Nenshi's Win Heard Around the World

[Da Bosman]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

what an utterly terrible post. Get off the conservative=ignorant and bad bandwagon.

Take a pill and get over yourself.

I'm a young, left of centre guy and I actually agree with his post.

[killer_carlson]

Nenshi resonated with conservative voters who value fiscal responsibility. He resonated with small "L" liberal votes because of other portions of his platform.

It's only someone with deep seated personal inadequacies who wants to claim Nenshi for themselves and no one else.

That's what the post above is attempting to do.

[Mad Mel]

Originally Posted by Jets4Life

It's funny how suprised everyone is around Canada that it was Calgary that elected Canada's first Muslim mayor. I can tell you for a fact that many Winnipeggers still have this preconceived notion that Calgary is some inbred hick town where racism and intolerance is commonplace.

The irony is, of all the cities I have lived, Calgary was the most multicultural and accepting place. With the exception of Brooks, Winnipeg seemed to have the most problems with ethnic and cultural predjudice.

The growth in the O&G industry over the last decade or two did wonders for the cultural diversity of Calgary. Much of Canada has a pretty outdated idea of what Calgary looks like.

[Bownesian]

Sorry for the driveby there, I had to split from the computer suddenly.

What I meant was that race wasn't anything that was overlooked or really discussed, at least among my peer group. The point wasn't to elect a brown guy it was to elect the best candidate. At Thanksgiving Dinner, my grandmother said something along the lines of "I won't vote for someone whose name I can't pronounce" but everyone else in the room just rolled their eyes and talked about policy.

My second point was that large numbers of people that self identified Progressives might call Regressive voted for Nenshi because we bought into his idea of sustanable city management. Lots of us conservative types understand that the Duerr years (no tax increases, no spending on infrastructure) set our city back and cost us more in the long run. We understand that the economy needs infrastructure and we cannot continue to subsidize the city's sprawl for ever.

If you want to talk about who voted for whom, you might look at the latest Provincial opinion poll that came out in the Herald the other day. In Calgary, the Alberta Liberals and the NDP added up to a total of 28% of the vote in Calgary (versus 63% Tory+WRAP). You might call that 28% the Progressive vote.

I would say that while a majority of that vote went to Nenshi, I would be surprised if less than a third of that vote went to Higgins. I suspect this for two reasons: because the Progressive vote isn't monolithic and because a certain portion of the Progressive bloc would care about the idea of electing a woman for its own sake, including my Aunt at said Thanksgiving Dinner who said as much. That means that there were a lot of us regressives who campaigned and voted for Nenshi.

You can't get 40% of the vote in this city without having a few Cons on board.

Alberta Polls:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Po...996/story.html

[FiftyBelow]

I find that with municipal politics I tend to ignore party ideology altogether. Much political theory often suggests that common citizens usually think along partisan lines in order to have a shortcut in deciding what policies they agree with. But with municipal politics I feel shortcuts aren't necessary because a lot of the issues are practical and ones we deal with on a daily basis. In other words, we're very familiar with much of the material concerning municipal politics. Everything from roads, waste management, crime, etc... are handled by the city and are issue areas that we see on a daily basis. Because of that you'll see a lot of people voting beyond their political allegiances and think more pragmatically in reference to municipal issues. Its not surprising that a Conservative city elected a so called Liberal candidate (in my opinion he's centrist). For the record I'm probably one of the most conservative voter I know and yet I still strongly supported Nenshi.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by puckluck

I think he meant that it's a good thing people over looked the color of his skin. This is Calgary's FIRST mayor part of a visible minority. I don't think the media or anyone is saying that people voted for him because he is a visible minority but that Calgarians overlooked that fact which isn't always the case.

Yes, that's exactly what I was saying.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

what an utterly terrible post. Get off the conservative=ignorant and bad bandwagon.

Take a pill and get over yourself.

Are you surprised? A lot of 'liberals' are going to claim Nenshi as their own, and use him as an example of a 'liberal' candidate that made the 'conservatives' look stupid.

To me if I had to place him on the political spectrum, I'd say he is right of center. But it doesn't really matter. He has some fabulous ideas, and despite having no tie to Calgary, or Alberta anymore for that matter, I still think its exciting that the greatest city in Canada has a mayor that is going to be pretty dynamic with what he wants to do going forward.

I especially like the comparisons to Obama by certain people. If anything he is the candidate Obama only wanted to be.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by FiftyBelow

I find that with municipal politics I tend to ignore party ideology altogether. Much political theory often suggests that common citizens usually think along partisan lines in order to have a shortcut in deciding what policies they agree with. But with municipal politics I feel shortcuts aren't necessary because a lot of the issues are practical and ones we deal with on a daily basis. In other words, we're very familiar with much of the material concerning municipal politics. Everything from roads, waste management, crime, etc... are handled by the city and are issue areas that we see on a daily basis. Because of that you'll see a lot of people voting beyond their political allegiances and think more pragmatically in reference to municipal issues. Its not surprising that a Conservative city elected a so called Liberal candidate (in my opinion he's centrist). For the record I'm probably one of the most conservative voter I know and yet I still strongly supported Nenshi.

