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Municipal Election Roundtable Extravaganza
125 Plays3 years ago
Municipal election day is almost here. Sprawl Calgary reporter Jeremy Appel joins Duncan and Jim for one final review of the races in Edmonton and Calgary.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:12
Speaker
Friends and enemies, welcome to The Progress Report. I am your host, Duncan Kinney, recording today here in Amiskwichiwa, Skaigen, otherwise known as Edmonton, Alberta, here in Treaty 6 territory on the banks of the Kasis-Kasaat, Wannissippi, or the North Saskatchewan River. Joining us today for a very special in-person podcast, which I literally cannot remember the last time I had anyone in the studio recording with me, is absolute legend and returning champion, Jeremy Appel. Jeremy, how are you?
00:00:41
Speaker
I'm doing pretty well, Duncan. Good to be here. Good to see you in the flesh. Not the first time we've met in person, but certainly the first time we've recorded in person.
Jeremy's Ketchup Man Story
00:00:52
Speaker
It was good to meet Jim Story, who's sitting right beside me, in person. I had no idea what he looked like, right? Because I just know him as the ketchup man on Twitter. He's not, in fact, an anthropomorphic ketchup bottle. Yeah, that was a little disappointing.
00:01:08
Speaker
And I also took Jeremy to his very first ever chicken for lunch experience. His blood pressure has spiked. He's gotten quadruple his daily intake of sodium.
Calgary Mayoral Race Highlights
00:01:21
Speaker
Yeah, I'm just high on sodium right now.
00:01:23
Speaker
But I am a big big fan of chicken for lunch know the reason we have Jeremy on is because Jeremy is Calgary City Council reporter for the sprawl And Jeremy's been paying very close attention to the next few days for the next few days Yes, I mean we get into that too, but
00:01:39
Speaker
But you've been paid somewhat, some amount of money to pay attention to Calgary City Council and the races that have been going on there. And I have been paying some attention to the Edmonton Municipal races and we are going to chop it up. But because we got Jeremy here, we got to start with Calgary.
00:01:54
Speaker
And let's start with the race that everyone is talking about. And that is who is going to get the least amount of votes in the Calgary mayoral election out of the 27 candidates that are running. Yes, 27 candidates are running for the open mayor's seat in Calgary. And Jeremy, I don't know, I know you haven't really been on fringe candidate duty for the sprawl. There's actually, there was a great episode of The Bottle Man.
00:02:21
Speaker
I don't know if you heard that one. Yes, that's very good election and they went into a lot of the French candidates, but I mean I I did for the sprawl I compiled like a list that's been very widely used of all the
00:02:36
Speaker
mayoral and then council and then school board kin that's writing like a little bio for each. So I know of everyone. Yeah, you have a cursory knowledge of all 27 mayoral candidates. So who's going at the least amount votes? I mean, that's tough to say.
00:02:54
Speaker
I think Paul Hallelujah is definitely going to have the, uh, the anti-pedophile vote. This is the guy who wants to MRI people to test for pedophilia, if I remember correctly. Yeah, that's right. Just go into schools, doctor's offices, law firms. Every single person will get an MRI and then we will figure out whether they are a pedophile or not. Yeah. I mean, the problem with that is it's only to determine if people are predisposed to pedophilia and not they're actually pedophiles. So I can see there's some charter issues arising there, but
00:03:22
Speaker
No, Paul Hallouge, he also wants contact aliens. Okay, what's that? Well, do you want me to pull up his campaign page or I'll read it for you. Just, yes, I do want to know more about contact aliens. So this is the guy who thinks not only does he want to screen people for pedophilia, but he thinks that aliens are coming or something.
00:03:43
Speaker
Yeah, so he wants to build a signal for detecting alien lights based on these geometric shapes on
Fringe Candidates' Eccentric Proposals
00:03:52
Speaker
Jupiter and Saturn. Better be Fibonacci sequence shit too. Yeah, probably. He's also a Bitcoin mining equipment salesman, so you know he's like...
00:04:00
Speaker
very trustworthy. And also, fun fact, he claims on his website that eating meat causes cancer. Well, I mean, probably. But that's the least wacky thing Paul Hallelujah has said, according to that I've heard from you at least. Yeah, but I don't think you'll get the least amount of votes because, you know, there are always people who are just like,
00:04:22
Speaker
get a vote for the gimmick. And they're 27. I mean, that's hard. It's really hard to, cause out of 27, like I give Paul Hallelujah as one example, but.
00:04:34
Speaker
10 of them, at least 10 of them, are literally insane and are a danger to themselves. There is literally no better window into the depraved political culture of the city I grew up in than to read a profile of every single mayoral candidate.
00:04:53
Speaker
that is running in the Calgary municipal election. And just as one example, my favorite, and I think he is a candidate for least, I think he is very fringe, and I don't even think he's gonna pick up the people voting for gimmick candidates, or wacky candidates, is Zach Hartley. He is 27 years old, he lists his political experience as board member, and he lists his professional experience as investor in Calgary companies and startups.
00:05:21
Speaker
You ever know any investors that were 27 years old? Yeah, they're not people I would trust
00:05:33
Speaker
He gives off, if you look him up, he gives a very strong kind of Patrick Bateman vibes. And born and raised in Calgary, you know, I'm just reading off his little CTV profile right now. Yeah, what's his favorite meal? Oh, that's the thing. His favorite meal is actually very illustrative of how screwed up this person is. His favorite meal is a steak sandwich from Caesar's Steakhouse. Okay, he's fucking sick.
00:05:59
Speaker
So Caesar Steakhouse is not anywhere that any 20 year old goes on their own and buys the steak sandwich and enjoys it. That's a place where 50 year old oil and gas investment bankers go to do coke in the bathroom and chop up million dollar deals. This guy is, as you said, very likely a sicko, yes.
00:06:21
Speaker
I mean, but it's also like some wannabe shit. He doesn't fucking do cocaine in the bathroom there. Of course not. But when you ask him to describe his platform, he's like, reduce taxes, diversify revenue streams, cut back on executive salaries. Well, just boilerplate bullshit. No one really gives a shit. He wants to donate half his salary to charity is something he constantly brings up. The rule of government is to facilitate an environment where business and culture prosper together.
00:06:50
Speaker
But you know, I've noticed all of these fucking profiles for council and mayor and then schoolbirds are sort of in their own category or the exact fucking same. Yes. I am a strong community advocate who will listen to my concerns. Like no one cares, dude. Yeah. No one fucking cares. What do you want to do? How like, how would the city be better served with you?
00:07:14
Speaker
What are your values beyond like, I'm nice? Yeah, or like I wanna make things easier for small businesses. Well, that's the key for every city council candidate. Like even the good ones are like, yeah, I love small business. As Alberta Advantage has podcasted about previously, anytime you hear small business in your head, just say,
00:07:33
Speaker
capitalism. Also, hold on, I got some other faves. You got a fringe? You got some fringe weirdos you want to touch on before we leave this? Yeah. So Adam Roberts, a pretty recent guy, he calls himself a courageous lover of freedom.
00:07:49
Speaker
Red flag? Yeah. He's against public health measures, but he's pro investing in tech and engineering and manufacturing. I love technology. Would you believe that he wants to help small business? Yes. Is he one of the people who said Ralph Klein was their political hero or whatever? I don't know. You'll have to pull up the CTV list.
00:08:13
Speaker
Yeah, he also wants to bring people together in unity and love rather than divided. So he's a consensus builder. Very dope. Yes. Good vibes. He's sending out good vibes. Yeah. Oh, and he's respecting the memory of those who have paid the ultimate price to live in a country strong and free. Oh yeah. Red flag. He's against lockdowns, which, you know, Alberta has famously had.
00:08:39
Speaker
Yes, very strict and long-lasting lockdowns here in Alberta. Yeah. Oh, I like Will Visor. Oh, yes. Yes, this guy rules. He's actually like... I think I tweeted out like a couple of months ago, like his platform. He sounds like Bane from the Dark Knight movies. Yes, I'm a big fan. Do you have his profile in front of you? I do. I'm just trying to find the funny stuff.
00:09:17
Speaker
Oh, here we go. Okay, so he wants to eliminate corruption. He says, I am the vaccine and I will eliminate corruption because corruption is disease. And so the planks of this part of his platform are prosecute the corrupt politicians that defraud the city of Calgary's tax dollars, revoke the licenses of shady businesses, and, this is the best part, seize the corrupt politicians' properties in bank accounts and return all the funds back to the citizens.
Kevin J. Johnson's Controversial Candidacy
00:09:47
Speaker
Aside from Zach Hartley, Will Visor was a close candidate for me as my second choice, also very much in the running for least votes. His syntax is very much like everything is capitalized, or just capitalized at random. The CTV profile asks a couple of random questions like, what is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Calgary? His response?
00:10:12
Speaker
First thing that came to my mind about Calgary is the indigenous reserve inside Calgary. And like every first, the first letter of every word is capitalized for some reason. Smart. That's how you know, you got to stand out from the crowd. Name a Calgarian you admire and briefly explain why. Favorite Calgarian. I am Will Visor. I admired myself. I'm a great, I'm a great young man with ideas. Here's the reasons why I admired myself. My platform as a mayor, I will spend wisely, have better estimate for projects, invest wasteful tech dollars, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:10:41
Speaker
See, I didn't vote for him, but I'd like to be friends with him, you know. Another one is Zahid Ali Khan, who, one of his qualifications listed on his website is he's a lifetime blood recipient. Okay.
