Nenshi + Hawkesworth = stronger McIver
Today Naheed Nenshi has announced he will be running for mayor. On Monday we can expect a similar announcement from Bob Hawkesworth. The big winner from these announcements? Ric McIver.
As recently as yesterday, things were not looking great for Mr. McIver’s chances of becoming Calgary’s next mayor. As each mayoral candidate announced (Joe Connelly, Jon Lord, Craig Burrows) observers could see small parts of McIver’s assumed lead chipping away. Once Kent Hehr announced, enough had been chipped away that we were looking at a very real two way fight between McIver and Hehr.
With Nenshi and Hawkesworth entering the race, it’s fair to assume Mr. Hehr is now the one experiencing the chipping away of potential voters from his target group. It’s my guess that when it all plays out, enough will have been chipped away to return Mr. McIver to a healthy leading position once again.
What are your thoughts?
Cross posted to calgarypolitics.com
The No ‘How’ Part 1: Ald. Ric McIver
In follow up to my last post where I asked 2010 municipal election candidates to tell us ‘how’ they will accomplish their objectives instead of just ‘what’ those objectives would be, I thought it was only fair that I take the first ‘kick at the can’ so to speak.
On Friday – almost ironically the same day I published my post – the Calgary Sun published an advertorial by Ald. Ric McIver. The theme of the piece was Ald. McIver’s vision for what he would do if elected mayor of Calgary. I can think of no better place to start off the ‘How?’ campaign, than with that piece.
Below is the article taken from Ric McIver’s campaign site. Text in bold are my comments.
CITY HALL MUST OPEN ITS EARS
Calgary Sun - May 5, 2010
By Ric McIver
As a candidate for mayor, I would like to suggest a new way forward.
I propose city government should boldly embrace our city’s growth, harnessing the vitality, commitment to progress and entrepreneurship of Calgarians in managing the challenges of a city that can and should become a model to other Canadian cities. [Here is Ald. McIver's stated goal. An excellent start. The rest of the missive lists the objectives to accomplish this goal.]
I believe we need a mayor who believes in his fellow citizens, who listens to and consults with them [How?], who knows they are the actual builders of this community.
I believe we need a mayor who sees leadership as a team effort to be shared with all members of the community. [Can't really ask 'how' on this one because it is listed as a quality of the mayor not something the mayor would actually do.]
And I believe we need a mayor who is prepared to re-examine the way city government does things, creating a free flow of information and ensuring citizen and employee participation play an integral role in defining and creating the future of our great city. [How would one go about doing this?]
Most of all, I believe Calgary needs a mayor who will do everything in his power to ensure working families share in the growth and prosperity of this city. [How? What is 'everything in his power'. As a side note, I understand sharing in 'prosperity' but how does one share in 'growth'? I digress...]
So I propose to you the vision of a flourishing, competitive, entrepreneurial city that welcomes working people, small and big business alike, while offering an affordable, high quality of life for all of its citizens [How?] — all of which can and will be realized within a framework of cost control, accountability and transparency. [More objectives, okay. But how will you be accountable? How will you be transparent?]
Calgary will be open for business. We will cut red tape and implement policies that will make Calgary the place to build businesses and homes. [How?]
We will look after the environment. [How? This line especially seems staggeringly in need of detail.]
When a company wants to move employees here, their families will know Calgary has a great arts, culture, sports and recreation scene. [I assume we are not talking about implanting chips in peoples heads when they land at the airport to beam messages directly to them. So if not that, then how?]
Where we fall short, we will work with the private sector to come up to standard. [How will you know when you've fallen short?]
We will work with our partners in the Alberta government to complete the ring road and, yes, that will include the southwest portion. [I don't need if we need to ask 'how' here. We know how the City works with the Province.]
We must have and we will have proper access to the airport. [Before I can ask 'how' I have to ask: define 'proper'?]
In the short term, we will review downtown parking policies that make for the most expensive and least convenient parking situation of almost any city in Canada. [This is a great tactic. Two thumbs up for listing one.]
In the longer term, we will work toward spreading out jobs so they are not just concentrated in three areas of the city. [I guess 'work toward' is vague enough it's hard to realistically ask 'how'.]
We need to look to a future where people aren’t going to the same, limited areas at the same time each day, causing congestion and frustration. [How?]
We will re-build trust in our relationship with the provincial government. [How?]
We will strive for a core transit strategy that will create a zone in the centre of Calgary where people will have a real choice about whether to leave their cars at home. [Another tactic. Excellent.]
We will bring together the development industry, sustainability groups, city council and the administration for thoughtful, realistic discussion on building the Calgary of the future. [Didn't we just do this with PlanIt?]
We will work with all parties interested, including the private sector, to support the 10-year plan to eliminate homelessness. [Define 'work with' and 'support'; then we can talk about How?]
A vibrant, competitive Calgary that flourishes, with quality services for all, with taxes that are fair must be our shared purpose. [How?]
Our promise that Calgary is the most welcoming place in all of Canada for ambitious, hardworking people should be more than just rhetoric. [Agreed. It should be more than just rhetoric. So: How? Because without that it's just rhetoric.]
We should not only expect, we must demand a city government that listens to and recognizes the role of its citizens in decision-making. [How will the City encourage/do this?]
