That in and of itself isn’t news, but what is of note is how they have each announced and how they’ve behaved in the hours immediately after that announcement. And it’s that “how” that is beginning to tell the story of what kind of a general election we are going to see once the writ is dropped.

Instead of the old-school media release and speech attended only by close supporters, each candidate has opened up the campaign to the public from the get go.

For both Alison Redford and Doug Horner — Progressive Conservative hopefuls — the first act on their first day as a candidate was to create a Twitter account. Redford used it right away and made her big announcement on Twitter.

Social media are changing the face of how politics is done.

Alberta Party hopeful Glenn Taylor and PC MLA Doug Griffiths took it one step further and announced their intentions using a live video stream, so anyone in the province who wanted to see their speeches could do so. Those videos are available online, where visitors to their websites are able to share them with friends on Facebook or Twitter at the push of a button.

Griffiths, a social media veteran by any standard, started his second day as a candidate by sitting down for breakfast with political bloggers to tell his story to them directly. Redford spent the afternoon following her announcement doing sit-down interviews with Edmonton media outlets. One after the other, she told her story one-on-one.

These candidates know the world of politics is evolving and see the role social media can play as part of that evolution. As Griffiths explained during his blogger breakfast, the candidate who engages directly with as many Albertans as possible will have the greatest chance of winning the leadership contest — something he sees the social media tool very effective in achieving.

If this is where these candidates are starting, it will be interesting to see how their use of social media has developed by the time election day arrives.

•••

Speaking of social media, that’s where you’ll have to find me moving forward. Today represents my last Metro column. I first started writing it to increase the public’s knowledge of issues during the Calgary municipal election, but I quit my day job to do that. I’ve recently accepted a position with the City of Calgary and so it would be inappropriate for me to continue writing here every week.

I thank my editor Darren Krause for the opportunity to share my opinions over these past few months, and I know Metro will continue its dedication to local news long after my departure.

See you online!

Calgary original: http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/article/777370–social-media-are-game-changers
Edmonton original: http://www.metronews.ca/edmonton/local/article/777370–social-media-are-game-changers

It was announced the city has selected a public-engagement firm to talk with us — the citizens — about what we want to see in the upcoming 2012-2014 budget.

It may seem like a no-brainer that the city would actually take time to ask us what services we would like and how much we would be willing to pay for them, but strangely enough it’s not something that’s done often, if ever.

I think the administration and council deserve a huge round of applause for thinking far enough ahead to ensure that this time, they involve the public right from the beginning.

However, my round of applause may look like a standing ovation to some and an ironic slow clap to others.

In hiring a firm — and according to the request for proposals, paying them $250,000 — to “engage the public,” the city is effectively admitting that it doesn’t don’t know how to do this itself.

Which, of course, begs the question: If 14,000 municipal employees don’t have the skills to engage the public, then what they heck are they doing? If there was one thing they were good at, shouldn’t this be that one thing?

To even the untrained eye, however, this has become reality. “Public engagement” has been twisted into “informing the public about a decision that’s already been made,” which obviously is exactly the opposite of what public-engagement processes are meant to be.

This leads us to another question: Whose job is public engagement anyway? I would argue asking us what we want and then making sure it happens is entirely the point of elected officials. After all, if they didn’t do this, then what purpose do they serve?

But if public engagement is the job of our elected officials, I have to ask: When was the last time your councillor asked your opinion on something coming up at city hall?

If it’s the job of the alderman to know what the public wants, we’re in bad shape. Aside from Ald. Gian-Carlo Carra, who is very familiar with the planning charette process, I can’t think of any other alderman with previous experience in this field.

That could be forgiven by each of them hiring a constituency assistant with these skills. But if any of those assistants have these skills, you wouldn’t know it. Aside from Bob Hawkesworth in 2008 and 2009, no alderman has held a big public priority-setting event.

Ald. Shane Keating gives us some hope, however. Next week, he’s holding an event to gather information about the future of motorsports in Calgary. Granted, the event is not open to the public, but so long as it’s not a town hall-style meeting — a confrontational event format that can’t disappear from use quickly enough — this is at least a baby step forward.

There are infinitely better ways to find out what the public wants. Hopefully the professionals will show them how it’s done, and the city will be able to follow their lead.

Original: http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/article/749834

After the election and budget deliber-ations of November and December, our city council has emerged into a new year with all the possibilities in the world before them.

So what now? Well, here’s what to expect:

If you weren’t sick enough of hearing about the airport tunnel during the leadup to the election, I hope you’ve enjoyed your two month respite, because Mayor Nenshi is about to make it something you’re going to hear about every day moving forward.

Figures ranging from $100 million to more than a billion dollars were batted around during September and October, but the time for inflammatory politics is past. The first step for the airport tunnel is to find out how much it actually will cost, then if it can be built. Once that is settled, expect council to begin the debate on the need for such a tunnel in earnest.

Expect to hear a lot about secondary suites — an issue that has put a bug under about a third of our council members including, and perhaps most so, the mayor. The debate about a city-wide policy to give homeowners a less onerous — and less random — process will be a big one with lots of Calgarians getting the chance to have their say.

The future of the southeast LRT is something I expect you’ll be hearing more about soon enough, too. If the money is to be had — and some argue with the bounce back of the economy it more than likely will be — the southeast LRT could rocket to the top of the agenda once the airport tunnel is dealt with.

You can also expect the topic of campaign finance reform to return to council again, this time with a mayor and a couple of councillors who count this as a “pet peeve” actually committed to finding a way to make the change permanent and enforceable.

Don’t be surprised if you see Nenshi enter into a battle over the city’s procurement processes either. With Louise Crossing becoming an issue during the election and the mayor’s humorous public musings about the cost of everything from an internet router for his office, to business cards, to his quest to get a less expensive vehicle, this aspect of our civic government could very well end up under the microscope sooner rather than later.

Of course with all these issues to choose from, you can be forgiven for wondering why fluoridation — a topic that I’m confident councillors heard about rarely when door-knocking during the election — has become the first issue to make it on the 2011 agenda

It’s a good conversation to have, but is it really the most pressing one? The other items listed here should be dealt with next. If they aren’t, then you have my permission to lose faith in our new council’s ability to set priorities.

It looks like it’s going to be a busy few months. Hold on for the ride.

Original: http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/article/743399–welcome-to-2011