The Thriving Mayor Show

Catch Episode 19 of the Thriving Mayor show as we visit Mayor Lisa Helps in Victoria, B.C.

She is relentlessly future leaning and works hard to ensure that Victoria is prosperous, resilient, welcoming and ready for challenges and opportunities ahead.

She builds teams of community leaders to work together to advance ambitious programs such as future-focused economic development, climate action, affordable housing, and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

Mayor Helps is advancing sustainable city building in Victoria and setting an example for all cities and towns to adopt. Lisa is empowering Victoria's city staff and administration to be bold and bring new ideas to Council. We chatted about two of her recent blog posts including:

“Community Making” Requires Housing of All Sorts – Three Big Ideas
a. Amend the City’s Official Community Plan and rezone the whole city to allow well designed higher density housing, especially affordable
b. Get rid of parking minimums tied to the building of homes
c. Change provincial legislation to reduce red-tape at City Hall

Victoria Council’s Glimpse Of Post-Pandemic Life In Cities
a. People Will Go Back to the Office
b. Arts, Culture and Live Events Will Thrive
c. More Public Spaces for More People

Let's celebrate World Landscape Architecture Month! On Episode 18 of the Thriving Mayor show I chat with past president of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, Glenn A. O'Connor, OALA, FCSLA, ASLA!
Two landscape architects, we'll share insights and ideas about the "10 Reasons Landscape Architecture can Save the World".
1. Keep Your Cool to counteracting climate change
2. Hands Off protected heritage sites
3. Go Wide in parks and open space
4. Get Out through the door to the natural world
5. Inhale Deeply as we help cleanse the air we breathe
6. Safety First for cyclists & pedestrians
7. It's Alive! returning vitality to cities
8. We Go With the Flow and manage storm water
9. Clean up Your Act to repurpose contaminated sites
10. Come One Come All and connect with neighbours in the places we create

Glenn and I have over 60 years of experience planning, designing and building public projects in cities and towns in Canada and abroad.
Landscape architecture is one of the most important professions of this century, join us to learn more.

Lloydminster AB/SK Mayor Gerald Aalbers, Canada’s only bi-provincial mayor and I chat on March 31, 2021.

Having experienced life in numerous communities throughout Western Canada, Mayor Aalbers and his family have called Lloydminster home since 2005. Throughout his career, Mayor Aalbers gained valuable experience in customer service and problem solving. Strong people skills and a dedicated work ethic are building blocks of his 30-plus years in the workforce. Communication and clarity are two of Mayor Aalbers' strengths in serving the community.

Gerald is serving his second term following re-election by acclamation in November 2020.

Our chat is far ranging with plenty of personal insights and words of wisdom. Some of my questions for Gerald include:

- Describe some of the unique challenges and opportunities that Lloydminster has being in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

- Are you a Riders or Eskimos fan?

- Are you aware of any other bi-state or bi-country mayors?

- Tell us about “A moment with the Mayor”, your weekly article on line.

- What motivated you to get on council?

- How/why did you decide to become mayor?

- Share your campaign experience, who was the first person you told about running for mayor? What was their reaction?

- You were acclaimed in 2020 but must have had some interesting election campaigns. Describe your favourite election night…was the mayorship a hotly contested campaign? Share the emotions of the night.

- What advice would you have for anyone considering to get involved and run for council?

- What is your vision for lasting and positive change in the Lloydminster?

- You’ve spoken up for culture and heritage in Lloydminster, describe some of your favourite memories and stories about your city.

- What other big challenges are you tackling in your next four years as mayor of Lloydminster.

- Things that make you happy and grateful?

Join me and Dr. Oleg Konovalov as we talk about Oleg's brand new book The Vision Code and why having a powerful vision is essential for leaders. Oleg also shares his experience working with elected leaders and why it's never too early to begin crafting your vision.

Oleg is a thought leader, author, business educator, consultant, and C-suite coach with over 25 years of experience operating businesses and consulting Fortune 500 companies internationally.

Having been named as ‘the da Vinci of Visionary Leadership’ by many leading authorities of our time, Oleg Konovalov is helping companies to create and execute their vision, maintain a strong productive corporate culture and achieve superior business performance.

Oleg is on the Thinkers50 Radar, Global Gurus Top 30 in Leadership, has been recognized as #1 Global Thought Leader on Culture by Thinkers 360, is #1 Global Leading Coach (Marshall Goldsmith Thinkers50) and has been named as one of the Top 10 Most Inspiring Global Thought Leaders by The Excelligent.