This is by no means an exhaustive list of goals but these are goals that must be at the forefront of any candidate’s platform, and I promise you, they are at the top of mine. [There's more objectives still? How about a tactics listing? I hope there is one of those too.]
I will provide that needed leadership to see these goals through to reality. [How?]
That’s why I am asking for your support and for your vote to become Calgary’s next mayor.
So there you go. Now it’s your turn. And by your turn I mean 1) you, dear reader, should go and ask the same questions of other candidates, and 2) you, Ald. McIver, are welcome to provide some details once you have them ready. I’ll happily post them!
Note: The ‘No’ How post series should not be seen as an endorsement or condemnation of any candidate. They are meant only to encourage the peeling back of layers of rhetoric – purposeful or otherwise – in an attempt to have candidates publicly state how they plan to accomplish their goals should they be elected. No candidate is meant to be harmed in the writing of these posts.
Diane Colley-Urquhart making her mayoral move?
One of the more fun aspects of having a blog is the number of “tips” I get sent by readers and marketers. Usually there is very little newsworthy about them, other times they might be newsworthy but the tipster provides little in the way to back up their claim. In both cases I usually ignore the tip for those reasons. However this tip is different.
This past weekend I recieved a tip from two different sources that Diane Colley-Urquart, current alderman for ward 13, has been buying advertising space for a run at the mayor seat.
It strikes me this isn’t the kind of thing an overly enthusiastic volunteer would do without the candidate’s go ahead on a campaign, so I’m inclined to believe it to be a sign she’s in.
Neither tipster could provide evidence without outing themselves as a tipster and so I have none. But I know both of these folks and trust them, so I’ve decided to report it. Take if for what it is: completely unsubstantiated or verified by yours truly.
Personally I have my fingers crossed it’s true. We need more women running for council! It will be nice to see her make a run along side fellow aldermanic mayoral wannabes Joe Connelly and Ric McIver (still no official announcement from the latter).
Ald. Connelly to make “an important announcement”
It’s been the City’s worst kept secret that Ald. Ric McIver will be annoucing his intentions to run for Mayor at “Ric’s Block Party” on April 21 (5pm to 8pm, get your tickets here.) But what about Ald. Joe Connelly?
Ald. Connelly has been saying for a little bit that he would make an announcement between now and May. An email sent out today has set the date for this announcement however: tomorrow. Expect him to be trying to scoop Ald. McIver by getting out of the Mayoralty gate first (even if only by a week).
Here’s the full text of the invitation. Be there or be… running for alderman (? I suppose).
Media and Guest Invitation for Announcement by
Alderman Joe Connelly, Ward Six
City of CalgaryCalgary, Alberta Alderman Joe Connelly, Ward Six, City of Calgary will be making an important announcement on Wednesday, April 14 in his Ward at the Strathcona Community Association.
Media and guests are invited to attend as follows:
Date: Wednesday, April 14, 2010Time: Meet and Greet 3:00 pm
Announcement 3:30 pmLocation: Strathcona Community Association
277 Strathcona Drive SW, Calgary, AB
Phone number of the Community Association: 403.249.1138
Free parking availableFor further details contact:
Joe Connelly [deleted for privacy]
Corinne Wilkinson [deleted for privacy]
This post has been cross-posted to CalgaryPolitics.com.
Councillor ages: does it mean anything?
The world has changed a LOT in the last few years. Things are speeding up so fast many of us have difficulty keeping up. Stereotypically the ones complaining about this “speeding up of life” are members of older generations. This isn’t ageist – its just that those under the age of 35 have grown up with a high level of change and haven’t been around long enough to remember any form of ”good old days” when the pace of life was different.
As my grandma once told me: each generation that has passed has experienced more change in their lifetime than the one immediately preceding them. Or you could just ask anyone who has had to ask a toddler to program their latest gadget; they’ll tell you. (My best friend’s daughter who is just two is already better than I am with Skype for example.)
While it has been my experience frame of mind, rather than age, is usually a much better indicator of willingness to work with – rather than against – the new challenges the world may give you, there is sadly no denying it can be a factor. So with that in mind, here is the list of the ages of Calgary City Council incumbents as of voting day 2010. Decide for yourself if their is an age pattern to the ones you agree with, and compare your philosophies with the ones about the same age as you.
Although, there are none under 40 so I can’t really compare myself on that basis. And I’m not sure how many of my blog readers will be able to either. (Perhaps that’s a naive assumption on my part however.) Either way, I still find it interesting to know the demographics of those who represent me and I thought you might too. So here they are:
Dave Bronconnier – 48
Dale Hodges – 69
Gord Lowe – 71
Jim Stevenson – 65
Bob Hawkesworth – 59
Ray Jones – 57
Joe Connelly – (Couldn’t find his age.)
Druh Farrell – 51
John Mar – 41
Joe Ceci – 53
Andre Chabot – 51
Brian Pincott – 49
Ric McIver – 51
Diane Colley-Urquhart – 61
Linda Fox-Mellway – (Couldn’t find her age.)
These ages are based off of numbers I pulled from the introductory articles of candidates in one of our two big newspapers during the 2007 election, so I can’t vouch that they are 100% accurate. Please forgive me if there is a mistake.
And yes, there is something to be said for having life experience too.
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