Charlie Clark's 1st year as mayor marked by 'slow shift'

On Saturday, I went to the grand opening of the year-late Remai Modern art gallery and thought about Mayor Charlie Clark's inaugural year in office.

Given the gallery's contentious conception, construction and opening have been talking points for almost a decade in municipal politics, I thought it fitting. Shortly over a year ago, during the 2016 election campaign, then-mayor Don Atchison must have envisioned himself cutting the opening ribbon.

A lot can happen in 12 months.

It was Clark who earnestly greeted the crowd and welcomed the city into its newest public space, almost a year after a bitterly-fought and surprisingly nasty election campaign.

It's been a paradoxical year. Much has happened city-wide and yet we haven't had time to look for it or read about it, our attention dragged here and there by the vagaries of American politics and worldwide events. The doom and gloom predicted by Clark's detractors has failed to surface, bike lanes remain distressingly absent from major thoroughfares, and not one street has been named after Zach Galifianakis.

Neither have the major reforms that so excited his leftish wing supporters materialized either. It's business as usual, but with a slow shift that's not apparent to the casual observer.

Clark appears to be taking reconciliation with Indigenous peoples seriously: one of his first actions was to restructure the naming committee to better reflect the origins of the people who were here before Saskatoon was.

This is a marked change from the previous process favoured by Atchison, where names were chosen by him and the committee in private from a master list. It's seemingly small symbolic items like this that Clark is busy changing behind the scenes.

Clark also has an opportunity to further adjust the city's course with a new city manager and police chief next year — both big hires that go a long way towards setting the tone and goals of the municipal bureaucracy.

I would have liked to see more big wins but Clark isn't a big wins guy. He's a Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi-level policy wonk without the bombast. He's as deliberate and progressive as Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson without the flair.

The worst one can say of him is that he's wishy-washy, changing his position on items over the years, and that he rides a bike. Given the current whack-a-mole discourse in the provincial leadership races — where everything's made up and the points don't matter — this low-profile approach may pay off in the long term.

Certainly the new council had a rude crash course in dealing with provincial politics back in March, when the provincial budget handed a surprise deficit to the city by pulling back grants-in-lieu, requiring an emergency meeting and an approximately one per cent increase to the property tax rate.

The year ahead might be the opportunity for Clark to come into the spotlight, or under fire, depending on circumstances.

The landfill is nearing the end of its lifespan, meaning tough discussions about waste diversion, garbage fees, commercial recycling, and citywide composting. Infrastructure built during expansionary periods in Saskatoon's history is now nearing the end of its lifespan, necessitating costly repair or replacement.

Climate change resulting in more intense flood events interspersed with periods of drought will be a challenge. To say nothing of the city's serious and widespread social and health issues such as injection drug use, HIV rates, and people experiencing homelessness.

These are not glamorous opportunities to cut ribbons and make speeches, but I suspect that will be perfectly fine with Clark.