Hehr for Mayor

Get your votes in for the recent poll asking for your opinion on Kent Hehr for Mayor of Calgary.

Is there going to be a Swann Dive?

The crowd at the Wharf is waiting and it’s a tad surly right now.

Insiders tell this person that the Leader of the Alberta Liberal Party was given a 30 day ultimatum to walk a short plank or be thrown over the side of the good ship ALP. It’s taking on huge volumes of water and listing to one side (guess which side). The good doctor was also told he would be allowed to make this needed exit with grace, dignity and support.

Apparently, the news was delivered in person by Tony ‘I make house calls but I’m no MD’ Sansotta, current Party president. I am told the message was supported by a majority of the Party executive. The Leader apparently considered it, vacillated, and then decided to reject the plan. Allegedly, a second plan was put to him with slight variations but with the same bottom line. Again, with a half-hearted digging in of the heels this was followed by an awkward and eerie silence.

Sooooooooooo, what was the outcome?

Has the Leader told the Party to 'go forth and multiply?

Has the plan been exaggerated by the delivery man who often bends the spectrum of truth to suit his own needs?

Are my Deep Throats gagging on the information provided?

Gather in small groups and discuss.

Can anyone confirm the suspicious information?

Do you believe it's time to change the Leadership of the Alberta Liberal Party to re-look at strategies in a last ditch attempt to ensure success at the polls in the next provincial election?

Is it too late for any of this because the Party boat is already below the waves and about to hit the bottom of the political ocean?

Will the May convention be the beginning of the Alberta Liberal Party’s watery send-off to Davey Jones Locker?

After your discussion please forward your group’s views to this blogger (the First Mate manning the lifeboat…but please hurry…it’s getting really crowded on board).

Is Calgary A Dark City?

Which Calgary is Your Calgary?

I have always thought of Calgary as a moderate thinking city a little right of centre on the political spectrum but one that embraced Peter Lougheed and his so-called 'Red Tories", followed by the Klein era and again a time I considered in a similar vein. Perhaps I was deluded into ignoring the neo-conservative, social conservative, racist overtones that have surfaced with the likes of the standing ovation offered to Ann Coulter at the Red and White Club this past week.

Grant it, this was a manipulated event by the ever infamous Ezra Lavant, who spun the hell out of the University of Ottawa's refusal to allow the person that Fox News felt was too right wing for their tastes to speak at their University.

I want your opinions please;

Are we a City that is represented by the recent spate of speakers like George W. Bush, Karl Rove, Condoleezza Rice and now Ann Coulter?

Alberta Liberal Party Still Taking Happy Pills

I have been in the Sultanate of Oman since early February, watching Alberta politics from afar. Even from this great distance across the oceans it is still painfully obvious that the Alberta Liberal Party continues to delude itself into a false belief that there is a relevance to their current incarnation.

My perspective is reinforced by the voters in the Province who have strongly expressed their opinions about the future of Alberta politics.

The polls have the Alberta Liberal Party mired in 3rd place at 23% according to the local conservative pollster, Environics, placing them out of shouting range of the Tories and the Wildrose.

They are a distant memory in Calgary at 22% and barely hanging on at 28% in Edmonton. In rural Alberta the Liberals are a no-show.

In the disaster of the 2008 general election the Alberta Liberal Party gained the support of 26.4% of Albertans and in the recent Calgary-Glenmore by-election they received 34% of the vote.

The Party should be building on that momentum. Instead, they are heading in the opposite direction despite the obvious opportunities.

The response from the Party can best be described as immature and out of touch with reality. This scribe read in a recent Herald article that the Party leader is attacking rural Alberta for getting extra seats assigned by the new boundaries commission. Wouldn’t it be a better strategy to try and encourage support from those folks since the Party does so poorly outside of the urban centres?

Effective political leaders usually look to gather votes, not drive them away!

I also read that Rob Anderson has offered to resign his newly minted Wildrose seat in Airdrie-Chestermere. This represents another great opportunity and the Party should rise to that challenge. However, again they are letting it slip away as the Party fads in popularity.

They should be searching for a suitable candidate to contest this seat? This is a battleground the Party needs to show well in since it is a rural/urban constituency. So rather than screaming at the poor folks in rural Alberta and treating them like an enemy they should choose a candidate who potentially represents them and get on with the business of garnering support.

To its credit the Party did return to the mainstream values of Alberta voters with the Energy Policy release early this year. At that time this person suggested that they should have been followed that with effective policy positions on health care, education and agriculture.

So far the response has been deafening silence. If they had acted then perhaps we would not see the Party so far behind at this critical stage.

Meanwhile we have the curmudgeon-elf from the Herald fancifully floating the extreme possibility of a Liberal Government in a recent column. He must be drinking the same Kool Aid being passed around by the communication folks surrounding the Liberal leader who have convinced those few hunkered down in the ‘red bunker’ they can come up the middle in the next election.

What if 3rd place in the current polls turns out to be 3rd place in the next election???

