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“The usual deal,” she says with a laugh. “Lots of last-minute changes but we make it work.”

Gondek says she and the other members of council have “had this conversation with the mayor before and he doesn’t share our perspective but, as deputy mayor, I would certainly assume that there’s protocol somewhere that indicates that I should be at least advised.”

She’s right. Nenshi doesn’t agree that he had to tell her or anyone else that he was jetting off to deliver a speech at a conference halfway around the world during Stampede, which is such a busy time for politicians it’s been dubbed the Greatest Outdoor Politician Petting Zoo on Earth.

“I’m back from Rotterdam, where I was invited to speak on a panel at the Urban Resilience Summit,” Nenshi said in an email. “I was there for 36 hours, working remotely, with all travel and accommodation covered by the conference.”

A spokesperson for Nenshi said: “The mayor was working while at the conference, so there was no need for the Deputy to take action.”

Except there was and she did. It wasn’t do or die, of course. Let’s face it, those little kids and their parents were undoubtedly much more interested in their free pancake breakfast and the beckoning midway rides than they were in any speech Gondek was delivering. However, there might have been a lot less cortisol running through her veins on Wednesday had some consideration for her time and schedule been demonstrated by Nenshi and his office. It doesn’t seem too much to ask.

Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu tweeted in part on Wednesday: “Where’s the priority? If you were the Mayor, would you bug out during the most important time #CalgaryStampede . . .? Most of us, including Deputy Mayor, weren’t told.”