Ever since the Calgary District and Labour Council – an umbrella group of 60 union locals – endorsed candidates for council, people have been asking me for a list of names of pro-taxpayer candidates to vote for instead.
FULL COVERAGE: 2017 Calgary municipal election
I took an initial stab at that list a few weeks ago with listener input, but then I asked Marcel Latouche from the Institute for Public Sector Accountability to analyze the responses to surveys from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and Common Sense Calgary, and narrow down the list to a single choice in each ward.
There are many good candidates in several of the wards, but Common Sense Calgary’s polling suggests only a few have broken away and risen above the pack.
Here are Latouche’s picks for mayor and council and where they stand in the Common Sense Calgary poll (total sample size: 5,000):
LISTEN: Marcel Latouche, president and CEO of The Institute for Public Sector Accountability, on voting in Calgary
Pro-taxpayer, conservative candidates identified by listeners:
Mayor – Bill Smith (43.42%) Undecided (32.07%)
Ward 1 – Ward Sutherland (40.86%) Undecided (32.07%)
Ward 2 – Joe Magliocca (35.63%) Undecided (35.34%)
Ward 3 – Jyoti Gondek (21.14%) Undecided (44.72%)
Ward 4 – Sean Chu (49.31%) Undecided (22.71%)
Ward 5 – George Chahal (23.85%) Undecided (50.00%)
Ward 6 – Jeff Davison (24.46%) Undecided (43.82%)
Ward 7 – Brent Alexander (27.40%) Undecided (19.85%)
Ward 8 – Chris Davis (30.53%) Undecided (33.56%)
Ward 9 – Cheryl Link (21.88%) Undecided (42.60%)
Ward 11 – Jeromy Farkus (33.33%) Undecided (39.33%)
Ward 12 – Shane Keating (41.2%) Undecided (37.16%)
Ward 13 –Mark Dyrholm (6.91%) Undecided (32.45%)
Ward 14 – Peter Demong (56.56%) Undecided (36.25%)
And below is a look at how the union slate of candidates is polling.
Pro-union, progressive candidates identified by the Calgary District and Labour Council:
Mayor – Naheed Nenshi (32.10%)
Ward 1 – Christopher Blatch (6.89%)
Ward 3 – Ian McAnerin (19.92%)
Ward 4 – Greg Miller (20.78%)
Ward 6 – Esmahan Razavi (12.53%)
Ward 7 – Druh Farrell (29.89%)
Ward 8 – Evan Wooley (31.85%)
Ward 9 – Gian-Carlo Carra (22.99%)
Ward 10 – Salimah Kassam (3.58%)
Ward 11 – Janet Eremenko (7.11%)
*No candidates identified as yet by the CDLC in Wards 2, 5, 12, 13 or 14
As you can see, there are still a substantial number of undecided voters in all the wards, so anything could happen on election day.
This is why you may have to consider voting strategically if you want to see a change on council.
If you have any comments, send me at note at danielle@newstalk770.com.
READ MORE: List of all candidates for mayor and council
Canadian Taxpayer Federation Candidate Questionnaires here.
Common Sense Calgary Candidate Questionnaires here.
Common Sense Calgary Poll here.