Posts Tagged ‘Bob Hawkesworth’

The ‘Real’ Disappointments

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October 16, 2010 - By

Nation, one of the things I’m most excited about to come out of this election on the Social Media side of things is the birth of a new blog, by (until now) guest blogger Christina Rontynen and her “plus one”.  Being the megalithic blogging presence that I am, I take full credit for the creation of this blog, as well as Calgary Rants and (by extension) Calgary Daddy, not to mention CalgaryPolitics.com.  Add to this the fact that I single-handedly wiped Alberta Tory off the map, and scared Calgary Grit so badly he had to move to Toronto, and it becomes clear that the greatest force shaping the landscape of the Albertan blogosphere isn’t rain or wind – it’s The Enlightened Savage.

This is the final entry of a series that began with an open invitation by Christina for candidates to show her “the real them”.

Christina’s post begins…  now.

*****

I started this blogging adventure with an invitation to all mayoral candidates to hang out and let me get know the person behind the politician. I received an overwhelming response – McKenzie, Nenshi, Burrows, and Higgins. So thanks – to those of [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Mayor of Calgary

Gut Check Time

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October 6, 2010 - By

Nation, by now many of you have seen the new polling numbers for the Calgary Mayoral Election.

To sum it up:
McIver 31%
Higgins 28%
Nenshi 16%
All others, combined 9%
Undecided 17%

Let’s take a look at what this poll means for our candidates, shall we?

Ric McIver – 31%

This is a worrisome poll for Ric.  He’s had a more or less prohibitive lead since the day he announced his intention to run for Mayor.  This is the first time someone’s been perceived as being within legitimate striking distance of him – and what’s worse, he finds himself in a statistical tie with Barb Higgins, a photogenic communicator with no voting record hanging around her neck like an albatross.  Most of the barbs (lower-case b) in this campaign have been tossed at McIver, as the front-runner.  Higgins has, to this point, remained relatively unscathed.  Further, Ric has seen his share of popular support drop from 43% (September 19th) all the way down to 31% (October 5th).

Is he still winning? Yes.  If an election were held today, would he be our Mayor tomorrow? Yes. But suddenly, a campaign that has [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Mayor of Calgary

tales of a blog

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September 24, 2010 - By

I was reminded today that people actually read Calgary Politics. Naheed Nenshi called ahead of time to say he was running late for his Gauntlet interview and specified that he read my post and regretted following Higgins’ example. Higgins’ team called back today (two days after…hmm) to apologize for being late, giving us such a short window of time, and wanted to reschedule another interview. She also fired her campaign manager today for communication and scheduling problems, which I assume is related to some degree.

For the record, we’re only doing one interview per candidate.

Yesterday as I wrote about our interview with Bob Hawkesworth I thought to myself, “We haven’t finished doing all of our interviews yet, so it’s probably not the best if I post my thoughts about the interviews before we finish them all.” Duh. They say hindsight is the clearest. I will still post my thoughts about the interviews, but after we’re finished them.

It’s freaky to think that mayoral and aldermanic candidates read what I write and even refer to what I write. Yeesh, that’s not a lot of pressure at all…

[...]Read More

Tags: ι ι Categories: Mayor of Calgary

No free lunch for any mayoral candidate

2
September 9, 2010 - By

Update: Forgot to add a comment on Derek McKenzie. It has now been included.

This post was originally going to be called “Blurtations about the 2 horse race” but it was decided that this was a better title. While this blogger didn’t get the opportunity to eat lunch or have coffee with Higgins, he did have a “pseudo lunch” with her when she made her platform speech down at the Olympic Plaza. There are many points to be made from this event and from the election in general that a post to talk about it all was fitting.

