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Calgary Municipal Politics

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

  • Jeremy Farkas

    Votes: 3 5.1%
  • Jyoti Gondek

    Votes: 43 72.9%
  • Brad Field

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Jan Damery

    Votes: 11 18.6%
  • Jeff Davison

    Votes: 2 3.4%
  • Other

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    59
He's a conservative who has headed up the Chinatown BRZ and their continual battle against bike lanes and density. Not a great fit for the ward, which had 3 more progressive women finish 2nd, 3rd and 4th with a combined 60something percent of the vote. I've been assured by campaign strategists of the highest order that vote splitting doesn't occur, but it sure looks like that is what happened there last night.
I'm hopeful that Terry Wong will end up being more of a centrist on council. He definitely holds some old school views about planning and transportation, but I'm optimistic that he will be a little more progressive on economic and social issues. We'll see. I can't see him becoming an arch conservative like Mags, Chu, and Farkas.

It doesn't matter that much anyway. Council has moved decidedly to the left. The only new "arch conservative" seems like Dan McLean. Looking at the new councilors, Gondek may end up occupying the ideological centre of most debates.
 
Provinces have absolute power over municipalities and make use of it from time to time. The only check on this power is fear of voter blow back. Dalton McGuinty feared messing with Rob Ford during his many controversies. Mike Harris had no fear of Toronto voters when he unilaterally dissolved the City of Toronto despite two thirds of Torontonians voting against it in a referendum.

The point is, the buck stops at the Premier's office. It's his decision whether Chu should remain in office and we shouldn't pretend otherwise.
Yes and no. Ultimately the decision to remove a councillor lies with the Municipal Affairs Minister pursuant to the MGA or any other relevant statute. I know the MGA has provisions for removing councillors due to conflict of interest, but i'm not a 100 percent sure whether there is a general provision to remove councillors. I'll have to look into it. Anyways, the Premier can't coerce a Minister to exercise their discretion given to them under the MGA. The Minister can only look to what has been provided to them by statute. Although in practice, politically charged decisions like this will obviously involve cabinet level discussion and other motivations, but it can't be the basis for the decision.
 
Yes and no. Ultimately the decision to remove a councillor lies with the Municipal Affairs Minister pursuant to the MGA or any other relevant statute. I know the MGA has provisions for removing councillors due to conflict of interest, but i'm not a 100 percent sure whether there is a general provision to remove councillors. I'll have to look into it. Anyways, the Premier can't coerce a Minister to exercise their discretion given to them under the MGA. The Minister can only look to what has been provided to them by statute. Although in practice, politically charged decisions like this will obviously involve cabinet level discussion and other motivations, but it can't be the basis for the decision.
There is a general position but I wouldn't say it is designed for a situation like this. It implies that the situation has to be making running the city much worse. It would be an admin law nightmare.
Most consider Gondek to be a direct successor of Naheed Nenshi as her political views are in many ways even more progressive.
God damn CTV saying something without much of a basis.
It seems the pollsters still haven’t figured out how to reach the young population.

Great to see Gondek win by such an easy margin, send a message to the UCP types here in Calgary and up at the capital.
At least one did. This is Janet Brown's from the end of September:
1634683673403.png

Which given we had 2 more weeks of time after that. Might have to look at differential turnout - though in amatuer playing with data sets once the set is big enough it doesn't really swing things much.

Leger is the biggest miss. In the field late and still a big miss.
 
Interesting differences between Gondek and Farkas when comparing the educational background of those polled. Farkas easily takes it with people having HS or less, While Gondek crushed it with the higher levels. Still though....24% of the people with Post grad education said they'd vote for Farkas. 🤷‍♂️

1634684262754.png
 
Yes and no. Ultimately the decision to remove a councillor lies with the Municipal Affairs Minister pursuant to the MGA or any other relevant statute. I know the MGA has provisions for removing councillors due to conflict of interest, but i'm not a 100 percent sure whether there is a general provision to remove councillors. I'll have to look into it. Anyways, the Premier can't coerce a Minister to exercise their discretion given to them under the MGA. The Minister can only look to what has been provided to them by statute. Although in practice, politically charged decisions like this will obviously involve cabinet level discussion and other motivations, but it can't be the basis for the decision.
Thanks for adding this nuance. However, I think it has become abundantly clear by now that Alberta's ministers have almost no autonomy and most decisions are being handed down to them from the Premier's office.
 
Hmm. I guess we'll see if his anti density means 'stick firmly to the guidebook recommendations' or 'blow up the guidebook'
That's cool, all development can go to other wards that want them then while Ward 7 stagnates.

Definitely a case of vote splitting giving him the win.

While I'm annoyed that Terry Wong got in basically because the wasn't a clear favourite among the progressives, I highly doubt it will make much difference in Ward 7 redevelopment. I've seen very little evidence of deference to local councillor's views in Calgary, unlike say New York City. The one exception may be Chinatown projects, where Wong will make a very very big stink about anything he doesn't like, and I do predict some amount of deference to his point of view from the others.
 
Yeah as lifelong ward 7 resident, I'm not thrilled about Wong, but he's no Farkas or Chu. I get the sense that he's at least more moderate than other NIMBY counselors of the past and present. Hopefully he doesn't oppose every project in ward 7 but time will tell. My bigger concern is to what extent he'll be advocating for infrastructure projects in the ward. The northhill area is beginning to need some serious facelifts in some places (like 24th ave) and I hope the city keeps working to make improvements to the area! Just not confident that Wong supports or even wants such improvements.
 
Interesting differences between Gondek and Farkas when comparing the educational background of those polled. Farkas easily takes it with people having HS or less, While Gondek crushed it with the higher levels. Still though....24% of the people with Post grad education said they'd vote for Farkas. 🤷‍♂️

View attachment 356754
I go into the polls a bit more here:
 
While I'm annoyed that Terry Wong got in basically because the wasn't a clear favourite among the progressives, I highly doubt it will make much difference in Ward 7 redevelopment. I've seen very little evidence of deference to local councillor's views in Calgary, unlike say New York City. The one exception may be Chinatown projects, where Wong will make a very very big stink about anything he doesn't like, and I do predict some amount of deference to his point of view from the others.
Very true. Druh actually opposed the Sola project on 14th, which was in her riding, and it still went ahead anyway, as I recall the council vote was 12-3.
 

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