The following summary are my thoughts and opinions of the Mayoralty Forum last night.
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Mayoralty Candidacy:
I was at the forum last night in Oakridge, and I am writing this up as an undecided voter. I am still undecided even after seeing the candidates speak, but I have decided against voting for a few candidates.
There were a couple people missing, most notably Mr Kassam.
Mr. McIver and Mr. Nenshi showed up late to the forum, which drives me nuts. Mr. McIver's excuse was he was welcoming some Chinese consulary people and Mr. Nenshi didn't address his lateness. I can't stand late people for any reason. Mr. Johnston showed up late as well and he said the reason for that was he took City Transit from downtown. Everyone laughed, but he was dead serious.
Mr. Connelly showed up extremely late and didn't even get a chance to speak.
Each candidate spoke for 3 minutes and introduced themselves, except for Mr. Hehr. The Oakridge Community Center is Handicapped Accessible, but not wheelchair accessible. The forum was on the second floor, and therefore, Mr. Hehr was unable to attend. His father spoke in his place, but I feel it is a real travesty that these issues are not dealt with and understood ahead of time.
Oscar Fetch was also there, and interrupted the forum to get on stage after the first candidate has spoken. I was surprised they conceded to him. I don't know if he's actually on the ballot or not. They told him he wasn't invited to this forum because he hadn't declared by the time they organized it.
Standouts in the 3 minute introduction for me were:
Mr. Burrows - Clear, concise and knew what he wanted to say
Mrs. Higgins - He remarks at the beginning of the forum were fine, she fell apart when the real questions started flying.
Mr. Lord - Alludes to his "track record" and entrepreneurial experience
Mr. McIver - Clear, confident
Mr. Nenshi - Funny, confident, clear
The rest of the candidates are on the back burner for sure.
Mr. McIver and Mrs. Higgins got 80% of the questions after their 3 minute introduction, which I was disappointed with. I was hoping to hear some of the "lesser known" candidates speak.
It seems to me like the majority in the room last night had made their mind up already, and realize this is a two horse race between Mr. McIver and Mrs. Higgins, and that's why all the questions were directed toward them, which is unfortunate.
Half of Mrs. Higgins responses made no sense to me. She was repeating the questions and speaking like a politician in Ottawa. She dodged some questions and got called out on it by Mr. McIver. Her stance on the ring road was to "work with the Nation". She preached closer ties to the "Band".
Also, when asked about Enmax, she responded that she was having a financial person look into it and she was not going to respond and make assumptions on something that is still in progress.
To me that's all fine and dandy and I agree with her, but you can't go to a forum and answer questions saying "my team is looking into it" all night. You need to take a stance on something.
Mr. McIver answered his share of the questions without too much trouble. You may not like the guy or agree with his policies, but he is taking sides for the most part on the important issues instead of trying to negotiate both sides. Based on last night, I will speculate that he will be our next Mayor.
With that said, I have completely written off Mrs. Higgins. She is a train wreck, and I don't understand how anyone in this city could vote for her. The people who do vote for her will do so based on name recognition, and will be votes from the uninformed, because I don't believe that anyone could vote for her after watching her performance last night. It would be a disaster for this city if she got in. She would need to be propped up worse than George Bush.
Mr. Burrows talked about Smart Card technology for Calgary Transit and being able to use this card for all city services such as recreation facilities, transit services, parking services etc. He wants to ditch the $3 fee for parking at LRT stations and called it a tax on lower income people trying to do the right thing. He also talked a bit about Smart Street Light technology to improve traffic flow instead of just making bigger roads.
Mr. Nenshi talked about his three points of successful government and was generally vague overall. He speaks very well and is quick on his toes and I would like to hear him speak more.
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Ward 11 Candidacy:.
Mr. Pincot is not likely to get re-elected if the people last night were any indication of how Ward 11 is going to vote (which they should be). His constituents are not happy with him. Hearing his speak last night reinforced why I do not want to vote for him. Also, Mr Pincot, please refrain from playing on your BlackBerry when other people are talking. To me, it shows a lack of respect to the others speaking. There were a couple Mayoral Candidates doing the same and it looks badly on you, in my opinion.
Mr. Maxim stole the show from Mr. Pincott. Clear, concise and he got the crowd with "I will return every phone call and email you send me." I'm definitely interested in him.
The other two candidates for Ward 11 I don't think are up to task. Not enough experience and it shows when they speak.
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Overall, very informative and I would encourage anyone and everyone to attend future forums. I will probably go to another one before I vote and I will follow up by doing some research on the internet.
There is some choice out there for sure. I just really hope that people can look past Mr. McIver and Mrs. Higgins for a moment to see the other candidates out there and what they have to offer.
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