Dean Hopkins
Dean Hopkins
Candidate for Mayor
Contact Information:
Biography:
Not yet responded.
Survey Results:
Question 1: What work experience do you have that’s relevant to the role of Mayor and how do you feel the skills and perspective you have gained will help you in your role as Mayor?
Uniting 14 new councillors from different ethnic backgrounds and very different upbringings, all with ambitions, goals and aspirations for their communities, moving forward as a new councillor. It is going to be a major task for any new Mayor to develop a cohesive team. Weak leadership will fail miserably and the council will become totally dysfunctional. I have 30 years of tried and tested true leadership experience. Which was developed in many countries all over the world, in some of the most dangerous environments imaginable. I have planned, implemented and lectured on multiple leadership courses over many years developing the potential of many multiple teams of new leaderders. Getting the best results out of a team is what I do best, this is just one of my tallants that I bring to a new city council. I’m no politician or businessman who wheels and deals for personal financial gain. I am a leader and this is what in my opinion we need right now. I will be bringing a totally different kind of leadership to council, I have had enough life experience to fill three lifetimes, never mind the one I presently live, no other candidate can even compete in that regard. I have also been active in council for a number of years and have attended multiple meetings of council these past 5 years. I’ve given submissions supporting our emergency services and fighting against constant budget cuts to Fire and Police. Also I’ve given council documentation with content on how to implement policies that will lower COVID transition rates in our city. For more information on that topic go to my platform called “United we stand divided we fall”.
Question 2: What do you think are the biggest issues affecting Calgary are, and how would you approach these issues as Mayor?
1. Social injustice is the biggest issue affecting Calgary is the COVID pandemic with mandatory passports and people being forced to be vaccinated just to keep their jobs. I have a platform topic titled “UNITED WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL”. I explain how I as your Mayor would be advising council on the topic of reducing the COVID transition rates in our city, which would then reduce the amount of stress on our healthcare system. 2. Lack of Jobs: Our small business sector needs a lifeline and this will come in the form of tax reductions. Assisting small businesses will open up more jobs. Also, my approach to downtown revitalisation will also bring jobs to our city. 3. Social inequality (poverty). I will be advising our new council that we need to develop a new department in our city services called Calgary Community Social Services. 4. Lack of quality community policing: I submitted a community policing document and gave a public submission to council in June 2020 it was aimed at giving this council some guides on how to improve our community policing in our cities communities. They did nothing about it. A fire department is on the brink of failure due to lack of funding. This will change: I submitted a document in April 2020 to this council laying out all the issues our fire department had then. I gave them some recommendations, but they did not reply. Go to my platform to view the document in detail and come to your own opinions, I will be advising the new council this year should I become your Mayor that our fire department budget needs to be reinstated substantially
Question 3: What do you think is the role of a municipal government? Do you think the City does too many things, not enough, or just the right amount?
Our Municipal government does much more however it is restricted in the powers it has. By fostering a good solid relationships with any provincial and federal government and taking a nonpartisan stance the council will be able to get much more accomplished in our city when it comes to making deals and financing any major projects
Question 4: Do you think property taxes are too high, too low, or just about right?
Since 2018 we both residential and commercial tax payers have been carrying the financial burden of around 150 million dollars lost revenue by the downtown core vacancy increase. This council decided not to live within its means and to offload that financial burden. So yes I would say we in Calgary pay too much property taxes. Once our downtown is revitalised, that tax responsibility that we as taxpayers have been carrying, as a financial burden for too many years will be reduced to level the financial scale of burden and also to pay off the city's debt. This is the direction I will be advising the council to go when it comes to lowering any taxes in the future.
Question 5: Over the next four years, should the City spend less in absolute terms, increase spending but by less than the rate of inflation and population growth, increase by the rate of inflation and population growth, or increase faster than the rate of inflation and population growth?
Our city should increase spending but by less than the rate of inflation and population growth. .
Question 6: During the introduction of City Charters a few years ago there was a lot of debate about new taxation powers for the big cities. Would you support the City being given any additional taxation powers by the Province? If so, what taxation powers should the City have?
I would support the City being given additional taxation powers, however until any new taxation powers materialize from the provincial government it is pointless for me to comment on this topic.
Question 7: The City often claims that they’ve found savings in various budgets, but instead of actually cutting spending, they just put the savings into a reserve account and then spend that money on other things. If there’s money left over at the end of a financial year, do you think that money should be saved up by the City to spend in future years? Or should it be returned automatically to taxpayers the following year through some kind of rebate?
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Question 8: Everyone says they support affordable housing, but what does that term mean for you? Do you think the City should be subsidizing housing for lower-income residents? Or focused on keeping the cost of all housing from getting out of control? Or perhaps some combination of the two? If so, how?
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Question 9: The Calgary Metropolitan Region Board is currently debating their Growth Plan for the Calgary region. What do you think about the plan? Do you think we should be limiting development in certain parts of the region? If so, are you worried about how that will affect housing affordability?
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Question 10: There’s been a lot of debate about the City’s new “Guidebook for Great Communities”. What do you think about the Guidebook? What do you think should be the split between greenfield and established community growth for new housing? Should the City have a specific target? Should this be determined by market demand?
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Question 11: When the City voted to approve four projects - the Event Centre, the BMO Centre expansion, the Arts Commons transformation, and the Foothills Fieldhouse - they did so against the advice of the City’s own CFO, who said the City could only afford one of them. Do you think that was the right move? Why? If, as the City continues through the process with each of these projects, it becomes obvious that the City’s CFO was correct, and Calgarians can only afford one of these projects, which would you choose?
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Question 12: Do you support the construction of the Green Line LRT as currently envisioned by the City, would you prefer changes be made to the plan (and if so, what changes), or would you prefer to cancel the project entirely? If, as Mayor, you find out that - despite all the previous assurances - there has in fact been another cost overrun on the Green Line, what would you do?
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Question 13: What do you think is the best approach to attract businesses to Calgary? Direct incentives to specific businesses, paid for by slightly higher taxes, or lower tax rates for all businesses?
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Question 14: Should the City be in the business of operating golf courses, or should they privatize or sell them off? How about garbage collection or other services?
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Question 15: Should we defund the police? If yes, what exactly does defunding the police mean to you? If not, what should the City do to address both historical and ongoing injustices?
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Question 16: Do you support the City’s mandatory vaccination policy for City employees?
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Question 17: Council recently dropped residential speed limits to 40km/h, do you agree with that decision, and what do you think about the proposal by some to go further and drop it to 30km/h in the future?
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Question 18: For years there has been an ongoing debate about the City’s public art spending. Some say that the problem is the selection process for what art is commissioned, while others are opposed to any use of public funds for art. What do you think?
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Question 19: Serving as Mayor you are elected by and responsible to all Calgarians, but some policies and government actions inherently benefit one part of the City at the expense of another. How would you deal with a situation where you feel that the best interests of some Calgarians conflict with the best interests of Calgarians in other parts of the City?
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Question 20: While the concept of a secret ballot is essential, many of our supporters have told us that they’d like to know the political alignment of their candidates. So, if - and only if - you feel comfortable saying so, who are you voting for in your local ward race and why, and if you are affiliated with any provincial or federal political parties, which ones and why?
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