Municipal Elections are occurring in Alberta next Monday, October 15. Ho hum so far. But for coverage of Mayoral, Aldermanic and School Board candidates from a progressive perspective check out;
Calgary- Enlightened Savage
(R)Edmonton-daveberta
Living in Ward 4 in (R)Edmonton I have to agree with davebera that the best team that has a chance to replace outgoing Michael Phair and incumbent Jane Batty are Henderson and Cardinal.
It's a race with 15 candidates, many of them are nowhere close to running a winning campaign let alone standing a chance to get elected.
One though that does is Hana Razga. Unfortunately her campaign is lost amongst the gaggle of candidates. I note daveberta does link to Dipper Hana Razga.
Unfortunately she has not had the media profile she deserves in this race. Nor did she get labour's endorsement, that went to Cardinal. Like Cardinal she is a candidate concerned about the ward's economic development disparities.
Henderson is a Liberal, Cardinal has the backing not only of labour but also some Dippers, in particular former City Councilor and Alberta NDP Chief of Staff; Sherry McKibben. This kind of political division of forces in municipal elections is problematic.
By the way, Cardinal has an interesting campaign manager, Sherry McKibben. McKibben had a brief one-year stint on council in the mid-1990s, winning a byelection and then getting defeated in the general election. Then for years she was the high-profile and hard-working manager of HIV Edmonton.
The reality is that despite the appearance of not being driven by political parties all municipal elections are extensions of party politics. Which is why I believe municipal politics should be party politics. That way you would not have two dippers running in Ward 4.
What would happen if . . . party politics came to municipalities? by David Siegel and Eugene Plawiuk
The Next City asked David Siegel, associate professor of politics, and Eugene Plawiuk, the NDP's co-chair of strategy and communications in Alberta's recent provincial election in 1997, to comment The Next City September 21/1997
For public school board trustee labour supports Dr. Marlene Spencer in Ward G which is also the ward I live in.
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Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Redmonton, Calgary,
