Municipal elections are being tallied in my home province today, and to some surprise all the progressive candidates are winning!
Stephen Mandel has been re-elected as mayor of Edmonton with over 50% of the vote. Don Iveson has also been sent back to council with a large share in his new riding (Edmonton has just switched from 2 councillors per ward to 1).
Also in Edmonton, my friend and former Lister Hall and UofA Students’ Union president Michael Janz has been elected as a Public School Trustee. Sarah Hoffman, with the support of the Alberta NDP has also won as trustee.
Calgary is the more exciting race as underdog Naheed Nenshi pulls far ahead of former alderman Ric McIver and former (maybe soon again) TV anchor Barb Higgins. Nenshi was a long-shot going in but put a lot of legwork in, made massive uses of social networking and has earned the nickname the “Obama of Calgary” for drawing out the younger vote.
Official results for Calgary are here and Edmonton here.
Red mayors are nothing new in Alberta, but perhaps the young movements behind Nenshi, Janz and Iveson will translate to the next provincial and federal elections if any party can inspire them (and so far the Alberta Party is the only one that looks like it’s doing it right).
Perhaps there’s interest for a Reason Alberta? 😉
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As excited as I am for Nenshi to take the reigns and run a progressive Calgary, I must keep in mind that Calgarians usually elect liberal mayors. Dave Bronco was a former LPC candidate in Calgary SW. Al Duerr was also a member of the federal Liberals and governed in a most progressive-conservative (small p dash small c) fashion. This is the usual story.
Has Calgary turned a corner? I doubt it. It’s a good thing, but as soon as party colours and endorsements are handed out at the provincial and federal levels, PCs and CPCs will continue to sweep the slates.