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With the recent recovery in oil prices, Calgary has woken up from a long economic slumber, and the new mayor wants to help the city reduce its dependence on oil by becoming a leader in new energy sources.
Jyoti Gondek holds a Ph.D. in urban sociology, as a member of the city planning commission and city council. He promotes policies that put him out of step with the city’s conservative establishment, which is tied to the oil industry.
The last collapse of oil, in 2014-15, gave Calgary, a city of 1.3 million, the problem now facing most cities: find a new use for the empty downtown office tower. As has been the case in many cities since the start of the pandemic, Calgary has also found many people, many with mental health and drug problems, living on the streets.
I met with Ms. Gondek, the city’s second consecutive mayor of South Asian heritage, earlier this week in the city hall, the day after the city and the province have announced that both will contribute a total of 867 million Canadian dollars to build a new arena. for the Calgary Flames. The announcement is seen by many as a move to bolster the re-election hopes of the prime minister, Danielle Smith, who has often interfered with Ms. Gondek, in the current provincial election campaign. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Are people wrong about Calgary?
People who don’t live here and haven’t visited here have been sold a stereotype of who we are. This is a cartoon image of Calgary. And I think we’ve done a poor job of telling the story properly as Calgarians.
A narrative is developed that we are only interested in oil and gas – and that’s about it. We have let it get away from us and we are trying to get it back now. The investment we need here is very important. We need to talk about who we really are.
How has Calgary’s growing ethnic diversity changed the city?
It’s the third most diverse city in Canada, but many people don’t know about us. But if you spend some time here, it’s pretty obvious.
The capacity building that many ethnic communities are doing allows newcomers to come here and actually live here and not just make this place a landing place. People come to Calgary and stay.
That explains the couple. There is an economic advantage. If it’s easier to get a job, better your income level, more affordable your home – all these factors definitely play a role. But when you see people who look like you, when you go out somewhere and hear your mother tongue, when you embrace cultural activities and you find your own history there – all that makes you feel like this place. understand you, the owner here. It takes a long time to cultivate it.
There have been many booms and busts associated with oil and gas. Will the cycle continue?
We are now at an incredible point where a true energy transformation is possible, but we need to make quite significant investments. So we have an energy transition center in the city that is seeing some big and bold moves in partnership with a lot of oil sands companies. We have people actively looking at hydrogen and critical minerals strategies.
So we have a strong interest in the future of energy production. While we were a hub for oil and gas, we continue to be a hub for the new face of energy.
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Dan Bilefsky meets another new Canadian city mayor: Ken Sim, Vancouver’s first mayor of Chinese descent. Mr. Sim has been drawn into the current political storm caused by claims that the Chinese government interfered in Canadian elections.
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Canada expels Chinese diplomat accused of intimidation and gathering information on Conservative members of Parliament. Soon after, China retaliated by sending diplomats from the Canadian consulate in Shanghai.
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Wildfire season in Alberta and British Columbia has begun, covering an unusual area of the province. Hot weather forecast for the weekend has officials preparing for another fire outbreak.
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The Striker Samoyed stole the show at last year’s Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, only to lose in the final round. He’s now retired, and Sarah Lyall reports from her home in Toronto that Striker is “still a champion, and he’s still busy – playing, romping, posing and letting loose.”
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Canada is expanding a training program for Ukrainian troops to a NATO base in Latvia where about 800 members of the Canadian military are currently stationed. Canada has been there since 2017 as part of a battle group to bolster the alliance’s security efforts in the Baltic region.
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“BlackBerry,” a comedy about a Canadian tech giant directed by Matt Johnson, is a New York Times Critics Pick. In her review, Jeannette Catsoulis wrote that this is “a story from scrabbling to success that manages to bring humor with a strange sense of joy.”
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A Canadian actor is the subject of another Pick Critic. “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie” is a biographical document that both reviews the actor’s career and explores his experience learning to live with Parkinson’s disease.
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After 27 years of performing and recording, Canadian band Sum 41 has disbanded.
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Canadian tennis player Denis Shapovalov, currently ranked 27th, is among those who have criticized several tournaments, including the National Bank of Canada Open, for still offering lower prize money to women than to men.
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Connie Walker, a Canadian journalist who is a member of the Okanese First Nation in southern Saskatchewan, was selected by the Pulitzer Prize jury for her work on a podcast about residential schools.
A native of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen studied in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has reported on Canada for The New York Times for the past 16 years. Follow him on Twitter at @ianrausten.
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