Common Ground YYC - LiveWire Calgary LiveWire Calgary

Former Calgary MLA and soon-to-be-former CEO of Tourism Calgary, Cindy Ady, takes LiveWire Calgary editor and Common Ground YYC host Darren Krause on a journey that spans decades and includes insight into some of Calgary most important events over the past 20 years. 

The pair talk about the childhood influence of growing up in Hawaii, her first public service advocating for the delivery of new schools, getting elected - and breaking the news she was going to be a politician to family, two Alberta premiers, her role in shaping Alberta tourism and then the impact she had rebuilding Tourism Calgary. 

Now, she has an eye on retirement. Sort of. 

Jeromy Farkas has been one of the most polarizing figures in Calgary civic politics over the past decade. While many are critical of his actions while councillor for Calgary's  Ward 11, he held a devout following of people who subscribed to his penchant for political rhetoric. 

After losing the 2021 Calgary mayoral election, Farkas went on a personal journey - literally and figuratively - and in doing so has raised hundreds of thousands for charity. 

Still, many believe this is part of the Jeromy Farkas political long game - a rehabilitation of his image - for another eventual run at the mayor's chair. They don't buy that he's a changed man. 

LWC Editor Darren Krause sits down for a lengthy interview with Farkas to dissect the past, present and future for the former councillor, and listeners can decide if he's really changed and what lies ahead.  

For years, Esmahan Razavi has been a strong voice behind equal representation in Calgary's municipal political scene. 

Having co-founded the Ask Her movement to improve the quantity and quality of female representation on municipal councils, Razavi has sought to ensure that people from different viewpoints are represented in the halls of power. 

She's also a part of the Ward Zero YYC podcast team, sharing her perspectives on what's happening in local politics. 

Razavi is no stranger to the political scene, and it started with the influence of her family's interest in being informed and the hyper-political nature of her home country of Saudi Arabia. 

She's had experience working with federal political campaigns and Razavi also ran municipally in Calgary's Ward 6 back in 2017. 

It was her most recent stint as the campaign manager for Nagwan Al-Guneid and Diana Batten that brought her to the Common Ground YYC podcast. In two upset wins, Razavi helped deliver a strong Calgary NDP showing in the city. 

We wanted to know more about Razavi, how her worldview was shaped by events in her life, and then go behind the scenes to how she helped pull off razor-thin victories in Calgary Glenmore and Calgary Acadia. 

How does a professional basketball team come to Calgary? 

In this month's episode of Common Ground YYC, you get the inside scoop on how the Calgary Surge came to this city. 

Common Ground YYC host, and LiveWire Calgary editor Darren Krause, sat down with the principal architects of the plan to bring the team here, Usman Tahir Jutt and Jason Ribeiro. 

The one thing that sticks out is the importance of community in delivering a basketball product to Calgarians. You learn their personal motivations for why that's so important for them and the Calgary Surge. 

Enjoy the listen! 

Brad Parry, President and CEO of Calgary Economic Development, is excited about where Calgary's economy is headed. It really shows when you sit down and chat with him about it. Whether it's the energy sector, tech, film and television, or things like potential in AI and quantum computing,  you can hear how passionate he is about moving the city forward. 

It helps that he has a really cool and diverse background - he's a Montrealer who grew up in Edmonton, worked all across Canada and landed here in Calgary. He's worked in sales, marketing, TV production and more, and he's been a leader in delivering results all along the way.

That diverse experience has culminated with the role of shepherding Calgary's economy forward and bringing the long-talked-about economic diversification to reality. 

Enjoy our conversation in Episode 3 of the relaunched Common Ground YYC podcast. 

In the latest Common Ground YYC podcast, LWC editor Darren Krause sits down with Fort Calgary president, Jennifer Thompson. 

Thompson took on the role in mid-February, and she's got a renewed vision for the spot, even suggesting that the grounds around Fort Calgary could be Calgary's Central Park. 

Darren and Jennifer go on a journey; they go back in time to learn what influenced her as a youth, the adult path that led her to the City of Calgary and the tumultuous Calgary public art program, and into her vision for a renewed - and reconciliatory - Fort Calgary.