The Alberta Liberal Party would then self destruct, going from the official opposition to a non-factor, both in the Legislature and more importantly in the consciousness of Alberta voters.

The reality is they will finish a distant third unless drastic changes are implemented STARTING AT THE TOP!

One Person's Opinion

The Polls Have CLosed

When we asked the voter this question;

Do you want to see these people run for the Mayor of Calgary?

Your response was;

Gary Bobrovitz
Yes 25%
No 54%
Don't Care 17%
Don't Know This Person 4%

Darryl Raymaker
Yes 35%
No 43%
Don't Care 11%
Don't Know This Person 11%

Dave Taylor
Yes 50%
No 39%
Don't Care 0%
Don't Know This Person 11%

Analysis:

Of the 3 Gary Bobrovitz had the least number of persons reporting 'Don't Know This Person'. Dave Taylor had a 0% response to the issue of 'Don't 'Care'. All had good name recognition. Dave Taylor polled the highest positive numbers for support.

Finally, Bobrovitz did not garner more votes than the other 2 and therefore is deemed to have lost the wager on the supply of booze to the Blogger.

Initial Informal Poll Results for Mayor of Calgary #2

When asked the following question, you responded;
Do you want to see these people run for the Mayor of Calgary?

Gary Bobrovitz
Yes 26%
No 52%
Don’t Care 18%
Don’t Know This Person 4%

Darryl Raymaker
Yes 35%
No 44%
Don’t Care 12%
Don’t Know This Person 9%

Dave Taylor
Yes 52%
No 37%
Don’t Care 0%
Don’t Know This Person 11%

Small sample size, but getting larger.
The margin of error for this size sample is directly proportional to
the percentage of people who believe Elvis is still alive (He is, isn't he?).

Vote for the Person to be Mayor of Calgary

So far we have run the following names and published the results;
Brett Wilson
John Mar
Joe Connelly

Now we have;
Darryl Raymaker
Dave Taylor
Gary Bobrovitz

However, we have a twist or should I say twisted element. Bobrovitz has bet the author an alcoholic beverage that he will garner more votes than either Raymaker or Taylor. So, just for the record you are also being polled to see if you want me to win an alcoholic beverage of my choice.

Vote early and vote often!

Informal Poll Results for Mayor of Calgary

When asked the following question, you responded;

Do you want to see these people run for the Mayor of Calgary?

Brett Wilson
Yes 28%
No 72%

John Mar
Yes 14%
No 86%

Joe Connelly
Yes 14%
No 72%
Don’t Care 14%

Small sample size.
The margin of error for this size sample is directly proportional to
the intersection of Venus and Saturn in the fall of the year.

News From 'The Gulf"

Iranian Deputy Commerce Minister and Head of Trade Promotion Organization, Babak Afghahi during his visit to Kuwait on Tuesday said that the two countries should take advantage of all economic and commercial capacities to boost bilateral trade.

"Iran is ready to raise its goods and services exports to Kuwait," Afghahi said while visiting Kuwait's Jomeiah Cooperative Chain Store. Heading a delegation, Afghahi left for Kuwait to attend the 9th meeting of Iran-Kuwait Joint Commercial Committee planned for March 8-10.

He said that during his meetings with Kuwaiti officials the two sides agreed on expansion of ties in various fields including foodstuffs, agriculture, nanotechnology, medicine, free trade, technical and engineering services, energy, etc.

Referring to the $300 million annual trade between Iran and Kuwait, he said that the figure should rise in the near future.

He also announced readiness to export nuclear technology to the Arab country.

Iran will start gas exports to Bahrain and Oman in the near future, an Iranian oil official said.

Tehran feels confident that negotiations with Bahrain and Oman have developed to the point that Iran can start gas exports soon, Hojatollah Ghanimifard said.

"Considering the results of the meetings and negotiations with Bahraini and Omani officials, I believe that in case the demanding sides announce the final and definite views, Iran will be ready to export gas to the two aforementioned countries," he added.

Oman is in need of natural gas and liquefied natural gas to feed its energy-hungry industries. Natural gas from Iran is slated for delivery to markets in Oman through a 124-mile pipeline along the floor of the Persian Gulf planned for 2012.

Rumours in Ottawa

Can anyone confirm the following rumour?

I heard this weekend . . . .confirmed by an Ottawa insider, that Stephen Harper and his wife have split.

Apparently, she is dating an RCMP officer and living in a Hotel in Ottawa.

The rumour has been around for some time now.

Don't want to see any family split up but the tension on a sitting Prime Minister must be tremendous if in fact the rumour is true.

Should we even be discussing such rumours in a Blog?

Comments please.

What Do Canadians Have To Be Proud Of?

