Business leader. Political leader. Nice honorifics.

We like good leaders, but where are they? Not stumbling fortuitously into a life raft off an Italian ship. Not earning $60,000 a day (like U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney) and receiving wildly low taxes for rich investors.

They are not Calgary aldermen tying their $107,000 salaries to an indicator called “average weekly earnings” that’s sure to always go up, something none of their constituents have. The view is good from the life raft, as they’ll earn more than 97 per cent of their constituents.

Good political leaders are not overseeing a national pension (work until 67!) while at the same time giving themselves a supra sweet deal that no other Canadian has (our Members of Parliament).

I don’t think they are a Calgary public school charity that spends $180,000 on advertising and promotion or about three times more than is given out to help students. Who else has tripped into a life raft? You’ll find elected Calgary Board of Education trustees voting not to make important financial decisions.

I mean what do non-raft diving political leaders do?

They don’t fail to promote, then cancel public hearings on provincial politicians salaries because people don’t “register.” What is this an alliance with Google?

They don’t launch a Calgary Poverty Reduction committee of 18 people and include not one poor person. No, they don’t spend $200,000 on anti poverty, but $500,000 on a sound barrier for the rarified folks of Briar Hill. Or vote to study $2 million for bikes for the summer leisure class. And Calatrava Bridge? You can row right under this one.

Good political leaders?

They don’t take one of the most contentious issues -cellphone towers – designed to divide a community and drive down residents’ housing prices, and then smooth the way to install them on all Calgary city lands, (including your kids’ playgrounds, and light posts). 

They don’t pressure community groups to advocate for cellphone towers so the city can scarf the lease money (remember “cooperation” like keeps your community grants coming!) They certainly don’t then blame the feds (Industry Canada) and say, “we the city have no control.”

Whoops, that lifeboat was just there.

Fell in.

Keep paddling, you can almost see the solid sanctuary of shore. And citizens can see you across the water. You get smaller and smaller as the gap widens….