Having 13 candidates for mayor can be a real drag on debates, especially when there’s a true front runner and no clear second choice.
The list is led by current mayor Don Iveson and Don Koziak is back from 2007. But the other 11 – Taz Bouchier, Mike Butler, Ron Cousineau, Carla Frost, Bob Ligertwood, Henry Mak, Fahad Mughal, Gordon Nikolic, Steven Shewchuk, Neil Stephens and Justin Thomas – leave debate organizers wishing for more “legitimate” candidates.
“This was exactly what we waited for,” said Jim Gurnett of the Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness (ECOHH). “To see if there was a credible contest like last time with legitimate people that would have a real shot. We were going to, but we’ve come up with a different approach.”
Instead of a noon hour forum downtown, ECOHH will send one representative to other mayoralty and councillor forums across the city to ask a specific housing question of the candidates. ECOHH will also distribute pamphlets this campaign.
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Gurnett said they abandoned the idea of a forum in early September.
“At this point there’s no candidate that appears to be a known name substantial contender that people might really be considering.”
In 2013 ECOHH’s event had Don Iveson and Karen Leibovici fielding audience questions. Kerry Diotte was a no show and other names that had registered with the city weren’t invited.
“I’ve been sworn at in several campaigns because we’ve always done that with the mayoral campaign,” Gurnett said. “We’ve said we’re only going to invite the two or three that are clearly the front runners. And I’ve always had some of these very marginal people that have got in touch and said, ‘that’s really unfair.'”
There still will be city sponsored mayoralty forums, however staff are looking at their options because, based on the traditional format, the opening comments would take over an hour.
“With 13 it could have taken upwards of that much, so we will likely be reducing the opening statements, yes,” said Iain MacLean, the city’s director of elections.
“We are looking at options of shortening potentially the opening remarks, potentially the closing remarks and even how we’ll be doing questions.”
He said they’ll still keep the two-hour format. Details will be released Thursday once they’re finalized.
The Urban Development Institute, the group representing developers, had one four years ago, but won’t this time.
A spokesman for the Canadian Home Builders said its government relations committee is meeting Wednesday, but as of a month ago isn’t planning on repeating what was staged four years ago at the Royal Glenora Club.
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The Edmonton Chamber of Commerce is still weighing its options said spokeswoman Sheila Keenan in an email.
Public Interest Alberta hasn’t had a specific mayoralty forum, in part because it’s a province wide organization. Executive Director Joel
French said it can get unweildy with 13 candidates.
“We’ve seen that in a lot of city council races too, particularly when we have open wards where incumbents aren’t running for office. That’s one of the tricks of not having political parties at the municipal level. I think it’s just a reality we deal with when it’s that kind of system, where anybody who wants to can run and that’s part of the democratic process.”
They will stage a citizens event where issues will be discussed, but the candidates won’t be given a chance to be at the mic. That’s Monday night at the Hellenic-Canadian Community Centre on 116 Street, north of 104 Ave.
Every candidate will be given the opportunity to share why Edmontonians should vote for them on The Ryan Jespersen Show. Two Minutes to Win It: The Race to City Hall can be heard every day between 9 a.m. and noon and afterwards on The Ryan Jespersen Show page.