Calgary Centre Federal By-election - Nov 26 (UPDATE - Crockatt wins for CPC)

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Wow. Just... wow. Meet your new MP for Calgary Center everybody.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Wow. Just... wow. Meet your new MP for Calgary Center everybody.

Beats the colour red or orange, AMIRITE fellas?

But in all seriousness, do we know if she can see Russia from her house?

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Beats the colour red or orange, AMIRITE fellas?

But in all seriousness, do we know if she can see Russia from her house?

She's googling the answer to your question right now...

[AR_Six]

So here we are on November 25, and... I hate all of the candidates. Good thing I moved north of the river or I'd have an annoying hold my nose vote to make.

[edslunch]

There should be a Forum poll coming out today. Any idea when?

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by edslunch

There should be a Forum poll coming out today. Any idea when?

Interesting. If that comes out today that could be a massive wrench in the whole process. But with the Grey Cup on tonight, it'll be interesting to see if it gains any momentum or coverage from news outlets.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by edslunch

There should be a Forum poll coming out today. Any idea when?

I'm under the impression that a law forbids a poll from coming out less than three days before an election.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I'm under the impression that a law forbids a poll from coming out less than three days before an election.

I don't know know if its three days, but its something like that. I doubt that this would hold up if someone challenged it constitutionally though.

[edslunch]

Forum called on Friday night. I assumed that was another public poll, but I could be mistaken.

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Wow. Just... wow. Meet your new MP for Calgary Center everybody.

I too find it quite surprising.

She looks so good on paper...

Joan was born and raised in Lloydminster, Alberta-SK. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Saskatchewan and was awarded a Southam Fellowship at the University of Toronto. She also studied at the London School of Economics.

Joan is an award-winning political and business journalist with more than 20 years of communications and media experience. She has worked as a senior newspaper executive with the Calgary Herald, Southam newspapers, and Canwest Global Communications. For the past decade she has been a communications consultant and independent media commentator.

http://joancrockatt.ca/?page_id=2

[OffsideSpecialist]

Sounds like she has the potential to be Anders 2.0

[Rerun]

The only explanation I can offer is maybe Joan is friends with a number of CPC mp's and thus sees nothing wrong with calling them up to get expedited service.

Sort of like if you lived next door to a Ford VP and you were having problems with your new Ford... Would you go down to the dealership who doesn't know you from Adam, or would you mention it to your buddy next door?

Just a theory.

[Slava]

Honestly, if she wins with at least a couple of better candidates against her its an embarrassment for the progressives in Calgary. Here, with nothing on the line in terms of a majority government, its a failure to show any pragmatism whatsoever and make sure that she is typing up a resume.

I've sat at the table as a candidate and people ask all kinds of questions of you. I had the unfortunate circumstance of just plain not being able to come up with the information when I needed it. I was embarrassed for myself, but these things can happen to anyone. There is a huge difference with Crockatt though. While almost every candidate is up there with no safety net (in Calgary Centre all of the others are), she is sitting there with her notes, reading her prepared notes! Its pathetic.

When she says that the PM was named "statesman of the year" but can't say who the organization was, its just plain ridiculous. Here is someone with speaking points written down, and frankly even with that advantage is unprepared and just generally a poor representative. Whether you agree with her politics or not, she has not acquitted herself well at all; CBC porn, the entire passport discussion and of course her first telling someone to Google something, and at the next forum her literally frantically googling info herself is just an indication of what a bad candidate she is.

The funniest might be her argument about making sure not to vote for an opposition MP. Right, because Albertans have such a strong willed history as changing with the wind and making sure we have sitting government MPs here.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by Rerun

The only explanation I can offer is maybe Joan is friends with a number of CPC mp's and thus sees nothing wrong with calling them up to get expedited service.

Sort of like if you lived next door to a Ford VP and you were having problems with your new Ford... Would you go down to the dealership who doesn't know you from Adam, or would you mention it to your buddy next door?

Just a theory.

Except why would anyone call their MP if they lost their passport in Mexico? You're supposed to contact the nearest embassy or consulate for assitance if that happens.

Besides, even if someone didn't know the correct procedure and erroneously contacted their MP, assisting a Canadian citizen stuck abroad is about as non-partisan an issue as you can get. Assuming the Minister is even capable of doing anything the local embassy staff couldn't do to expedite the issue, having your MP be a member of the governing party or one of the opposition parties isn't going to make any difference in that situation.

[Table 5]

So any final minute news or polls come out today?

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Except why would anyone call their MP if they lost their passport in Mexico? You're supposed to contact the nearest embassy or consulate for assitance if that happens.

Frankly I don't have a clue either... but then I don't travel in the same social circles that she probably does so it wouldn't even cross my mind to give my buddy, good old Joe the MP, a call to help me out of a bind.

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Besides, even if someone didn't know the correct procedure and erroneously contacted their MP, assisting a Canadian citizen stuck abroad is about as non-partisan an issue as you can get. Assuming the Minister is even capable of doing anything the local embassy staff couldn't do to expedite the issue, having your MP be a member of the governing party or one of the opposition parties isn't going to make any difference in that situation.

Logically one would think that. But its clear that logic isn't her strong suit. She obviously was scrambling to come up with reasons why someone should vote for her and this was clearly one of the poorer ones.

[Bigtime]

Well today's the big day, anyone want to throw down their predictions?

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Well today's the big day, anyone want to throw down their predictions?

CPC: 35%
Lib: 30%
Green: 25%
NDP: 10%

[SeeGeeWhy]

A friend of mine recorded and edited the complete candidate debate and posted it on YouTube.

Anyone in calgary centre who is voting today and wishes to view it, please PM me with your email and I'll send it to you.

[jtfrogger]

My predictions for today:

• The difference between 1st & 3rd will be less than 2500 votes
• The difference between 1st & 2nd will be less than 1000 votes
• NDP support drops below 8%
• Harvey Locke is elected

Some of my thoughts as to how this will happen:

• Crockatt loses a little bit of support because some people don't want an Anders-like MP. The debate on the weekend and articles such as this will help drive this.
• GOTV will strongly favour Turner. He appears to have the most loyal and enthusiastic supporters behind him.
• Some NDP supporters will realize that not only does their candidate not stand a chance, but that the Liberal and Green candidates do. I think Turner grabs a few more of these than Locke.
• The undecided votes will largely be split among Turner and Locke with Locke getting more of these. If someone was undecided until last week, I don't see much of that support going to Crockatt.

I look forward to watching the results come in.