It is not without sarcasm I have to say, I am overwhelmed by the opportunities I am being given by news outlets. CBC TV graciously offered me the opportunity for me to give them a one minute statement. I was video recorded live in one minute with one take. Not only that The Edmonton Journal offered me the opportune to submit a 650 word op-ed.

Being serious about communicating with all eligible voters I have taken both opportunities. The Journal op-ed was published today and so since my work has not been paid for (I am not complaining about that) I feel I should be free to publish my own writing. I do though have to thank and credit the Edmonton Journal with inspiring to respond by submitting this —

I like to have fun and joke around but I am serious. I want to be Edmonton’s first Rock and Roll Mayor. We have had many Business Mayors and again in this 2021 race we have several candidates coming from the business community to work in politics. They like to say we should run government like a business. I disagree. I think we should run government like a Rock and Roll Band. “Taking care of Business” is very important but what is most important is that everyone is happy and having a good time.

Look at the evidence. Everyone is not having a good time. We are caught up in a way of life that embraces an economy that is mean and cruel. The cruel economy is based on cheap labour and low taxes.

I want to put and end to the notion that Edmonton should have a competitive tax regime. I want to work to have cooperation between the City and surrounding regions so we end the tax rate competition that is a race to the bottom. I want to work to steadily raise taxes back up to the levels we enjoyed 40 years ago. The trickle down theory of cutting taxes has only severely widened the wealth gap and resulted in cutting the capacity of society to cope with unforeseen challenges like the pandemic and the climate emergency.

Investing now in high quality social services for all and especially the children, will save us having to support people that could have supported themselves through mid-life but can’t because they were denied opportunity when they were young and hampered by living in poverty.

Let’s embrace reality. Not all regulations are red tape. We live in a world that runs on partial socialism. Free enterprise is the bad business person’s fairy tale used to justify exploiting people and the environment for profit instead of profiting from an innovative business plan. The fairness of tax law and how we choose to budget revenue are separate issues.

Of all the candidates I am the oldest but the youngest at heart. I am a fixer; a solutions expert. I pay attention and observe, to build understandings that help me choose the best path both for the moment and the long run.

I am so fortunate that the love from my family and many circles of friends over the past 71 years has given me the opportunity to take time to think deeply and to use common sense as I choose a path through life. I understand that loving yourself and your closest family, so that basic needs are met with the least effort, is essential for our survival.

After myself and my family, I have to first pledge my allegiance to mother earth, all her children of now, and to those who are to be in the future. Next I pledge allegiance to our human family of many nations and then our own nation, province and city. Let us not forget the Mayors job is a servant’s job. A job to serve all the people.

In this spirit I am running for mayor to demonstrate the joy of using both common sense and deep thinking to guide our performance.

We know laziness is a double edged sword. It is what drives innovation but when it limits the will to think deeply we become blind to the insights that can truly make life a breeze.

Please check out our platform. www.briangregg.com

We want to get big money out of our politics, make housing affordable, make transit and WiFi free, have higher pay, shorter hours, and at the same time build local industries to provide the products and services needed locally.

I want to lead council in transitioning to a caring economy with love and respect for everyone and our planet.

Business is for big boys and girls and two spirited people. Professional Successful Business People take care of themselves and often many others. They do not need to be babied with low taxes and the opportunity to exploit cheap labour. We should run our City Like a Rock and Roll Band. A band is a team. Together we can do this. In a Rock and Roll Band “Taking Care of Business” is very important but what is most important is that everyone is having a good time.

Let’s Build a caring economy with love and respect for everyone and our planet.

Vote Breezy For Mayor of Edmonton.

• oldest candidate but youngest at heart
• definitely different
• arguably the best candidate

There are two models I know of for financing the provision of social services. One is to leave the responsibility of providing services up to private charities. The other is to provide public services.

When our governments fail to provide services, the burden of financing them is placed all on the shoulders of compassionate people and people who are not compassionate get a free ride enjoying the prosperity of a healthy society. That does not seem right or smart to me.

On the other hand when social services are public services, assuming the tax laws are mostly fair, both compassionate and non-compassionate people share the burden.

It is a fact there are homeless people on the streets and thousands living in poverty. Can we not wake up to the fact that the charity model is not doing the job because the compassionate people do not have the financial capacity to fund services to a reasonable level?

Public money invested in public social services reaps a huge savings 20 years in the future. More than just making long term economic sense it will bring us the pleasure of living in a loving society.

Technically I guess there is one more model; the public private partnership. Probably the worst model, publicly funded but not publicly regulated.

Should we ask the Province of Alberta to add indigenous art to its Emblem?

Truth and Reconciliation Day

Today I have mixed feelings. A day with special events is good as a reminder. With love and respect for everyone and our planet, we need action, not just a holiday and symbolism and pretty flags.

