Did you mistakenly think that the Manning Centre’s attempt to bend the 2013 Calgary municipal election to more “conservative” was an aberration? You would be quite wrong. The author of the Metro News article is considerably more charitable than I am about the matter – but then again, he was
Continue readingTag: Calgary Civic Election 2013
The Cracked Crystal Ball II: Cal Wenzel Hasn’t Got A Leg To Stand On
I didn’t think much of Wenzel’s allegations when he filed his lawsuit. After reading the statement of defence filed by Naheed Nenshi today, I don’t think Wenzel has much to work with. Perhaps the most damaging to Wenzel’s case is a series of tweets by Wenzel’s supporters referring to him
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: So … Wenzel Is Suing Nenshi?
It came out in the news yesterday that Shane Homes’ president Cal Wenzel has decided to sue Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi over statements made during this year’s election campaign. At first, I found myself scratching my head over this lawsuit. Why bother? It was one sentence in one interview in
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Is YOUR Boss Telling You How To Vote?
It’s Calgary, 2013. I thought we had a fairly mature democracy. Certainly one above the kind of political shenanigans that the builders are pushing. In today’s Calgary Herald, an article appears which talks about the President and CEO of Excel Homes and Apex sending a memo to the employees of
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Pay to Go Politics in YYC
So, yesterday there was an “all candidates forum” sponsored by The Calgary Chamber of Commerce, the Urban Development Institute – Calgary and The Canadian Homebuilders Association – Calgary Region. I did not attend this forum – for several reasons. We already know that the developer community (or at least notable
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: The Mayor’s Debate in Calgary
Last night, Calgary’s Civic Camp organization put together an all-candidates debate for the Mayoralty. The format of the forum was excellent, and the effort to crowdsource the questions to be debated produced far better results than other political debates I have seen. I must admit to being disappointed with the
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Calgary Sun Plays The Racist Card …
It’s never been a big secret that lurking just underneath the surface of Canada’s right wing politics is a religiously-inspired vein of racism. It reared its head back in the late 1980s when the debate over turbans in the RCMP was at full volume, and the Reform Party voted to
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Analyzing The Manning Centre Report "City Council Vote Tracking"
The Manning Centre released a report this week, "Growing the Democratic Toolbox: City Council Vote Tracking". The first thing about this that I find interesting is that this appears to be a sign that the Manning Centre is going to start positioning itself in a manner similar to the Fraser
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Let The Astroturfing Begin
It seems that the astroturfing of Calgary has begun, with the Manning Centre sitting right behind it. Common Sense Calgary has been launched using funds from the Manning Centre. Started with $10,000 in seed money from the Manning Centre, content for the website is being provided by the Manning Foundation.
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Slates In Calgary Municipal Elections
While Calgary’s municipal elections are ostensibly “non-partisan”, in so far as we don’t have the various political parties directly involved, it is naive to think that we don’t have slates of candidates backed by interest groups of one sort or another. In the last several elections, we have had what
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Canada’s Far Right Next Attack On Nenshi
It’s no big secret that the Conservative power base in Calgary was profoundly pissed off when Naheed Nenshi won the Mayoral race in 2010. The amount of vitriol seen in the Sun’s pages after election day was astonishing, and since then, they have taken every opportunity to snipe at Nenshi.
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