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Saturday, October 16, 2021
By Scott Dippel
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Final Forums
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Jeff Davison, left, Jyoti Gondek, center, and Jeromy Farkas, right, are the main candidates for mayor in this year’s election. (Josh Pagé / CBC)
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As the election entered its final days, top poll candidates released their key messages in a few mayors’ forums this week. One session was with members of the Calgary Construction Association on Tuesday while the other was hosted by CBC Calgary on Thursday.
Their messages are well honed at this point in the campaign, and elbows have certainly been raised at various times.
Here’s a look at what you can’t see.
When Jeff Davison, Jeromy Farkas, and Jyoti Gondek walked into the CBC studio for discussion, they all walked in on their own. No entourage was allowed for health and safety reasons.
Everyone was physically seated at a distance. The pre-check-in joke between the contestants was light. If there was any tension or animosity, you couldn’t see it.
But make no mistake, the smiles when they are around each other tighten as the campaign draws to a close.
The debate has known tense times.
When asked what they thought the ballot question was for this mayoral race, they summarized it as follows.
Davison said the past behavior of these candidates is the best indicator of what will happen after Election Day. Farkas said this campaign is about change rather than the same, asking voters who they believe can deliver on their promises. Gondek said this election is about honesty and integrity, promising to make it easier for all Calgarians to get out of this pandemic.
After wrapping themselves up, the three candidates put on their masks and coats and together they left the building.
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Virginia Stone, left, Zane Novak, center, and Jan Damery, right, called on Calgarians to consider mayoral candidates beyond board incumbents ahead of Monday’s municipal election.
(Mike Symington / CBC)
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Candidates ask voters to look beyond councilors
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As the campaign draws to a close, more and more emphasis is placed on the “leaders”. In some recent forums that meant three contestants on stage while in others it was five.
There are 24 mayoral candidates who do not currently sit on the city council. They said during this pandemic election it was difficult to just get their names known.
Three mayoral candidates joined forces on Thursday at a city hall press conference to ask voters to look beyond councilors running for mayor.
Jan Damery, Zane Novak and Virginia Stone suggested voters should consider who best represents the issues they care about. They also put together a list of the reasons why it is so difficult for foreigners to break into municipal politics.
Damery said it is very difficult to challenge incumbents who have the advantage of being recognized; something that is widely recognized as being the key to municipal politics. CBC Calgary, through Janet Brown Opinion Research, recently surveyed Calgarians about name recognition for mayoral candidates.
Novak, former chairman of the Kerby Center, said it was unfair that the city was denying all candidates access to the voters list due to security concerns surrounding another candidate.
“It really kept us from coming out in front of 1.5 million Calgarians,” Novak said.
As in other cities, local elections in Calgary can be difficult for foreigners trying to win the mayor’s chair.
Since 1980, only two people outside the city council have been elected mayors. These were the outgoing mayor Naheed Nenshi and Ralph Klein.
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(SRC)
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More free money for businesses
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The town hall generally enters a fairly calm state during the elections. But this week, the City unveiled the plan for its new COVID business support grants.
A reopening grant program for businesses earlier this year was taken out because not all eligible business owners applied for the money. This left $ 5 million unspent.
In September, the board asked the administration to come up with a revised program to help businesses meet the costs of complying with the province’s vaccine passport program.
The City has $ 2,000 for each qualifying commercial location. Again, the money is available on a first come, first served basis. Eligible businesses include restaurants, bars, casinos, theaters, meeting rooms, and recreation / fitness facilities.
Applications are taken online and the City will provide approvals within 90 days. Those who get the green light will receive a check shortly thereafter.
Calgary REP Business Support Grant. |
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A little brushstroke
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This weekend, before you head to the polls, you can dive in depth by browsing our extensive coverage of the CBC Calgary municipal election.
You may want to start with Everything You Need To Know About Calgary Municipal Elections. It has links to the candidates, their platforms and the mayoral debates. It also offers neighborhood-by-neighborhood data on issues and demographics.
Additionally, for the mayoral race we have our following pages: Meet Calgary’s top mayoral candidates. Here you can read the detailed profiles of some candidates, in their own words.
You can also watch our special CBC Calgary Mayor debate, hosted by Calgary Eyeopener host David Gray.
As for the issues that concern Calgarians, CBC Calgary, in conjunction with Janet Brown Opinion Research, has conducted a survey which you can view here.
If you want to know more about the fluoride plebiscite, the province’s referendum questions and the senatorial elections, you can read a detailed description of the questions in Plebiscites, Referendums and the Senate Voting Explained. It offers many links to further reading on all issues.
On Election Day, we will have the results live on the web, as well as the election results and analysis live on a CBC radio special, hosted by Alberta at Noon’s Judy Aldous. She will be joined by the outgoing Ward 8 Council. Evan Woolley.
It starts at 8 p.m. Monday. You can connect through the CBC Listen app or on CBC Radio One at 99.1 FM.
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4 other municipal stories not to be missed
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