My Thoughts On The VoteCalgary.ca Mayoralty Forum

 I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend the VoteCalgary.ca Mayoralty Forum held today at Stampede Park, along with fellow CalgaryPolitics.com blogger DJ Kelly.  The forum was attended by a packed house made up of representatives from Calgary's building and development industry and it was a well run affair.

 The eight mayoralty candidates in attendance were:  Ric McIver, Joe Connelly, Jon Lord, Barb Higgins, Craig Burrows, Naheed Nenshi, Wayne Stewart and Bob Hawkesworth.  Perennial candidate ( and party crasher) Oscar Fech was also in attendance and while he tried to squeeze in on the forum, he was not part of the proceedings. ( Moderator Ken King explained that these eight candidates were invited as they completed a pre-forum questionnaire.)

 While the forum was well run and went by rather quickly, there really was no "earth shattering" quotes.  Most of the candidates stuck to their positions and the central theme centered around such buzzwords as "getting it right", "creating a level playing field", "streamlining the approval process" and "supporting consumers choice in having the options to purchase a single family, detached dwelling".  There seemed to be a lot of generic answers given and all candidates tended to stay on script.

  There were a few good lines at the forum, including the following:

1) Burrows tried to trip Barb Higgins up by asking her to give a specific answer where council can work with the development industry in solving some inner city growth. Barb used a potential development in Manchester as an example, and fared well with the unexpected shot.

2) Jon Lord asked Naheed Nenshi if he was mayor, does he believe that the inner city homes in Kensington and Cliff Bungalow should be replaced with high rise towers?  Nenshi jokingly responded "wouldn't it be nice if I said yes!" to a roaring laughter.  He then explained his position and took away any points that Jon Lord was trying to steal.

3) Barb Higgins took a shot at McIver when she said that with 25 years experience as a journalist, she knows what questions need to be asked, and then took a shot at McIver by asking him why he never asked the "tough questions" when he was on the audit committee?  Ric candidly responded by stating that he is not "applying to run a TV station, but that he is running for Mayor of Calgary and that he has been asking tough questions for over nine years on council! 

I had a great time at the forum and was glad that I was invited to attend.  I was amazed at the speed in which DK Kelly was doing his live tweeting from the event, as the answers were fast and furious.

Here is a classic shot of a media scrum following the event.  Ric McIver is on the right....poor Bob Hawkesworth is on the left.

Coffee With Calgary Mayoral Candidate Barb Higgins

  I was shocked and surprised at the online response and reaction to a post that I did last week about Barb Higgins lack of social media use!  This post ( link here if you want to read it) turned out to be one of my most read links ever.  It really must be a testament to the candidates popularity or the demand that the public has to learn more about her political views.  Either way, I was really shocked when I saw that Ms. Higgins left a comment and a Tweet ( yes...a Tweet!) asking to go for coffee to chat about this post.

   After some buzz on twitter about this potential meeting, I set up a coffee with Barb on Saturday morning in my neighborhood.  I was not sure why someone of Barb's stature would take the time to meet with a nobody blogger, but I was impressed with her initiative.  Many candidates do not even read the Calgary political blogs ( at their peril....lol) and it is pretty rare to get a direct response from one of them, let alone a request to meet in person to discuss the blog post in question.  I joked with Barb on Saturday that my wife said I should text her to make sure everything is OK, in case Barb was setting me up for a good old fashioned beat down for the comments I made in my previous post, which she thought was hilarious!

  I must admit that in person Barb is quite easy to talk to and her looks are very deceiving.  She is known for her bubbly personality and is quite upbeat, but in my opinion she really is one tough lady!  Barb politely called me out on some of the comments on my post as she had a few issues with some of the things I had said, and wanted to make sure that she was able to tell me in person.  Barb understood after meeting me that I am not some negative cave dweller that just slanders people and is cranky 24/7!  I explained that most of my posts are sarcastic and that most of my regular readers ( all twelve of them, thank you....) do understand this.  She figured as much, but still thought it was important that she set the record straight on some of the things in my post.