00:10:58
Speaker
Some of the camp Dracula over here. He wants to spend 25k to create a Calgary-based ISP. Dope. I full support, yes. Bring back CatVision. Now this is kind of weird because he brings in how that will create
Main Candidates: Farkas vs. Gondek
00:11:16
Speaker
children's benefits for all of the city.
00:11:19
Speaker
And this focus on children. He also wants to plant fruit trees in the city's parks. Not a bad idea. So the children can be nourished while playing. That sounds a little weird. It's a good idea.
00:11:35
Speaker
Regrettably, we have a giant blank spot when it comes to Stan the man, Washiac. He did not respond to CTV. Did you get anything on Stan the man? Stan the man. I don't, I think he's one of the ones with our website. Oh, but I also want to say that Zahid Ali Khan is very much against fake friends. He has this, this quote up on his website. Some people are loyal to you. They're loyal to their need of you. Once their needs change, so is their loyalty.
00:12:04
Speaker
And he has this sort of meme of a guy shivving somewhere through the back. And then he says, FLQ, liberals, conservatives, et cetera. He likes the FLQ.
00:12:20
Speaker
No, no, no, he's saying that they're fake friends. Yeah, no, Stan the man Wasyak doesn't have a campaign page. Didn't respond, didn't respond to CTV and doesn't have a campaign page. All right, the last. So he actually, he will probably come in last. That's my pick. Okay, there you go. Like also like Stan the man on the ballot.
00:12:39
Speaker
The final fringe candidate we have to talk about is Kevin J. Johnson. We don't have to spend a ton of time on him, but I do want to know where do you think out of the 27 candidates, what place do you think he finishes and how many votes does he get? Okay. Well, um, I'm not going to guess how many votes he gets cause I'm not like good at math and I don't know how many eligible voters there. But I think that
00:13:06
Speaker
So you want to hear my official prediction? On the record, I put you on the spot. No percentages. Here's what we got. Just the order. Out of 27, one to 27, where do you place them? Right. Well, I think number one is going to be Joey Vonda, I think. Well, we'll get into Joey Vonda. Okay. Where does Kevin J. Johnson fit? Fall. Just because it's doing it in my head, so there are...
00:13:28
Speaker
I say he comes in sixth. Wow. I'm going to put him lower down. I'm going to put him around between 10 and 15. Uh, and I think if I remember correctly, Larry Heather got around 2000 votes. He's also running again, but Larry Heather, Larry Heather got around 2000 votes in the last mayoral election. So I'm just kind of like, if I just leave you like triple that quadruple it anyways, I haven't done, I haven't like really gamed out where Kevin J. Johnson's going to finish.
00:13:53
Speaker
Six would be, six would suck. I would not be. Well, you got like Faith Goldie came in for mayor of Toronto. But he's so, he's so much more fringe than Faith Goldie. Yeah, but he has a loyal following, right? Like, like all the like
00:14:13
Speaker
anti-maskers. Like, maybe they'll vote strategically for Farkas, but I think a lot of them, like, KJJs, they're gone. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. But there's just not that many. And he's gone a lot of publicity through no fault of the medias, right? I mean, when this guy, when a mayoral candidate is facing criminal charges in three of the country's ten provinces, I mean, he gotta talk about it.
00:14:41
Speaker
Is he serving his weekend sentences already? I think his weekend sentences start after the election is over. After the election, okay. And then in the new year, he's got to go back to Ontario. And then after he's done his weekend sentences in Alberta, he's got to go to Ontario and serve out his contempt of court, whatever he got charged with there. What I am quite proud of is on the sprawled list of candidates.
00:15:06
Speaker
You link for all of them, you know, I linked their name to their campaign page, but for Kevin Johnson, cause I was like, okay, how am I going to uncover this? Mention this without like, and so instead of linking to his campaign page, I linked to the CBC's new CBC news article by Megan Grant. He's been doing great reporting on his antics, um, uh, about how he was arrested.
00:15:32
Speaker
Yeah, I don't want to spend too much time on Kevin because he is so loathsome and like and he's not gonna win So who cares who gives a shit? Yeah, but I think
00:15:41
Speaker
Like six or seven. I would be surprised if he didn't come. I gave a pretty wide range, 10 to 15, but we'll see. I mean, he's not technically a fringe candidate, but he kind of is. Let's, let's pour one out for Jeff Davison's mayoral aspirations. I think that ship is sailed. Sorry, Jeff. Thanks for the fish. What I like is that word Sutherland was originally going to run for reelection in word one. And then he dropped out to be Jeff Davison's mayoral campaigns, chief of staff.
00:16:12
Speaker
under the presumption that he would get a job in Jeff Davison mayoral tea. And it doesn't look like it's such a, but I have a theory, I have a conspiracy. This is crazy shit. Like I have no evidence for this, but I think Jeff Davison is a kamikaze candidate. Wow. Cause Jodie Gondick has not been attacking Farkas a whole lot.
00:16:40
Speaker
And I know she fucking hates him because everyone on council, except for, um, alleged criminal mastermind, uh, and, um, uh, the dumbest fuck in elected Canadian politics, Sean Chu, all the other conservatives on council fucking hate him.
00:17:00
Speaker
Because he's not actually interested in doing anything like Davidson like something like You know Shane Keating's pretty centrist, but like yeah, I'd say he's more on the conservative side
00:17:16
Speaker
Interesting theory, Jeremy. Interesting theory. I am not close enough to confirm or deny or really have any opinion on it. Well, we'll know. We'll see if Jeff Davidson has a role in Gondet. I just, Jeff Davidson is just a spineless little creep and I don't like him. He was instrumental to the arena deal. He is the flames guy on City Council. In fact, if you go to the CTV questionnaire and they ask him who his favorite Calgarian is, did you read that? Ken King.
00:17:47
Speaker
Right? Like he is shameless. He is shameless. He is such a, like he is corporate. And it makes it even more funny that he, like his campaign claims they've got momentum because now he has 12% in the polls. He had less than 10 before. Yeah. No one cares. But I mean, that is, I think going to keep Farkas from being mayor. So
00:18:16
Speaker
Fair dinkum So let's get to the to the the climax of the mayoral conversation here gone deck focus versus Farkas You've been paying close attention who the polls have been close maybe slight edge to gone deck and
00:18:32
Speaker
Sledge to go on deck now. There's sledge to Farkas for a long time. So where do you, where do you come, where do you come out on this? Give, give me, what's the, the texture of the board, you know, post October 18th? Well, I'm going to keep it 100 here. I voted for Jodi gone deck. I, I, I mean, politically she's very like technocratic and centrist, but as was men, she, but I think that, uh, you know, she's smart. Um, she.
00:19:03
Speaker
Will keep the city on the track that it's on currently which I think is certainly better than the any realistic alternative But I I think that she's got the momentum. Mm-hmm. I think that
00:19:25
Speaker
Farkas and you can see the way Farkas and the surrogates like save Calgary and lead Calgary and you know, whatever are Screeching about how the unions are trying to you know, take over City Hall Mm-hmm That they're scared and so I think that
00:19:45
Speaker
While Jody doesn't have that really rare and unique type of charisma that she had, she does have a lot of what he had. There you go. In terms of expanding the green line north. So you think she's going to win? Yeah, I think she's going to win. See, the one thing about that,
00:20:15
Speaker
Is, um, what I really don't like about her winning is that I will have to pretend to like Steven Carter for my regrets. Uh, so you, you think she's going to win how many like five points it'll be able to be a squeaker at like one or two points.
00:20:35
Speaker
Like I don't think it's going to be a blowout for her cause cause like Kevin Johnston, but on a much larger scale, like Farkas has a dedicated base because from day one when he was elected to council, he was fucking pulling these stunts. Oh yeah. Rick Bell was giving him all sorts of coverage. Yeah. Um, to show that he was like singularly, uh, standing up to like the fat cats at city hall. Right. And, um,
00:21:07
Speaker
But I think he struggled to expand on that base because he is so rigidly ideological and oppositional. And actually for a piece that will be out by the time this is out, that I did with Jeremy Clausus at the Sproul, we did a profile in Farkas and I talked to Danielle Smith for it. We staked out the Calgary Petroleum Club.
00:21:35
Speaker
Cause there was a, there was like a big fundraiser for it. Yeah. Well, I don't think it was a fundraiser just to get together. Yeah. I mean, every, I mean, at the end of the day, it's all fundraiser, right? People get asked for money. Yeah. Or give it to like, they're like packs, but, um,
00:21:54
Speaker
But so, uh, we staked out the petroleum club at the, after the event, uh, Preston, man, we were looking for Preston Manning, right? Cause this was like his event. He walked out talking to Danielle Smith. So clauses went to Manning. I went to Danielle Smith and we interviewed each of them and Danielle was just like, yeah, you know, what I like about Jeremy is like, he wants there to be a, this culture of yes at City Hall where we presumably
00:22:21
Speaker
like the presumptions that we support projects unless there's compounding reason not to and it's just like okay but how do you reconcile that with his voting record which is like like you go back and look at all these votes on Calgary City Council like a lot of them were 14 to 1 or after Ray Jones um quit 13 to 1 and it was Farkas against it um and she was like well you know
00:22:48
Speaker
We need to say yes to things but not all at once. And it's like, well, that's a bit of a caveat.
