Browsing posts in the ‘Alderman – Ward 11’ category

Calgary, meet your new council

1
October 19, 2010 - By

The unofficial results are in and we have seen a mix of change and returning of the old guard happening. It’s a whole new ball game now; an entirly new dynamic. Here’s the list of who the fifteeen around the table will be:

Mayor - Naheed Nenshi
Ward 1 – Dale Hodges
Ward 2 – Gord Lowe
Ward 3 – Jim Stevenson
Ward 4 - Gael Macleod
Ward 5 – Ray Jones
Ward 6 - Richard Pootmans
Ward 7 – Druh Farrell
Ward 8 – John Mar
Ward 9 - Gian-Carlo Carra
Ward 10 – Andre Chabot
Ward 11 – Brian Pincott
Ward 12 - Shane Keating
Ward 13 – Diane Colley-Urquhart
Ward 14 - Peter Demong

The biggest question facing how this new council will work together is what kind of a chair will Naheed Nenshi be. Will he be a bullying mayor (not likely) or more laissez faire in his control of meetings? Or might he be more like Bronconnier and give alderman some leeway, but keep them on a short leash if they stray too far outside what is prescribed in the procedural bylaw. An alderman like Druh Farrell will live and die [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 1, Alderman - Ward 10, Alderman - Ward 11, Alderman - Ward 12, Alderman - Ward 13, Alderman - Ward 14, Alderman - Ward 2, Alderman - Ward 3, Alderman - Ward 4, Alderman - Ward 5, Alderman - Ward 6, Alderman - Ward 7, Alderman - Ward 8, Alderman - Ward 9, Mayor of Calgary, Political Theory

‘Twas the Night Before E-Day…

2
October 17, 2010 - By

Nation, it’s funny how life sometimes ties things up in a neat bow for you.

I started my interviews for Wards 11, 13 and 14 several months ago, with a sit-down interview with James Maxim, candidate for Alderman in Ward 11.  While I was out running errands today, whom do I run into, literally hours before the polls open?  James Maxim.

I thought I’d take advantage of the opportunity to catch up, and ask him how the campaign has been going.

(please go to The Enlightened Savage to hear the interview)

Tags: Categories: Alderman - Ward 11

yyc Twibates Part II: Aldermanic

8
October 17, 2010 - By

This is Part II of getting the Twibate answers up.  There’s some more information about format and decisions on our first post, yyc Twibates Part I: Intro and Mayoral.

We held two twitter debates for aldermanic – one for odd-numbered wards and one for even-numbered wards.  We had 10 participants on the first night, and 12 on the second night.

Because of the number of participants, I will merely list answers in order that they came in rather than a column for each candidate.  Unless you don’t want it to be readable

A number of candidates answered with multiple posts.  They are grouped together, and the time of the first post determines order.

Odd-Numbered Wards

Participants include:

Ward 1: Ric Lockhart and Chris Harper (First two questions answered during, the rest answered later that evening)

Ward 3: Gary Tremblay

Ward 7: Michael Krisko (Krisko’s tweets unfortunately did not show up on the feed, but we acknowledge his participation), Druh Farrell (answered all questions after)

Ward 9: Steve Chapman, Gian-Carlo Carra

Ward 11: Brian Pincott, Wayne Frisch, James Maxim, Ernest McCutcheon (post-event – see comments section)

Ward 13: Andrew [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 1, Alderman - Ward 10, Alderman - Ward 11, Alderman - Ward 12, Alderman - Ward 13, Alderman - Ward 14, Alderman - Ward 2, Alderman - Ward 3, Alderman - Ward 4, Alderman - Ward 5, Alderman - Ward 6, Alderman - Ward 7, Alderman - Ward 8, Alderman - Ward 9, Events

What Do These Schmucks Do? – Alderman Edition

1
October 14, 2010 - By

(Nation, the following is a re-post, with edits and additions, of a post I put out in October 2007.)

The City of Calgary, whether by design or by unbelievable oversight, has NO information available on-line as to what, exactly, an Alderman’s job really IS.

