Ongoing YYCCC (Chu + Farkas) Transgressions Threat

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I guess everyone has the right to run for mayor. Nothing like a mayoral race to bring out all the crazies. This would be like electing Alex Jones to mayor. Scary thought.

This is a major problem with some forms of democracy. Just about anyone can be the mandated leader of free societies. It's simply a popularity contest, much in the same way the coolest kid gets picked for class president or the most athletic looking kid gets picked first for the kickball team.

No qualifications needed, just need to be the most popular.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I guess everyone has the right to run for mayor. Nothing like a mayoral race to bring out all the crazies. This would be like electing Alex Jones to mayor. Scary thought.

This thing today made me curious, I decided to look into it...

To be a mayoral candidate (for Calgary, at least), you only have to meet these requirements:
-At least 18 years old,
-A Canadian citizen,
-Reside in Calgary on Election Day, and
-Reside in Calgary for the 6 months before Nomination Day.

While avoiding these:
-City employee who has not taken a leave of absence.
-Employees of the school division, charter school or private school who has not taken a leave of absence (school board trustee candidates only).
-Indebted to The City in taxes exceeding $50.
--This does not include current taxes.
--This does not include indebtedness already in a consolidation agreement.
-Indebted to The City exceeding $500 and in default for more than 90 days.
-Convicted of an offence in the last 10 years under the Local Authorities Election Act, the Election Act, the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act or the Canada Elections

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

This is a major problem with some forms of democracy. Just about anyone can be the mandated leader of free societies. It's simply a popularity contest, much in the same way the coolest kid gets picked for class president or the most athletic looking kid gets picked first for the kickball team.

No qualifications needed, just need to be the most popular.

What qualifications do you think should be required for a candidate to run for office?

[Fuzz]

I guess on the plus side he's removed the racist coffee from his website.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

What qualifications do you think should be required for a candidate to run for office?

"Must not have a Conviction under the Criminal Code of Canada" seems a decent place to start.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

"Must not have a Conviction under the Criminal Code of Canada" seems a decent place to start.

Lol. Do you know how many banana Republics jail their opponents? This is how dictatorships work.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

What qualifications do you think should be required for a candidate to run for office?

I am not sure. I do know that the current process is far too open, and then unqualified/extreme/satirical candidates can muddy the waters far too easily.

One method might be to actually get Community Associations involved for vetting candidates if they are choosing to run for as a Councillor. With a standard set of consistent guidelines to vet candidates through the process, there could be an opportunity to filter out candidates that are clearly in it for other reasons (e.g. just to get media coverage, to make wild political statements, to get social media hits, etc.). This would also help filter out parachute candidates if they don't truly represent/understand the people and the needs of the voters in the area.

In London, that YouTube guy ran on a ridiculous platform and came in 5th. Sure it funny, but he clearly wasn't a serious candidate and wasted about 50k votes that could have gone to a legitimate contender.

If not something like that, then even a two-round system might help improve legitimacy by filtering out low-fidelity candidates.

I'm not sure what the right answer is, but with a racist, extreme candidate like Johnston about to possibly doxx all AHS workers, candidates like this should have been nipped in the bud early in the process.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Lol. Do you know how many banana Republics jail their opponents? This is how dictatorships work.

It's a good thing we aren't a banana republic then, and the courts aren't subject to political whims.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Mull

We can't simply outlaw candidates because we find them distasteful, the vote has to be allowed to be held, and the restrictions on being a candidate should error on allowing more to run then less.

And I find Kevin J absolutely embarrassing that his running here, even if he isn't from here, but so be it.

This dude is a little more than distasteful.

He is a straight up POS.

https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/st...20,%202018.pdf

#### him

[Mull]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

This dude is a little more than distasteful.

He is a straight up POS.

https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/st...20,%202018.pdf

#### him

I don't disagree he is a POS but it doesn't change my point.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Mull

I don't disagree he is a POS but it doesn't change my point.

+1

Literally the point of democracy is that anyone can run. Ending that and filtering candidates seems like a really big change to the system.

Also, giving more power to community associations seems like a terrible idea to me.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by CPK80

Former Calgary councillor broke policy by hiring assistant's daughter, colleague says....

That story also mentions a secret council committee, which is also an infraction.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

"Must not have a Conviction under the Criminal Code of Canada" seems a decent place to start.

As much as I really don't want to see that guy run for mayor, I ultimately disagree with your stance here. If that disqualifies a candidate, then you're essentially discriminating against ex-cons who have already served their time, which is just another barrier to having them integrate back with society. I prefer to have them qualify and they run on their merit rather than block them from eligibility.

[Wormius]

I agree though that no candidates should have access to voter information. They don’t need it.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

This dude is a little more than distasteful.

He is a straight up POS.

https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/st...20,%202018.pdf

#### him

I am really surprised just how restrained people are when they encounter guys like Johnston or Pawlowski.

[Fuzz]

No need to apologize for stating a fact! Political correctness run amok.

Coun. Evan Woolley has apologized to his council colleague Sean Chu for calling him an "ignorant moron."
The apology follows an investigation by Calgary's city council integrity commissioner.
"I'd like to unequivocally apologize to Sean Chu, city council and Calgarians for the language I used to refer to Mr. Chu," Woolley said on Monday after council emerged from a closed-door session.
"This was not in line with the highest standards of the office of city council, which I greatly respect."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...020677?cmp=rss

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I agree though that no candidates should have access to voter information. They don’t need it.

Exactly. I don't want the racist moron to have my information, but I don't see any reason for Gondek, Farkas, or the rest to have it either.

It's not like they're mailing out personalized information packages and they don't need to know my name when I ignore them when they knock on my door.

[Torture]

nm

[getbak]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1391899291661357056

https://twitter.com/user/status/1391899558360358916

[Weitz]

I still think it’s comical something like that has to go to council. Should be a no brainer.