00:22:58
Speaker
Well, I look forward to the piece. I have to say, I think Farkas will win. And I base this on no, like I haven't been following the race as close as you have. I am not as into the weeds of the hue and fro of this particular race. I just think Jeremy Farkas is a perfect avatar for kind of Calgary politics.
00:23:20
Speaker
Uh, and I, I think he, uh, will squeak one out. I think there's, there's definitely a lot of people who don't want him to win, but I don't think Gondek is going to be able to kind of marshal the same forces that Nenshi was able to marshal in 2010. I think she can keep the Nenshi coalition together. Um, mostly, cause that's really what it's all about, right? Is getting those voters who came out and reelect eventually by a wide margin.
00:23:47
Speaker
you know, two times reelected first time elected, um, to come out for her. I don't think it's going to be a landslide, like then she's victories, but again, I think she just didn't, she didn't have a landslide in 2010, but, but after, after that, it was a landslide for every, right. That's, that's, well, I mean, I, yeah, I mean, all things being relative. I mean, the fact that he came from like obscurity and then, um,
00:24:15
Speaker
Rick McIver, who was actually on council and who was from my understanding of Farkas type councilor. Oh, very much so. Very much so. Yeah. Dr. Right. Barb Higgins as well, who was a prominent, uh, newscaster for CB Calgary for journalists. Politicians are different, but I feel like we've given enough oxygen to the Calgary mayoral race. We're on the record now. You've got gone deck. I think, I think Farkas will take it. Uh,
00:24:39
Speaker
And I just don't think Calgary can have nice things, which is why I think Farkas will become the mayor and it's just going to be trash before he is. You know, it's funny seeing, seeing these debates, um, Jeff Davison being like, well, you've got Farkas on the far right, Gondak on the far left.
00:24:55
Speaker
I'm in the middle. It's like former reform party member Jody Gunday. Yeah. Well, I mean, she, I asked her about that when we had her on the forgotten corner and she was like, she pretty much realized that conservatives are racist. And, um, that was her, but right. It wasn't about like economic was about the ideology, but also right. She, she, I believe she founded the university of Calgary school for real estate studies.
00:25:20
Speaker
Which, I mean, a really weird thing for a radical leftist to do, but... Yeah, all my leftist friends are deep in the weeds on private real estate policy. Yeah, well, you all know you're under me, right? Yeah, all right, but we've got to close off our Calgary mayoral discussion, but I do want to ask you about if there are any particular races or candidates we've got to watch out for at the council level.
00:25:42
Speaker
Courtney Walcott in Word 8, my word, full disclosure, I voted for him. He is a high school teacher at Western Canada High School. Yeah, we've had him on the pod before he's grateful. Oh, have you? Do you fund the fun stuff? Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:58
Speaker
advocate for defund the police, young guy, really charismatic and smart and I think he can win in word eight. He got the endorsement of Evan Woolley who's the
00:26:14
Speaker
outgoing counselor for Ward 8? Yes, and I have to riff on this for a sec. So Evan Woolley endorsed Courtney Walcott in Ward 8 and then this lady comes out, this other candidate in Ward 8 comes out and she starts talking about her lived experience as an Acadian.
00:26:34
Speaker
Which I fucking lost my mind at like I I pointed it at my phone and caggled and then I showed it to my partner And I like I lost it for like five minutes. Yeah, I mean I like Monique as a person like I've always found her like person to talk to you, but
00:26:54
Speaker
My meemaw had to had to go to the bathroom in an outhouse It's like it welcome to the prairies like everyone's grandparents had to fucking piss
Calgary's Council Races Overview
00:27:01
Speaker
on it. But actually Gary Bob Rubitz I think is his main opponent. Yes. Yes I just had to bring up the Monique thing cuz it's hilarious. Yeah, like I think Monique will come in third. Um, Bob Rubitz is a former City Hall reporter for global news. Yeah journalists
00:27:16
Speaker
again, your favorite journalism politics, power lifter, notably very swole, very yoked for a 50-some-year-old, 60-year-old. He pretty much did like a, do you even lift bright to someone who was like dunking on him on Twitter?
00:27:40
Speaker
Yeah he's uh his signs are like everywhere in the ward and I suspect that all all the landlords yeah exactly he's the landlord's candidate of choice um he wants to convert uh abandoned office towers in downtown Calgary to vertical farms okay
00:28:00
Speaker
Now, vertical farming, my partner actually, her brother works as an engineer for vertical farms in the US. It's a cool idea. It's great. It's just downtown Calgary is not food insecure. There are several grocery stores.
00:28:20
Speaker
Not far from there. Like it doesn't make sense there, but you know, it's a gimmick got people talking I guess but I don't know about general public got me talking but he also Did this story? Well, he boasted of having pitched his old colleagues at global on a story
00:28:46
Speaker
About the menace of bike lanes and how these two businesses on I believe it's 11th Street are Upset of the Repairs going on bike lanes because of their parking. They last like three parking spots for two weeks. Yeah. Yeah, and he's like
00:29:04
Speaker
The story came out in global and he was like, yeah, that was me. That was me. I brought the story to global and the shows I can get things done. It's like that is such a journal experience. Congrats. You got them like a two minute segment on nightly news. Like, yeah, you're getting stuff done. But it's also interesting because the first shot of that video piece
00:29:29
Speaker
is Bob Rovitz with his back to the camera talking to his friend who owns this business. That's good. He doesn't appear in the video at all after that. Really sus stuff. Global was obviously criticized for it on Twitter and they came out
00:29:48
Speaker
With an identical statement that they just copy and pasted to a lunch Oh God like we don't endorse anyone everything straight and we didn't we have no affiliation with bopper vits his campaign and It was a pretty funny saga But yeah, I think Walcott can win Another Courtney in word 11, which is Fox's old word Which used to have a progressive counselor Brian pin cot? Mm-hmm
00:30:15
Speaker
Now lives in Winnipeg. RIP. He lives in Winnipeg. It's a joke. Yeah, I guess. I've never been to Winnipeg. I know some good people there, though. Brian's fine. I like Brian fine. I'm just joking. Yeah, no. But Courtney Brannigan, Courtney with a K. And is this Craig Chandler? Is this the word we're Craig Chandler? No, no, no. That's 12. Oh, OK. We'll get to that in a moment. Courtney Brannigan, 11, you like her. Yeah, I like her. She's like...
00:30:44
Speaker
got the charisma in like, she just has it, you know, and like, like, it's not like a political spectrum thing, right? Like Rob Fort had it. Not in the same way, I think, Courtney Brangin does, or like Justin Trudeau has it, or at least he did in like 2015, right? Like that, just that, like, charisma in like warmth and the ability to like look people in the eye and like,
00:31:07
Speaker
convince them that you care about their problems. I think she can do it. She's running against
00:31:16
Speaker
guy by the name of Rob Ward, um, who's like the, you know, the, the lead Calgary, which is like the big right wing pack. Um, that he's like their candidate, great businessman type. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, you know, and that's an interesting word, right? Because it was pink hot than Farkas one, which from my understanding was because there was a split.
00:31:41
Speaker
Are you saying that multiple? Left-wing or left-leaning counselors ran at the same time allowing to have a right-winger to come up the middle Jeremy That's democracy Is it is yeah, but actually in this case Carolyn cron who is a Another progressive candidate in that race dropped out and endorsed. Oh, I remember seeing that. Yes brand again and then one of the like save counselors
00:32:16
Speaker
I've been very impressed by both courtneys running for counsel.
00:32:23
Speaker
I think they're the big councillors and I think they've got the they've got the juice. All right, well, let's let's rapid fire through a few last Calgary things, Calgary City Council races and issues. Joe Maglioca, is he going to continue to be a councillor despite the fact that he is being charged with criminal charges? I don't think so. I think because
00:32:45
Speaker
If you look back at a word to in 2017, general for minus, who was the progressive candidate there, uh, came pretty close to beating Maglioca. And that was before, um, he was caught was a disgrace. Yeah. Before he was caught like making up, uh, mules that never took place to expense them, which is as far as griffs go is the most stupid and hilariously small time shit I can
00:33:12
Speaker
Well, I don't know if you saw that thread from Megan Potkins at the Herald. She was talking about how that story came together. She was just writing about how Maglioca's expenses were really high compared to the other counselors. And she mentioned some big meals that took place with certain counselors elsewhere across the country. And one of these counselors, I forget, somewhere in Ontario,
00:33:41
Speaker
I grew up in Oldford and Albert, but she called up Megan and was like, um, I never, this never happened. This never happened. And Megan was saying her first response was like, Oh shit, did I get it wrong? Yeah. Was there a factual error? Right. And she looked it up and it was like, Nope, says your name on it. And then it's like, uh, wait a minute. And Madeline Smith as well. Harold just started calling.
00:34:09
Speaker
Yeah, all these people Maglioca said he had like lunches and dinners with and they're like never Well, yes. Goodbye. Joe Maglioca. You were awful and I'm glad I hope he doesn't win The Shawn shoe versus DJ Kelly who wins their shoe? Yeah, I'm like he like
00:34:30
Speaker
Evan Woolley, who we just mentioned earlier, was taken to the Integrity Commissioner because he called, uh, Sean should have been ignorant and moral, and he had to apologize. We didn't have to. He chose to. Well, yeah, exactly. Cause my point, like Farkas was taken to the, uh, ethics commissioner and it was really violated the code of conduct and Farkas was just like, yeah.
