Browsing posts in the ‘Alderman – Ward 13’ 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

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Ward 13 Profile

1
October 17, 2010 - By

(before choosing a candidate for Alderman, please see my post on what the job actually entails)

Calgary’s Ward 13 includes most of Calgary south of Anderson Road and west of MacLeod Trail.  It’s a suburban ward, with many of the communities less than 30 years old.  Several of the communities are lucky enough to border Fish Creek Provincial Park.  Issues most often listed as high priorities in Ward 13 these days include policing, transportation (particularly the SW Ring Road), and preservation of natural spaces (in particular, the Shawnee Slopes issue).

The candidates (listed in alphabetical order, by first name) are:

Andrew Rodych

Rodych is a Shawnee resident, and a graduate of the University of Calgary in Political Science.  An avid recreationalist, he’s a frequent user of public transit and an entrepreneur.  He’s also due to be schooled by The Enlightened Savage in a game of Axis & Allies some day soon.

The issues that Andrew identifies most closely with are:

  • Real Representation
  • Community Characteristics
  • Budget Transparency

Rodych’s website can be found here.
Rodych’s audio Savaging can be found here.

Diane Colley-Urquhart

Colley-Urquhart is the incumbent [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 13

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

Audio: Interview with Ward 13 Candidate Trevor Hodge

2
October 8, 2010 - By

Nation, after the recent Ward 13 Aldermanic Forum (hosted by the good people at CivicCamp), I had a chance to chat with candidate Trevor Hodge.  With his eagle-eyed campaign manager standing guard while we stood under a street-lamp outside the venue, we were able to have a good chat without much in the way of interruption.

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

Tags: ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 13

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 13 Candidate Sandy Jenkins

2
September 28, 2010 - By

Nation, I had a chance last week to sit down with Ward 13 candidate Sandy Jenkins at a restaurant on Bannister Road.

Jenkins, who some may remember finished 3rd in the Mayoral race in 2007, was forthright and open with his answers.  His opinions might not be the most popular on some issues, but no one can accuse him of sugar-coating his thoughts.

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

Tags: ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 13

Audio: Interview with Ward 13 Candidate Andrew Rodych

3
September 19, 2010 - By

Nation, my 2nd interview of yesterday was with Andrew Rodych, who is seeking the consent of the residents of Ward 13 to sit as their representative on city council as Alderman.

Andrew was 5 minutes early for our appointment at a local establishment that rhymes with “Crumpty’s”, and rattled through my prepared questions with clear, concise and well thought-out responses – which is all the more impressive when one considers he hasn’t done a lot of interviews, and some of my questions were quite literally from WAY out in left field.

I should apologize for 2 items in the interview: Firstly, the background noise is a little harsh at times – the hazard of recording an interview in a restaurant. Secondly, I incorrectly identified “Rodych” as a good, strong German name. It is, in fact, a good, strong Ukrainian name – to my Ukrainian friends, please stop pelting my house with pyrohy.

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

Tags: ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 13

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

‘I am not a career politician’: Colley-Urquhart

1
August 24, 2010 - By

I recently came across a surprising nugget in an old Calgary Herald story, and thought local political observers might find it interesting. The story is from June 5, 2000. The story is about Diane Colley-Urquhart, then a candidate for the Ward 13 byelection which took place in July of that year. The writer is Danielle Smith, who praises Colley-Urquhart for her “long association with the Alberta Progressive Conservatives.” That alone is funny to read 10 years later. But here’s the really good part:

Running for council is the next step in [Colley-Urquhart's] community service resume but not the last. “I am not a career politician. If elected, I will serve two terms, then get out so there can be fresh leadership.”

It’s a refreshing attitude. Diane Colley-Urquhart is off to a great start.

Since she was first elected in 2000, Colley-Urquhart has been re-elected three times (or, more accurately, elected once and acclaimed twice). Now she’s seeking another term in this October’s election after a failed attempt at becoming a PC MLA last year. How things change…

(Cross-posted to Klaszus Corner at ffwdweekly.com)

[...]Read More

Tags: Categories: Alderman - Ward 13

Andrew Rodych to run for Alderman in Ward 13

August 6, 2010 - By

Nation, as part of my duties as one of the charter members of CalgaryPolitics.com and The Best Political Team in the Blogosphere (TM), I’ll be covering the aldermanic race in Ward 13.

I received a press release last night from the campaign to elect Andrew Rodych as Alderman for Ward 13.  I have never met Mr. Rodych, and had not heard of him until last night, but I commend him for his decision to put his name on a ballot in an effort to improve his community.  Well done, sir!

A quick google search for Rodych yields the information that he’s at least partially crazy, as he plays goal in a recreational ball-hockey league.  I’ve seen how some of those rec. league guys slap that ball – you’ve GOT to be crazy to play goalie.

On a more serious note, though – rather than running with platitudes and pretty words hiding a lack of substantive proposals, as many candidates across the city seem to be, the very first press release from Rodych outlines his plan to bring forward what he’s calling a “Community Characteristic Bylaw”, so as to protect in perpetuity those areas that are most valued by a community [...]Read More

Tags: Categories: Alderman - Ward 13

Diane Colley-Urquhart Is Not Running for Mayor of Calgary in 2010

3
June 23, 2010 - By

   

 

 

Over the past few months, there has been a lot of speculation that Diane Colley-Urquhart would take a run at the Mayor’s chair after 10 years as the Alderman for Ward 13.  The following press release confirms that Diane will not be running for Mayor after all and has opted to run for re-election in her current ward.

Diane has had a ton of success in this Ward and many people feel she will be tough to beat this October.  This is likely why there have been no credible challengers announce that they will be running against her.  I imagine a few “tire kickers” in Ward 13 just realized that 2010 is not their year!

Shane

This has been cross posted from Shane @www.calgaryrants.com

Tags: Categories: Alderman - Ward 13, Mayor of Calgary

Who Is Running For Alderman in Calgary Ward 13? ( aka..The Ward No One Seems To Care About?)

1
June 8, 2010 - By

Many of us are getting excited about the upcoming 2010 Calgary Municipal Election!  As a blogger I am finding that this election is going to be exciting due to the many different and interesting races that are shaping up across the city.  Taking a quick look at http://www.calgarydemocracy.ca/ you can see that there are some very interesting candidates that have come forward to contest many of the Aldermanic seats this year.  After reviewing a ton of the information, I notice that there is one ward that no one is really talking about….Ward 13!

 Ward 13 is has been represented by Diane Colley-Urquhart since they year 2000.  There is speculation that she is considering a run at the Mayor’s chair this year and while I am not sure if it is authorized or not, there is even a new twitter group called ‘Friends of Diane” pushing her to run for mayor.  The Twitter account states a tag line of ” Diane Colley-Urquhart has served Calgary as a great Alderman. Lets get her to be the next Mayor of Calgary!” and with 9 followers, I am not sure if this is the push they are looking for.  ( However, with the recent [...]Read More

Tags: Categories: Alderman - Ward 13

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

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