1. Smarties
2. Crispy Crunch, Coffee Crisp
3. The size of our footballs fields, one less down, and bigger balls.
4. Baseball is Canadian - First game June 4, 1838 - Ingersoll, ON
5. Lacrosse is Canadian
6. Hockey is Canadian
7. Basketball is Canadian
8. Apple pie is Canadian
9. Mr. Dress-up
10. Tim Horton’s
11. In the war of 1812, started by America, Canadians pushed the Americans back past their White House. Then we burned it and most of Washington. We got bored because they ran away. Then, we came home and partied........ Go figure.
12. We have the largest population that never ever surrendered or withdrew during any war to anyone, anywhere. EVER. (We got clobbered in the odd battle, but prevailed in ALL the wars).
13. Our civil war was fought in a bar and lasted a little over an hour
14. The only person who was arrested in our civil war was an American mercenary. He slept in and missed the whole thing. He showed up just in time to get caught.
15. A Canadian invented Standard Time.
16. The Hudson’s Bay Company once owned over 10% of the earth's surface and is still around as the world's oldest company.
17. The average dog sled team can kill and devour a full grown human in less than 3 minutes. (That's more information than I need!)
18. We know what to do with the parts of a buffalo.
19. We invented ski-doos, jet-skis, Velcro, zippers, insulin, the paint roller, roller skates, duct tape, the jolly-jumper, air conditioned vehicles, the Zamboni, the barcode, the Blackberry and the telephone. Also short wave radios that save countless lives each year.
20. The light bulb was actually invented by a Canadian (Henry Woodward patented it in 1874). The patent was bought by some obscure American named Edison who improved upon the design and took credit for inventing it.
21. We ALL have frozen our tongues to something metal and lived to tell about it.
22. A Canadian invented Superman.
23. We have coloured money.
24. Our beer advertisements kick ass, incidentally...so does our beer and the handles on our beer cases are big enough to fit your hands with mitts on.

OOoohhhhh.... Canada!!

Oh yeah... And our elections only take one day.

Who is the Next Mayor of Calgary?

We will begin to speculate on the outcome of the Mayor's race over the next few blogs.

To begin with I need you to tell me who you believe will run for Mayor.

Please provide a name and a rationale for why that person should be or will be Mayor.

We will then start the process of gambling on the outcome of the election for the new Mayor of Calgary.

Please send as many persons as you wish.

Thank You Note From The United States

from the NBC Olympic anchorman:

Leaving behind a thank-you note

Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor

After tonight's broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we're going to try to brave the blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week. Before we leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.

Thank you, Canada:

For being such good hosts.

For your unfailing courtesy.

For your (mostly) beautiful weather.

For scheduling no more than 60 percent of your float plane departures at the exact moment when I was trying to say something on television.

For not seeming to mind the occasional (or constant) good-natured mimicry of your accents.

For your unique TV commercials -- for companies like Tim Hortons -- which made us laugh and cry.

For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying a single automatic weapon.

For having the best garment design and logo-wear of the games -- you've made wearing your name a cool thing to do.

For the sportsmanship we saw most of your athletes display.

For not honking your horns. I didn't hear one car horn in 15 days -- which also means none of my fellow New Yorkers rented cars while visiting.

For making us aware of how many of you have been watching NBC all these years.

For having the good taste to have an anchorman named Brian Williams on your CTV network, who turns out to be such a nice guy.

For the body scans at the airport which make pat-downs and cavity searches unnecessary.

For designing those really cool LED Olympic rings in the harbor, which turned to gold when your athletes won one.

For always saying nice things about the United States...when you know we're listening.

For sharing Joannie Rochette with us.

For reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society.

Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.

Dave Bronconnier - Thrice Mayor of Calgary

With apologies to ‘Dick Whittington and His Cat’

Dave Bronconnier – Thrice Mayor of Calgary

Bronconnier was born on October 7, 1962. A third generation Calgarian (his great grandmother was born in Calgary in 1895), he grew up in the southwest community of Glenbrook and attended Viscount Bennett High School. Bronconnier enrolled at the University of Calgary but left after a short while to pursue work opportunities.

He worked for the City of Calgary Electric System and for Alberta Government Telephones and then in 1983 started a small construction company. In 1987, Bronconnier and his business partner founded First General Services. The company specializes exclusively in insurance restoration and fire damage repairs and now employs 15 people. He is married to Cindy Bronconnier, with whom he has four children.

Political career

Bronconnier served on Calgary's city council as the Alderman for Ward 6 for nine years. He was first elected in 1992 and then served 3 terms before deciding to run for mayor.

In 1997, Bronconnier ran in the federal election as the Liberal candidate for Calgary West. Bronconnier was defeated in a landslide in this election by Reform Party candidate Rob Anders.

Long serving and very popular mayor Al Duerr was retiring leaving the position open. Bronconnier narrowly defeated Bev Longstaff, Duerr's protege, winning the mayoralty race of 2001. He became Calgary's 35th mayor.

Bronconnier was re-elected in 2004 with nearly 80% of the votes. Only 18% of the population voted, making it the lowest voter turnout for a Calgary municipal election in Western Canada.

He campaigned for re-election in the 2007 Calgary municipal election and was re-elected with 61% of the votes.

On February 23, 2010, Bronconnier announced he will not seek reelection in the 2010 October Election.