MF YYC Politics - there, I mega did it

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

It’s Thiessen or Farkas for me. I like the former more but the party politics stuff is just very hard for me to stomach/support, and I’m a bit worried about that being a throwaway vote if he’s not making serious gains here.

Really, I don’t care outside of ensuring Sharp and Davison are nowhere near city hall ever again. Complete jokes.

Interesting. Why have you removed Gondek from consideration?

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

Interesting. Why have you removed Gondek from consideration?

She’s not necessarily out of contention for me, I’d pick her if strategically it might help avoid the worst two and I wouldn’t hate it if she got another term, I just find her kind of uninspiring and milquetoast, and a bit weak where it matters.

Without picking apart every thing, I just don’t have any confidence in her. She’s been the mayor and I still don’t really know what to expect (she acknowledged late last year that “people just don’t know her yet” but like… what’s changed in her approach to giving people that insight?). She’s done some good things that I really agree with even if unpopular (rezoning, her handling of the water issues, etc) and some things I really don’t (arena, ineffectiveness dealing with the UCP) but I struggle to find a through line where I can say “right, this is who she is and this is how she operates.”

A lot of that is just my own perception. I don’t think she’s a failure or as bad as some people say by any means. But I do think there might be a better option out there.

[Looch City]

Here's my very pessimistic thought process on who to vote:

Worst thing Gondek could do: be the same as previous term, i.e. mediocre
Worst thing Farkas could do: flip back again and basically be Sharp 0.75
Worst thing Sharp could do: make Smith the defacto mayor
Worst thing Davison could do: UCP appeasement #### like cancelling bike lanes/electric busses.
Worst thing Thiessen could do: let Sharp win because general public doesn't know who he is


So therefore...I'm voting Gondek as safest choice imo lol.

[CliffFletcher]

Gondek gets flak for stuff that was out of her control, like the water pipes breach and the Green Line. And she’s on the right side of re-zoning.

But she’s not good at politics. She doesn’t seem to have the persuasive powers or clout to wrangle other councillors. She hasn’t fought Calgarys’ corner against the UCP. And her enthusiasm for virtue signalling over stuff like climate change and single-use bags while the city was afflicted with serious problems around transit, homelessness, and infrastructure, cast her as a lightweight - especially when most people consider those issues outside the remit of local government.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Gondek gets flak for stuff that was out of her control, like the water pipes breach and the Green Line. And she’s on the right side of re-zoning.

But she’s not good at politics. She doesn’t seem to have the persuasive powers or clout to wrangle other councillors. She hasn’t fought Calgarys’ corner against the UCP. And her enthusiasm for virtue signalling over stuff like climate change and single-use bags while the city was afflicted with serious problems around transit, homelessness, and infrastructure, cast her as a lightweight - especially when most people consider those issues outside the remit of local government.

Yeah, Gondek sort of seems like an Al Duerr "do nothing" kind of operator. There was lots of social media virtue signalling but on the big files that mattered (Arena, Green Line) I feel like the province pushed her around. And I think pushing back against provincial overreach is probably the #1 issue going forward, so I'm voting based on who I think will best represent Calgary to the province.

[Sr. Mints]

Joanny Liu seems like a slimeball of the highest order. I'm worried about name recognition come ballot time, however: she has absolutely peppered the community with signage--signage you can actually read at distances greater than six feet away. Appears well funded and well organized. A lot of candidates' signs seem pretty amateur hour this election.

Laura Hack's name is nowhere to be found.

[fotze2]

Schmidt website was blocked at work so that didn’t work in his favor. Josie Kirkpatrick didn’t load at all. Sorry your cut.

[Amethyst]

I agree with those who say Gondek is just not good at politics and the province pushed her around.

I met her at a small event back in the spring and came away thinking she was a smart and caring person, who wasn't afraid to admit her mistakes and make changes. But we need a mayor who can do the other things, especially with a provincial government like the UCP.

Also, my friend volunteered for her campaign for a bit and it sounded like it was a mess.

It was still a difficult decision where I wasn't 100% sure what I was going to do until I made my X.

[Sr. Mints]

Advanced poll location ended up being a stone's throw away.

What an uninspiring list of mayoral candidates. Jfc, lol. I just sat there for 30 seconds staring at the names on the ballot.

[Fuzz]

I still think there is time for stuff to shake out after thanksgiving. I'm not committing to anyone yet, because I don't have to. If Thiessen makes a bit of a run up in popularity, he'll probably get my vote.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

What an uninspiring list of mayoral candidates. Jfc, lol. I just sat there for 30 seconds staring at the names on the ballot.

There are certainly no Nenshis on this ballot.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

There are certainly no Nenshis on this ballot.

There is a Larry Heather! No Mayor Elect Kevin J. Johnston though.

[GullFoss]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

It’s Thiessen or Farkas for me. I like the former more but the party politics stuff is just very hard for me to stomach/support, and I’m a bit worried about that being a throwaway vote if he’s not making serious gains here.

Really, I don’t care outside of ensuring Sharp and Davison are nowhere near city hall ever again. Complete jokes.

In what world am I more progressive than PepsiFree?

[PepsiFree]

Nenshi vs NPC-named idiot builder puppet, Kevin J Oppenheimer, OG Farkas, that cop who raped someone and people voted for him anyway.

We used to have some fun elections. Whatever happened to us? We used to be a proper society.

