Decision 2010: Calgary Municipal Election

[Radley77]

With three days left to the election, I wanted to wish everyone good luck with their chosen candidates!

Thanks to all who participated in the debate in this thread.

[Calgary_Guy]

This important email came to me a few minutes ago that I thought I would share with everyone interested in hearing Naheed and what he stands for before you vote on Monday. Please get out and vote, every vote counts.

TV SPECIAL WITH NAHEED NENSHI ON CITYTV
Saturday, October 16, 2010
4:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Channel 8 – Shaw & Telus TV
Channel 246 – Express Vu
Channel 328 Star Choice / Shaw Direct

[Ferreth]

I got a very slick robo-call message on my answering machine from Jason Kenney (Fed PC, S.E.) asking me to support the "Common sense candidate, Ric McIver" based his record on fighting wasteful spending.

[O-tacular]

Anyone have any recommendations for which alderman to vote for in Ward 6? I honestly know nothing about the new candidates replacing Burrows. Innersoul or anyone else in my end of town?

[Aegis]

Originally Posted by Ferreth

I got a very slick robo-call message on my answering machine from Jason Kenney (Fed PC, S.E.) asking me to support the "Common sense candidate, Ric McIver" based his record on fighting wasteful spending.

You should pass on that information to the media. It's unusual for federal politicians to try and interfere with a municipal election..

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by Aegis

You should pass on that information to the media. It's unusual for federal politicians to try and interfere with a municipal election..

Yes, and remind them that robo-calls really serve no purpose except to influence the vulnerable, and just piss the rest of us off. Maybe instead of worrying about who sleeps with whom, the federal PCs can do something useful with legislation.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by Aegis

You should pass on that information to the media. It's unusual for federal politicians to try and interfere with a municipal election..

Someone tweet that to rick bell or something

[Ferreth]

Originally Posted by Aegis

You should pass on that information to the media. It's unusual for federal politicians to try and interfere with a municipal election..

Done. I'll update the forum if I hear anything back from CBC.

[Ferreth]

It would seem the Calgary Herald's Jason Markusoff has picked up on Jason Kenney's activities already:

[mooky]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Yes, and remind them that robo-calls really serve no purpose except to influence the vulnerable, and just piss the rest of us off. Maybe instead of worrying about who sleeps with whom, the federal PCs can do something useful with legislation.

federal PC's, useful legislation, same sentence, error, error, error, cannot compute!

[Wooster]

Article in National Post:

Calgary's underdog mayoral candidate Naheed Nenshi defies categories

Excerpt

“He’s a dichotomy: When you look at first glance, you see him as a university professor and you might want to write him off as an academic,” said Mr. Rotchild, who met his “policy geek” friend while working together on a non-profit environmental initiative. “But he’s worked for a lot of big companies doing consulting for companies like Gap — he’s got the business background.”

Both of Mr. Nenshi’s main competitors — Ms. Higgins, a former CTV 6 p.m. news anchor, and Mr. McIver, a longtime alderman — have cast themselves as fiscal conservatives, though Mr. Nenshi said “Ms. Higgins has no record and [Mr. McIver] is about as fiscally conservative as the Conservatives in Ottawa.”

Still, a recent poll shows that both Ms. Higgins and Mr. McIver glean much of their support from Progressive Conservatives. Mr. Nenshi’s supporters are more likely to have voted for the NDP or Liberals.

But while Mr. Nenshi is ­perceived as the most left-leaning of the top contenders, Prof. Bratt said the theatre-loving candidate is “not a prototypical leftist” and said it would be “tough to put him into a box.”

Mr. Nenshi’s platform speaks not only of environmental sustainability or public transportation, but also of attracting and retaining Calgary’s businesses by “cutting the red tape” at City Hall. He speaks about the need to “reduce the number of people living in poverty and ensure opportunity for all,” and also about reducing the tax burden on businesses after amalgamating two business taxes into one

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Calgary...egories/3679830/story.html#ixzz12URL8XLJ

[freeweed]

Wow, I haven't seen a "Nenshi is left-wing" story in a while. At first, sure - especially as McIver trumpets himself as a fiscal conservative, regardless of his actual track record. I really like that "conservative like the Conservatives in Ottawa" comment. Reminds me of so-called "conservatives" in the US of late. And I see strong parallels with McIver.

