, rather than staying true to her promised crusade. In this case, we should be grateful that her promises were just talk..Gondek has gotten more than one reality check in her short time as mayor..Gondek’s response to the entry of Amazon’s cloud computing hub into Alberta has been oddly muted. Isn’t this exactly the sort of tech industry Gondek and others have claimed they want for Calgary? Amazon will be spending billions and employing hundreds within Alberta with this hub. Shouldn’t Gondek have been popping champagne corks from the rooftops over this?.I suspect the reason Gondek isn’t celebrating Amazon’s announcement is that the hub won’t actually be within Calgary’s city limits, and therefore reach of the taxman. I noticed most of the press covering the Amazon expansion speaks to the hub being in the “Calgary area” rather than in the city itself. While the hub will probably be predominantly employing Calgarians, it may very well be just like the Amazon distribution hub and be located right on the outside boundary of the city..Investors are keen on Alberta, but less so on the City of Calgary itself due to high taxes and a city council known to have an anti-business attitude. Developments just outside of the city limits have proven this rather clearly..Even if the Amazon data hub is within Calgary’s city limits, it won’t be downtown. Years of public art installations and bike lanes haven’t turned the city core into the blissful paradise attracting tech campuses as some had hoped. The reality needing to be faced, is that dollars and cents win in the end. Companies claim to be targeting green, bicycle-friendly cities in their mission statements but you can bet when they are making decisions in the board room, tax and regulatory costs are the items highest on the agenda..When she was a city councillor, Gondek railed about developments outside of the city limits, such as the Cross Iron Mills super-mall. She has even flirted with the term protectionism when speaking of how the city should conduct itself with mega-projects nearby the city. Perhaps she no longer believes that her feelings don’t really matter. Capital is going to flow to friendlier jurisdictions and she will need to emulate them rather than complain about them if she wants to draw investment into the city..Gondek already insulted Calgary’s oil and gas sector in saying we must move beyond them. Never mind the bulk of the city’s commercial revenues are still coming from the remaining oil and gas companies still hanging around in Calgary’s moribund downtown. At best, we can hope to retain the energy companies we have downtown. I can’t see other hydrocarbon-based companies being enthusiastic with the prospect of setting up shop in a city governed by a mayor and council so openly hostile to them..I will offer a tip for Gondek. There’s a great market to be tapped for head offices that just opened up — that market is in Quebec..Quebec’s premier Francois Legault has ominously stated he wants to identify CEOs within the province who don’t speak French and will convince them to learn. How intrusive will his witch hunt for non-French business leaders get and how aggressive will be his efforts to “convince” them to switch languages? I imagine there are a number of CEOs who are both offended and afraid of where Legault is going with things. What better time could there be to reach out to these business leaders and try to draw them to Calgary?.Calgary could provide a stable home for CEOs and the companies they represent. The city could be a safe haven for business leaders fleeing the crippling, linguistic and ethnic insecurity demonstrated by Quebec’s political leaders. These would be diverse new businesses for Calgary, and wouldn’t be a part of that oil and gas sector that Gondek so loathes..Could Gondek be so pragmatic though? Is she starting to face the realities of what attracts businesses and what doesn’t? I’m not too optimistic, but there’s hope..One good sign Gondek has already been learning lessons is in how quickly she abandoned her consideration for the world’s climate emergency when a new business appeared on the doorstep. Maybe a sense of pragmatism will overtake Gondek’s idealism before she can do too much more damage to Calgary’s ailing economy..Cory Morgan is the Alberta Political Columnist for the Western Standard and Host of the Cory Morgan Show
