Mr. McIver has served the city for eight years as alderman and has long been touted as a candidate for the mayor's chair. He acknowledges the mayor, and all of council, are elected to serve the citizens, the tourists and business.

Calgary has benefited from the recent growth but McIver feels "growth" at city hall is often used as the scapegoat for all kinds of ills, imagined or real.

"Growth must be managed so people who live here benefit from that growth." McIver also said, "Using common sense led me to occasionally say 'no', like when I said no to city hall for $200 million for development of East Village."

His motto uses the acronym CAT for Cost control, Accountability, Transparency. In so doing, he pledges to re-vamp the budget process, manage the debt load, have an independent municipal auditor, abolish hidden taxes in the water, sewer and Enmax bills, and to communicate to the public the services the city provides.

At the moment, the bureaucrats and politicians are not allowed to answer directly to the public, answers must be vetted by the PR department.

Mr. McIver answered questions on the intended route for the ring road, transparency, dealing with the Drop-In Centre.

He was direct in his answers, even though he knew a couple of answers wouldn't get him the vote of the person asking the question.

Bryden Horwood thanked Mr. McIver saying that although Rotary is an a-political organization, we are still very interested in politics. He thanked him for the last eight years in office as he served the community and wished him well in the future.

McIver was delighted with his Boltman.

reported by Lynne Thornton