Who are you choosing for mayor this election?
 

Who are you choosing for mayor in this election?

I would have chosen anybody but Nenshi, but I suppose that's what's Bill Smith is for.

I'm really disappointed in the quality of candidates running and our joke 30 day campaign cycle doesn't help. I'm definitely not voting for Nenshi for a number of reasons. I'm also definitely not voting for Bill Smith which I'm sure will shock the hell out of Suburbia and some others here. Do people not know this guy's background?! Why is he being held up by some as a great candidate when he couldn't even run the PC party and was in charge of it when it fell apart? I also will not vote for someone who if I don't know what they stand for or what they plan on doing. I'd rather Nenshi win than Smith especially if we can get rid of certain councilors such as Druh.

I might end up voting for Chabot but would love to know more about what his policies are.

Good point. Only Nenshi has actually produced any policies and stances (which is what allowed outsiders such as Bettman to try and attack him).

Regarding your prior question about why the business people are propping him up, it is because he will do what they want.

I'm voting for Smith, because it's the best chance to get rid of Spendshi. But yeah, his credentials are thin. Chabot is probably the best choice given his experience, and he seems a level headed guy. It's too bad it isn't a race between Chabot and Nenshi, it'd be an easy choice.

Why are you voting for him exactly? While policy of his do you like?

I wish Smith wasn't running because it would make the choice easy. But a win for Smith would rejuvenate the worst aspects of the old PC party which would not be good. I want the NDP gone tomorrow but I also don't want to go from one disaster to another.

Agree. It;s funny so many people have chosen smith, and nobody has chosen Chabot. I think Chabot is the better candidate, but for some reason Smith is getting the attention.

Many people aren't voting for Smith, they're voting against Nenshi.

I've never understood this line of thinking.

Which could turn out very bad. Have people not learned anything over the last few years when it comes to revenge voting?

I would think that it's because several key players in the media have decided to make Smith the second challenger and I have no doubt this is due to his connections to the city's conservative establishment. I also think that his lack of offering anything of substance during this campaign may come back to bite him during these final two weeks as these same key media players tire of having nothing to write about and instead start to push Chabot as the conservative choice because Chabot at least has had things of substance to say.

I wasn't asking a generic question, rather was asking western spaghetti specifically, who out of the many candidates, selected a particular one to vote for who he him/herself stated hadn't put out any substantive policy.

It is because a bunch of billionaires have decided he'd be best (and easiest to manipulate). He is the Bettman/Murray candidate (IE people who do not pay Canadian taxes).

#NeoCitranHaze

Not that I'm voting for Chabot, but I would far rather see him as mayor then Bill Smith.

Chabot seems to not be trying very hard, he easily should have been able to stick out as the “alternative” candidate. And he absolutely would be a better candidate than Smith. At least he’s qualified to do the job, and knows what the job takes.

Chabot isn’t really a visionary though, and he’d be pretty boring.

Smith doesn’t seem to think that having policy is necessary, and the limited policy he’s talked about hasn’t been good.

Nenshi has been a fantastic mayor, who has gotten a lot done, and all the while keeping taxes low, and increases to a minimum. He is the best candidate, and it’s not even remotely close.

No one else has even the slightest chance of being in the top three, never mind winning.

Concerning the bolded part above, I'd say only his most ardent supporters would agree with what you said. Tax increases under Nenshi have been excessive and that's not including all of the huge increases in fees and new mandatory fees which are taxes. It's debatable if he's the best candidate but this field leaves a lot to be desired.

As for Chabot, I agree that he doesn't seem to be trying. For someone who declared his candidacy six months ago he's done next to nothing to build up his brand image and doesn't appear to have done much fundraising. It's like he was expecting to win based solely on the anti-Nenshi vote. I wish he had decided to run again for council as he's been effective.

New poll shows Bill Smith in the lead in the race for mayor.

http://www.calgarysun.com/2017/09/29...two-horse-race

I agree with the following quote from the article.

It's looking increasingly more likely that the race for mayor will be decided by which side can convince their voters to actually show up at the polls. Will it be conservative voters who will use the mayoral election to vent their frustration at a province run by the NDP and a city run by Nenshi or will it be progressive Calgarians who are worried that without Nenshi the city will return to a place of low taxes, building interchanges and not much more. It will be interesting to see what happens but if I were Nenshi I'd be worried.

That and even these numbers here are bad. He's in the lead here, barely..but this is not a conservative site, and that large number of undecided are voters probably not voting for Nenshi. They're waiting to decide between Smith and Chabot.

Vote splitting might be the only thing to save Nenshi but a lot can happen in the last weeks. I expect this to get very nasty with the media/press doing whatever they can to destroy Smith.

Poor Chabot:

"Chabot, who currently represents Ward 10, is thought of favourably by just 20 per cent of respondents, while nearly one in five respondents weren't familiar with who he is, and 32 per cent of people think unfavourably of him."