00:34:55
Speaker
Well, I'm not apologizing. Yeah, but make me motherfucker. Yeah, but Woolley's apology was very much like I'm sorry. He is such a fucking That I called him on and it was inappropriate, you know, it was a bit of a backhanded apology, but That's regrettable shot. I do know I'm not I do think she will win
00:35:17
Speaker
There are two progressives running against him. Of course. And there's Angela McIntyre. Of course, of course. Um, you know, I, for my understanding, Kelly's more of like a, like a Gondek type, like centrist technocrat. Um, whereas McIntyre is, um, seems to me to be more, you know, left-leaning social democratic. Um, and, but also I feel like she's got big money behind him, right?
00:35:44
Speaker
Oh, yeah. He's established, right? He's very established. He's a former cop. Once you're a counselor, you're in the fraternity. Yeah. I think Maglioca is the only incumbent who's going to lose. It's very hard to lose as an incumbent, and especially one who is as friendly to developers as Sean Chu is. Will Craig Chandler become a counselor?
00:36:07
Speaker
Well, word 12 is an interesting one, right? Because some of the words where there aren't counselors running for re-election have either someone quite close to that counselor running in their stead, like in word 12, Evan Spencer, worked for
00:36:25
Speaker
Shane Keaton was outgoing counselor. He was sort of Mr. Greenline. Yes, I remember Shane. He's not bad. And word six is Richard Poopman, who's the old city counselor for their morning. Now that Davis is running for mayor and there's Andre Chabot. Oh, really? He's back? Oh yeah. And he's, it's funny. He, his signs say re-elect Andre Chabot. And Scott Dibble at CBC did a piece on that thing.
00:36:54
Speaker
Well, I mean, and he was telling me to like, most people in that word probably didn't even realize he was gone, especially because they haven't had a counselor. But in Ward 12, so Evan Spencer is running, he worked for Shane Keating until Keating's, Keating's obvious successor kind of thing. Yeah.
00:37:13
Speaker
In Craig Chandler who we haven't given any context for but is like a notorious right-wing shithead, right? See the guy who occurred accused Earls of springtime. Yes that guy he's uh My favorite Craig Chandler memory is him standing over him standing over Oh, what the fuck was the guy's name
00:37:37
Speaker
Who's the guy who punched out the security guard at the PC leadership convention, the longtime conservative political operative? His son works for Tyler Shandrow. Oh man. Now I gotta fucking lick it up. What the fuck is this guy's name?
00:37:51
Speaker
Alan Hallman yes, so My favorite memory of Craig Chandler is him on Stephen Avenue between the two teles convention centers bellowing at the people that if they Wanted the movement to succeed to go back in forget this all happened get the fuck out of here as he stood over Alan Hallman who was bloody and had been restrained by security guards police were on their way and He was drunk as all get out and he had you know
00:38:21
Speaker
allegedly assaulted a security guard I never saw it but I saw the kind of after him
00:38:26
Speaker
Chandler's bellowing at people to go away, leave this alone, get out of here. If you want the movement to succeed, forget this ever happened, get out of the kind of thing. And standing over all in Hallman as he's like kind of dazed and drunk and being restrained by security guards. That's my favorite Craig Chandler memory. Well, he's also, he's with the progressive group for independent business, which just shows that the word progressive is so like, so meaningless. But he is far, far to the right.
00:38:55
Speaker
Wait, it was kicked out of the PC party by Stelmak, has said all sorts of wackity things over the years. He's a homophobe, which, I mean, so Shanshu. Very glad to hear that it's not likely that he's going to win. My last question. Well, I don't know about that.
Calgary's Fluoride Plebiscite Debate
00:39:10
Speaker
Okay. Like, I don't know. There's a percent, there's a chance. There's a chance. I would assume Spencer would win, but apparently Chandler is playing really nasty and telling people that Spencer was fired from Keating's office. Oh, that's exactly how Chandler would run an election, yeah.
00:39:27
Speaker
My final my final question on the Calgary election before we move on to the other major city in this province What the fuck is gonna happen with the fluoride plebiscite? Oh, it's gonna get accepted. Okay, it's so dumb that we're having like it was taken out like Nenshi said that and then she went on vacation or something like No, he said he wanted a plebiscite
00:39:50
Speaker
to bring it back in because it was taken out with under plebiscite. Just fucking do it. Yeah, to me that suggests you should just bring it back. Just fucking do it. The average Calgarian isn't qualified to make decisions about dental care.
00:40:08
Speaker
And I do actually speaking of fluoride because Drew Farrell was like, you know, the best Calgary city councilor for like 20 years. She's awesome. Yes. This was one of her notable misses. I believe she has this weird. Um, she's anti-fluoride for whatever reason. I will, but I don't know if she's anti-fluoride against you voted to get rid of it. Right. I'm pretty sure.
00:40:32
Speaker
Yeah, well her, cause I asked her about this on Sprawlcast and she said, well, Florida itself isn't going to do a lot for dental care. We need like.
00:40:42
Speaker
Yeah, you need lots of shit, of course. Well, yeah, we need like federal, like, or at least provincial dental care program. And it's like, uh, yeah, sure. Sure. I agree. You're not a provincial fucking politician. Exactly. But, but one, the city can't do that, but the city, I mean, the city can advocate for the federal government province to write a letter. Yeah. But I mean,
00:41:05
Speaker
this government, neither government's going to do that. City Council has the ability to take this small step that will improve people's dental care, especially in children. Yeah. I mean, not drastically, but it's, it raises the floor, right? And it's, it's a public health. It's one of the most successful public health interventions ever. And the fact that it was ever taken out of Alberta's water was the height of stupidity. And it's why I say Calgary deserves what it gets when Farkas is elected is the shit like that happens.
00:41:33
Speaker
I think fluoride will easily pass. Even dentists who are a class of people who I usually despise. I don't mind going to the dentist and getting my teeth cleaned. I just think dentists are ... Really? I fucking hate going to the dentist. I don't mind going to the dentist. Dentists as a class of people are almost universally reactionary small business types. Yeah, small business tyrants.
00:41:55
Speaker
Even dentists are saying put the fucking floor right back in the water because they're seeing too many kids with fucking cavities That's it. That is that is it for the Calgary section this podcast Jeremy. Thank
Edmonton Mayoral Race Analysis
00:42:04
Speaker
you. You don't have to go home now because we're gonna talk about Edmonton, but I feel like There's a lot going on in Calgary municipal politics. You do a fantastic job covering it and writing about it and There's a lot to cover and now well notably a real person and not a catch-up man Jim Story. Yeah
00:42:20
Speaker
Hey, Jim. And so as we were talking about the Edmonton election is we get to spend significantly less time on the mayoral race when it comes to the Edmonton election, because last poll that came out from Leger had so he at 34% and nickel at 16%.
00:42:42
Speaker
I mean, what else are you going to expect? Nickel is not a serious man. And I know there was some worry at the start of this season that he was going to roll in on a kind of a Ford country style wave of resentment.
00:42:58
Speaker
He's just not a very charismatic guy though, and I I think you need to uh You need to have a bit of charisma to pull that strategy off. And then there's also unlikable He's he's very unlikable and then the other two kind of prominent mayoral candidates are also like fishing in the same stream, right? Like crucial and ashri are both business conservative types presumably those
00:43:21
Speaker
like, Crushelle, Ashri, Nickel are all kind of, you know, again, there's not much to distinguish between the three of them.
00:43:31
Speaker
There is, I think. I think really all you have to do is take a look at the voting record to distinguish between Nicol and the standard conservative candidates. Nicol is a lot as you were describing McIver earlier in the podcast. He's the no guy. He's the guy who says no to literally everything that gets proposed, which is like the stupidest form of conservative politics, the owning the libs version, you know?
00:44:00
Speaker
But what do you guys make of the comparison? Because from my standpoint in Calgary, it seems to me like nickel and farkas.
00:44:08
Speaker
are very similar, but Farkas seems to be doing a lot better in the polls. So what do you attribute that to? No, I could speak to that. So in terms of like character, like how do they differ as people? I mean, Farkas has been kind of like a career toady for quite a while now, right? He was a Manning Center guy. He came up through the machine.
00:44:34
Speaker
Whereas, Nickel took the more traditional, like, crank-to-counselor pathway, if you remember all that old, like, stickman stuff. He used to be just, like, a local yokel who yelled at council and put up some billboards. And he was on council. He was on council. He wasn't... No, no, no, no. No, no. You're thinking of Kerry Diot. Yes, I am. Also, trash, also filth, but we don't have to deal with him anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:45:03
Speaker
Yeah, Nickel didn't like come up through the machine in the same way that Farkas did, so he doesn't have institutional support in the same way that Farkas gets in Calgary. I don't think he's particularly well-liked by the conservative institution, actually. He ran for a UCP nomination, he didn't get it, and he wasn't running against a strong candidate either.