1. A platform from Higgins, or at least something to hold onto: Expectations are pretty low so far when it comes to platform ideas. In the perceived two way race between Ric McIver and Barb Higgins, you’re probably not expecting a lot in terms of platforms and policies. However, while many have criticized Higgins for a lack of a platform, she came out with at least a few (and very practical). She laid out 7 main goals, and gave the public at least a hint of a platform.

a) Financial Responsibility: One that was interesting to hear was the make [...]Read More

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Interview With Calgary 2010 Ward 4 Aldermanic Candidate Sean Chu

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September 2, 2010 - By

This is a continuation of a series of interviews that I will post about local candidates that are running in the 2010 Calgary municipal election. I do not endorse any of the candidates necessarily, unless stated otherwise. The intent is to allow the candidates a forum in which they can share some of their views.
This interview is with Sean Chu, who will be running for Alderman in Ward 4 this term. As noted in a previous post, I know Sean personally and have worked with him on a local board over the past few years. Ward 4 will be a highly contested race and the number of candidates running seems to expand each day!

1) Some of your opponents will make a big issue of the fact that you do not live in the ward. How do you respond to these concerns?

SC: I recognize that this would be an issue when I decided to run for Ward 4, but with my roots, and connections all tied to Ward 4, I felt right putting my name forward for the October election.
When I came to Calgary decades ago, Ward 4 was my first home. [...]Read More

Tags: ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 4

Guest Blog: It’s Saturday Night… Do you know where your Mayoral Candidates Are?

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September 1, 2010 - By

Nation, this blogger is blessed to have many articulate readers and friends who visit this blog, some of whom occasionally agree with him, and, as is more often the case, many of whom DISagree with him (because they’re intelligent, and he’s just eye candy).

Occasionally, one of those readers or friends (in this case, both) submits something in writing that deserves a great deal more attention than the typical “comment” at the bottom of another blog post. Christina Rontynen submitted the following commentary to me last Saturday evening, and I’m putting it up on the blog (with her permission) for public consumption. All references to time (e.g. “tonight” or “this evening”) are – as Einstein might say – relative.

Christina’s writing begins… now.

*********

I sit up on a Saturday evening … and like the nerdy, politically astute female I am I wonder what my mayoral candidates are up to. Saturday night is the stereotypical date night; the night away, the night off, the night checked out from the world of politics.

Looking through my TweetDeck I find that the hashtag #nomnomnom brings me to find individuals enjoying funnel cake, chocolate chip cookie dough, and @eliz_rocks enjoying “deep fried cheese [...]Read More

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Does a new mayor matter if we ignored the other 14 races?

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August 16, 2010 - By

Knowing about city council and understanding how it works are two very different things. If we considered the amount of coverage we receive in terms of mayoral candidates compared to the amount of coverage on all aldermanic races, we might want to consider increasing coverage on those 14 key races. Why would we want to know more about aldermanic races than an exciting open seat race for the mayor’s chair? Here are some few points to consider:

1. One vote out of 15: Since there are no political parties at the local level, a spokesperson like the mayor is only effective as the other 14 aldermen allow him/her to be one. Since we are dealing with just one vote, we may see the “tone” and “direction” of city council go the way of council rather than the mayor. Yes, the mayor is elected by all Calgarians and holds a very interesting position, but when it comes down to voting, he/she will only have one vote, and we should keep that in mind.

2. A council dependent on city administration: Since there are 4 open races in the aldermanic elections, we will see at least 4 new aldermen. There are also [...]Read More

Tags: ι Categories: Political Theory

Guest Blogger John Santos on the Global Poll

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July 31, 2010 - By

Nation, it’s funny how small a world this is when you think about it…

I received a Facebook “friend request” a few months ago, from a young man named John Santos. It turns out that his brother had attended a music school at which I had been a teacher. The message that John sent along with his “friend request” indicated that he had long been a reader of The Enlightened Savage, and now that he realized there was a personal connection, he’d be sure to read even more often.

Well, it turns out that John is quite the political animal, and when the Global/NRG poll came out this Thursday night, John made sure to point out on Twitter that, “Not that the overall picture would change, but there are methodological issues with the Global poll.”

