Martin: Farewell to the one and only Alderbroad

She came up with the designation herself: The Alderbroad. Politically incorrect? You betcha. But it was a badge of defiant honour to Sue Higgins, a retired Calgary alderman of 21 years who died Sunday after a long struggle against cancer.

The label spoke to her toughness and her testy intolerance of the bull-enhanced fertilizer which dominates the political machinations and bureaucracy of every city hall.

Higgins relished rubbing against the political grain in words, actions and personal behaviour.

She swore a lot, never hesitating to F-bomb something or someone off side with her views.

She was a rabid smoker who defended puffing in public places long after that fight was lost.

Even her biological clock was out of sync with normal. She worked past midnight, slept until noon and woe to the reporter who called her mid-morning because she'd hang up and call you back at 2 a.m. to announce she was just going to bed.

She was impossible to miss when arriving in the council chambers in the late 1970s, cursing the weight of heavily flagged agenda binders with a cigarette holder in one hand, her grey hair brushed in an upsweep which defied gravity and fashion while sporting only pantsuits, never skirts.

She cackled more than laughed, and her voice boomed like gravel being ground to dust. But when Higgins spoke, nervous bureaucrats braced themselves for hard questions that wouldn't be pacified by patronizing answers.

That's because she was the fiercest fiscal hawk Calgary had ever seen, driving the rest of council to distraction with her relentless pinching of every penny to make sure maximum value was being extracted.

She chaired the finance committee with a fiscal vigilance bordering on becoming vigilante. She loathed tax increases that beat inflation and figured nice-to-haves had no place in the essential-only spending by city hall. There are clearly not enough Sue Higgins in Alberta politics today.

Excerpt from:
Martin: Farewell to the one and only Alderbroad