00:45:26
Speaker
Yeah, if you can't win a UCP nomination, Edmonton, you're like a multi-term city councilor. Tunde Obasan. Tunde Obasan is not like an A plus candidate by any means. Like, Nickel got beat by a loser. And I think the big difference between them two is that I think Calgary is a lot more willing to indulge
00:45:47
Speaker
kind of like just like conservative wacko, like outrage-centered kind of conservative politicians. I think that Calgary just has a political culture that's far more willing to indulge those people than Edmonton is. And don't get me wrong, like Nicole has a dedicated audience, and he will pick up a sizable percentage and probably come in second, but it was not enough to get him
00:46:13
Speaker
Uh, uh, like a plurality in this mayoral election, like they would have needed, they would have needed a couple more. So he's for him to kind of come up the middle, I think. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, if, if you're asking like, are they the same flavor of guy? I think that they are different variations. They're not quite the same flavor of guy. I see Farkas as more of an ideologue and, uh, I see nickel as more of like an ascended crank, the man that perhaps I might hope to be in my, in my twilight years.
00:46:42
Speaker
And so what's, what's your prediction for the, um, tomorrow? What's the, what's the order of the top four and how many points is the winner going to win by him? I don't know. So he's going to win. I haven't really been paying attention to the specifics. Like he's, he's so far ahead of Nicole, uh, that Nicole doesn't really stand a chance, uh, as to third and fourth. I mean, I don't know. It's not going to be Cheryl Watson though. You see the post from Cheryl Watson today. I got to read this to you, Jeremy, because you may have missed this while you were traveling. Here's a.
00:47:12
Speaker
Probably like fifth or sixth place. Fifth. Let's give her fifth. Merrill contender Cheryl Watson.
00:47:20
Speaker
She has her office just down the street from us. Just around the corner in the old bank building. She would have valued her own. She's been posting up a storm about how dangerous the parking lot behind the building is because, you know, downtown. Almost people exist, yeah. Deadly. Okay, here's Cheryl Watson on Twitter today. COVID has changed everything. We need to fall in love with the problems, not the solutions.
00:47:47
Speaker
That sounds like bad advice. It sounds like she's mangling fucking really bad success posting like Harvard Business MBA shit. Yeah, and I love how it has Watson for mayor on top and then it's a quote in there at the bottom it says Cheryl Watson like just to make it clear to everyone that this is what she's saying and
00:48:07
Speaker
Yeah, you wouldn't want to miss it. I mean, I don't know. I found it pretty persuasive. I've been falling in love with problems my whole life. The cringest thing about Cheryl Watson's campaign isn't the fact that she did this or that she called for the LRT to be canceled. Oh, it's the truck. But it's the truck of her husband that sometimes parked on Jasper Ave.
00:48:24
Speaker
that it says first, it has all the Sheryl Watson for Mayor branding on it, but then it says first husband on the truck, which just makes me die a little inside every time I walk by it. Inside Edmonton, there are two wolves, the first husband truck and the avatar truck.
00:48:42
Speaker
Yes. Oh man. We haven't seen the Avatar truck in a long time. So, okay. So I feel like we've gotten, okay, let me, let me get my predictions down on the records. I made Jeremy do his. So I'm going to do, I'm going to do mine for Edmonton because I have been paying attention. I think so. He will win. I don't think so. He will win by a crushing amount. I think it'll be like,
00:48:58
Speaker
Between eight to twelve points, so he will win by that's a lot. That's crushing Well in a four-person race, maybe I guess it's only four people running for mayor. No, there's many there's many but like there's really only five that have any kind of budget and then I think it then nickel and Then yeah, I kind of want to give it to Chris shell over Ashri. I think Ashri's run for mayor is uniquely
00:49:22
Speaker
like like an unserious enterprise like i don't he was a one-term counselor who never really did much when he was a counselor and then he came back and now he wants to be mayor like i don't understand he just he doesn't seem like he wants to be mayor that badly though he really seems like he's going through the motions and i don't think i'm gonna stick it too hard to ashri when he loses because he's not you know he's not putting a lot of work into it
00:49:43
Speaker
Yeah, and like he's he's just as like local rich guy who has opinions about municipal politics But yeah again, he's gonna I feel I feel Yeah, he's gonna he's gonna be he's gonna become like the future Don cozy accurate Just gonna like run for everything and lose and then and then fifth we'll have Cheryl Watson
Debate on Municipal Political Parties
00:50:00
Speaker
who, yeah, has had a uniquely badly run and poorly received mayoral campaign. But more interesting to me than the mayoral stuff, now that I've got all myself on the record, are some of the council races. And these council races that we're gonna talk about all have a kind of recurring theme, and that is of multiple kind of like center-left people running
00:50:26
Speaker
all for these big, these open seats and like very, uh, where parts of the city where the NDP do quite well in polls. And, uh, and then there being really only one kind of conservative candidate, uh, for the right to kind of crystallize around. And let's, let's start with the one that we're in right now. Let's start with Odaemon. Oh God. Odaemon is such a mess.
00:50:46
Speaker
Yeah, Odaemon is a mess. So we've got Tony Katarina, former city councilor, just down the way. He was the city councilor for the riding over. And there was a bit of a reorg, so it's not perfect, but it's pretty close. And Tony Katarina is like long time, kind of like bad conservative city councilor.
00:51:03
Speaker
yeah he's um i wouldn't call him the same flavor as nickel he's not like a no guy and i wouldn't call him the same flavor as farkas he's um he's not like uh like a movement kind of wacko
00:51:19
Speaker
No, he's like your, just kind of your classic run of the mill, like greasy. Yeah, business conservative, like, not much there. I don't have my citations with me, so I'm not gonna like call him corrupt or anything, but like, he hired his son to work in his office for a long time, and his son was like, as far as I know, the only guy on staff, and drawing a very large salary. His son did make like 80K a year or something as his assistant. Yeah, or again, I don't have the story. I mean, he seems smart enough to not like expense
00:51:47
Speaker
you know, thousands of dollars in fictional lunches, but, but he's maybe closer to the, to the Joe, the Joe flavor. Yes. Very much so. And if Joe Maglioca wins, like it's, it's the politics Calgary deserves. And then, and then on the other side we have, who do we have? We have, okay. So you got Ann Stevenson, Ann Stevenson, you have Gina Akbari, you have Adrian Braff, Adrian Braff, and Joshua Wolchanski. And then, and then a few more people.
00:52:17
Speaker
But then, but that's for folks whose politics are all within a quarter to a half turn of each other. Yeah. It's not just their policy books either, though it's their, um, they're like institutional support. Uh, okay. So like Adrian bruff is a, is an outlier here. He's not, um, he's not, doesn't seem very like connected to the progressive movement. Um, so he, he's more of kind of the central kind of wonky,
00:52:42
Speaker
candidate although his uh his platform policies don't look too bad it's the same boilerplate out of all fully all four it's again there's a quarter half term between all i wouldn't cry if adrian was was the winner um but then uh so and stephenson uh has a lot of support from the alberta ndp uh like bass
00:53:03
Speaker
Um, which is different. I, I really want to put my foot down and emphasize here that is different from getting support from the party. Like I'm saying that people who vote and volunteer and vote and volunteer for them are interested in her campaign. I'm not saying that the party is funneling money to her. Uh, and, um, I think a lot of people have been confusing those two things for the past week.
00:53:27
Speaker
Uh, but then you also have, uh, Geno Akbari who, uh, uh, the start of his campaign was texting people and saying, like, I am literally the NDP candidate. Do you want to elect someone with NDP values? I got those rebel calls. What the hell are NDP values? Let's, let's, can we talk about that for a second? That's a different podcast. The D stands for never. Yeah. The D stands for doing.
00:53:54
Speaker
Okay. So I, I, um, I'm told, I mean, I haven't gone down to the neighborhood to like, take a look, but I'm told that, uh, Gino, uh, is the neighbor of the executive director of NDP caucus and that she endorsed him and that she would like to see him, um, uh, be the winner. Uh,
00:54:17
Speaker
which, um, which is strange, uh, you know, with the rest of the institution kind of lining up behind Stevenson. So it's like, and then Joshua, which one is it? And then we'll chance key. Yeah. He's got the, the nod from David Shepherd. I think he's, I think he's even on the E board of his CA or something. Yeah. So, I mean, there's, there's accusations floating around, uh, from some other campaigns and other parts of the city that the NDP was running a slate. Well,
00:54:46
Speaker
Clearly not. Clearly not, because if they've got three candidates in the same riding, that doesn't seem like... That is, in fact, a very silly allocation of resources. Like, pick a horse. And a hell of a fucking reason why we should have a municipal political party or a slate system in this city.
00:55:06
Speaker
Perhaps I I'm interested in digging into this this drama after the election and doing more of a straight across reporting about it So I'm not gonna go too hard on my personal opinion today, but
00:55:17
Speaker
But for tongue myths, I mean, isn't this the strategic voting argument that you should vote for the more progressive parents, the lesser evil, even if it's not your first choice? And I hate the lesser evil argument, but here's my argument for municipal political parties and slates. It's not just that you have four kind of lib types or center-left progressive types all running the same word.
00:55:41
Speaker
which is that every single candidate's fucking campaign sounds and looks the same. There's, like I said, it's a quarter turn, half turn difference between all these separate candidates. And there's no chance to actually interrogate the ideology. It's all just like, I believe in community values, I wanna make it easy for small business. It's the same fucking shit everywhere else. And at least with a party system, there's the ability to actually make a promise.
