David Thomas Bronconnier (born October 7, 1962) is a Canadian politician who served as the 35th Mayor of

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Personal life

A fourth-generation Calgarian (his great grandmother was born in Calgary in 1895), he grew up in the southwest community of Glenbrook and attended Viscount Bennett High School. Bronconnier enrolled at the

University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...

but left after a short while to pursue work opportunities. He worked for the City of Calgary Electric System and for

Alberta Government Telephones Alberta Government Telephones (AGT) was the telephone provider in most of Alberta from 1906 to 1991. AGT was formed by the Liberal Party of Alberta, Liberal government of Alexander Cameron Rutherford in 1906Wilson, Kevin G., Deregulating Teleco ...

and then in 1983, started a small construction company. In 1987, Bronconnier and his business partner founded First General Services, a company which specializes in various types of insurance restoration in buildings. The firm has grown substantially since then. Dave is married to Cindy Bronconnier, with whom he has four children; Adam, Weston, Leslie and Grant.

Political career

Bronconnier served on Calgary's city council as the alderman for Ward 6 for nine years. He was first elected in 1992 and then served 3 terms before deciding to run for mayor. In 1997, Bronconnier ran in the federal election as the Liberal candidate for

Calgary West Calgary West was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1917 to 1953, and from 1979 to 2015. It was in the western part of the City of Calgary. The electoral district was or ...

. Bronconnier was defeated by a landslide in this election by Reform Party candidate Rob Anders. Long serving and very popular mayor Al Duerr was retiring leaving the position open. Bronconnier narrowly defeated Bev Longstaff, Duerr's protégé, winning the mayoralty race of

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. He became Calgary's 35th mayor. Bronconnier was re-elected in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

with nearly 80% of the votes. Only 18% of the population voted, making it the lowest voter turnout for a municipal election in Western Canada. He campaigned for re-election in the 2007 Calgary municipal election and was re-elected with 61% of the votes. On February 23, 2010, Bronconnier announced that he would not seek reelection in the 2010 municipal election. He was among the finalists for the 2010 World Mayor prize. In November 2011, Bronconnier was named by Premier Alison Redford to be Alberta's trade commissioner in Washington, D.C. for a nine-month term.

Mayoralty

Environmental leadership

Mounting international, domestic, and celebrity criticism of Alberta's underdeveloped green technology infrastructure prompted former Premier Ed Stelmach's government to commit 4 billion CAD to a province-wide green capital projects plan in 2009. In 2009 Bronconnier and Pembina Institute was awarded at the "UN Climate Change Summit" with the 'Reaching Out to Global Energy Award' for the technical and engineering collaboration with Calgary's 'Greening the Grid program'. city consulted with Pembina for technical advice. Pembina scholars compiled the ''Options for Reducing GHG Emissions in Calgary'' to advise the city on how to implement infrastructure projects for environmental protection. The city acted on these recommendations through city-owned company Enmax decided on a series of public works facilities such as the 'Shepard Energy Center', and a 12-turbine wind farm that supplies wind power for Calgary Transit's C-trains, and the District Energy Centre, a heat capture energy plant providing heat and energy for the downtown core. The city publication of the 'Greening the Grid' was entitled 'Calgary Climate Change Action Plan: Target (down arrow) 50' (Target Minus 50) The 'Greening the Grid' program's objectives are to empower city facilities by renewable sources by 2012. Calgary Transit's C-trains' electrical needs were partially provided by

wind power Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ge ...

in 2001, by 2009 the inception year of 'Greening the Grid', the C-train were fully empowered by 'Ride the Wind' a program launched by Enmax and wind power engineers 'Vision Quest Windlectric. committed 250 million CAD on the 'Greening the grid' program.

Key events of mayoralty

References

External links

City Mayors' profile of Dave Bronconnier
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bronconnier, David Mayors of Calgary 1962 births Living people Candidates in the 1997 Canadian federal election Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Directors of Canada Infrastructure Bank 20th-century Canadian municipal councillors 21st-century mayors of places in Alberta Alberta candidates for Member of Parliament