Now, many would disagree with me on this point, but I firmly believe that methodology MATTERS in these things… a badly-constructed poll, whether by circumstance or by purposeful design, leads one to believe that certain things are true, when in fact they’re not – and donors, volunteers, and supporters pay attention to the numbers that these polls trumpet as STONE. COLD. FACT. A poll that’s [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Mayor of Calgary, Political Theory

Don’t Fire Until You See The Whites Of Their Eyes…

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July 29, 2010 - By

Nation, the silly season is upon us in full force, as we have (at last count) 12 candidates for mayor, 44 confirmed aldermanic candidates, and 11 candidates for trustee spread out over 2 school boards – all vying for public attention, donor dollars, media coverage, and the all-important momentum, going into the October 18th vote.

The crazy train arrived a little earlier than normal this election cycle, with word earlier this year that mayor Dave Bronconnier would not be seeking re-election. From the day that announcement was made, it was only a matter of time before all heck broke loose – and break loose, it did.

3 sitting aldermen are seeking the mayor’s chair: Ric McIver, Bob Hawkesworth and Joe Connelly. As well, Alderman Joe Ceci has announced he won’t be seeking re-election. So, right there, you have 4 wards that will seat new alderman at the first council meeting this fall. That’s assuming no incumbents taste defeat – an unlikely situation, as the acrimonious and controversial nature of this past council hasn’t been seen in these parts since Danielle Smith was a CBE Trustee. People are hungry for change – and it’s not overstating the matter to suggest [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Mayor of Calgary, Political Theory

And Bob Makes… Eight? Nine?

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June 2, 2010 - By

Nation, the announcement of Bob Hawkesworth’s intention to run for Mayor of Calgary this week has bumped up the list of confirmed mayoral candidates to eight – or nine, depending on what counts as “declaring” – with over 4 months to go to polling day.

For those keeping track at home, here are the confirmed candidates, according to CalgaryDemocracy.ca :

Alnoor Kassam – Alnoor claims he hasn’t declared his intentions formally yet, but that’s like the Oilers saying they haven’t decided whether to take Taylor Hall, Tyler Seguin or someone else entirely on Draft Day. He’s been “unofficially declaring” himself to anyone within earshot for months. He’s running.

Bob Hawkesworth – the longtime Alderman joined the fray officially this week, though he’s been hinting for several weeks since announcing he wouldn’t be seeking his Aldermanic seat again. Thus far, he seems to be the only incumbent member of council in the running for Mayor who is actually defending council’s record – an interesting approach, but certainly unique among his peers.

Craig Burrows – the former Alderman announced last week, to little fanfare. Burrows has had some time away from “the game” to organize his bid, and doesn’t have to wear [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Mayor of Calgary

Nenshi + Hawkesworth = stronger McIver

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May 27, 2010 - By

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 from djkelly.ca

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Mayor of Calgary

Waiter! Waiter! There’s a Hehr in my mayoral race!

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May 5, 2010 - By

Well, Nation, nobody suggested that this year’s Calgary mayoral race was going to be boring…

Kent Hehr, Liberal MLA for Calgary-Buffalo, announced today his intention to seek the office of Mayor for the City of Calgary.

This seems a little unexpected to many – I have to admit that I was made aware of the “98% certainty” of Hehr’s decision last week, however even then I was totally unaware of the immediacy of that decision being announced. This sounds like Kent was trying to get his announcement out before someone else who appeals to the same demographic – Dave Taylor, perhaps? – could get the drop on him and steal his thunder.

One of Hehr’s primary arguments in favour of his candidacy is his perception that choosing a mayor who has been on the current council would result in a great deal of baggage coming with the new mayor. Certainly, the sniping that we’ve seen among council members isn’t likely to change with one of the current bunch just switching chairs and getting to hold the gavel – but, we all know that the new mayor isn’t going to be the only change on council… not by a LONG [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Mayor of Calgary

Who’s running for Calgary City Council in 2010?

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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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Will Sean Chu Run for Ward 4 Alderman?