Therefore, I have little recourse but to consult the Book of Armaments – er, I mean, the Queen’s Printer, and take the words right from the legislative horse’s mouth:

General duties of councillors

Councillors have the following duties:
(a) to consider the welfare and interests of the municipality as a whole and to bring to council’s attention anything that would promote the welfare or interests of the municipality;
(b) to participate generally in developing and evaluating the policies and programs of the municipality;
(c) to participate in council meetings and council committee meetings and meetings of other bodies to which they are appointed by the council;
(d) to obtain information about the operation or administration of the municipality from the chief administrative officer or a person designated by the chief administrative officer;
(e) to keep in confidence matters discussed in private at a council or council committee [...]Read More

Categories: Alderman - Ward 1, Alderman - Ward 10, Alderman - Ward 11, Alderman - Ward 12, Alderman - Ward 13, Alderman - Ward 14, Alderman - Ward 2, Alderman - Ward 3, Alderman - Ward 4, Alderman - Ward 5, Alderman - Ward 6, Alderman - Ward 8, Alderman - Ward 9, Political Theory

I shaved my legs for this? Ward 11 Forum

15
October 13, 2010 - By

If it wasn’t for a commitment to Calgarypolitics.com, I definitely wouldn’t be at the Ward 11 forum. The season finale of Teen Mom is on tonight for goodness sake and all I’ve had time to eat today is half an apple and a grande Starbucks. So ya… I’m a little cranky. This better be good.

At one point, I was really looking forward to tonight. I won the small victory of confirming the Ward I lived in. Now, was the next step of getting to know the candidates a bit better. I know absolutely nothing, actually. I am a clean slate. My vote is waiting to be won.

When I finally find the theatre on the MRU campus, I’m greeted by a lady running for school trustee. She asks me if I support public or separate. “I don’t know,” I answered. “Well, what did you indicate on your taxes?” she asks, assuming that I own. “I didn’t know then either; I don’t have kids,” I blurted out. Luckily, she lets me off the hook with a flyer and encourages me to call her if I have questions.

Well, I have lots of questions – she just caught me off guard. [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 11

Analyzing The Aldermanic Polls

10
October 7, 2010 - By

Today, VoteCalgary released their All-Wards Aldermanic Poll done by O’Connell Enterprises. In each ward, 280 people were surveyed, which allows for a ±5.8% margin of error, 19 times out of 20. Here is the voter breakdown for those surveyed:

Age 18-34: 11%
Age 35-49: 25%
Age 50-64: 33%
Age 65+: 30%
Refused: 2%

Now, it’s clearly a skewed poll when you consider only 36% of the respondents were younger than a half-century, but clearly there wasn’t an age quota guideline for this poll. This was indicated by the fact that age was the LAST question instead of a screening question. Regardless, they did a solid job of matching their gender quota 50/50 split.

For the purpose of analyzing this poll, we will take “total support” as the first number and include the firm support, e.g. Candidate X – 20% (15%).

Ward 1
Dale Hodges – 37% (24%)
Chris Harper – 3% (1%)
Ric Lockhart – 2% (1%)
Bill Scott – 2% (1%)
Judi Vendenbrink – (1%)
Undecided – 43%

It looks like Ald. Hodges is well on his way to re-election, as the amount of voters for the also-rans don’t [...]Read More

Categories: Alderman - Ward 1, Alderman - Ward 10, Alderman - Ward 11, Alderman - Ward 12, Alderman - Ward 13, Alderman - Ward 14, Alderman - Ward 2, Alderman - Ward 3, Alderman - Ward 4, Alderman - Ward 5, Alderman - Ward 6, Alderman - Ward 7, Alderman - Ward 8, Alderman - Ward 9

cjsw’s 2010 civic election coverage!

October 6, 2010 - By

HOLY. So basically CJSW 90.9FM is super rad. We’ve launched our civic election coverage featuring over 80 interviews and forum recordings and honestly, it blows my mind. Back in August when we started sending out e-mails I honesty had no idea how it would turn out and how many interviews we’d really be able to do – there were so many candidates! Click the image to check it out!

Each interview had to be booked (and then re-booked, as the case was at times), conducted, edited and uploaded. We also needed a rad website to showcase all our interviews and Aendrew and Reid nailed it. In short, we had about 25 volunteers who put this all together for your benefit. Twenty five volunteers, two months, and over eighty interviews. I’m insanely proud of it. Kudos to Joe Burima, CJSW’s News Director, who works like a madman 24/7 and makes the world a better place.

