So long, Tooker
Former Edmonton alderman and professional eco-activist Tooker Gomberg has committed suicide. This guy did a lot of positive things while he was on council, and it's a shame that he's often remembered for suggesting that we flood the streets in winter so people can skate to work. Or for refusing to wear a tie in council chambers.
In that way, Tooker was often his own worst enemy. His affection for protest and his seeming inability to take a moderate stance on the issues he cared about sunk his career as an alderman. And then he squandered his political capital with two hopeless mayoral bids (one in Edmonton, one in Toronto). Around Edmonton his name became synonymous with a kind of comically radical environmentalism.
But still, Edmonton is moderately progressive among Canadian cities when it comes to recycling, composting and waste management, and that's partly due to Tooker's influence. And hopefully the path he cut will allow more moderate, business-friendly greens to be elected.
On a personal level, I was saddened that Tooker's death was the outcome of a long battle with depression. The unfortunate truth about depression is that it kills you even if it doesn't kill you. Andrew Solomon wrote "When you are depressed, the past and the future are absorbed entirely by the present... You can neither remember feeling better nor imagine that you will feel better." I'm sure that depression had taken Tooker's life well before he wandered onto the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge in Halifax. With the right combination of meds, therapy, ECT or whatever, things might have been different.