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April 3, 2010 - By

  I was pleasantly surprised when I heard a rumour recently that Sean Chu was considering a run for Ward 4 Alderman in the 2010 Calgary Civic Election!  I have had the good fortune to get to know Sean over the past few years while working together on the Calgary Hays PC Association Board and on various fundraisers.  Through my experience with working with him, I think he would make an excellent alderman!

 With the departure of outgoing Ward 4 Alderman Bob Hawkesworth ( see Bob’s confirmation on his blog at http://blog.hawkesworth.com/) the race for Ward 4 will be an interesting one.  Bob has held this seat for a long time and while some feel he has done a good job,  it really is time for a change in Ward 4 in my opinion! 

 Sean Chu has been a City of Calgary Policy officer for over 17 years and has many years of dedicated experience in the community.  Here is a brief snapshot of some of his community work:

• Advisor to the Sunalta/Scarboro Coalition for Safer Communities which led a successful local initiative to stop a halfway house from being built close to schools in Sunalta.

• Member of the [...]Read More

Tags: ι Categories: Alderman - Ward 4

April: The month where Calgarians know if Nenshi or McIver is running

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March 30, 2010 - By

They have been hinting at it, but it looks like some of the bigger players will finally confirm their candidacy (or surprise us) for the mayoral race. Actually, they better or else this blog post will be pointless. So just how do we know that April will be the month? Let’s take a look:

Ric McIver

The Metro reported that by the time Ric McIver is finished with his block party on April 21, everyone will know his intentions. Actually, it’s been about a year or more, and you can track it all the way to the end of 2008 when Calgarians went crazy over the 22% property tax increase over 3 years. Many observers used the pedestrian bridge debate as a sign of things to come between Bronconnier and McIver. Since the incumbent decided to not seek re-election, it is safe to say that McIver is the front runner. He definitely has the plurality of votes, but definitely not all the votes. Here’s the official poster for his upcoming block party:

It’s a $150 if you want in on being the first to know live whether or not Ric McIver is [...]Read More

Tags: ι ι ι ι ι ι Categories: Mayor of Calgary

What About Bob?

March 25, 2010 - By

Nation, we’ve all heard by now that Bob Hawkesworth has decided not to stand for re-election as a City of Calgary Alderman in Ward 4.

The question, then, becomes…  will he be running for another job entirely?

As was reported several weeks ago, Hawkesworth had quietly been talking to people about his viability as a mayoral candidate, given the surprise announcement by Dave Bronconnier that Bronco would not be running for another term as Mayor of the ‘Burg on the Bow.  We heard that Bob was considering a run for mayor, and then he came out last week and announced that he would not be seeking another term as Alderman for Ward 4 – the public announcement, by the way, was via Twitter – follow Bob at @bobhawkesworth

So…  we wait for the other shoe to drop.  Is Bob Hawkesworth retiring from public life? Or is he just taking a deep breath before plunging into a deeper pool?

Calgarians like their mayors a little red in the middle – it’s a nice, civic medium-rare.  Hawkesworth would be liberal even by our regular standards, having been an MLA for the Alberta New Democrats.  All that said, though, Hawkesworth is far from [...]Read More

Tags: ι Categories: Mayor of Calgary

2010 will be a year of new faces

March 21, 2010 - By

2010 is going to be a year of sweeping change at Calgary’s City Hall.

If you’ve been paying attention to the papers these past couple years you’ll know there is a deep seeded frustration among Calgarians with their current council. And with that frustration has come with the hope for something better. (Affectionately referred to as “hope-y change-y stuff” by Fox News commentator Sarah Palin.)

But will the public get the change they have cried for? To do this, half of council would need to change. Given Calgary City Council’s average turn over 2007 saw a “lot” of change when three incumbents were defeated and one retired. However four is a long way from a majority of new faces, and that is something that has not happened in a very long time. As a matter of fact, only five of the current 15 council members were not sitting in their same seat in 2001. That’s not much change over the last decade.

However 2010 may just be shaping up to the year it actually happened.

First Dave Bronconnier announced that he will not be seeking another term. Then two days ago Bob Hawkesworth, who first [...]Read More

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