2023 was a challenging year for Gondek while new year brings big changes

A week is a long time in politics. So a year means a kaleidoscope of issues for any political leader.

Whether it's a housing crisis, budget woes or transportation planning, there is no shortage of issues facing Calgary city council. And, as the group takes a break over the holidays, there's always something to look forward to in local politics.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek recently sat down with CBC News to discuss some of the issues that garnered attention in the year that was while looking ahead to 2024.

Here is part of that conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity.

CBC News: City council approved a new housing strategy in September and it's now funded. We've seen the first steps roll out, but what do you anticipate the next moves are going to be?

Gondek: I think it was incredibly significant that we had a very fulsome set of recommendations coming from the Housing and Affordability Task Force back in May. We deliberated them as a council later on and then the housing strategy that was created was built off those expert recommendations and we approved that in September. But a strategy is only as good as a budget that allows you to execute on it. So I was very pleased to see members of council supporting the budget in November that prioritizes housing. And I would say the next two years are all about implementation.

CBC News: We did see recently the federal government rolled out plans for what it calls wartime housing. Is there any application for that in Calgary or do we know yet?

Gondek: I think there's application for that everywhere in the country and I think we just need to figure out what that means. How quickly can we get housing built? What can we do to respond to the rapid pace of population growth? Any ideas that people have are welcomed and I would say that our strategy is pretty fulsome. We are looking at how do we use our city-owned land for the best possible purposes of housing. How do we work with nonprofit providers to ensure that they have access to the grants they may need? We're even working directly with Calgarians who may wish to create a suite in their home. We're providing grants for that. So, no option is too big or small and we will try them all to make sure that we have a secure housing situation.

CBC News: Are there things that the city can do to get more private investment and more private shovels in the ground?

Gondek: I would say one of the biggest success stories that we've seen as a council is the investment in the downtown strategy. And as a component of that, we had the incentive for conversion. And so we had private-sector partners come to us and say: 'We believe that we found a building that we can convert from office space into residential.' And the bonus that we gained from that incentive program is three of the projects include affordable housing. I believe it's about 40 per cent of the units in one building or 20 per cent below market. So when you work with the private sector and you provide them the type of incentive that allows for affordable housing, it is a win.

CBC News: The tail end of this year, it was particularly noteworthy for you that you decided to not attend the annual community lighting of the menorah at city hall. I don't want to revisit your reasoning for that as it's been well covered. But clearly you felt that you were taking the correct course of action. There are many others in the community who disagree. If you were faced with that decision again, would there be anything that you would do differently?

Gondek: I mean, I think the ideal situation would have been for that poster (promoting the event) to not exist. The intention of 'Support Israel' as language was to demonstrate support for Israeli people who have been through so much. But the public perception became one that was politicized, and so it's an unfortunate situation. I have a tremendous amount of respect and love for the Jewish community in Calgary. I will continue to work on rebuilding relationships, and we will move forward from there.

CBC News: But that poster was beyond your control. It was from the organizers. My question is, as you look back on how you dealt with it, is there anything that you would do differently?

Gondek: Given the situation, I had a decision to make and every situation is different.    

CBC News: What does the way forward on that look like? Because as you mentioned in a media scrum, people have come up to you and said that they're disappointed with you, that they personally felt hurt. How do you fix that?

Gondek: Well, first and foremost, you take the time to listen to people when they tell you how they're feeling and you hold a space in your heart to understand their pain. And, you know, I have apologized to those people for inflicting that pain upon them. It was not my intention to do so. It did not come from a malicious place.

CBC News: Looking forward to 2024, it's supposed to be the start of construction for the Green Line LRT project. It's the biggest infrastructure project in Calgary's history. The $5.5 billion has been assembled, but we've seen the impacts of inflation and higher input costs. Is there anything about this project that keeps you up at night?

Gondek: Anytime you have a project of this nature and this size, you have to be very cautious and you have to make sure you've got the checks in place to understand what the timeline is going to look like, what the budget is going to look like. The fact that we have a board of experts dedicated to overseeing this project is incredibly encouraging. And we've got a team that's committed to this project as well. Now we have a development partner with whom there are conversations about timelines and budgets and we continue to be updated on a regular basis. 

CBC News: Do you think, though, that with the inflation, the input cost escalations there, that council might have to make a "go/no go" kind of decision in 2024 or need to assemble more money? Is there any possibility of that?

Gondek: That's not what we're hearing from the experts. In fact, any time that there's scenario planning being done, one of the first things that they look to is what needs to be modified to make sure that we execute this on time and on budget. So I continue to have faith in the board that's providing the oversight and the team that's taking the lead on this project.