Anyways, listen to the interviews, subscribe to the podcast and take our interviews on the go. Be informed. AND VOTE. Don’t let all our hard work go to waste. Kudos to all the candidates who were [...]Read More

Categories: Alderman - Ward 1, Alderman - Ward 10, Alderman - Ward 11, Alderman - Ward 12, Alderman - Ward 13, Alderman - Ward 14, Alderman - Ward 2, Alderman - Ward 3, Alderman - Ward 4, Alderman - Ward 5, Alderman - Ward 6, Alderman - Ward 7, Alderman - Ward 8, Alderman - Ward 9, Calgary Issues, Mayor of Calgary

Audio: Interview with Ward 11 Candidate Wayne Frisch

September 19, 2010 - By

Nation, let’s just say my recorder was working overtime on Saturday.

My third interview of the day was with Ward 11 Aldermanic candidate Wayne Frisch. Wayne was able to meet me in Cedarbrae for a quick conversation in between his duties as “dad/chauffeur”.  He had some interesting thoughts about both his suitability for the job at hand, and also the suitability of the incumbent.

This represents the last (as far as we know) interview for Ward 11 candidates – all 4 declared candidates have been interviewed. It will be most interesting to see how my fellow CalgaryPolitics.com contributor Jennifer Laraway carries the coverage of this ward from this point forward – as she is herself an undecided resident of Ward 11. I look forward to her thoughts, as well as those of the rest of The Best Political Team in the Blogosphere (TM) – and all of you.

(Please follow the link to The Enlightened Savage for audio of the interview)

Tags: ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 11

Audio: Interview with Ward 11 Candidate Brian Pincott

September 19, 2010 - By

 

Nation, I had the chance yesterday to sit down with sitting Alderman Brian Pincott of Ward 11 and talk about a whole cornucopia of issues.

Talking with incumbents is always interesting, because you’re not just hearing about how things OUGHT to be, you’re hearing about how things actually ARE (rather than simply how they SEEM) – or, at least, how that particular alderman perceived them to be, having been in the room when the decisions were made.

(Please follow the link to The Enlightened Savage for audio of the interview)

Tags: Categories: Alderman - Ward 11

How Many Calgary Municipal Election Candidates Will Get The Nomination Day Blues?

2
September 6, 2010 - By

Anyone that is actively following the 2010 Calgary Municipal Election scene should be getting excited that the races for Alderman, Mayor and School Board Trustee are about to become official!  With nomination day fast approaching, the race is also on for some of the candidates to get their paperwork in order in advance of the September 20, 2010 deadline. 

The 2010 election is expected to include the most candidates that Calgary has ever seen and some of the races are becoming more and more crowded every day, which is a good thing for local democracy.  While I believe that everyone has a democratic right to run for office and respect those who put their names forward for this election, I wonder how many of these candidates will actually be on the ballots after nomination day.  I took a look at the City of Calgary website for more information on the nomination requirements, which I have summarized below:

Required Signatures

All candidates must be nominated by eligible electors. The required number of signatures are:

  • Mayor – 100 Signatures

 

  • Alderman – 100 Signatures

 

  • School Trustee – 25 Signatures

If running for Alderman, and/or Public or Separate School [...]Read More

Tags: Categories: Alderman - Ward 1, Alderman - Ward 10, Alderman - Ward 11, Alderman - Ward 12, Alderman - Ward 13, Alderman - Ward 14, Alderman - Ward 2, Alderman - Ward 3, Alderman - Ward 4, Alderman - Ward 5, Alderman - Ward 6, Alderman - Ward 7, Alderman - Ward 8, Alderman - Ward 9, Calendar, Mayor of Calgary, Political Theory, School Board Trustees - Calgary Board of Education, School Board Trustees - Calgary Catholic School Board

Welcome to the big leagues

4
August 30, 2010 - By

It’s time to put my money where my mouth is. Admittedly, it’s a bit nerve-wracking being coaxed into a spotlight where every word and idea is subject to merciless scrutiny. But, those are the same circumstances that gave me a voice in the first place. Frustrated by packaged campaign speeches and slogans, I took to the web and lost my blogging virginity.