Yup look at Bronco? He got killed in the 1997 Federal Election running under Cretien but soon easily became Mayor!

Nenshi has to be less Liberal than Bronco doesn't he?

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Azure

Are you surprised? A lot of 'liberals' are going to claim Nenshi as their own, and use him as an example of a 'liberal' candidate that made the 'conservatives' look stupid.

To me if I had to place him on the political spectrum, I'd say he is right of center. But it doesn't really matter. He has some fabulous ideas, and despite having no tie to Calgary, or Alberta anymore for that matter, I still think its exciting that the greatest city in Canada has a mayor that is going to be pretty dynamic with what he wants to do going forward.

I especially like the comparisons to Obama by certain people. If anything he is the candidate Obama only wanted to be.

oh common, Nenshi has yet to even take office. for all we know he might be just as big of a letdown as Obama has turned out to be

[Bownesian]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

oh common, Nenshi has yet to even take office. for all we know he might be just as big of a letdown as Obama has turned out to be

I heard Nenshi's in the running for next year's Nobel Peace Prize.

[Bigtime]

So is anyone attending the swearing-in ceremony tonight at City Hall? The Bigtime's will be there.

[algernon]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

oh common, Nenshi has yet to even take office. for all we know he might be just as big of a letdown as Obama has turned out to be

What? I thought he was going to change things and give us hope?

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

oh common, Nenshi has yet to even take office. for all we know he might be just as big of a letdown as Obama has turned out to be

The funny thing about that is while I did say "wow, he reminds me of Obama", I was always quick to say "but hopefully he actually gets things done".

That will be Nenshi's biggest task, living up to his hype, which has only grown since he was elected.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Bownesian

Sorry for the driveby there, I had to split from the computer suddenly.

What I meant was that race wasn't anything that was overlooked or really discussed, at least among my peer group. The point wasn't to elect a brown guy it was to elect the best candidate. At Thanksgiving Dinner, my grandmother said something along the lines of "I won't vote for someone whose name I can't pronounce" but everyone else in the room just rolled their eyes and talked about policy.

My second point was that large numbers of people that self identified Progressives might call Regressive voted for Nenshi because we bought into his idea of sustanable city management. Lots of us conservative types understand that the Duerr years (no tax increases, no spending on infrastructure) set our city back and cost us more in the long run. We understand that the economy needs infrastructure and we cannot continue to subsidize the city's sprawl for ever.

If you want to talk about who voted for whom, you might look at the latest Provincial opinion poll that came out in the Herald the other day. In Calgary, the Alberta Liberals and the NDP added up to a total of 28% of the vote in Calgary (versus 63% Tory+WRAP). You might call that 28% the Progressive vote.

I would say that while a majority of that vote went to Nenshi, I would be surprised if less than a third of that vote went to Higgins. I suspect this for two reasons: because the Progressive vote isn't monolithic and because a certain portion of the Progressive bloc would care about the idea of electing a woman for its own sake, including my Aunt at said Thanksgiving Dinner who said as much. That means that there were a lot of us regressives who campaigned and voted for Nenshi.

You can't get 40% of the vote in this city without having a few Cons on board.

Alberta Polls:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Po...996/story.html

This is a great post. I voted for the Wild Rose Party in the last provincial election, and voted conservative Federally. That doesn't change the fact that I voted for Nenshi, because he had the most competent plan for running the city. Ultimately, the political spectrum isn't what's important, its the ideas and actions of the people who will be making the decisions. Paul Martin's deficit cutting when he was finance minister is a perfect example of good policy coming from a "left-wing" party/candidate.

I voted for him because of his ideas on transit, densification, and less tax dollars for private developers. If other voted for him because of his opinions on the arts or gay rights or whatever, then good for him and them.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

oh common, Nenshi has yet to even take office. for all we know he might be just as big of a letdown as Obama has turned out to be

I highly doubt that. First of all Nenshi has a lot of actual substance, and isn't all about the rhetoric like Obama is, and neither does he have to contend with a completely idiotic Congress.

[Ramsayfarian]

Originally Posted by Azure

I highly doubt that. First of all Nenshi has a lot of actual substance, and isn't all about the rhetoric like Obama is, and neither does he have to contend with a completely idiotic Congress.

Not to mention that Obama inherited two wars and a horrible economy.

[chalms04]

on Strombo right now

[Nuje]

Originally Posted by chalms04

on Strombo right now

Anyone got a video or coles notes?

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Azure

I highly doubt that. First of all Nenshi has a lot of actual substance, and isn't all about the rhetoric like Obama is, and neither does he have to contend with a completely idiotic Congress.

because the Calgary council is a beacon of intelligence and rational thought?

[DemolitionCat]

...meanwhile, in Toronto...