The party angle has not delivered on the pizzaz, just one party that formed because they totally misjudged whether parties were going to be cool and another two that are blatant UCP plants who just keep trotting out “we’re not like OTHER parties!” despite being basically the only parties.

I need a better story and, ideally, a little drama. Hopefully we get a hot mic or some criminal activity or something. Anything really.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

In what world am I more progressive than PepsiFree?

In a world where you think voting for Gondek in 2025 is progressive and not just, like… fine.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Looch City

Here's my very pessimistic thought process on who to vote:

Worst thing Gondek could do: be the same as previous term, i.e. mediocre
Worst thing Farkas could do: flip back again and basically be Sharp 0.75
Worst thing Sharp could do: make Smith the defacto mayor
Worst thing Davison could do: UCP appeasement #### like cancelling bike lanes/electric busses.
Worst thing Thiessen could do: let Sharp win because general public doesn't know who he is


So therefore...I'm voting Gondek as safest choice imo lol.

That is not far off my views on it. Some minor tweaks for me.

My concern for Farkas is that as Mayor he cannot be the disruptor / solo player that he was before and I am not sure that he has changed enough to become the face of the city or an effective collaborator in council. I think he should shift to provincial politics and learn to be a team politician that prioritizes the people.

My concern with Davison is that he is a Murray Edwards shill (straight from CNRL) and his only function would be to appease his corporate overlord. Nothing about him suggests that the people's interest would be his priority.

My concern with Thiessen is that with him focused on being a "centrist" that he is really just conservative-lite. His background suggests that he is more corporatist than populist so even if he is more progressive than the other candidates, being a progressive corporatist means that he'll help businesses more than people and we are already getting enough of that from the other levels of government.

[GullFoss]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

In a world where you think voting for Gondek in 2025 is progressive and not just, like… fine.

Point taken.

But there's no way Farkas, Sharp or Davison are centrists. There's no way sharp or Davison are more competent than Gondek.

Id get it if there's an option out there that's super competent or has a special skill set relative to gondek. Where you can say "well theyre not aligned with my ideology, but they'd make a substantially better mayor." I can literally say that about Gondek because whiles she's more progressive than I'd ideally want, the alternatives are really weak

But you can't really say that about anyone on offer. Because they're all less competent and less progressive than Gondek.

Or do you see it differently?

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

Point taken.

But there's no way Farkas, Sharp or Davison are centrists. There's no way sharp or Davison are more competent than Gondek.

Id get it if there's an option out there that's super competent or has a special skill set relative to gondek. Where you can say "well theyre not aligned with my ideology, but they'd make a substantially better mayor." I can literally say that about Gondek because whiles she's more progressive than I'd ideally want, the alternatives are really weak

But you can't really say that about anyone on offer. Because they're all less competent and less progressive than Gondek.

Or do you see it differently?

Sharp and Davison are neither centrist nor competent, agreed. That’s why I hope they lose and just fade into obscurity. Just terrible choices.

Farkas… I don’t know what he is. Bit of a mystery box, maybe I just want to believe he’s more competent now, but maybe he’s not. He’s certainly further to the right than I am, but I can forgive that and usually do.

Gondek is probably the most progressive and maybe the most competent, but outside of Sharp/Davison, I don’t see the gap being so huge that it’s a no-brainer. And that’s just how I’m feeling right now. I’d love to love Gondek and it feels like I “should” but I just don’t.

My vote is still very much for sale though. Happy to be convinced for or against virtually anyone (again, aside from Sharp and Davison).

[Gemnoble]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

Well he's big mad that the Canada Post union won't make an exception to deliver his flyers while they're currently not delivering flyers due to job action.

I've seen a few political flyers in with my neighbourhood grocery store and Canadian Tire flyers.

I can recall seeing Ryan Stutt and Brian Thiessen, wonder how those snuck in there.

[GullFoss]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Sharp and Davison are neither centrist nor competent, agreed. That’s why I hope they lose and just fade into obscurity. Just terrible choices.

Farkas… I don’t know what he is. Bit of a mystery box, maybe I just want to believe he’s more competent now, but maybe he’s not. He’s certainly further to the right than I am, but I can forgive that and usually do.

Gondek is probably the most progressive and maybe the most competent, but outside of Sharp/Davison, I don’t see the gap being so huge that it’s a no-brainer. And that’s just how I’m feeling right now. I’d love to love Gondek and it feels like I “should” but I just don’t.

My vote is still very much for sale though. Happy to be convinced for or against virtually anyone (again, aside from Sharp and Davison).

I don't think you should love Gondek. She's picked a lot of dumb performative battles early on. That was bad leadership. At least that got better and she stopped doing it.

She can't read the room, wasn't conciliatory with other councillors or community concerns, and didn't compromise. That is also poor leadership. And the latter issues are real concerns because it hasn't been fixed and could lead to dysfunction on the new council too. Which risks four more years of dysfunction. But Farkas had the exact same flaws four years ago, even more so! My gut feeling is that Farkas looks better because we didn't have to see him for four years lol. But maybe I'm wrong and he's changed haha.

Everyone on council got "outplayed" on the arena deal because the province basically wrote a blank cheque. The Green Line was straight bullying, but the blame sits with the community first councillors and UCP being arrogant dicks.

But who is better? If you find someone better, let me know so I can vote for them too.