We need action backed up by big dollars from the Provincial and Federal Governments so that here in Amiskwacîwâskahikan (Beaver Hills House) / The City of Edmonton we can build up public support services for Indigenous people in our city and all others to who are struggling in poverty.

We need to build at least three Big Beautiful Urban Reserve Facilities in our City; one at Northlands, one a Blatchford, and one somewhere on the South Side. At least one needs to have a Pow Wow Arena.

Breezy September 30, 2021

We live on treaty 6 Territory
Home of Blackfoot, Metis, Dene, and Nakota Sioux
Home of Nêhiyawak (Cree), and Anishinaabe (Saulteaux),
We understand that the Indigenous People were here before others.
We value Indigenous beliefs about relationships between people and Mother Earth.
In this spirit we promise to listen to stories, learn about the past and make the world a better place for everyone.
Hai Hai

Garneau School Grade 3 Class Treaty Pledge

Voter turnout in our last civic election was 32%. Breezy hopes to get a good percentage of those 32% to vote Breezy For Mayor. Most of all though he wants to get the 68% who did not vote to come out on October 18th and vote Breezy For Mayor. In the short video below Breezy talks about how we can get 99% turnout at the polls.

Especially for young people and for poor people it is not easy to see that there is any point in voting. There is though. Getting engaged to find out who to vote for and then voting brings:

• more fun in your life
• more money in your pocket in the future
• more fairness in your world

Climate Emergency Response — Breezy For Mayor of Edmonton — Newsletter July 17, 2021

Dear Friends, Volunteers, and Supporters

So many thanks to so many who support this Quest. Thanks for taking the time to read our newsletters and for talking with others about Edmonton’s politics.

I would love if you would email us maybe four email address of folks you feel would appreciate receiving this mid-month newsletter. bzgregg@telusplanet.net

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The Free Street Show for Our Official Launch of the Quest to elect Breezy as Mayor of Edmonton on July 1st was a lot of fun!

Thank you, about 100 people who showed up on the hottest day yet. Special thanks to Patsy Amico and MJ Smallman who served up 64 smokies, hot dogs and veggie dogs. Special thanks to 8 year old Nevaeh Smalridge who gave a most awesome land acknowledgement and opened the Free Street Show.

You can hear that most awesome land acknowledgement at this link —
Breezy For Mayor of Edmonton Tour Dates —

To book Breezy to do a Free Street Show in front of your home or business please call or text Patsy 780-999-7233

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I am proud and excited to be running to be your Mayor and proud and excited to be doing things differently.

How do you like getting pitched by a politician that is not asking you to donate money?
Do you like that I refuse to add to the waste and excessive burning by refusing to have plastic lawn signs and refusing to clog up your mail box with paper brochures?
Do you like that in our emergency situation I am breaking any unwritten rules that fail to help us to respond quickly and thoughtfully?
Do you like that we have a mean economy? This economy is built on cheep labour and low taxes.
Do you like that I am speaking up about Building a Caring Economy with love and respect for everyone and our planet?

Climate Emergency Response

Issue de jour aside we face a climate emergency.

Time keeps passing on and we continue to burn more than ever before. The current emergency response is neither quick nor thoughtful. Burning more than we have to is both unkind and disrespectful to others and the planet. Humans adapt. With focus we can have more fun while burning less.

Emergencies demand an emergency response that is both quick and thoughtful. The idea that we should work hard to elect the right kind of representatives who will sometime in the future pass laws that will make people act kindly and respectfully is a long time proposition. That long time leaves so much opportunity for opponents to use ingenuity to find loop holes and side step around the regulations. Let’s of course continue to try and elect better government. We need to work though on every angle.

• personally cut back on burning
• elect governments that will bring in regulations and new systems to limit burning
• publicly fund content access services (public libraries) to displace the commercial services that persistently encourage us to buy more than we need

Surely we can cut back on burning by changing the message (buy more) that is constantly and persistently being pushed into our information streams that we access through commercial media. That opportunity to amplify the buy more/burn more message can only exist in a public funding vacuum.

Join this talk. Ask your questions and share your views Monday evening — July 19, 7:00 PM — Edmonton Climate Hub: Online Event Click to Register
Brian (Breezy) Gregg – Edmonton Climate Solutions
Breezy Presents his views on an Appropriate Emergency Response to the Climate Emergency

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Is the power of money in politics anti-democratic? Breezy says yes.

When you’re going up against powerful candidates that are very entrenched in the practice of soliciting for funding to buy advertising, and you’re saying something they don’t want said (“that that practice is anti-democratic”), it can feel as though you’re being gaslit. Thank you very much I don’t think I am crazy.

Most Canadian political candidates accept that it is acceptable to solicit for and raise funding to be spent on forcing their election pitches on voters through an array of channels. As well we have to assume those volunteering to donate to political candidates campaigns consider their action right and justifiable.

