Alfred Herman Duerr (born January 29, 1951) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 34th 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 ...

from 1989 to 2001, and a city alderman from 1983 to 1989.

Early life and education

Duerr was born January 29, 1951, in

Humboldt, Saskatchewan Humboldt is a city in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located 113 km east of Saskatoon at the junction of Saskatchewan Highway 5, Highway 5 and Saskatchewan Highway 20, Highway 20. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipali ...

, the fourth of six children. He attended Humboldt Collegiate. Duerr graduated from the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

with a degree in regional and urban development in 1973. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from 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 ...

Political career

Duerr was first elected as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

for Ward 9 on

Calgary City Council The Calgary City Council is the legislative governing body that represents the citizens of Calgary. The council consists of 15 members: the chief elected official, titled the mayor, and 14 councillors. Jyoti Gondek was elected mayor in October 202 ...

in 1983 and was re-elected in 1986. Incumbent Mayor

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 2 ...

resigned in the months before the 1989 municipal election to pursue provincial office and Duerr contested and won the mayor's seat in the 1989 election. Duerr would go on to be re-elected as mayor three more times in 1992, 1995, and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

before deciding not to contest the 2001 election, which was won by former Alderman Dave Bronconnier. Duerr's time as mayor coincided with significant spending cuts by the federal government and austerity policies by Ralph Klein's provincial government. Provincial austerity would result in a significant reduction in grant funding for municipalities which in turn resulted in lower capital spending and public construction projects in Calgary. In 1991, Duerr would proclaim gay pride week in Calgary; however, he would deny future proclamations due to public pressure. During his four terms, Duerr was considered one of the most popular mayors in the city's history. His conciliatory, managerial style and likeable personality made him well respected. Duerr was given the nickname of "Mr. Beige" by local media columnists, and in the 1998 election would be challenged by local political columnist Rick Bell, although Bell's candidacy was not a serious attempt to contest the mayor's office. In 1997 while serving as mayor, Duerr played the character of Mayor Wilkins in an episode of the television show

Viper Vipers are snakes in the family Viperidae, found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, New Zealand, Ireland, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipe ...

Later life

He is the Chief Executive Officer of Emergo Projects International, and serves on the board of directors for two other companies in Calgary. He is a member of the Community and Partners Advisory Committee of the

Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta The Libin Cardiovascular Institute is an entity of Alberta Health Services and the University of Calgary. It connects all cardiovascular research, education and patient care in Southern Alberta, serving a population of about two million. Its mor ...

. In 2014, Duerr was appointed Chair of the independent Calgary Ward Boundary Commission to examine the boundaries of Calgary City Council wards in time for the 2017 Calgary municipal election. The Commission recommended against increasing the number of councillors for the City and instead recommended creating satellite offices for larger constituencies and increasing the budget of the councillor's office.

Personal life

Duerr is married to Kit Chan and has two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duerr, Al Mayors of Calgary Canadian people of German descent People from Humboldt, Saskatchewan Living people 1951 births 20th-century mayors of places in Alberta 21st-century mayors of places in Alberta