council, Reimer attempted to advance much of her agenda in the council's Executive Committee, but was criticized for this by alderman and former ally Patricia MacKenzie, who alleged that Reimer was attempting to disempower council. Council further impeded her ability to implement her agenda by changing the rules such that the chairs standing committees were elected by standing committees rather than appointed by the mayor; Reimer considered using the mayor's ex-officio status as a member of every standing committee to show up and vote for her preferred candidate, but ultimately decided that "it was best they try to sort it out among themselves." Reimer tried to improve relations with both the Conservative provincial government, whose relations with Edmonton were strained after fifteen of the city's seventeen seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta had gone to opposition parties (NDP and Liberal) in the 1989 provincial election. She resumed the deprecated tradition of having the council meet periodically with the city's government caucus (though the caucus consisted only of Nancy Betkowski and Doug Main). She also tried to build bridges with rival Calgary, meeting early with its mayor Al Duerr and proclaiming after the meeting that competition between the cities, while inevitable, "should be healthy and based on cities' strengths instead of...running down the other city." As the city's first social democratic mayor since Ivor Dent left office in 1974, Reimer pursued a number of left wing initiatives, some of which earned her criticism. In a controversial move, she refused to wear the city's ceremonial chain of office, which was made from a beaver pelt. She instructed the city administration to develop a strategy to recruit more employees from traditionally disadvantaged groups, but stopped short of calling for hiring quotas; little change resulted. She criticized oil and gas development on lands claimed by the Lubicon Cree, for which she was criticized by an alderman (who had himself endorsed the oil and gas development) who urged her "to refrain from expressing views on matters that do not fall within [the city's] mandate." Major issues faced by Reimer during her term as mayor included waste management and the need to open a new landfill. The city administration had proposed a site calculated to minimize NIMBY-ism, but which was expensive and which would run the risk of polluting the North Saskatchewan River. Critics of the site included several communities in Saskatchewan downstream of Edmonton