00:56:09
Speaker
I can, if I, if you like me and six of my brothers and sisters to counsel, we can actually do something and it's not just log rolling and backslapping bullshit, which is how city councils work because there's no party system because every single thing that comes up has to be kind of negotiated individually.
00:56:26
Speaker
There's no opportunity to have like an actual grand vision all has to be mediated at the individual level every single time And that's that's there. There's my short argument for why we need a argument from a couple of different angles I mean you could suggest that this this means we don't necessarily need parties, but we need like ranked ballot or proportional rep because it's it's a you're talking about a failing of the first past the post system right where
00:56:55
Speaker
Like first pass the post is a ranked ballot, but you only get to rank first and second and you put one person in first and every other person tied for second. And so it kind of obscures your preferences, causes problems in situations like this, where you have a whole bunch of candidates occupying one narrow part of the spectrum.
00:57:13
Speaker
I think that's my position on this that because obviously ranked ballots federally is just a fucking scheme to get the liberals to win. I still prefer it. I still prefer it over first best. Yeah, I would too. I like it would be an improvement if Trudeau was like, okay, we'll do electoral firm. It has to be my preference. I'd be like, all right, it's better than what we have. But municipally without parties, I think that would work really well. I believe Toronto voted to have ranked ballots and then Doug Ford was just like, no,
00:57:42
Speaker
Many municipal jurisdictions do ranked ballot. It looks just fine. I think that's better than
00:57:51
Speaker
like bringing partisan politics to municipal politics. Although they're already there, right? Everyone knows roughly whether the candidate is a conservative or a liberal or a Democrat. Like it's not hidden. It's very and it's very obvious in Edmonton elections too.
00:58:13
Speaker
Yeah, although, you know, in Alberta, someone being a new Democrat, means they're liberal. That's, again, a pretty like wide description, right? It's a big 10. You could be talking about some like small business obsessed, you know, centrist moron, or you could be talking about, you know, like Joshua Chansky, who's got the endorsement from Climate Justice Edmonton, like he's obviously not in the same policy position there. Okay, but I said a couple ways, right?
00:58:41
Speaker
I said there were a couple ways you could come at this argument and the other one which is a little more messy but that I think people should think about is that all of the all of the kind of stuff that people should talk as like back room scheming that that is democracy in action too those are like different locuses of power in the community contending with each other and so
00:59:10
Speaker
You know, if you have the again democratically elected representatives of of a labor union Coming, you know bringing the people they represent Together as a united group to say, you know, we support this endorse X candidate, you know or we will endorse a candidate if they support this policy position and so on like
00:59:34
Speaker
These are the fundamental negotiations of power that exist within all democracies. And I think this idea that everything has to be mediated by this atomized, super rule-based system where it's just every one individual person casts the one ballot.
00:59:56
Speaker
is a very naive way to look at power and a very naive way to look at politics because you are never ever going to be able to level everything out so that each one of those ballots is exactly the same amount of wealth and influence and you're never going to be able to clean all of the outside influences out of the system
01:00:20
Speaker
such that you have this kind of like sterile, almost like a video game or like you're like voting things up and down on your Reddit, that kind of thing. That doesn't exist in real life. And so I think people have to get a little more comfortable with the negotiations going on in like the pre-game season where the different forces and different factions within the community
01:00:50
Speaker
Contend with each other and negotiate and do the horse training. Well, you brought that's an excellent reason to talk about papasteo Which is another word that we got to talk about but my last thoughts on Odie man because it is where I live and it is Just I just gotta get my last thoughts out on it, which is that like Tony Catarina is a very real possibility of winning
01:01:07
Speaker
And that would suck ass. And so when I voted, I voted for Anne Stevenson, even though my politics are closer to Joshua Wolchanski's. And I hate that I had to do that. I dislike that. And I haven't voted yet either, but I am intending. I also live in Odaemon. I am also intending to cast a ballot.
01:01:25
Speaker
for Ann, although I think I would prefer Josh. Exactly. And in a municipal political party, those conversations could be had earlier, we can make sure that we're not stepping on each other's toes. The ideology could of the candidates and of the party could be clear. Because maybe and seems and runs for party that I don't fucking give a shit about. You know what I mean? But aren't you concerned that these slates would just be co-opted by like the neoliberal NDP, Albert NDP establishment?
01:01:51
Speaker
Well, it's not if not if like enough people are a part of it and they don't want to be a part of that kind of politics like it's all the resources, right? There's no I mean, yes, but I mean at when you're starting for something from scratch the people who are a part of it get to determine what how it looks and feels and operates so
01:02:07
Speaker
The resources that we're talking about too, they are somewhat constrained. The provincial parties can't bring all of their resources to bear in uni elections. They can't spend any money. They can contact their own membership with endorsements and they can do things like second volunteers.
01:02:30
Speaker
Uh, provide lists. Yeah. Um, quietly, of course, this is a, this is a big one. And I think we'll get to the, the list discussion. Uh, well, no, you have voters. I mean, everyone has, well, no, we, we got a voter list. No, there's no municipal voter lists. It's just, it's just MLAs and parties giving lists. I think, I think we're about to talk about the list stuff and about, um, the external kind of resources stuff, uh, in like just a second, when we have the Papa stew conversations.
Metis Ward Election Strategy
01:02:57
Speaker
So.
01:02:58
Speaker
Yeah, let's go. Let's roll on. I was just making reference to Kevin J. Johnson's threat. I don't think there was ever a municipal list in Calgary and I have to look into it. I saw that story. They've used it in the past. They just said that basically it's something that they specifically need to order, I think. And they just didn't do it this time because they want Kevin J. Johnson getting the names of like nurses and physicians to
01:03:23
Speaker
Okay, so let's let's talk about Papa stay a firm Oh, which is the war just on the other side of the river The prominent candidates there are Michael Jans and Kristen Goa. Is there a conservative candidate Susan Field? I think is the kind of conservative candidate that has cropped up I don't think that there is a genuine risk in pop stay who of the conservative coming up the middle. Mm-hmm So they're kind of irrelevant. I think that the conversation to have about Papa stay it was is this whole goa chance situation because they
01:03:53
Speaker
Their campaigns, I don't want to say they, because from what I can see Jans has wisely stayed out of this acrimonious Twitter flame war that has been going on for the past two weeks. There are people associated with their campaigns. They're fighting a lot about it. And yeah, the race very much is between the two of them.
01:04:21
Speaker
Jan's and Goa both have a bit of an electoral record. Jan's has been on the school board for quite a while now, and Goa has run for office. She came in second. Jan's has received the endorsement of the Edmonton and District Labor Council.
01:04:41
Speaker
You know, I think Kristin Goa used to work for the Alberta NDP in government. So there's connections, although they're both very good kind of candidates. I wouldn't be mad if either of them were counselors. But, you know, it's again, it's an example of like,
01:04:58
Speaker
Can we have this conversation six to nine months prior? Well, I mean apparently fucking not according to the Goa campaign people who for the past couple of weeks have been putting a lot of energy behind this NDP slate external meddling narrative Really kicked off
01:05:21
Speaker
It was like two weeks ago, a week and a half ago, when Keith Garan wrote a- Yeah, about the election readiness coalition. Wrote about the election readiness coalition. That was more than two weeks ago. Yeah, it was like a month ago. Yeah. Like a month ago. Sorry. Time flies. We played a lot of Warcraft.
01:05:37
Speaker
I had some issues with that article. I think it exaggerated and misrepresented certain things. But Goa has not been racking up the establishment endorsements in the way that Jans has. And certain folks attached to the Goa campaign are putting a lot of energy behind this narrative that
01:06:07
Speaker
That like go as being sandbagged by the establishment that There's some people saying that it's a that it's a misogyny thing. The Bernie bros are out together Yes, you know the toxic the toxic bros are all lining up behind Jans Well, I mean Duncan and I are the toxic bros and we do like Michael so like
01:06:28
Speaker
Politically what what like what are the differences? I see I see like no difference between them on the policy side It's maybe like a question of like personal character, but but like I've never heard that like go was bad at her job or anything I think she would do it. She would do it. I think she'd be a great counselor I think the politics are very similar. I have a few reservations. So why super Jans and not go I
01:06:50
Speaker
I have I have a few reservations about Goa's relationships and kind of like past work with developers and the like how like she's kind of manufactured community consent for not maybe manufactured community consent is a little harsh but her the way the work she does and her relationships with developers give me pause especially when council is so
01:07:11
Speaker
Uh, that's like most of what council does is just kind of like developers bring projects forward and council says yay or nay. That's fair. I don't, I don't feel that strongly about it myself. Like when this thing kicked off, I was like 52% Jan's 48% go up mentally. Like I was just kind of waiting to hear from the campaigns to make my decision.
01:07:32
Speaker
uh and uh in all fairness to both of those campaigns i don't live in pop status so they don't have any reason to to send me things um but even just following the kind of the air war municipally
01:07:48
Speaker
I hear policy stuff out of Jan's and from the Goa campaign, I hear there's a conspiracy out to get me.
