Asked about the scandal surrounding Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, Calgary’s popular mayor Naheed Nenshi said he’d like to remind everyone in public service that they have an “enormous responsibility” to serve the people who elected them.
In an interview with CTV’s Power Play, Nenshi was asked whether Ford, who has admitted to smoking crack cocaine and buying illegal drugs while in office, has hurt the title of mayor.
Nenshi said he doesn’t like to talk about what’s going on in Toronto.
But he said his “very visceral reaction is this: I have been given an opportunity, a hugely humbling and hugely exhilarating opportunity to really make a change in people’s lives.”
He said he became acutely aware of his responsibilities and duties during the devastating Calgary floods in June.
“And as we learned this summer, it’s not too much to say that for brief, fleeting periods, I literally hold life and death decisions for 1.2 million people in my hands. And as I say it’s humbling and exhilarating but it’s also an enormous responsibility, and it’s a responsibility that I and I think most politicians take incredibly seriously every minute of every hour of every day,” he said.
“And I think that I would reach out to all of my colleagues in public service and remind them that this responsibility’s important and that we need to make sure that we, as individuals, are willing to shoulder that burden and make sure that we get the help we need and that we are there in order to serve the people who put us there.”
