David Thomas Bronconnier (born October 7, 1962) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician who served as the 35th Mayor of

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest 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 Viscount Bennett High School was a combined junior and senior high school in the Richmond neighbourhood of Calgary, Alberta that operated from 1955 to 1985. The city's fourth high school, Viscount was built to accommodate the baby boomer generati ...

. Bronconnier enrolled at the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

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 government of Alexander Cameron Rutherford in 1906Wilson, Kevin G., Deregulating Telecommunications: U.S. and C ...

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 ...

. 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 September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

. 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 ...

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 The 2007 Calgary municipal election was held Monday, October 15, 2007. The citizens of Calgary elected one mayor, 12 of their 14 aldermen (one from each of 14 wards) to the city council, five of the seven Calgary School District trustees (eac ...

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 temporary nine-month term.

Mayoralty

Environmental leadership

Mounting international, domestic, and celebrity criticism of Alberta's underdeveloped green technology infrastructure prompted former Premier

Ed Stelmach Edward Michael Stelmach (; born May 11, 1951) is a Canadian politician and served as the 13th premier of Alberta, from 2006 to 2011. The grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, Stelmach was born and raised on a farm near Lamont and fluently speak ...

's government to commit 4 billion

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

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 or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically ...

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

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 Calgary city councillors Directors of Canada Infrastructure Bank 20th-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian politicians