He is also the author of:
+ LEADEROLOGY (2019),
+ Corporate Superpower (2018),
+ Organisational Anatomy (2016), and
+ Hidden Russia (2014).

Sheila Fitzgerald was first elected in a by-election to the position of councillor on the Roddickton-Bide Arm Town, NL, Council in 2012 and then later elected Mayor in 2013 and 2017. She is the first female ever to be elected mayor.
Born and raised in Labrador City, NL, Sheila was first introduced to Roddickton- Bide Arm in 1992.
Sheila became a permanent resident of the small town located on the northeast side of the Great Northern Peninsula in 1997
Sheila has earned both a Bachelors and Masters degree of Social Work from St Thomas University in Fredericton, N.B. and Memorial University in NL.
Sheila is a board member of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, vice-chair of the FCM Green Municipal Fund council and chair of Great Northern Peninsula Joint Council. She has been President of Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador since 2019.

Heather Colberg is currently in her first term as Mayor of the Town of Drumheller.
Heather was born and raised in Drumheller, the community she loves.
As Mayor, Heather is excited to give back to the community she loves so much and wants Drumheller to be known as the cleanest, friendliest, most sought after community in Alberta!
An avid story teller, she and her daughter share other's stories on their HCM Lifestyle website and movement.
Heather did her homework prior to running for mayor, her first foray into politics. After reaching out to 8 different Mayors for advice and testing her fortitude Heather decided to throw her hat into the ring. She attributes her election success to personally knocking on 2,172 doors in Drumheller.

Join me and Dawn Mucci an entrepreneur, multi-award-winning franchisor and spokesperson for Lice Squad. Com and Canada’s Top Mayor Award. She is passionate about community, business, franchising and has been recognized for creating a unique concepts and eco-friendly products. Dawn is a champion for mayor's and is a creative entrepreneur leading many valuable initiatives, such as Canada’s Top Mayor Award which is presenting the #BringYourEhGame #MayorsFoodBankChallenge as a National effort to raise funds and awareness for the Food Banks Canada COVID-19 relief fund.
Dawn and her team collaborated with comedian Adam Growe of Cash and Mayors from Across Canada to create this fun and positive show which gives us a chance to get to know various mayors and communities across the country and work collaboratively to raise money for FBC.
Visit Canada's Top Mayor Award on March 7 at 7 pm E.T. and the next 3 Sundays to compete along side 4 mayors every week.

Join Michael and Merlyn Recinos, the mayor of Igloolik, Nunavut.
Merlyn shares his early memories of starting his first business at age 7 in Guatemala, moving to New Brunswick as a teen and falling in love with landscape, community and people of Igloolik.
Merlyn won a crowded election in Oct. 2020 and has big plans for Igloolik.
Mayor Recinos runs Arctic Fresh, an independent grocery and dry goods supplier, along with his wife Rhoda, who’s the CEO. He also served as the hamlet’s economic development officer prior to being elected.
Over the years, he has volunteered his time to assist others in building business capacity, improving their employability skill and helping residents.

Join Fraser Tolmie and I as we talk about Canada's most notorious city, Mayor Tolmie's imaginative video marketing campaign and other fun happenings in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Fraser Tolmie was first elected to Moose Jaw City Council in 2009 as a City Councillor and served a three-year term. Mayor Tolmie is currently serving his second term as Mayor having run successfully in 2016 and 2020. Mayor Tolmie served with the Royal Canadian Air Force as an officer for seven years and has held various volunteer roles in the community. He was Chair of Moose Jaw Special Olympics and Chair of the organizing committee which hosted the 2017 Special Olympic Games in Moose Jaw for the first time. Committed to a healthy lifestyle, Mayor Tolmie is thriving in Moose Jaw.

Join David and I on Episode 10. David is an International expert on downtown revitalization, former president of International Downtown Association, revolutionized the parking industry, author of two books and many articles on downtown and community development. We will talk about Why women are the most important demographic for revitalizing downtowns. How the pandemic is affecting downtown. What aspects of downtown do women hate most? Will retail, restaurants and office uses recover from COVID? What colour is downtown and why is that important? The powerful trend towards urban agriculture and downtown animation and food our Farmer Markets deliver.