MP Michelle Rempel took aim at Calgary City Council for the Green Line decision on Monday night and some are speculating that she could be gearing up for a run at the Mayor’s chair.
Rempel posted a video on Facebook outlining her concerns with the city’s approval of phase one of the plan and emphasized the project’s scope and cost.
“What city council has tabled is a line that’s not even half of the original length. It doesn’t go into any of these communities and the price tag actually increased so can you image that?” she said in the post. “What Calgary City Council wants to do is now that they've completely changed the scope, is they want to ask all Canadians, including you, for more money. So the shovels aren’t even in the ground, they’ve reduced the line by half and what’s their solution? They want more money from you.”
She also spoke more generally about what she called a "Liberal spin" in council. “There's a lot of Liberal spin coming out of Calgary City Council right now,” she said.
Remple and Mayor Naheed Nenshi had a twitter war over taxation and hosted events for unemployed Calgarians and her interest in local issues has many wondering whether she may be eyeing the top spot at City Hall.
Last week she admitted on CTV Calgary’s Noon News that she had been approached to run for mayor and would see where the summer takes her.
The federal conservatives will pick a new leader on May 27 and the spring sitting of the House of Commons doesn't let out until June, so a clear answer may still be several weeks away.
Political scientist Lori Williams says somebody with a high profile and a good record has a fairly good chance of contesting Mayor Nenshi in the next election.
Polls show his popularity has slipped and the downturn in the economy has more Calgarians looking for change.
“They're looking for someone who may be able to point the way to a brighter future and the question is do they think that someone like Michelle Rempel is the one to do that and are there enough people that are dissatisfied with the way things are right now, because we still have a pretty popular mayor. He still does have more than 50 percent support,” said Williams. “I think a lot of exploration about her chances will likely happen before she makes a decision.”
CTV News requested an interview with Rempel on Tuesday but was told that she was unavailable.
The civic election is on October 16, 2017.
(With files from Alesia Fieldberg)