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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
Along with knowing who is behind a campaign, I think it is important to put limits because someone with a lot of money can throw a lot of weight around if they should choose. The hard part of limits is that it encourages more partisan groups to spread the same amount around. I guess you can put in red tape to make it labourous to set up these groups.
 
I wonder what Nenshi's chances are for winning again? I assumed he was a shoe in, but this morning on the radio I heard them say his approval rating was down somewhat.
 
My money is on Naheed winning by a healthy margin. Incumbents in local races have enormous advantages that you have to be very unpopular to overcome. His approval rating was last pegged around 52%. That's a big drop from 2011 (he was around 86% at the time) but it's still in Obama territory, and a lot higher than the sitting POTUS.
 
Always_Biking said:
I wonder what Nenshi's chances are for winning again? I assumed he was a shoe in, but this morning on the radio I heard them say his approval rating was down somewhat.
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This is probably what you're referring to.
http://edmontonjournal.com/news/pol...monton-as-long-as-connor-mcdavids-not-running
  1. Naheed Nenshi: 33 per cent favourable; 53 per cent unfavourable
Click to expand...
I wouldn't read to much into it. Nenshi should win fairly easily. I don't think he'll get the numbers he had before, but he should still win.
 
The most recent numbers for approval ratings was from back in April.
http://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/poll-show-naheed-nenshi-approval-rating-slipping-further

Nenshi has slipped, but is still the odds on favorite. I'm not an expert on political science, but I would say there are two factors involved here.

1) How many candidates run against him. If it whittles down to a two person race he might be in trouble.


2) the group of people in the 'somewhat' categories. The strongly approve and disapprove group won't change their mind come election time, but the somewhats can be swayed. If that group sways towards disapproval, he might be in trouble.

I'm still on board with Nenshi, so he'll have my vote come October.


nenshi_poll.png
 
I've been loath to comment much on this. Nothing fouls up the air quite like talking politics. I'm not a huge fan of Nenshi myself, but he isn't without his positive qualities. I find his demeanor to be arrogant and his political style to be belligerent. There's been some slow progress of projects I actually care about like the ring road and greenline, but a whole lot of energy seems to have been expended on matters I would consider on the fluffier side like bike lanes, "sustainability" and affordable housing along with a litany of tax increases. These are just my opinions and I don't try to attach any kind of personal connotations if you disagree with me. People share different priorities. I did however feel compelled to express a contrarian opinion.

I think he's a better ambassador of the city than he is mayor of the city. And while it's been nice to get some of the cosmopolitan glow, I also feel like the city has lost some of it's soul under Nenshi. I think there's a reason that he's more popular with non-residents than with citizens of the city. Above all, I dislike the cult of personality he has cultivated for himself. There's no quality I dislike more in a politician. (Imagine my opinion of our Prime Minister... :rolleyes:)

And though my political allegiances would probably lie closer to someone like Farkas when taken in a vacuum, a mayor still needs a vision. I'd argue more so than any other political executive in our system of government. (Not to mention all the stuff I just said about belligerence. And all the stuff I don't think I have to say about competence.) That's partly why I couldn't bring myself to vote for Ric MacIver, back in 2010. That kind of heavy skepticism is better positioned on the council than in the mayor's chair in my opinion. I deliberately spoiled my ballot in 2013 and right now I'm kind of leaning towards doing the same again. The only thing potentially swaying me to vote for Nenshi is to spite the Flames (whose team I love dearly and whose ownership I despise viscerally).
 
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There are a lot of people living precariously who don't think affordable housing is a "fluffy" issue. Fluff is a multi-billion road project that leads nowhere and that totally violates everything we know about urban planning and traffic engineering.

That said, I get the comment about Nenshi being belligerent. He reminds me of David Miller (TO Mayor 2003-2010) in that he rose to power on a hope and change message, but is quite aggressive in attempting to steer the agenda. I think it's in part a product of being a "vision" candidate in a weak mayor system. If you have a specific vision and little political power to enact it, you end up getting in a lot of political fights. On the other hand, Bill Smith reminds me of John Tory: a no-vision, crony-capitalist, establishment type who will quietly steer through a pro-big business agenda while trying not to openly offend anyone or upset the status quo. Not the kind of mayor you want when Ken King comes begging for public money to support his for-profit corporation.
 
Silence&Motion said:
There are a lot of people living precariously who don't think affordable housing is a "fluffy" issue. Fluff is a multi-billion road project that leads nowhere and that totally violates everything we know about urban planning and traffic engineering.

That said, I get the comment about Nenshi being belligerent. He reminds me of David Miller (TO Mayor 2003-2010) in that he rose to power on a hope and change message, but is quite aggressive in attempting to steer the agenda. I think it's in part a product of being a "vision" candidate in a weak mayor system. If you have a specific vision and little political power to enact it, you end up getting in a lot of political fights. On the other hand, Bill Smith reminds me of John Tory: a no-vision, crony-capitalist, establishment type who will quietly steer through a pro-big business agenda while trying not to openly offend anyone or upset the status quo. Not the kind of mayor you want when Ken King comes begging for public money to support his for-profit corporation.
Click to expand...

I never said other people should feel like those issues are fluffy. And I'll admit, fluffy isn't the right word anyway, because it isn't that I don't think most of those things aren't serious issues, they just aren't at the top of my agenda. More roads to nowhere please. Nowhere is where I live and often where I go. I'd take Tory before Nenshi, but I'd take Nenshi over any other Toronto mayor I could name, Miller especially.
 
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