Edmonton Election 2013: Update #7

We were very happy to have Deb and Breanna from The Local Good on last night’s #yegvote Hangout! We discussed the latest election news plus candidate questionnaires. You can watch the archive at EdmontonPolitics.com:

Here’s my latest election news roundup:

• Monday was nomination day of course, so we now have the final list of candidates running in the election. Check out my coverage here. Here is Dave’s roundup of municipal election races across Alberta.
• Monday was also the day a new Edmonton Journal/Leger poll was released. It found that among decided voters, 47% support Don Iveson, 28% support Kerry Diotte, and 25% support Karen Leibovici.
• Slowly but surely the 2013 election centre at ShareEdmonton is coming together! Check it out for your list of candidates, plus upcoming events.
• Mayor Stephen Mandel made his first endorsement this week, throwing his support behind Ward 10 candidate Michael Walters.
• Don Iveson posted a few things this week, starting with his first Week in Review. He also followed Karen Leibovici’s lead in making his first campaign donor disclosure. On Tuesday he wrote about renewing our roads and pipes, and yesterday about entrepreneurs and supporting small business growth.
• Kerry Diotte had a relatively quiet week, starting with the removal of the “arena deal stinks” video that had caused so much controversy. Earlier today he posted the results of a survey on photo radar, Whitemud speed limits, and debt.
• Karen Leibovici called for an overhaul of the city’s budget process this week. On Tuesday, she announced a new plan to clean the sidewalks of seniors in the winter. In response, Kerry Diotte suggested the City just pay for everyone’s sidewalks to be cleared, something Don Iveson pointed out has already been looked. On Wednesday, Karen announced a new plan to review servicing gaps facing small and medium sized businesses, and today said it’s time to “get smart” on transit smart cards.
• There was an interesting uproar yesterday over a PC Party fundraiser that was going to feature the three main mayoral candidates. After everyone denied everything and tried to distance themselves from the debacle, the mayoral forum element of the event was cancelled.
• Want to dig into campaign donations a little more? Michael Ross has done the math and analysis, and it found the numbers don’t always add up.
• Metro is looking to investigate “campaign claims that seem a little off-base” and they want your suggestions on what to look at.
• Here’s one of the more bizarre statements to be made by a candidate. Ward 6 candidate Dexx Williams suggested mayoral forums should involve lie detector tests.
• Dave took a look at some other candidate videos this week.
• Ward 6 candidate Melinda Hollis has been really active on Twitter this week, getting into some interesting conversations and posting some bizarre tweets. Deb captured some of them here.
• In their latest politics podcast, the Journal discussed the civic election.
• David Staples says school trustees must fight harder for quality education. So far, he says, they “haven’t done a good enough job to ensure our kids are getting the best education possible.”
• Here are some new candidate profiles from Ryan Hastman: Michael Oshry in Ward 5, Amarjeet Sohi in Ward 12, and Rob Bernshaw in Ward 3.
• ActivatED has endorsed Michael Oshry in Ward 5.
• Ward 4 incumbent Ed Gibbons blogged about great expectations this week.
• Here are some new questionnaire responses from The Local Good: Amarjeet Sohi in Ward 12, Terry Rolls in Ward 7, and Erin Northey in Ward 6.
• This is pretty interesting – some candidates are using Segways to go door knocking!
• Here are some responses to the Vote Zombie Wall questionnaire: Don Iveson, Kyle Brown in Ward 6, Candas Jane Dorsey in Ward 6, Sam Hachem in Ward 4, David Dodge in Ward 3, Heather MacKenzie in Ward 6, Bryan Anderson in  Ward 9, Derrick Forsythe in Ward 6, and Melinda Hollis in Ward 6.
• From Danielle Klooster: Five terrible reasons to run for municipal office.
• There has been lots of Mayor Mandel-related news this week. For example, here’s a day in the life of the mayor.

Love the Walters campaign shirts!

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.