Boris Johnson - The Art of Trailblazing

OKAY, I ADMIT IT: WRITING ON BORIS JOHNSON IS A CHALLENGE. Part of it is because, as mayor of London, England, his manner is so unorthodox that it breaks all the stereotypes we believe as to how a mayor should function. And I’ll admit to something else, too: there’s not much that he says that I like. He often extols the rich, voices stereotypical pontifications on the poor, admits he pursues celebrity status, and frequently speaks the language of political division.So why profile him, then, in a blog such as this? Because more than most mayors, he has fought senior levels of government energetically regarding their consistent ignoring of municipalities and their causes. In this sense, he has become something of a “poster boy” for the local political movement and its belief that the best and most challenging things in the world are occurring at the civic level. Ironically, perhaps inevitably, he recently announced his decision to run for a senior political position at a higher level of government, believing that what he learned in his tenure in one of the great global cities has provided him the tools and skills necessary to make politics relevant again, even on an international stage.Sometimes it takes a frequently caustic character to break through all the noise of politics and get people to understand that what presently passes as political practice just isn’t cutting it anymore. Johnson recognizes his role in the political firmament as something of a cross between court jester, gregarious personality, shrewd public official, and keen observer of all things political and bureaucratic. He is a big, hairy, audacious individual with goals to match, who just happens to be a mayor willing to challenge conventional wisdom if that’s what it takes to get things done for citizens and communities.He is blazing a trail that will soon see other mayors strive for “high politics,” as in challenging senior levels of politics by building bridges and associations among cities directly under the noses of prime ministers and presidents. He is determined to steer cities towards thinking globally and acquiring political clout in the process. And to do that, sometimes you need to attract attention – a trait Boris Johnson is simply the best at. And he got there by accomplishing a very diverse list of successes:

• Launched a mayor’s fund to tackle child poverty
• Modernized the city’s fire brigade
• Re-introduced Christmas in public places
• De-centralized power to neighbourhoods around the city
• Paid his own way to New York to boost tourism
• Championed the use of electric cars
• Provided funding for world-class cultural centres
• Collecting the city’s food waste and turning it into eco-fuel
• Invested 60 million pounds for the conversion of empty homes into affordable housing units

This list goes on forever and some of his initiatives have created furor. Yet one gets the impression that he uses all the tactics to make one clear and cogent point: cities now count in the political firmament, and as a mayor he is storming the castles of senior political enclaves which have appeared increasingly remote in recent years.Johnson knows well enough that to be effective at what he’s doing he must support an initiative to bring all cities together, not to just fight for attention, but to gain recognition for the struggles faced by average citizens attempting to live in community. He supports and leads efforts to grow a global “Parliament of Mayors,” and is fighting to unite Britain’s municipalities to help politics succeed at the ground level, where citizens actually have to work out their lives.Places like southwestern Ontario house communities that share a lot more in common than they have differences, and whose challenges are similar – transportation, affordable housing, meaningful employment, access to nutritious food, the importance of the Great Lakes, to name a few. Interconnected cities are now a natural consequence of a globalized world and the top-down kind of politics will never again be as dominant. In its place is emerging a networking of citizens that often have similar pursuits, needs, and guiding principles.As municipal election time nears, it would be profitable for all candidates to elevate our connection with area cities as easily as they speak about provincial or federal governments. Boris Johnson frequently utilizes outlandish methods to move politics itself along different paths. For Ontario mayors the path is easier, since venues like the Association of Municipalities of Ontario provides them opportunity to get to know one another. The secret now is to use that political familiarity to build on the power of mayors to fight for their constituents.