Relying on my public relations experience, my objective was to breakdown the meaningless phrases of “accountability,” “transparency,” and “fiscal responsibility.” What does that all really mean anyway? All I want to know is: what are you going to deliver, when can I expect it, and how much is it going to cost?

I got to thinking about why I suddenly cared. It occurred to me that Calgary is at a real turning point and with that comes opportunity. It mirrored my life and what brought me to this city in the first place. Like most, I came to make something of myself. And like most, for the past few years, I’ve had my head in the sand, working 60 – 80 hour weeks. When I have a moment to breathe, you can bet that I’m not looking up [...]Read More

Categories: Alderman - Ward 11, Political Theory

Audio: Interview with Ward 11 Candidate Ernest McCutcheon

August 25, 2010 - By

Nation, I had a chance on Tuesday evening to sit down and speak with Ward 11 candidate Ernest McCutcheon over some delicious blueberry cobbler and Grizzly Paw Root Beer.  Ernest has previously been interviewed by my fellow CalgaryPolitics.com contributor, and my personal Padawan Learner, Shane over at calgaryrants (do you have your tickets for the bowling fundraiser yet?).

While the conversation went on until MUCH later than anticipated, the recorded interview itself lasted a shade over 30 minutes – once I figured out how to turn the recorder on (insert your own wisecrack here).

This is the 2nd interview I’ve conducted for Ward 11′s Aldermanic race.  I’ve also heard from the third challenger and will be setting something up with him soon, which leaves just the incumbent.  Brian – your move. I’m not hard to find. ;)

(Please follow the link to The Enlightened Savage for audio of the interview)

Tags: ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 11

Audio: Interview with Ward 11 Candidate James Maxim

August 11, 2010 - By

Nation, last night was a good night to be the Enlightened Savage. 

I kicked it off with an all-too-brief appearance at the Calgary Tweet-Up (shout outs to @prairies and @theRoundhouse), and I was then pulled away so that I could have the pleasure of sitting down over a Coke Zero (this diet is going to kill me!) with James Maxim, candidate for Alderman in Ward 11.  We had a great chat, a lot of which is going to make it into my later “candidate profile” post for Mr. Maxim, and he also kindly agreed to be interviewed on-the-record.

The following is the entire interview, with no edits save the deletion of the first 30 seconds of audio which included such gems from your humble scribe as “HOW DO I WORK MY iPHONE?” and “THANK GOODNESS FOR AUDIO EDITING SOFTWARE!”

(Please follow the link to The Enlightened Savage for audio of the interview)

Tags: ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 11

Contender updates in wards 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11

1
August 6, 2010 - By

This is not a big as the mega post, but there are definitely some candidates that were not reported last time, and some new ones that have popped up.

Ward 4 – Brad Northcott: He will be the 8th candidate in a very crowded race in Ward 4.  He is an owner and operator of a plumbing and gas fitting company. He supports the airport tunnel and an eventual LRT connecting to the airport. As well, he will not support secondary suites unless the parking issue is addressed (adequate parking is what he wants). Ward 4 now becomes an unpredictable race with so many different candidates to choose from, which is on top of the numerous number of mayoral candidates to have a headache over.

Website

Ward 6 – Robert Wills: There is very little information about Robert Wills than what is provided by the VoteCalgary.ca website. From the response that Wills gave to the site, he states that he work with in the city and has 19 years of experience in municipal planning development and building [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 10, Alderman - Ward 11, Alderman - Ward 4, Alderman - Ward 6, Alderman - Ward 7, Alderman - Ward 9

May 3rd, 2010

May 5, 2010 - By

While you might not think May 3rd was any special day, it is to the Calgary blogosphere. Well… let’s be specific on what I mean by that. Blogs are not new. Interviews with bloggers is not a new thing. Calgary blogs are not new. Heck, interviews with Calgarian bloggers are not new as well. With all that said though, Shane over at Calgary Rants started something extremely important. He’s the first blogger that I know of who has interviewed someone in Calgary related to politics and has talked about it. I’m sure I’m missing some dude who did the same thing 3 years ago, so update me if that’s the case. This is a very, very big thing, at least for me, and it speaks volumes about the direction of where media will go over the next little while. So what’s so important about it if this isn’t new?

