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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
NWUrbanism said:
"We will support the family as a fundamental unit of society." This is such a strange thing for a municipal level party to highlight as one of their core principles. Anyone who's been around fundamentalist Christians knows that that phrase is their way of saying that they oppose gay marriage. I'll be very surprised if this party isn't full of Take Back Alberta types. The only curve ball to that assumption is this principle: "We will uphold the highest standards of environmental stewardship" , though it may be a somewhat cynical angle to oppose higher density development...
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On that line of thinking, here's their FAQ for the question on diversity:

1718982135658.png


Very bizarre way to phrase this. Your "backgrounds" means your religion or ethnicity, exclusively. So much so they said it twice.

It's revealing on the author's world-view and not particularly relevant - if you don't know what diversity or the many dimensions it can have, just say "we want to hear from all Calgarians, everyone should bewelcome to participate in our party". Whether you actually do that is a whole other thing, but just don't show your hand and bias so easily here.

This is pretty amateur hour website and party. I bet it's a few amateur conservative activists trying to upstream and "get there first" on the more professional party efforts to come.

A weird thing seems to always happen in Alberta, and will happen in this municipal party stuff, is this trend where it's about the brand only, with no substance. It's like everyone wants power, but doesn't really have any clear objectives that they want to accomplish - winning elections is the goal, not doing anything specific with that win. This party for example, says city hall should get "back to basics" and "fiscal responsibility" but doesn't bother to say what those basics are or what city they want to build. It's just a tired regurgitation of left-right paradigm buzzwords. No substance or objectives at all.

For example - don't say "back to basics" say, we want roads without pot-holes, parks that are maintained and taxes that affordable.

Vancouver, a place with a bit more experience in parties at municipal level, is a good comparison. Here's the current ruling party landing page - hits on things like goals to make city safer, more affordable, better run etc. - it's still politicking buzzwords but at least more directly relates to city-level stuff (safer streets, lower taxes, more housing etc.): https://abcvancouver.ca/
 
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CBBarnett said:
Very bizarre way to phrase this.
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The above statement is a way to say they don't believe in affirmative action, DEI, inclusion, etc, and will accomodate 'beliefs' which are rooted in religion, as long as individuals 'characters' are good.

Basically expect anti L2SLGBTQIA+ while framing tolerance of intolerance as inclusive, in a way that most people don't clue into what is going on.
 
It wouldn't surprise me if he did run. He's been active in social media over the past couple of years possibly getting ready to take another run at it, softening his look to gain votes from people who didn't like Gondek, but liked him less.

I think he would have a chance at winning if he ran for a few reasons.
- His previous 30% base is still there and will vote for him again
- Even if Gondek's runs, her popularity has dropped a lot
- As mentioned he's softened his stances. At times criticizing Smith, and recently was even mentioning support for Nenshi in his run for the leader for the NDP.
 
I think he actually changed a fair bit. He was always really different when it was one of the few conservative bugaboo issues versus other issues. He was and is relatively young and learned a lot about himself and the people that were around him when he was the wunderkid versus when he was just him.

I think he would have been not great as mayor a couple years ago, not able to build a coalition and work as good as should be able to in the background. A fault the current Mayor shares.

If I was able to vote in the next election I would vote for him given the potential field I know of today.
 
First of all we don't know if Gondek will run next election. She was pretty iffy on whether she'll run again when asked earlier this year. Second of all I wouldn't be surprised if Sonya Sharp decides to run as the UCP backed conservative. Farkas will likely have to lean into the centre right as a "softer" alternative to Sharp.
 
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darwink said:
I think he actually changed a fair bit. He was always really different when it was one of the few conservative bugaboo issues versus other issues. He was and is relatively young and learned a lot about himself and the people that were around him when he was the wunderkid versus when he was just him.

I think he would have been not great as mayor a couple years ago, not able to build a coalition and work as good as should be able to in the background. A fault the current Mayor shares.

If I was able to vote in the next election I would vote for him given the potential field I know of today.
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I often hope people learn and grow but it seems to me most "changes" experienced publicly are just that, for the public, not for themselves.
 
FriendlyDrunks said:
I often hope people learn and grow but it seems to me most "changes" experienced publicly are just that, for the public, not for themselves.
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To each their own to assess of course, but I don’t think this is a switching of masks, more a genuine reassessment of self, the world, and ones place in it. All the more remarkable really.
 
Duck Lightning said:
First of all we don't know if Gondek will run next election. She was pretty iffy on whether she'll run again when asked earlier this year. Second of all I wouldn't be surprised if Sonya Sharp decides to run as the UCP backed conservative. Farkus will likely have to lean into the centre right as a "softer" alternative to Sharp.
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It will be interesting to see how Sharp positions herself as the "fiscal conservative", while at the same time needing to defend the fact she was the one who championed what is (in my opinion) one of the worst deals for arena funding in the history of arena funding.
 
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