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Calgary Municipal Politics

Which mayoral candidate do you intend to vote for in 2021?

  • Jeremy Farkas

    Votes: 3 4.9%

  • Jyoti Gondek

    Votes: 43 70.5%

  • Brad Field

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Jan Damery

    Votes: 11 18.0%

  • Jeff Davison

    Votes: 3 4.9%

  • Other

    Votes: 1 1.6%
  • Total voters
    61
Mountain Man said:
At this rate there will be 35 candidates by then! lol
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It will be pretty easy to see who is successfully raising and spending money, and raising and using volunteers by the end of summer. Who the media treats as serious because they are acting serious. I'd guess 5:
  • Farkas
  • Field
  • Davison
  • Damery
  • Gondek

Still a narrowing chance there will be others, but it could come.
 
Policy Time:
Jan Damery:
Jyoti Gondek:

Jeff Davison: https://www.jeffdavisonyyc.com/platform
  • Community Venture Fund
  • Collision spaces to support cluster economies - hubs, accelerators
  • Build economy on energy strength
  • No tax increases:
    1621278878785.png
Brad Field: https://www.votebradfield.ca/issues-overview

Jeromy Farkas:
https://www.jeromy.ca/the-priorities
  • Economic Growth - Getting Calgarians back to work
    • Kickstart the economy by lowering taxes
    • Eliminate red tape
  • Financial Responsibility
    • Get the budget under control
    • Needs before wants
    • " giving Calgarians tax breaks must start now."
  • Better Core Services
    • Affordable transit
    • Well maintained infrastructure
    • Efficient snow clearing support police all possible
      • Downtown police station
  • Build for the 21st Century
    • LRT to the airport
    • Easy access to City Council Voting Records
    • More citizen input into development
 
There are some good points from all of the candidates.

I like Field's idea of examining civil servant pensions. I'd be okay with the city offering some sort of RRSP matching or something, but pensions are bad, especially with today's average life expectancy. It's an unnecessary cost that everyone's on the hook for.
I like some of Damery's ideas, but don't we already commit money to improving parks and parthways? Also, isn't alcohol now allowed in city parks?

Davison's idea of no tax increases is fine. I don't think we need tax breaks or reductions in tax. We already have one of the lowest property taxes as it is.

Gondek's ideas are generally good. Definitely push to get the Green Line built, but what will she really be able to do that Nenshi hasn't been able to do? Bring downtown back to life, is great...though work is already happening on that.
 
Chinook Arch said:
don't we already commit money to improving parks and parthways? Also, isn't alcohol now allowed in city parks?
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Both of these are sorta the same question.

Sure, we spend money on parks and pathways, and we allow alcohol in city parks if you prebook a picnic table and only consume at those select picnic tables. But proposals about spending more on pathways for specific purposes, and allowing alcohol in basically all parks without pre-booking are about doing more, or allowing far more.

It is like saying a commitment to cancel the greenline or build the greenline is moot becuase calgary already has LRT to some places and spends some money on it.
 
darwink said:
Both of these are sorta the same question.

Sure, we spend money on parks and pathways, and we allow alcohol in city parks if you prebook a picnic table and only consume at those select picnic tables. But proposals about spending more on pathways for specific purposes, and allowing alcohol in basically all parks without pre-booking are about doing more, or allowing far more.

It is like saying a commitment to cancel the greenline or build the greenline is moot becuase calgary already has LRT to some places and spends some money on it.
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I didn't know you had to pre-book a picnic table, and it was only select picnic tables. she's not offering a ground breaking idea of alcohol in the parks but rather improving on it, which is fine by me. As for the $5M for pathway and park improvements, that's fine too, but it seems like a small amount to proclaim as part of a platform. I'm sure we spend a lot more than that already, and over the past 5 years we've already been spending money on cycle tracks and pathways, park improvements. I'm not against the idea, but think if you're going to push that as part of a platform, make it something noticeable.
 
Scale is an issue in politics for sure - are small things less important? Did the airport tunnel matter in the sense that it was only $300 million compared to the contemperanoues West LRT at $1.4 billion? Do they matter more or less than the cycle tracks at $1.2 million? Or is every announcement despite the number a signal of what candidates value?
 
darwink said:
Scale is an issue in politics for sure - are small things less important? Did the airport tunnel matter in the sense that it was only $300 million compared to the contemperanoues West LRT at $1.4 billion? Do they matter more or less than the cycle tracks at $1.2 million? Or is every announcement despite the number a signal of what candidates value?
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I'm not saying the small things don;'t matter. They do, but they don't come across as groundbreaking considering the city has already been doing these things. The city has already been improving parks and pathways before she came along. I'm also not saying I don't like her ideas, only that they're not likely to raise eyebrows.
 
Chinook Arch said:
I'm not saying the small things don;'t matter. They do, but they don't come across as groundbreaking considering the city has already been doing these things. The city has already been improving parks and pathways before she came along. I'm also not saying I don't like her ideas, only that they're not likely to raise eyebrows.
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The $5million doesn't come across as a lot at first glance, but keep in mind the entire downtown cycle track system was built for a round $5 million iirc, and it's been a game changer. If we were to add another $5 Million per year on top of what we already spend, there is a lot that can be accomplished as time goes on.

As someone who uses the bike and park infrastructure regularly, I say go for $10 million a year :)
 
I'd challenge anyone looking for groundbreaking ideas to try to remember what were the 12 ideas in the Nenshi platform. I've mentioned one. Can you remember another? I'll hide them here:

#12 – Calgary will be a City where its citizens are enriched by outstanding libraries, recreation amenities, and a vibrant cultural scene​

#11 – Calgary will be a city where every neighbourhood is a safe neighbourhood​

#10 – Calgary will reduce the number of people living in poverty and ensure opportunity for all
#9 – Calgarians will be able to get around easily by any mode of transportation
#8 – Calgary City Council will be more transparent, more efficient, and easier for citizens to engage
#7 – Calgary will be a city of sustainable, walkable, livable, complete communities
#6 – Political campaigns should be about the best ideas, not the most money
#5 – Calgary Transit will be a preferred choice, not the last choice.
#4 – Calgarians will have convenient, quick access to their airport.
#3 – Calgary will be the best place in Canada to start and grow a business
#2 – Nenshi proposes audit changes; brings transparency to city hall
#1 – Nenshi proposes common-sense policy on secondary suites
 
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