The following is Nenshi's full response to the CTF's 2013 candidate survey.
Name: Naheed K. Nenshi
Email: [email protected]
Phone:
I do not favour using tax revenues. There may be dedicated infrastructure grants that the province creates for purposes like this, but the use of such grants, if any, must be predicated on a true public benefit from the construction (like public recreation facilities). I don't philosophically believe in using public funds to underwrite private profit.
No. The increases need to take into account population growth as well as inflation. I support a goal of limiting rate increases to the Municipal Price Index (MPI) plus Calgary’s population growth for the operating budget. Capital budgets could be additional, if funded from provincial tax room.
But the real issue is to move away from the property tax -- a horrible, regressive unfair mechanism -- to fundamental tax reform. I hope the province is up for this.
Our current employee contracts are at wage increases lower than our forecasted wage inflation rates. I favour holding the line on these collective agreements to below average wage inflation in Alberta.
The money has been returned to the taxpayers, returned in services they need and use every day. Public consultation pre-flood showed about 2/3 of Calgarians favour investing the tax room. But they could not agree on how. Post-flood, we need to fund the city's portion of flood recovery and mitigation costs. In November 2013, we will have a public debate on the 2014 portion: flood relief or something else. For the 2015-2018 budget, we will have a debate on what to do at that point.
I'm interested in why you're not asking about corporations and individuals that do business with the city. I strongly believe we should disclose everyone.
I disclosed all donors to my campaign, up to September 15th, on nomination day and this list will be updated prior to the election. You can find the list of donors at http://www.nenshi.ca/campaign_finance.
Is Canada Off Track?
Canada has problems. You see them at gas station. You see them at the grocery store. You see them on your taxes.
Is anyone listening to you to find out where you think Canada’s off track and what you think we could do to make things better?
You can tell us what you think by filling out the survey