Alberta's Equalization Referendum
01:07:56
Speaker
And so that it's bad. It's like it's bad campaigning. It doesn't make me like hate Goa, but but I like I wonder what the heck they're doing. But if you were a supporter of Goa's campaign, I mean,
01:08:12
Speaker
you would be pretty disheartened by the fact that here's a man who's running who has a lot of the same positions as Goa and you know but suddenly he gets all the the sort of official backing and she's sort of left out to dry I'm not like I don't know I don't have any skin in this I'm just you know because I hate seeing my parents fight
01:08:35
Speaker
I think that's a reasonable description of what the perspective would be there. I mean, Michael has some achievements under his belt, but so does Carsten. And when it comes down to this stuff about endorsements, I think that this is what I was saying earlier about how this is necessary kind of horse trading, negotiating work that has to be done in the pregame.
01:09:05
Speaker
Michael didn't just get those endorsements because he's like the establishment guy that people like. I don't think he's really any more or less establishment than Goa is.
Sean Chiu's Misconduct Allegations
01:09:18
Speaker
I think that the Goa campaign just failed to negotiate and secure endorsements from the EDLC and from prominent local politicians.
01:09:28
Speaker
And perhaps, you know, that's something they might want to consider the next time they run her. If she doesn't win, she might win. I've got to break in here with some breaking news from Megan Grant at CBC Edmonton. Headline, Councillor Sean Chiu, discipline for relationship with 16-year-old girl when he was police officer.
01:09:49
Speaker
The deck. Chu says he did not know the girl was underage when he met her in 1997. Jesus fucking Christ. Talk about an October surprise. Yeah, jeez. I had been sent some documents related to this.
01:10:04
Speaker
Uh, for the law enforcement review board, I had kind of skimmed them and review them. I didn't really have the capacity to do anything about it. I'm glad it's getting reported out. Uh, Megan Grant is solid as hell. So this is absolutely wild. Um, uh, Calgary city councilor seeking reelection was found guilty of discreditable conduct when he was a police officer for having inappropriate sexual contact with a minor CBC news has learned. Councilor Sean Chu, so counselor Sean Chu,
01:10:34
Speaker
was a Calgary police officer from 1992 to 2013. The allegations stem from an incident in 1997 when Chu was 34 years old and the girl was 16. So these are these are allegations at this point. Chu says he just touched her leg but...
01:10:49
Speaker
Do you really just touch a woman's leg? Yes. Choo says he was found guilty of misconduct for touching the girl's leg. Details in the story come from two law enforcement review boards. So L. A. R. B. decisions. Those are the ones that I just referenced earlier. Uh, yeah. So this is out there. Jesus. This is a, because of a publication ban, CBC news was unable to publish details from the documents until Friday afternoon. Has Calgary's most prominent anti-pedo candidate commented on this issue?
01:11:18
Speaker
That's fine. We should call Hallelujah for comment. Ultimately, no criminal charges were laid. However, Chu was investigated by CPS's professional standards branch. For two allegations, he breached service regulations, one for bringing the 16 year old into his home in the early morning hours and the other when he engaged in misconduct with his actions with the 16 year old. Following the hearing, Chu was convicted on one count of misconduct under the police act.
01:11:49
Speaker
Choo's penalty was a letter of reprimand on his CPS file for a five-year term, which expired in 2008, according to his written statement. According to a statement from Sean Choo's lawyer, the counselor denies knowing that the teen was underage at the time.
01:12:08
Speaker
Which is definitely what you say when. I mean, okay, if you're fucking 34 years old, maybe you can't tell the difference between a 16 year old and an 18 year old. I'll grant you that. But if you're 34, you also don't go after 18 year olds. What the fuck are you doing? Give yourself some fucking margin. Also, you're a police officer on duty. Well, it's unclear about how in uniform or out of uniform he was. I haven't read far enough to get that detail. Well, I hope he didn't get too out of uniform.
01:12:36
Speaker
According to a source with direct knowledge of the incident, a firearm was involved in the 1997 incident, which the victim described as a sexual assault. Chu was asked specifically about the allegation regarding the use of a firearm. That request for information was not acknowledged.
01:12:52
Speaker
The 16-year-old pursued the matter through appeals for nine years. She filed a complaint against the officer who investigated the alleged sexual assault, and then the 16-year-old alleged the officers were guilty of misconduct and a general cover-up. A 1999 LARB decision shows her complaint against the officers was dismissed
01:13:10
Speaker
But the board ruled that CPS was, quote, obligated to conduct an investigation under the police act and had failed to do so. So are your, are your instincts perking up like oppo drop, like somebody was sitting on this story and got sent to me last week, but
01:13:31
Speaker
I mean, I should have. Take away here. Send out your oppo a little earlier. Yes. Before Friday. Because advanced voting is already closed. He might still fucking win. He might still win. Oh my God.
01:13:48
Speaker
Chiu Questions Timing is the subhead. The 1999 law enforcement review board appeal decision indicates the events took place at Chiu's home. Initially, Chiu said the internal hearing dismissed all charges, but he eventually admitted to one conviction, saying it was one instance of touching the 16-year-old's leg in a public place, which he says was confirmed by a witness. But according to the LERB decision to dismiss the appeal, Chiu argued that aside from the fact that, quote, the events happened nearly 10 years earlier while he was off duty, quote,
01:14:18
Speaker
The board should dismiss the application because there were no witnesses to the 1997 incident, so that disputes his allegation in his statement. In his written statement, Chu expressed concern with the reasoning behind the allegation coming to light 24 years after the incident. The timing, literally decades after both matters were resolved, is motivated by politics and not by justice.
01:14:39
Speaker
Yeah, no shit. You still fucking did it. You're still going to have to eat shit. Man. Well, I mean, it's going to be breaking news by the time you listen to this podcast, but, but, uh, but, uh, it's definitely, uh, worth talking. Oh no. I mean, it's, it's still, it's, it's news.
01:14:58
Speaker
Okay, well, there's one other emison word that I wanted to crack on about and then we're almost done and that is matey and that is Ashley Salvador Cory Longo and then a conservative in Caroline Matthews and again, it's the same it's the same issue again I wouldn't be mad if Ashley Salvador was a counselor. I know Cory Longo would prefer Cory Longo as a counselor but again like Ashley Salvador's bright competent effective or
01:15:23
Speaker
a person, I don't necessarily share all the values or the ideology, but again, wouldn't be displeased if she was a counselor. I found Andrew Nack to be completely tolerable. And Salvador strikes me as very much that flavor, maybe even a little smarter.
01:15:40
Speaker
The Knack, if I can applaud a centrist here on the pod. Not that Knack is a dumb guy, but Knack seems to be someone who can be talked in to quite a few things, whereas... He's persuadable, but like... Salvador has a specific vision. You know, the difference here versus... The differences here versus Papastu,
01:16:03
Speaker
are pretty significant. First of all, Papasteu is an incredibly juicy prize. If you are a center-left politician in Edmonton and you are looking for a path to a long and successful political career, becoming city councilor over in Papasteu,
01:16:22
Speaker
yeah the most ndp part of the ndp post ndp city on the yeah you're you're set so uh um like it's it's a job for life if you want it is no surprise to me that uh both uh goa and jan's are fighting pretty hard for that and that neither of them want to give it to the other one because you're yeah you're you're set for life uh whereas um warden 80 i mean you might you might just get voted out next time uh
01:16:48
Speaker
The other difference here is that, uh, last I checked, um, Matthews was ahead. Well, I mean, pulling, pulling at a riding level is notoriously dodgy in municipal elections. Cause this is incredibly difficult to get a sample size that's worth anything. But yes, I mean, anecdotally, I think Caroline Matthews has a very good shot of winning.
01:17:06
Speaker
which is incredibly shitty. The fear arguments there, I think, have a bit more salience than in Papasteo. I don't think in Papasteo you can make the argument that you have to vote for candidate A or candidate B to keep the conservative out, because the conservative is going to lose. But in Métis, it's a possibility.
01:17:25
Speaker
Yeah, like Salvador is fine. Longo is good. Like Longo is better than fine. Longo is a good union woman. I trust her. She has a great track record. She's whip smart and she shares our values. Whereas Salvador just kind of like overlaps with our values. So I would be okay with Salvador. I would like Longo. It appears that Salvador has a bit of a lead over Longo though.
01:17:52
Speaker
I mean, who knows? But again, it's a tricky one. And I want to keep coming back to it. Slates or parties have the ability to make this conversation irrelevant. Well, I will give a brief shout out to the Salvador campaign and applaud them for not going hard on this slate conspiracy narrative. Because when it first hit the press,
01:18:18
Speaker
my assumption was this is coming this is coming from people who are pissed at the EDLC nominations or the EDLC endorsements specifically they're pissed that EDLC endorsed Longo over Salvador and Jans over Goa and so I expected to see this smear propagated by the campaigns of and the supporters of those those two folks
01:18:44
Speaker
But the Salvador people, no, they didn't really dive into it. Salvador is staying on message and continuing to give her pitch, which is like the smart, dignified thing to do. Agreed. Okay, so Jeremy, we're back to the part of the conversation you can participate in, since you don't live in Edmonton.
01:19:05
Speaker
the equalization referendum. We won't spend a ton of time on it, but it has been conspicuously absent from the discourse. Jason Kenny has not come out and kind of made a case, a positive case for her to really campaign hard on it. Why do you think that is?
