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On Tuesday, October 8, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek made an appearance at Mount Royal University for a forum on sustainable development. With 'net zero' being a hot subject, I decided to attend this event and listen to their information, plans, and ideas.

Apart from Mayor Gondek, the forum saw speakers such as Daniele Gorla, Vice President of Procurement and Supply Chain from WestJet, Linda McWeeney from the Technological University of Dublin, and Kaitlin Chantler from the City of Calgary to name a few.

After the mayor delivered opening remarks and participated in a short discussion, the forum was opened up for some questions. I'm not sure if there had been any discussion about Syd Fizzard's and my presence, but when the MC asked if anyone in the audience had questions, I immediately raised my hand.

Despite being right in front of her, the MC seemed to ignore me and kept scanning the room for raised hands until someone else in the crowd pointed out that mine was up. At this point, she had no choice but to hand the mic to me. Let me tell you, the look on her face and her hesitation was priceless. I posed the question, “How do you make sure sustainable development efforts don't hinder economic growth or reduce job opportunities, particularly in sectors like manufacturing and energy production?” No problem, the mayor gave me a response.

Syd and I each asked a question during the event, but I had a couple more important questions for the mayor. Outside the event room, I approached her to get some more answers. She mentioned she was in a hurry to a city council meeting and therefore I suggested we walk and talk to save time, but she began to run down the stairs. After I asked one of my questions, she briefly stopped to respond. The question wasn't answered to its specifics and the other was ignored.