Edmonton Election 2013: Update #5

I was unavailable for tonight’s #yegvote Hangout but Dave and Ryan kept the show going along with special guest Steven Dollansky. The guys talked about regional cooperation, Edmonton’s debt levels, expanding the LRT, and other big issues of the election so far. On debt, Steven said the next mayor “isn’t going to have as much room on the credit card” and will have to make some tough decisions. On the LRT, he said the next mayor is going to have to go the province and “be more creative” to bring ideas beyond grants to the table.

You can watch the archive here or at EdmontonPolitics.com:

Here’s my latest election news roundup:

• Now that Dave is back he has updated the list of declared candidates. There are currently 6 mayoral candidates and 53 candidates for Council. Ben Henderson, Bryan Anderson, and Amarjeet Sohi all remain uncontested.
• There’s an app for everything these days, and Edmonton Elections is not going to be left out. You can download an app for your iPhone, Android, or BlackBerry, plus there’s a mobile website. Maybe one day you’ll be able to vote from the app too.
• Edmonton Elections still needs approximately 700 more workers to help run voting stations on election day. Wards 11 and 12 are in the most need of workers.
• Kerry Diotte found himself with a Twitter backlash after sharing a new slogan, “Diotte or Detroit”.
• On the topic of municipal debt, I shared some data and thoughts yesterday. Global News also allowed a few candidates to weigh in and tonight they spoke to the three big mayoral candidates and even surprised them with a pop quiz.
• This post from Adam Rozenhart was really well-received today: My democracy isn’t better than yours. “For me to presume that I see the world the way everyone else does is hubris,” he writes. Mark your ballot your way!
• I have no doubt you’ll enjoy these election memes from Chad Huculak.
• Karen Leibovici says Edmonton’s LRT development is at a crossroads. She also wrote about Make Something Edmonton, and says that Edmontonians will benefit from FCM’s push for infrastructure funding.
• Don Iveson also wrote about Make Something Edmonton and he answered some questions that he received via social media.
• If you haven’t already checked out the Edmonton Election Tumblr, you must. It’s hilarious. Here’s the Ward 6 post: There Will Be Blood.
• Here are some new candidate profiles from Ryan Hastman: Shelley Tupper in Ward 2, Andrew Knack in Ward 1, Dan St. Pierre in Ward 5, and Derrick Forsythe in Ward 6.
• More candidates have responded to The Local Good’s questionnaire: Javed Sommers in Ward 6, Mike Nickel in Ward 11, Sam Hachem in Ward 4, Jamie Post in Ward 1, Hakin Isse in Ward 3, and Dave Colburn in Ward 7.
• ActivatED is back and has endorsed Ted Grand in Ward 2.
• Ward 5 candidate Michael Oshry wrote about community policing yesterday.
• David Staples says we should be taking note of the political movements taking place down in Calgary.
• Lorne Gunter says the mayoral candidates need to get down to specifics. I suspect the policy game is going to ramp up starting next week.
• Must be hard to work with magazine deadlines – Avenue Edmonton has a feature on mayoral candidates and it includes Curtis Penner, who withdrew from the race a couple weeks ago.
• Edmonton’s NextGen has two candi{date} events coming up on October 16 for wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and October 17 for wards 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Mayoral candidates are slated to be at both events.

You can follow Edmonton Election news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegvote and you can see my coverage here. Also be sure to check out the #yegvote flipboard for curated election-related stories on a daily basis.

What have I missed? Let me know!

Disclosure: I’m actively volunteering for Don Iveson’s mayoral campaign.