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.

It's Official! Ric McIver is Running for Mayor of Calgary in 2010

  It's official!  Ward 12 Alderman Ric McIver has officially announced his candidacy for Calgary's Mayor in the 2010 Election.  This announcement has been long anticipated by many ( including myself) and finally confirms his intentions to what what is considered by some the 'most open' secret in Calgary municipal politics.

 I was at Ric's Block Party event last night and I must say it was quite impressive.  The media confirmed the event had over 900 people attend and from a quick scan of the room, it was a very diverse cross section of Calgary.  At a $150 a ticket, these events usually draw the business suit/tie crowd so I was amazed that there were people of all ages and backgrounds attending.  It is likely a testament to Ric's popularity in this City. 

Ric gave an passionate speech about his vision for Calgary's future, which I think was key.  He answered Bronco's criticism of his "Dr.No" moniker and made repeat mention that he wants this city to be a Calgary for Everyone.  He also called for the inclusion of a written hansard in the City Hall meetings so there is a written record for all see, which I think is a great idea!

 Ric also talked about his C A T methodology and that he will be using this test on all spending decisions going forward.  The C A T test is as follows:

 C-  Cost Control
 A-  Accountability
 T - Transparency

Once again, I was amazed by the level of support that Ric has.  The fact that Ric can draw close to 1000 people will likely shake some reality into some of the other pretenders that want to come out of the woodwork and run for the mayors job. 

 It's going to be a fun summer and fall!

Shane

George Dadamo...One Ambitious Fellow.

Although I am new to Twitter, I was surprised to see that George Damado started following me there. Like most Calgarians, I had never heard of the man until a post by daveberta few weeks ago. With the surprise twitter notification, I thought I better find out a bit more about this fellow. Well, I can confirm that I am pleasantly surprised by Mr. Dadamo's ambition.

A quick look on his fancy website clearly shows that the gentleman has a ambitious plan for 2010! Also, his Facebook page (65 Followers, mostly from the Alberta Liberal crowd.) shows another link to a George Dadamo for Mayor site, where he is the administrator of this page.

Well, I am pretty well read and I try to keep up with local politics, but I don't have the slightest clue who this man is? His political background bio page highlights his time with the Bob Rae Ontario NDP government in the early 1990's, which I am sure impresses most Albertans. His website claims he is a community organizer ( akin to President Obama?) and activist. Hmmm...still never heard of him.

I watched the above video, from his DadamoTv youtube page, which is quite amusing. The page is a Obama style populist ad, with catchphrases such as "a new kind of politics", "from a grassroots leader" with a catchy baptist soul song repeating "We Need a Change". The funny part about it is the visual content. It appears that all of the photographs are taken in late May 2009 at the Speak Out 11 event and the Lilac Festival. If this man is such a Community Leader/Organizer and a "grassroots leader" then were are all the photographs highlighting his expansive community service in Calgary? ( The best you can show is two events from the end of May?) Its so cheesy, that I think I tasted something funny in the back of my throat. ( Trying to keep it PG here folks.)

On Tuesday June 9, George Dadamo will announce that he is running for Mayor in 2010. Seeing that he failed to get elected as an Alderman in 1997 in his hometown of Windsor, what makes him think he can just pop into the Calgary Mayor's seat?

If all it takes is a cool website, a tiny Facebook following and a cheesy web-ad to run for mayor, then I should reconsider my career options.

Again, Mr. Dadamo is very ambitious, which should make the mayors race very interesting. I just wonder if Bronco is pissed that another Liberal is gunning after his seat?

Who will be Calgary's Mayor in 2010?

With 18 months to go until the next Calgary municipal election, I am pondering who will be making a run at Dave Bronconnier's mayoral seat? Here are my quick thoughts on some potential challengers...

1) Ric McIver... Common sense alderman. Popular. Organized. Loves the media (and they love him....his soundbites are a breath of fresh air.) A recent fundraiser he held is said to have had over 350 guests. Ric is my 1st choice for mayor, without a doubt.

Odds to Run? 2-1

2) Dianne Colley-Urquhart... Dianne would be an excellent choice should Ric Mciver not make a run at mayor. She is the other "common-sense" alderman and represents her ward well. Timing may be a big factor here, as she will not likely have much success with a split vote against both McIver and Bronconnier.

I cannot see how much further Dianne can go in City politics after 2010. She has probably better suited at a run for MLA, which she would win in a landslide.

Perhaps with the (rumored) pending "retirement" of Ron ( Federal Judge post awaits?) Stevens, she may look at the PC nomination for Calgary Glenmore. Just my thoughts?


Odds? 10-1

3) Al Koenig... Former Police association president. Could not win an alderman seat in 2007. Has a grand total of 4 signatures on an online poll supporting him to run for mayor in 2010. (Not scientific mind you, but pretty funny.)

Odds? Not good.

4) Alnoor Kassam... HMMM... Spent a fortune of his OWN money (close to $1MM) to run against Bronco in 2007. Lesson learned? I hope so.... But seeing that his website is still up and running, you never know!

Odds? 1 Million to 1.. ( no pun intended! )

Here is hoping some fellow bloggers run....

5) The Enlightened Savage... Maybe then we will see the 'mask" come off and find out his/her true identity? The E.S has some sound ideas and is not scared to rock the boat!

6) Jeremy Zhao ... 19 year old U of C Student runs...gets a respectable 8,000 votes. Awesome!

Anyways... it will be interesting to see who starts making noise over the next few months. As long as we get rid of Calgaryrants good friend, Bronco Dave, I will be a happy man!