Poll commissioned by Smith supporters at Ken's former digs with pre-selection guidelines for poll participants. Target was not Nenshi, but fact that some were choosing Chabot rather than #NeoCitranHaze candidate.

Don't be fooled. Alternate poll is suggesting that Chabot is gaining on BS. Little surprised that BS would pull this on Chabot.

Which might help his candidacy.

I disagree with this assessment.

Who's behind this alternate poll? Is it Nenshi's old polling buddy Brian Singh? When is Carter going to admit he's working behind the scenes for Nenshi?

As someone supporting Nenshi I agree with the assessment and I’m concerned, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Nenshi’s people are concerned. I don’t think all of the undecided are anti-Nenshi, but if you’re undecided at this point then you’re probably wanting someone other than Nenshi. Studies have shown that undecided voters don’t favour the incumbent.

All other polls are showing Smith as the main opponent. In the end this looks to be shaping up as a two man race.

Apparently, this was the third poll done by this polster. They kept on showing Nenshi ahead, so PostMedia kept saying to go back and change the question, till it skewed to Smith, and then they published.

Where's the link to the other polls?

Many of these "polls" are just campaign advertising. They're skewed to promote a candidate (usually without mentioning who) and stir up some muck (like the ward 8 one with the question that begins "Wooley supports a safe-injection site in your community..."). Publishing the results of these robo-calls as polling data is ridiculous.

Suburbia must have been tasked with spreading misinformation. Other Nenshi supporters (insiders?) have been slamming the validity of the poll since it came out. The facts are that Nenshi's approval ratings have been in a free fall drop since early this year, and Ken King and CSEC have nothing to do with the poll. No reputable polling company is going to risk it's reputation doing rigged polls. If the Nenshi camp wants rigged numbers they should get Brian Singh to do one for them.

For me it's anyone but Nenshi. Sometimes people don't need specific policies to vote someone in, only reasons to vote someone out.
I voted for Nenshi the first two elections, but he has soured on me. One particular event sealed it. I was at a remembrance day event where he was speaking, and he went on to talk about people's freedoms, and was going on about the Niqab (something he really didn't need to bring up at a remembrance day event), and it was something I was ambivalent about, but he mentioned it a couple of times, and then mentioned that veterans had fought so that people in Canada could have the freedom to wear a Niqab. I'm pretty sure veterans weren't over there fighting so that husbands could make women wear a bedsheet over their face. What a fucking asshole.

White trash.

I was undecided, thinking it was time for a change. Seeing the alternatives, I have chosen to stay with Nenshi. Most of Councils problems are not his fault.

I would discount anything Suburbia has to say about the election, he's Ismaili, just like Nenshi, so he'll agree with whatever Nenshi says or does no matter what.

And that's been the downfall of Nenshi. He has some good policies but not good tact. Tying the niquab issue to veterans is definitely in poor taste.

I had no idea.

True. His attitude and constant talking down to those who don't agree with him have turned off a lot of people. I think he OD'd on his own Kool Aid and it sure didn't help that the media treated him like he was a rock star. He got super cocky when he "won" that stupid best mayor in the world award.

He started out well IMO, but it's been a slide. It always seems to be the way in politics.

I think it would be better for Nenshi if Suburbia won't on silent mode for a while. He's not helping the campaign. Whether he truly likes Nenshi's policies are not he comes across as a bootlicker supporting him for the reasons you mentioned.

:haha::haha::haha:

#donkers

When was the last time an incumbent was voted out in Calgary?

I think it was Ross Alger when Ralph beat him. Long time ago and Ralph was not expected to win. Or do well for that matter. 1980?

Exactly. I'm a Nenshi supporter, but part of me wants him to lose so I could enjoy watching Suburbia leave with his tail between his legs.

There are something like ten candidates, so why Smith?

[sorry for repeating the question - there is sound logic in the question, but lots of aversion in the non-answers]

lol!

I would have considered an alternative to Nenshi, but I soured on Smith due to a) calling Nenshi's early donor list disclosure as 'grand standing' b) aligning with those Nimby's down south.

I'm with you on those points. The spots started to show even before his #NeoCitranHaze kicked in.

I guess you gotta talk to Guitto directly to find out how the shake down happened. Corndogger seems to know all the names. Maybe he can ask Guitto how many times he had to go out there for Post-Media and how the questions were changed to get the result they wanted for their Post-Truth / Post-Fact beneficiaries.

Stop acting slow.

People voting for Smith know as well as you that vote splitting will lead to a Nenshi victory so they are voting for tye one guy that has a chance to win. If someone is planning to vote for Chuck E Cheese they are better off saving the bus fair and staying home.

They are voting Smith for the exact same reason you are begging them to vote for anyone else, Smith can actually win.

So to clarify, you're not voting for Smith for any of his policies.

I thought people would have a stronger reaction to his pro-business plank, specifically the part that would shift the tax burden to residential tax. The implication is residential taxes would increase by 50%.