This interview by Calgary Rants with a Ward 11 contender for the upcoming 2010 municipal election will begin a very healthy and much-needed challenge to the mainstream media in Calgary. It’s not saying that the media in Calgary hasn’t done its job to report the news and give people [...]Read More

Tags: Categories: Alderman - Ward 11, Political Theory

Interview with Calgary Ward 11 Alderman Candidate, Ernest McCutcheon

May 3, 2010 - By

  I hope that this first of what I hope to be a wide ranging series of quick interviews with local candidates that are running in the upcoming Calgary 2010 Municipal Election.  I will ask each candidates a series of questions and have them answer them, unfiltered.  Unless specified, I do not endorse any of the candidates interviewed and only use the interview as a method to share the candidates views.  ( As most candidates will get looked over by our busy MSM.)

                                                                     

This interview is with Ernest McCutcheon, a candidate in Ward 11. 

  1) I grew up in Ward 11 also. Apart from the SW Ringroad…What do you think is the biggest issue facing the voters of Ward 11?

  EM:  The SW ring road is going to be a large issue over the next couple of years especially since other sections of the road throughout Calgary have now been approved, are in progress or have been finished. With the city growing, the congestion in the SW is only going to get worse. I wish I had a great answer as to what option is needed or is the best solution. Unfortunately, I [...]Read More

Tags: ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 11

Newcomers in Wards 4, 11, and 12

4
April 7, 2010 - By

Apparently there’s too much Starcraft and not enough hardcore civic election news, so here’s an update on just some of the newcomers into this free-for-all election.

Ward 4

Rumour has it that Sean Chu, who lost against Kent Hehr in Calgary-Buffalo, will take a stab at ward 4 this election. We’ll have to wait and see when the election approaches.

Will Sean Chu Run for Calgary Ward 4 Alderman? – Calgary Rants

Rumour also has it that George Chahal, who lost against Alderman Jim Stevenson in Ward 3, will also take a stab at ward 4. We definitely have two very strong contenders in this ward.

Who’s running for Calgary City Council in 2010? – DJ Kelly

Ward 11

Ernest McCutcheon – I had an Ernest McCutcheon follow me in Twitter today, and he’s indicated on his account that he’ll challenge Brian Pincott in ward 11. He’s been a project manager, sales manager, trained as an EMR, and an ordinary member of the Royal Canadian Legion. That’s all I got from his website, so hopefully we’ll get more information. In keeping with the Pokemon thing [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 11, Alderman - Ward 12, Alderman - Ward 4

Who’s running for Calgary City Council in 2010?

2
April 4, 2010 - By

There sure are a lot of names coming out of the proverbial woodwork right about now saying they are going to run for Calgary City Council. Now it’s a long way off from nomination day on September 20, and everyone can change their minds still, but it’s already getting hard to figure out who is who, and who’s saying their running and who is not.

So with this in mind I decided to put together a list of everything I’ve seen reported, heard personally and have heard rumour of. I’ll try to update this list regularly as we hear or see other things. If you know of anyone missing, please just let me know and I’ll add it!

PS – Try not to read too much into the difference between “rumoured” and “declared”. At this point it doesn’t really mean much. It’s more a degree of veracity in their statements up till now that made me choose one over the other. Some however, are just rumours.

Mayor
Dave Bronconnier – Incumbent (not running)
Craig Burrows (rumoured)
Joe Connelly (rumoured)
Bob Hawkesworth (rumoured)
Kent Hehr (rumoured)
Paul Hughes (declared)
Alnoor Kassam (declared)
Jon Lord (declared)
[...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 1, Alderman - Ward 10, Alderman - Ward 11, Alderman - Ward 12, Alderman - Ward 13, Alderman - Ward 14, Alderman - Ward 2, Alderman - Ward 3, Alderman - Ward 4, Alderman - Ward 5, Alderman - Ward 6, Alderman - Ward 7, Alderman - Ward 8, Alderman - Ward 9, Mayor of Calgary, School Board Trustees - Calgary Board of Education