Dave Bronconnier is a born and raised Calgarian who has been on city council since 1992. He was elected Calgary’s 35th mayor in 2001, and is presently serving his third term.
GC: What does pride mean to you?
DB: Pride is really a celebration of a group of Calgarians and Canadians who go out and demonstrate, or provide information from my perspective, to other Calgarians particularly on Calgary Pride Day. These are tax-paying Calgarians out there working away. It is about human rights and saying “We are your neighbours, your friends, taxpayers and voters.”
GC: How important has the gay tourism industry become to Calgary?
DB: From my perspective the tourism angle is one of a red herring, quite candidly. I know that came up during the campaign last year. In reality tourism delivers a tourist product, and the product we have to deliver is a great city that’s safe, clean, with lots of things to do, from rodeo events to going out to Banff just like everyone else. It is not focused around people’s sexual orientation as to where they go to visit. I think Calgary is a friendly and welcoming city and that’s the key. Visitors, wherever they happen to originate from, are well received. Calgarians like to see people who have spent the money in their town.
GC: Since you brought that up, lets touch on it briefly. That incident during the election debate and firestorm that followed it...
DB: There was no firestorm that followed it, there were a few people that decided to use it as an issue during the campaign. There was no firestorm.
GC: But it did get misconstrued…
DB: Absolutely it did. It was fired up during an election for political reasons.
GC: So can you clarify for our readers what you meant by that?
DB:I meant exactly that Calgary should be promoted as a destination, not on the basis of people’s sexual orientation, if you truly believe in human rights as I do. Calgary is a destination that is a welcoming and inviting city. We don’t go out there and say we are catering to one segment of society based upon sexual orientation, colour, race or religion; it’s not what we do. We promote a city that is safe and welcoming and we say “Calgary is a great place to vacation and for tourism.”
GC: Cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal have a gay area or street. 17th avenue SW and the Beltline have a very high gay population. What are your thoughts on having a “gay area” in Calgary?
DB: I think Calgary has great streets that are welcoming to anybody.
GC: Canada and Alberta has come a long way in the last decade. How do you feel your city has embraced the gay community in that time?
DB: Our city has embraced human rights. Not to debate your question, but I don’t follow it because I don’t really understand that message. The message of promotion of Pride is one of tolerance, understanding and of inclusiveness as a society that says regardless of sexual orientation, race or religion, you are welcome. People tend to want to push this thing only on the basis of sexual orientation. I look at that and say as the mayor of this city we are here to support people. When you pick up the phone I don’t ask you what colour you are and I don’t ask you what your sexual orientation is because that is not important to me. What is important is who you are as a person and what you contribute to this community.
GC: The mayor of Edmonton has participated in the pride parade, as well as for three years has hosted a fundraising brunch during Pride. Would you have any interest in participating in similar activities?
DB: No. We do a proclamation every year for Pride day in Calgary.
GC: There has been some controversy in past elections regarding anti-gay candidates. How will city hall in the future protect minority groups from having people who are discriminatory, whether against race, sexuality, or religion, from being a part of local government?
DB: I think there is no place in Canadian or Calgary society for that. Unfortunately people tend to use that as a political lightning rod for their own agenda instead of looking at the Human Rights aspect. I believe that all Canadians have the right to freedom of speech, to practice their own religion and to their own sexual orientation. I think that candidates that use that as a vehicle, and we have seen that in previous elections with one or two candidates that want to use it to garner publicity and support for themselves. I think that is a clear demonstration of a void of any type of intellectual thought or policy that you would like to take out to the voter. So you have to go with anything that might get you some publicity and we have certainly seen that in the past with some candidates.
GC: Anything else you would like to add?
DB: We have a great city here in Calgary, as you know, you live here. It really speaks to what Calgary is all about - an opening community that respects people’s right to their own lifestyle choices but at the same time is not afraid to say if that is your choice, it is your choice. It is not an issue with most Calgarians. Most look at it as a human rights issue and say ”you know what, the charter of human rights is there for a reason.” We want people that are contributing members to this community. And to be a contributing member nobody asks you what your religion or sexual orientation is.
GC: Thank you for taking the time to speak to us.
DB: You’re welcome. Take care.
