I was saddened by the news of the death of former mayor Marty Boostma on Friday evening.
I’ve known a few mayors in my time with the Observer: Mayor Ian Wickett, Mayor Colin Mayes, Mayor Nancy Cooper – and Mayor Marty.
To me, he will always be just that. Mayor Marty, no last name required.
Sure, there’s the alliteration, which just makes it sound good – but referring to him as Mayor Marty means a bit more than that. It says volumes about the man behind the office. It’s about someone who was friendly and personable, who was, as they say, a man of the people.
In fact, I’d often still refer to him around the office as Mayor Marty, even when he was no longer the mayor. It just kind of stuck.
He was someone who you felt comfortable with on a first-name basis because, despite his elected office, he was more about being Marty than he was about being mayor. And so, I’m also going to break with newspaper convention and refer to him by first name in this column.
Related link: Former mayor Marty Bootsma dies
Reporters and politicians sometimes have a difficult relationship; there’s the fact that it’s our job to ask the hard questions. This can sometimes make for discomfort or disagreement. It was never that way with Marty. He never minded you asking the hard stuff and never took it personally. He knew you were doing your job and he was doing his.
Increasingly politicians of all stripes have carefully crafted public personas. They speak in talking points and much of their personality seems to have been scrubbed away for fear of saying or doing the wrong thing.
Marty was not this way. He was not a persona. He was a person. He had personality.
Indeed, he’d be the first person to admit he was far from perfect. He could be a bit brash, and sometimes a little rough around the edges. But he had a dry wit, a ready grin and sure knew how to tell a joke. In moments of tension or seriousness in council chambers, one could always count on Marty to see some humour and have a quip to lighten the mood. He was someone you’d see at the curling rink having a beer with his buddies or hanging out at the coffee shop shooting the breeze with anyone who felt like talking. He never shied away from talking to his constituents.
I also always admired his calm manner when dealing with impassioned members of the public. Marty had the duty of managing the SmartCentres public hearings, one of the most controversial issues ever to grace the council chambers in recent history. Feelings for and against the big-box shopping development ran very high, and there were many times discussion could have devolved into insults and pettiness. Mayor Marty kept things on track and even-keeled, sometimes throwing out a dose of his deep, authoritative voice to get people to stay in line.
In going back through the Observer archives about Marty, I found this quote from when he had decided to make another bid for mayor in 2014.
“I liked being mayor and I think I was good at it,” Bootsma told the Observer. “I like being involved and I’d rather get in there and do things than be on the outside.”
His words aptly summed up his public life.
And so, farewell Mayor Marty.
