Everything but hockey: Big city mayors share ambitions at forum

"I'm thinking of just annexing Calgary," Edmonton mayor Don Ivesontold a crowd of 800 on Wednesday.

He then flashed a grin at Calgary's mayor, Naheed Nenshi, who fired back: "I'm thrilled to be here in greater Beaumont."

Their moderator, Edmonton Journal columnist Paula Simons, interrupted. "Apart from Alberta's world domination," she told the crowd, the mayors have many other shared goals for their communities.

Efficient public transportation, inclusive schools, and reconciliation with Indigenous people, for instance.

Iveson and Nenshitalked about their mayoral ambitions at an Edmontonfundraiser, hosted by, and for, the city's public library.

Money raised with the sale of $10 tickets will help fund the Stanley A. Milner Library revitalization project.

Roughly half of all Albertans live in either Calgary or Edmonton.

"We represent the hopes and aspirationsnot just for our cities, but for a stronger Alberta," Iveson said about his role as mayor of the province's second-largest city.

Nenshinodded in agreement.

"A lot of it really is about, as Don says, people's hopes for their own community and our ability to make those hopes real," Nenshi said.

"The commonalities between the big cities are much, much more important than the divisions amongst them."

That common ground builds a sense of community between the cities that can spill over to the entire province, the mayors said.Any differences are best approached as learning opportunities.

Iveson, for one, wants to introduce elements of Calgary's infrastructure such as safe and effective bike lanes.

In return, Calgary can learn from Edmonton's waste management system,he said, referencinghis city's waste-to-biofuels facility.

"We innovate the hell out of our garbage," Iveson said.

The only thing neither mayor could agree on was hockey.

"He has very poor taste in sports teams," Nenshi said.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Iveson agreed.

The mayors spoke as part of theForward Thinking Speakers Series, an initiative by theEdmonton Public Library thatinvites community leaders to share their thoughts and insights with the public.