Anyway, that story is a bit out of date. Damn near every hardcore conservative (actual fiscal conservative, not redneck bigot conservative) that I know is voting Nenshi. He truly does defy categorization.

I'm actually excited about a civic election. Who'd'a thunk it?

[charper]

Originally Posted by tmjr

May I ask what exactly is wrong with Hodges? Or is it just that Harper is better candidate, and not so much something wrong with Hodges?

I live in Ward 1. From my perspective, Hodges has done a reasonable job. I'm leaning towards voting for Hodges, but not yet settled. For me to vote for Harper, I would first need to be convinced NOT to vote for Hodges, and then convinced to vote for Harper from the other alternatives, many of who also seem reasonable.

I appreciate any perspective you can provide.

Thanks!

Happy to respond.

The feeling isn't that there is anything particularly wrong with the incumbent. What many feel challenged by is the fact that the incumbent is speaking to a legacy, but not a future. Calgary is still a fairly young City and we've experienced a lot of change. For the most part, we've dealt with that change well. We dealt with it well because we had individuals who thought about today, but also thought about what may be 10 - 20 years down the road.

As someone who has a majority of my community life still ahead of me, I'm very focused on the future of my community as opposed to a legacy. It would be disrespectful and regressive for anyone to waste a legacy by not building a strong future upon it. I'm not a fan of waste.

Best,

Chris

[jeffwhit]

Classy response Chris, best of luck on Monday!

[tmjr]

Originally Posted by charper

Happy to respond.

The feeling isn't that there is anything particularly wrong with the incumbent. What many feel challenged by is the fact that the incumbent is speaking to a legacy, but not a future. Calgary is still a fairly young City and we've experienced a lot of change. For the most part, we've dealt with that change well. We dealt with it well because we had individuals who thought about today, but also thought about what may be 10 - 20 years down the road.

As someone who has a majority of my community life still ahead of me, I'm very focused on the future of my community as opposed to a legacy. It would be disrespectful and regressive for anyone to waste a legacy by not building a strong future upon it. I'm not a fan of waste.

Best,

Chris

Thank you for responding Chris! Much appreciated.

If you don't mind, could you please elaborate on what you mean by "What many feel challenged by is the fact that the incumbent is speaking to a legacy, but not a future.", and any obvious example of that?

Thanks again!

[gantenbein]

Originally Posted by Aegis

You should pass on that information to the media. It's unusual for federal politicians to try and interfere with a municipal election..

Unfortunately not unusual for our federal Conservative government (Kenny's taking lessons from John Baird and his role in previous Ottawa civic elections).

It is equally unusual (or at least undesirable) for municipal politicians to abuse their position by insinuating themselves into federal issues, e.g. organising anti-coalition rallies on Olympic Plaza and pushing for 'Support our Troops' stickers on all city vehicles.

This in addition to the whole Chandler connection is something I wish the media had reminded voters of in regards to McIver.

[Koolfire]

Is this true?

Ald. James Stevenson said the northeast area near the airport is destined to be one of the three big employment centres in Calgary with the downtown and the Foothills industrial area.

"We've got tens of thousands of land all around the airport and the annexed area we took right up to Balzac," said Stevenson. "All that land is going to be jobs. It's going to be an intense area."

He said traffic won't be a big issue in the near future but it will be down the road.

"We already have problems with capacity with the Stoney Industrial. We've had to turn down or refuse to give third reading to some of the land applications there because we don't have the capacity on Country Hills to handle those," said Stevenson.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Ma...+near+Calgary+Airport/3679035/story.html

If that is true, the future city council better approve the tunnel.

[MichaelS]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Anyone have any recommendations for which alderman to vote for in Ward 6? I honestly know nothing about the new candidates replacing Burrows. Innersoul or anyone else in my end of town?

They will be replacing Joe Connely, Burrows has not been an alderman since 2007.

[Wooster]

Herald officially endorses McIver (no huge surprise there)

http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/McIver+mayor/3681546/story.html?cid=megadrop_story

However, Robert Remington editorial board member - calls Nenshi "the true face of change"

http://www.calgaryherald.com/columnists/Nenshi+true+face+change+Calgary/3681548/story.html

[Bigtime]

A reminder that the Nenshi TV Town Hall is on CityTV today at 4pm.