This is not going to change in the near future so for now, when I explain in our Quest to elect Breezy For Mayor of Edmonton, it is our policy to not accept monetary donations, we recommend this —

• If you want to help with money, think about donating to the Alberta NDP and the Federal NDP. They presently are betting on sticking to the war with money battle as the way to win their campaigns. Although not perfect, at this time the NDP is my recommendation for smarter, fairer and kinder government.
• Alternately, maybe save your money so you can afford to go on strike, or so you can afford to take a break from employment that will give you time to volunteer and ponder.

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We aim to arouse the voters so that they become engaged with the issues that concern us all.

We aim to encourage people to exercise their own self control to behave in kind and respectful ways.

When you see other candidates’ lawn signs, Think Breezy For Mayor.

When you get other candidates’ brochures in your mail, Think Breezy For Mayor.

When you are watching the weather report on TV and up behind the weather person it says “Breezy”, Think Breezy For Mayor.

When you see a City Bus imagine that the bus route sign above the front windows says, Breezy For Mayor.

When its too hot or there is too much smoke in the air … Think Breezy For Mayor.

Peace and Love
Brian (Breezy) Gregg
(780) 429-3624

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Think Breezy For Mayor
Let’s get big money out of Amiskwacîwâskahikan politics
Elect Brian (Breezy) Gregg as Mayor of The City of Edmonton on October 18, 2021
Zero requests for money — Zero monetary donations accepted
JOIN TEAM BREEZY — Your help is appreciated.
Please contact us to volunteer.

May 15, 2021

I have been reaching out to everyone I know and talking with about 30 people a day. A few interested strangers, several printers, billboard firms, media advertising departments and disturbingly some seemingly very weird people have been reaching out to me. So far the upsetting things are far outweighed by the great insights people are giving me. There really is something to learn from everyone.

A lot of people sense there is something wrong with the way big money is being used to influence the way people vote. I really don’t like calling this quest a campaign. We are not fighting. We are speaking up. Just because everyone else, it seems, treats elections like a war does not mean that that is right.

Our top goal is to demonstrate we do not need big money to win. The way big money influences elections has always been disgusting but now it is out of hand. There is not time to wait for some future government to bring in more tighter restrictions to try and make things fair. We can use our own self control to limit the anti-democratic power of money in our elections.

It’s not nice to disappoint people by turning down an offer of a gift but at the same time it is delightful fun to explain there is a super good reason for refusing to accept monetary donations intended to support my candidacy. That’s what happened twice yesterday. Two millionaires I happen to know, saw it mentioned on Global News that I am running for Mayor and phoned to offer donations. Thank you Global News.

I am looking forward to when Global reports on the important difference between our Quest and the other Campaigns. In some war campaigns they take no prisoners . In our quest we take no monetary donations.

Although it is only one part of my diverse work experience, most of you know I have spent thousands and thousands of hours busking on the street. I have seen and talked to a lot of different Edmontonians. On the street I talk to every kind of person including pan handlers. Buskers are different from pan handlers in that we never ask for money other than we have our guitar case open. Pan Handlers ask. They give you a story and ask.

Now not to try and belittle other candidates running for office, but they are very much like panhandlers. They give you a story and ask you for a donation. Sort of hard to imagine that when they are elected that they would not be governing to please those who funded them. And not hard to imagine that the concerns of those who cannot afford to donate become less important.

I want to feel equally responsible to govern for each and everyone.

All I am asking is for you to vote for me and to please tell your friends to check out our platform and notice how it differs from the stories being sold by the other candidates.

So once again lets make a point of talking about this with our friends and encourage them to talk to their friends.

To that end we are taking a survey to track where the message is spreading. Many of you have already taken this survey but if you want, take it again a few times in the next months please.

Survey Re: Breezy For Mayor
Only 4 questions, to respond, please click — 
Survey Re: Breezy For Mayor

Let’s look at this as a big part of an emergency response to not only a pandemic but to an even more dire emergency the climate emergency.

Big money in politics stands in the way of making an appropriate emergency response. The response is simple and boils down to just two words — burn less. Big money through its advertising funded media keeps giving us a message that boils down to just two words — Buy More. Buy more means more burning. What could possible go wrong? We are constantly being pushed to buy more and therefore burn more.

Thank you again everyone. Next month lets talk about a voter incentive program again. What if every voter was handed $1,000 cash when they cast their ballot? In Australia they fine you if you don’t vote. Maybe $1,000 is too much. Some people say $5. A California study showed that a $50 incentive boosted turnout at the poles and a $100 incentive boosted it even more. Not only that the study showed that when people knew ahead of time that they were going to vote because there was a cash incentive, they took time to become engaged and familiarize themselves with the candidates they might choose to vote for. We can understand paying out CERB as a good social investment during a pandemic. It will be a good social investment to pay BUCKS FOR BALLOTS. Why shouldn’t we pay voters for doing the thing that is so fundamentally important for democracy.