Mayoral candidate Emile Gabriel on the challenges facing Calgary

Editor's Note:As part of our coverage for the Oct. 16 civic election, CBC Calgary has offered each candidate for the office of mayor the opportunity to write up to 700 words on our website, outlining what they believe to be the greatest challenges facing our city, and what they would do about those challenges if elected. These articles are run as submitted edited only to meet CBC Journalistic Standards and Practices. This article is part of that series. The CBC's primary goal through our election coverage is to provide citizens with the information they need to make an informed decision on polling day.

I am a civil engineer, holding also a PhD in Management from the University of Calgary. My main focus in my applied research was on "The Human Factor Imperative Effect on Projects' Success."

Calgary has been my home for more than thirty-two years. Born in Giza, Egypt, I was raised by a single mother. I came to Canada escaping hate and persecution; seeking a better life in a place of peace and harmony. As a responsible Canadian, I have been active in the fight against excessive taxation and poor management by elected officials.

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The first question we all ought to ask should be about the candidate motivation.

There are higher expectations of someone who is elected vs. a hired city employee.

My history of continuous service and contribution to society during the span of more than twenty years

Within the family:

I helped my mother to raise six children, living on a limited income after my father passed away at a young age. I spent the last three years of my mother's life assisting her every day at the Rockyview hospital after having a devastating stroke. Later, she was diagnosed with leukemia which ended her life.

Within society:

• Fighting excessive taxation and poor management.
• Contributing to the S.A.S. of Calgary.
• Volunteer work to save taxpayer money.
• Volunteer work regarding costly floods and droughts in our province.
• Helping and hiring summer students.
• To the best of my ability, I help, contributeand donateto families and individuals in need as I have, myself, received help from others.

Occupation

President and CEO of T 2000 M.C.G. Inc. (Management Consulting)

As your new mayor, my skilled leadership and successful management of our council meetings would positively affect the decisions made by the city councillors. I have also more than twenty years of knowledge and experience with small business, urban planning and infrastructure.

Entrepreneurship (Understanding business challenges)

I have worked with different firms, in and outside Canada. Throughout the 1990's, as an entrepreneur, I had successfully started and built up several different businesses such as, (paving, marketing and advertising, as well as establishing a food and beverage business).

My top idea and policy for developing jobs, business, and the economy

Economic growth: By applying my transferable skills, we will move towards smart spending, tax reform, tax incentives and simplifying processes at city hall. Along with reforming taxes, the city's regulations, policies, by-laws, quality and style of service will be modernized in order to attract new business, new capital and launch a serious economic growth.

Genuine public involvement, true direct democracy and true representation

I plan to provide more opportunities for greater community engagement and public consultations to make the city spending more efficient and budgets prudent.

City hall could be more open and welcoming to new innovative ideas or business models

More role to be given to community associations and groups allowing good ideas to be screened, then flow from the community level or groups to the councillors, to the experts, then, to the highest decision-making level. Regulatory barriers should be reduced and regulatory timelines shortened to allow businesses to generate jobs faster. The process of making critical decisions at council will be transparent, efficient, effective and productive.

City government could be more efficient

Considering the rate of inflation, population growth, our city unique economic landscape being oil dependent and the lack of diverse economy, I will be applying modern management methods and tools to overhaul a broken decision-making process at city council and simplify regulations and policies. Cutting waste, unwise spending and postponing non-urgent and ill-conceived projects in order to be able to save money and freeze taxes for a period of time without cutting services.

• The hopefuls: Calgary's declared 2017 mayoral candidates
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Before voting, you need to know

There is a deliberate propaganda by some weak elements and interest groups declaring Mr. Nenshi, Smith and Chabot as the front-runners. There has been no single poll showing them as front-runners. A survey conducted by a researcher in political science at University of Calgary has consistently shown Dr. Emile Gabriel as the front runner. I have the required qualifications to run our city successfully.