Mayor Cathy Heron: St. Albert mayor bows out of city hall – maybe
St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron recently announced she wouldn’t be seeking a third term as mayor. The decision, she said, was an easy one, but also emotional. Photo: Cathy Heron
Cathy Heron was elected to her second term as mayor of St. Albert, Alta., in 2021. Heron celebrated her election night victory by throwing out her campaign materials the very next day, knowing she wouldn’t need them again.
When she first ran for office in 2010, Heron said that municipal politics should not be a career but rather a calling. After two terms on council, and two terms as mayor, Heron knew she had to keep the promised she made to her family in 2017 when she ran for mayor the first time.
And so, Heron recently announced she wouldn’t be seeking a third term as mayor. The decision was an easy one but also emotional.
“I knew four years ago that I wasn’t running again … that it would be a two-term commitment,” Heron said. “If I didn’t have to go through the election and the campaign cycle every four years, I would do this job forever. I love it. But it is very taxing on myself and my family and the campaign team to go through that and reapply for your job every four years.”
Spirit of Collaboration
Heron is proud of that St. Albert has benefited from “a very collaborative council” for two terms. The term before she ran for mayor highlighted, she said, by excessive infighting on that council.
It was a time, Heron said, that residents were “just fed up with it and they wanted not be embarrassed of their elected officials.” Heron said that became something of a goal, to foster, “a working together attitude.”
That approach paid off. Heron points to the groundbreaking of a new business district – “honestly decades in the making” – as a major success. She also believes St. Albert has evolved from a small-town community into a modern, respected mid-sized city.
Another point of pride was her eight years on the board of Alberta Municipalities (AM), including a term as president.
“When you get elected by your peers – by other mayors and councils – to serve as the president, they scrutinize you a lot more,” Heron said. “They understand the lingo and they don’t let you get away with wishy-washy answers. So that was exciting and two years working with our province and the board of FCM as well, that was really exciting for me and I’m super proud of that.”
Offering the Voice of Experience
With some 15 years of municipal experience behind her, Heron is a good judge of what qualities are needed in a good candidate. She advises potential candidates to have prior council experience before running for mayor.
Preparation is important, Heron said, because the mayor’s job is big and the winner likely doesn’t want to spend six months learning the ropes. The goal, she said, should be for someone to jump in and continue with the previous council has been working on.
That isn’t to say new ideas aren’t welcome. But Heron is quick to add the public doesn’t want people running on a single issue, either.
Heron emphasized the importance of understanding the full scope of a municipal council’s responsibilities, from economic development and social programs to public safety. She expressed concern about candidates who campaign on just one issue, only to discover after being elected that progress requires consensus.
“You see people running on a single issue and then when they get elected, they realize that they’re just one vote on council and you need to be collaborative,” Heron said. “So yeah, the single-issue candidates are something that really frustrates me.”
State of Local Government
Heron said she believes local governments have become “a little bit more sophisticated” during her time in office.
When she was first elected in 2010, being a councillor was very much a part-time job – not just in St. Albert, but across the country. She’s seen candidates try to juggle full-time jobs and council duties, often unsuccessfully.
Municipal officials, she said, are maturing in their understanding of governance – and that has sometimes led to friction with the provincial government. For the entire time she’s been in office, Heron said municipalities have been struggling with the relationship with the provincial government. And the federal government for that matter.
But in Alberta specifically, she doesn’t see the situation improving. In fact, she believes Premier Danielle Smith’s government “really does see us as their children – a child that needs to be disciplined more than rewarded.”
It’s an attitude Heron struggles with.
“Quite honestly, that’s one of the reasons I’m not running. Probably if my husband had said you should go at one more term, I probably could have,” Heron said. “But I get too frustrated with the legislation that’s coming out that just continues to work against us in Alberta. So that’s hard. And I think there’s a lot of people in Alberta feeling that same way.”
Social Media, Civility, and Leadership
As Heron prepares to leave office, she’s reflecting on the role of social media in public life and the importance of civility in politics – especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Heron embraced social media to connect with residents. Her “Coffee with Cathy” livestreams became a signature initiative, offering informal Sunday morning chats where citizens could ask questions and get real-time answers.
But as her final term progressed, Heron began to pull back from online platforms due to the increasing negativity. Social media can be a powerful tool, Heron said, but it also has the potential to amplify hostility and misinformation. Heron attributes some of the rising incivility in politics to what she calls the “COVID hangover” – a lingering effect of the pandemic that left many people angry, divided, and distrustful.
She’s heard troubling stories from fellow Alberta mayors about protest convoys and conspiracy-fueled outbursts at council meetings. But at the same time, she feels proud that St. Albertans have stood apart from all that.
“I always tell my residents here in St. Albert how proud I am of them that they actually rose above some of that,” Heron said. “I can’t really say I’m one of those mayors that’s not running because it’s an unwelcome space to be. The negativity I was hearing about from colleagues I was not experiencing.”
Looking to the Future
The pride Heron feels for her fellow St. Albertans is possibly why she won’t entirely rule out one day running for council.
Heron said she is sure she’ll miss being in the know when it comes to what is happening in the community. She has always taken great pleasure from being able to drive around the city and know she had a hand in that playground or that crosswalk or that she played a role in a group of these trees that were planted.
At 57, Heron acknowledges that if she ran for council again, she’d be 61 by the end of the term. Heron and her husband have plans to travel and she doesn’t want to run for council only to give the role less than her full effort. While she won’t “100 per cent” rule out running again, she’s clear on one thing – her time as mayor is coming to an end.
“It would just take the pressure off. I could still know what’s going on but not be answering all the emails or being at every ribbon cutting because that’s the mayor’s job,” Heron said. “We’ll see. I’ve already been asked to run provincially for both parties. I’m going to take my time and figure it out. Right now, I’m going out on my own terms and people are only actually talking about the good things I did. So, that’s kind of nice.” MW
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Sean Meyer is digital content editor for Municipal World.
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