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End of an era? Progressive mayors in Calgary and Edmonton to make their exits
There's a palpable desire in Edmonton and Calgary for change — at least according to the small-government types aiming to take over at city hall

Author of the article:Tyler Dawson

nationalpost.com

End of an era? Progressive mayors in Calgary and Edmonton to make their exits

There's a palpable desire in Edmonton and Calgary for change — at least according to the small-government types aiming to take over at city hall
nationalpost.com nationalpost.com
 
IanO said:
End of an era? Progressive mayors in Calgary and Edmonton to make their exits
There's a palpable desire in Edmonton and Calgary for change — at least according to the small-government types aiming to take over at city hall

Author of the article:Tyler Dawson

nationalpost.com

End of an era? Progressive mayors in Calgary and Edmonton to make their exits

There's a palpable desire in Edmonton and Calgary for change — at least according to the small-government types aiming to take over at city hall
nationalpost.com nationalpost.com
Click to expand...
This same article was published in the Edmonton Journal yesterday. I do see a somewhat more conservative vote coming out, but I also see this article being repeatedly published in different outlets as an indicative that there's quite a few people who want us to believe that this election will swing to the conservative side and, in the way, demobilize the progressive vote.

It is politics, part of the game, and we will see a lot of the progressives play the same sort of move. The only thing that makes me a little bit concerned is that there are way too many progressive candidates and with the electoral system here being "first-past-the-pole", it can work in favor of Nickel, in Edmonton, who wouldn't need to have a majority to still be elected and throw a decade of planning in the trash can.
 
ChazYEG said:
This same article was published in the Edmonton Journal yesterday. I do see a somewhat more conservative vote coming out, but I also see this article being repeatedly published in different outlets as an indicative that there's quite a few people who want us to believe that this election will swing to the conservative side and, in the way, demobilize the progressive vote.

It is politics, part of the game, and we will see a lot of the progressives play the same sort of move. The only thing that makes me a little bit concerned is that there are way too many progressive candidates and with the electoral system here being "first-past-the-pole", it can work in favor of Nickel, in Edmonton, who wouldn't need to have a majority to still be elected and throw a decade of planning in the trash can.
Click to expand...
Even if Nickel somehow becomes mayor, if the majority of Councillors are progressive then he won't be able to move his 'agenda' forward. That is the power of the 'weak mayor' system - they have the same voting power as any other Councillor.
 
Can people share theirs thoughts on Sohi? I'm an early fan of Watson's platform. What would sohi best bring to the table and will there be an overlap between him and other candidates?
 
thommyjo said:
Can people share theirs thoughts on Sohi? I'm an early fan of Watson's platform. What would sohi best bring to the table and will there be an overlap between him and other candidates?
Click to expand...
Roughly speaking, I'd expect Sohi's platform to overlap a lot with Watson's, but he'll likely be more pragmatic and a little less idealistic (which can be a good or a bad thing). He's also much more connected to the political circus, considering that he was a member of the Cabinet a while back.

I'm very sympathetic with Watson's platform and I am an early (unofficial) supporter, but I'm considering shifting my attention to Sohi, as I believe him to be the best option to beat Nickel and to have a stronger presence to force the council's hand into action on several fronts, being an experienced politician.
 
sohi also knows how the city works and doesn’t work. it is a big organization and understanding and effectively managing it is a huge learning curve. it is a much different animal than the private sector. he also knows much of the history around ongoing city business. when you are overseeing and not running (administration does the running and council technically only has a direct relationship with one city employee - the city manager) those things can be big advantages in being effective from day one. at a high level i also like much of cheryll’s platform but my guess is amarjeet’s would be similar in many areas. for me it will come down to who is best able to implement their platform while managing/directing the city as much as the platform itself.
 
She has been quiet so far and that will change, but Kim Krushell offers much of what Sohi does. In fact Iveson, Sohi and Krushell share similar perspectives on many issues. Krushell has the city government experience of Sohi, but she also has some private sector experience in tech industry I believe. I also like Watson.

I like Sohi's political views, but I don't see him in the role of city leader. I wish he was still MP as he would have served Edmonton well. I was surprised when he first ran federally as a high profile candidate that he only won by 93 votes. Yes, this is Edmonton but we still elect ND's federally. And as a high profile minister, he lost by a huge margin in his second election (much of that blame can be directed at Trudeau though). But still, he did poorly.

I also didn't love the fact when Sohi was elected to city council in Oct 2013, he announced he was running federally only 14 months later into a 4 year term. But he didn't resign his seat. If he had lost federally, he still would have had his council seat. And now that he lost federally, he is eyeing municipal politics again but still hasn't committed.

I think Sohi has had his time and opportunity to serve and I appreciate his service. That said, if it's looking like it will be a two way race between between Sohi and Nickel, it will be any easy choice for me.
 
After my previous post (sorry for all the posts, ha) I went for a walk and ran into my neighbour and long time councillor Michael Phair (1992-2007) - first openly gay person elected to office in Alberta and one of first in Canada.
So I asked him who he is supporting - I remember he endorsed Iveson.

Phair has worked with Krushell and Nickel on council and Sohi in other areas and he is behind Sohi. Just sharing.
.
 
Michael Oshry seems to be a bit lost in the discussion around this race so far. Will be interesting to see if he brings anything of note to the table when he gets his campaign going.
 
^^ that one might have crossed the line... :(

^ it sounds like oshry is doing quite a bit of consultation while finalizing his platform. it will be interesting to see what rises to the top in trying to take the pro-business flag nickel is trying to champion while retaining some of the progressive/reform flag watson is waving.
 
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