  Barb really took issue with the fact that I hinted that she belongs to the "Mount Royal/Rideau Park" Elite, ( which in all truth, I was sarcastically referring to the area where most of her financial backers are rumoured to live.) Barb confirmed that she in fact lives in the Beltline and comes from a modest, middle class background.  She humbly made sure that I understood that any success she has had was gained through hard work and the support of her friends, family and co-workers over the years.  We even joked about her car when we left, as I complimented her on her Convertible, which she jokingly made sure I knew was a used model that is over 8 years old.  I do believe that Barb is quite humble so I can understand why she was frustrated with my "Elite" comments.

  Barb also confirmed that her Twitter use is in fact a work in progress.  She explained that once she quit her job at CTV, a post she held for over 20 years, she needed some time to get organized after jumping head first into the campaign.  She said that she wants to "do it right" and has been easing into the social media minefield, which really is a new medium for her.  I can respect that as you want to ensure that you learn to use Twitter properly to its full potential.  Again, I explained that the "great communicator" blurbs were aimed at sarcasm. 

 She confirmed again that she will be releasing all of her platform and ideas after Labour Day, which she really is sticking to.  After this date, she anticipates a more interactive Twitter account ( although she is now following 43 people on Twitter, up from just 2 last week.) which is good news for Calgarians that want to learn about her ideas.  I was impressed that Barb also asked me about my personal views on certain issues and she explained some of her vision and she seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. I am hoping to set up a video interview with her next month to chat more.

  I am glad that I survived the coffee with my legs intact and that based on Barb's follow up tweet, she realized that I am "not a cranky pants in person"!   

Barb Higgings For Mayor? Communications Failure! ( aka...Tea Over Twitter)

 Ever since TV Anchor Barb Higgins entered the race for mayor I have lost track of how many times I have heard people say, " She is a great communicator"!  While I am sure she was very popular with many Calgarian's for her skills as a news presenter, I am not sure that being able to read a teleprompter and change the pitch of your voice when instructed qualifies anyone as a "great communicator"?  I was having a brief discussion on Twitter last night about Ms. Higgins lack of actual communication, at least on Twitter, and thought I would share my thoughts.

 Twitter is a pretty unique communications medium.  It allows you the ability to interact with other people on a real time basis, on pretty much any topic you can imagine.  Some candidates in the upcoming Calgary Municipal Election use Twitter quite well, often engaging potential voters in policy discussions and debate.  Other candidates feel that they should use Twitter as a 140 Character Press Release, letting everyone know where they will be and what they had for dinner.  Barb Higgins, the "great communicator" falls into the latter category.  Here is a sample of her Twitter page...

 As you can see, the "great communicator" only follows two people on twitter, yet of the 692 people following her, she does not see the need to interact with them.  It looks like Barb has taken the SOCIAL, out of SOCIAL MEDIA!!

 I am not sure why the "great communicator" does not want to interact with Calgarian's on Twitter, but perhaps some of the following ideas apply?

• Barb does not want to waste time talking with the "dirty, common Twittering Calgarian's". Unless we belong to the Mount Royal/Rideau Park Elite, of course?  Tea over Twitter? 

• Barb still has not got a grasp on the issues facing Calgarian's and what is really going in this city once you leave Signal Hill.  ( Is that City Hall?  I recognize it from the teleprompter view....)

• Barb is not sure of what to do, as there is no Teleprompter app for Twitter. 

• Barb's handlers do not want her to discuss any issues with the public at all and hope to ride her good name recognition into the election night sunset.  ( Barb? I know her...no, no, not from Twitter. From the TV!)

• After repeating that she has both "Respect for Money" and "A Social Heart", there are too many characters left in the 140 maximum for her to complete a tweet on twitter.  What to say....what to say?

• Rod Love told her... "Ralph Didn't need no stinking internets....we didn't even have an internets back in 1980.  We had an old motor home and dimes for the payphone. "

 And it is not a generational issue either.  Paul Hughes and Ric McIver are over the 25-44 age range, and seem to understand twitter and use it well.  Not as well as some of the younger candidates, (Nenshi is a pro at Twitter) but I give the older candidates kudos for trying! 

With two followers ( one being Calgarydemocracy.ca, which is an excellent site headed by fellow CalgaryPolitics.com blogger Grant Nuefeld) and no interaction with the Calgary voters, I give Barb "the great communicator" a failing grade.



** Update**  Here is a link to my post about my follow up coffee with Barb Higgins... http://www.calgaryrants.com/2010/08/coffee-with-calgary-mayoral-candidate.html