01:19:19
Speaker
Because it's bullshit and he knows he's gonna lose and well, I think I wants to wipe his hands clean of it I think the referendum will win. I think the referendum will win too. I equalization. Oh, yeah I think he's just worried about driving the vote down for it if he's the face of it
01:19:36
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. I hate him. It is already being seen as like a referendum on him.
Jason Kenney's Referendum Backlash
01:19:43
Speaker
Yeah. And the more he puts his name on it, the more people are going to be like, you know what? I hate those Eastern bastards, but I hate Jason even more.
01:19:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's very funny to see him not touch it with a 10 foot pole because in my mind, he just did not want to be associated with it. Well, I think the question too. Yeah, there are other funny things about it. The question is very. Should we remove equalization completely? To me, that is going to drive support down because I think a lot of people who are into these issues very much would want it to be reformed, would want Alberta to
01:20:22
Speaker
Get more money out of it, but not scrap it completely because Albert's gonna need it soon. I disagree I disagree with you Jeremy. I think the problem with the question isn't that it's gonna turn voters off I think To the people who are opposed to the current situation with equalization That distinction doesn't doesn't matter and I think most of them actually do believe that that the program should be torn up and
01:20:49
Speaker
The problem with the question is that that is not actually Jason Kenney or the UCP's policy position. It's not what they've been asking for the whole time. And if their whole argument is, well, we're going to do a Quebec here, we're going to hold this referendum and then use it to like push the feds around.
01:21:09
Speaker
Well, the feds have something that they can immediately point to like the question the question has to be clear like we've we've been through all of this shit before with the Quebec separation question and You know in that circumstance the question was unclear multiple times which like repeatedly sank the project so getting people to vote on a referendum on
01:21:37
Speaker
But for like a policy that that isn't the one that Kenny wants to advance, like what does that actually accomplish for him? It's I think it's going to win just because there's enough latent anti Ottawa kind of animus that it's just going to be like, yeah, fuck equalization, fuck Ottawa. It's not going to be a blow up. I think I don't know. My sense is that the municipal elections, broadly speaking, are
01:22:02
Speaker
going to Be a huge backlash for kenny. Oh, yeah That's in terms of so he is down down ballot consequences, right? Yeah, yeah, and and Absolutely, like people who are pissed at him right now should be looking at their ballots as a way to fuck with him specifically and enforce down ballot consequences on him specifically
01:22:24
Speaker
I mean, he's having trouble now, but if you really want the conservative establishment in this province to just like screech and throw him in the trash, make it very clear that none of these other fuckers can get jobs while Jason Kenney is the premier, while Jason Kenney is the leader of their
Senate Election Humor and Critique
01:22:40
Speaker
movement.
01:22:40
Speaker
Also by voting me in for Senate, yes, that as well. Also vote Kenny for Senate. I mean, the Senate election is funny because again, the electoral stakes are on the floor. It does not matter at all. But it would be very hilarious if I won. And it's like, if you could just start contemplating the numbers for this, like the seventh place person in the 2012 Senate election in Alberta got 150,000 votes.
01:23:06
Speaker
That would be more votes than like, might, I might get more votes than the winner of the Edmonton and Calgary mayoral races as a joke Senate candidate.
01:23:17
Speaker
I mean, we had, um, we had less capacity for fun stuff than we expected. I got, uh, I got really sick and unwell after my surgery, so we couldn't like go full bore on this campaign and make it a big spectacle. Like, like we had hoped to earlier. So, I mean, you, you might get beat by jet. You might, you might get beat by, um, Karina. I really don't want to get beat. I don't care about that. I don't care about where I question. The question is, are you going to get beat by Erica?
01:23:42
Speaker
No, I'm probably the she has conservative party of Canada next to her name the only the only The thing that the the result of the Senate election that will matter the most to me is beating the PPC candidates So just do it. It would be very bad for my ego if I lost to the PPC candidates But I mean, this is the reality of like an independent running versus a party Jim I have one last question for you. What's what's your understanding of the word gadfly and is it positive or negative? I
01:24:10
Speaker
I am very pro-Gadflies. Who are some of your favorite Gadflies through history? Well, I like you, Duncan. I would say that the first great Gadfly was Prometheus, the Titan who stole the fire from the gods. He was a cultural critic. He was. So my understanding of the word Gadfly was always just annoying person. Yeah. But you annoy the right people. I wouldn't say like a provocateur.
01:24:38
Speaker
Okay, I think would be like, and if you're asking who my favorite gadflies are, I would say, Gore Vidal, Socrates, pre 9-11, Christopher Hitchens, Alexander Coburn,
01:24:57
Speaker
So the reason I ask is because, and not had Nenshi's Senate ballot, he did say he was going to vote for me, and he did call me a gadfly, which again, my understanding was not necessarily very positive. That's positive. He's saying that you'll fuck with the, you'll fuck with the conservatives. Which is the essentially the crux of my campaign. Gadfly is a much more positive descriptor than Crank, for example. Yeah. Well, and also, because I think his first endorsement of you was like,
01:25:21
Speaker
You know jet thunders is actually really good community advocate and dunking. Kenny has some well interesting ideas Which wasn't quite a ringing endorsement a little tepid but wasn't endorsement them less And I think because this was later where they called you a gadfly. I think yeah as enough in a facebook post Yeah, if i'm going to endorse him, I should probably say something good about him and I think gadfly is uh, I would wear it as badge of honor I I want to be called a gadfly. I would love to be called a gadfly especially by like
01:25:50
Speaker
Nancy like all right. Well, they're yeah, it's like he called you a shit disturber, but he can't say that word in public fair enough the progressive Senate slate seems to be turning out to be you jet and Karina play Which I have like mild concerns about
01:26:05
Speaker
She wants to be a senator. If you want, if you want to be a senator, don't be in the stupid Senate election. The people attached to, well, I don't know if they're attached to her campaign or if they just like post constantly about it. But the argument I've been hearing from the Corinna Pele folks is she wants to apply through the actual process. I think she did. I think she has. And she has previously applied through the actual process. And they feel that if she has a strong showing in this election, it will support her application.
01:26:34
Speaker
Which is bullshit. Yeah, if anything a strong showing in this one actually actually could hurt you Yeah, because they are still trying to figure the policies out on the federal level But it may be possible that the winners of the Alberta Senate elections are actually not Yeah, there's an interpretation of the Supreme Court reference case that bet is that there are some people making that interpretation of the Supreme Court reference case and
01:26:57
Speaker
I mean, we don't have to belabor the point on the Senate. Vote for Senate. No, but I do want to say this very clearly. Anyone out there who is seriously campaigning for one of these Senate positions and telling you that this is a real election and that them getting elected will help them get into the Senate to represent your interests, that person either doesn't get it, which is a big red flag for ignorance about the political process,
01:27:26
Speaker
Or they are lying to you. And so I've heard a lot of great things about Karina Pele, that she did great work when she was in office, that she's a kind person with good values. And I have no reason to argue with any of that. And that sounds great to me.
01:27:43
Speaker
But it's super sus that she's running in this fake election and calling it real. So folks out there, uh, I mean the, the progressive Senate slate is either the three of them or the two of them based on, you know, whether you, whether you agree with me or not. I actually voted first in the old sucker because he seems like a nice guy just cause he, just cause he like followed you on Twitter and
01:28:05
Speaker
Followed me on Twitter. I'm like damn got me. I mean that that's as good a reason to vote It is a good election as any well Jeremy. Thank you so much for coming on Always always fun to have you on always fun to do a podcast in person Now is the time to plug plug your pluggables
Podcast Promotion and Listener Engagement
01:28:21
Speaker
Yeah, great to be here. So I have several pluggables. The first of which is my substack newsletter that I recently started that you should all subscribe to either for free or if you wanna pay me, I won't object to that. It's called the Orchard. The URL, which I assume will be in the show notes is my last name, Appel, A-P-P-E-L.
01:28:49
Speaker
orchard.substack.com. I read newsletter twice a week. Wednesdays tend to be more like provincial and local news focus. And then Fridays are national and sometimes international.
01:29:04
Speaker
I also am the co-host of not one, but two podcasts on the Harbinger Media Network, The Forgotten Corner and Big Shiny Takes. You should check them both out. And finally, I got a couple pieces that have come out recently. The first being the aforementioned profile of Jeremy Farkas that I did with Jeremy Clauses at the Sprawl.
01:29:32
Speaker
which I'm quite pleased with, as well as a piece in press progress that actually just came out as we're recording about the role of political action committees in municipal politics, specifically Calgary. So if you liked our conversation about that and want to read more about it, you should hit the link in the show notes. Yes, we'll definitely have the link to the sub stack and check out all those articles. I can't wait to read the one you just mentioned.
01:30:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's it for the podcast, folks. If you like it, if you want to keep hearing more podcasts like it, it's very easy. The easiest and best thing you can do to support us is to, you know, there's a link right in the shown out so you can go to theprogressreport.ca slash patrons and put in your credit card, become a patron, five, 10, $15 a month.
01:30:20
Speaker
really does help Jim and I out. Also, if you have any thoughts, notes, comments, things you think I need to hear, I'm very easy to reach. You can reach me on Twitter at at Duncan Kinney, and you can reach me by email at Duncan K at ProgressAberta.ca. Thanks again to Jeremy and Jim for coming on. Thanks for cosmic famu communist for our theme. Thank you for listening and goodbye.