Who would you vote for today?
Now that you’ve heard the mayoral candidates at the forum tonight…what do you think? Personally, I was very impressed by Lee Brain’s knowledge, inclusiveness, and depth of understanding of issues, as well as willingness to ad-lib responses rather than rely on pre-packaged answers.
I only caught part of it but I agree with you about Lee doing an awesome job !
The rest i strongly sense feel he just may pull it off… Brigillo (spelling) was a joke frankly … to me it is and always will be a 2 way race Lee and Jack
Lee Brain.
[quote=“hitest”]
Lee Brain.[/quote]
I’d go back and count how many times you’ve said you were voting for Lee but I don’t have enough digits.
[quote=“jamesbrown”]I only caught part of it but I agree with you about Lee doing an awesome job !
The rest i strongly sense feel he just may pull it off… Brigillo (spelling) was a joke frankly … to me it is and always will be a 2 way race Lee and Jack[/quote]
If you still think Jack is a front-runner, it can’t be based on his dreadful performance tonight. His opening speech was a list of bullet points (which he weirdly launched into without any kind of intro) and he may have glanced up at the audience once during it. He had to be warned and silenced by Mr. Harvey when he rudely tried to interrupt Brain. And then he was booed loudly for his remark about how council can’t waste time on another candidate who will have to “learn to be a mayor.” if there was a clear loser tonight, it was Jack.
[quote=“Crazy Train”]
I’d go back and count how many times you’ve said you were voting for Lee but I don’t have enough digits.[/quote]
You did ask. 
[quote=“drummerboy”]
[quote=“jamesbrown”]I only caught part of it but I agree with you about Lee doing an awesome job !
The rest i strongly sense feel he just may pull it off… Brigillo (spelling) was a joke frankly … to me it is and always will be a 2 way race Lee and Jack[/quote]
If you still think Jack is a front-runner, it can’t be based on his dreadful performance tonight. His opening speech was a list of bullet points (which he weirdly launched into without any kind of intro) and he may have glanced up at the audience once during it. He had to be warned and silenced by Mr. Harvey when he rudely tried to interrupt Brain. And then he was booed loudly for his remark about how council can’t waste time on another candidate who will have to “learn to be a mayor.” if there was a clear loser tonight, it was Jack.[/quote]
You dont have to convince me of anything based on the forum any thought of voting for anyone other than Lee is gone He firmly has my vote and I wont be waffling again
I still think Jack is a front runner but time will tell.
[quote=“jamesbrown”]
If you still think Jack is a front-runner, it can’t be based on his dreadful performance tonight. His opening speech was a list of bullet points (which he weirdly launched into without any kind of intro) and he may have glanced up at the audience once during it. He had to be warned and silenced by Mr. Harvey when he rudely tried to interrupt Brain. And then he was booed loudly for his remark about how council can’t waste time on another candidate who will have to “learn to be a mayor.” if there was a clear loser tonight, it was Jack.
You dont have to convince me of anything based on the forum any thought of voting for anyone other than Lee is gone He firmly has my vote and I wont be waffling again
I still think Jack is a front runner but time will tell.[/quote]
I found the opposite to be true…Lee did well, but the forum did nothing to sway me towards voting for him.
I agree, Jack was on the defensive, seemed angry and personally attacked Mr. Brain based on his age, which was not good to see…that being said, Jack will still get a lot of support regardless of what happened last night. He is the incumbent, and that alone will work in his favour.
Tony Briglio impressed me the most last night, he seemed passionate, he seemed relaxed and he generally seemed eager. Lee was well versed, and the last half the forum was much stronger for him than the first half. He did a good job of telling people what they want to hear. Sheila Gordon-Payne had a good night as well…but I was left wanting more from her.
I went into last night leaning towards Sheila and am now considering Tony as well.
It is clear vote splitting could clearly leave us with Mr. Brain as mayor.
[quote=“hitest”]
[quote=“Crazy Train”]
I’d go back and count how many times you’ve said you were voting for Lee but I don’t have enough digits.[/quote]
You did ask. [/quote]
I suppose I have only myself to blame.
It’s an interesting split so far. Just over half would vote for an experienced candidate but it’s so split that Lee has a sizable lead. I’m going to pull a hitest and re-state who I’m voting for. Jack all the way. He’s not the best speaker but he’s doing a good job.
Interesting…I support the idea of throwing your support in this manner (voting with the majority, even if the majority choice is not your personal top choice, in order to help secure another person from not winning)…but Jack’s performance last night was so poor, it would be really hard to support him. Who knows…I feel like I will decide at the ballot box, I have never been this undecided this close to an election.
There were a few on last night that came off too polished and this was for both forums , It never fails with this format and some one has all the crowds attention with how they present themselves to the audience with what I would call pipe dreams and nice words . We shall see what the next four years leave the town with , false promises and pipe dreams .
With only 35 votes, it is hard to make any accurate analysis. However, it is interesting that you decided to see the split as one of experience (17 votes) vs inexperience (18 votes).
Somebody else might interpret the split as 28 votes for change vs 7 votes for status quo.
I agree with you 100% was almost going to not vote but decided to go to the advance poll and do my civic duty… I do not expect any changes but we can’t be any worse off for trying a new young mayor and i voted half of the councillors as new as well… The Lee camp is happy today after Jack’s performance… a Brain Storm could well take place
[quote=“DWhite”]
With only 35 votes, it is hard to make any accurate analysis. However, it is interesting that you decided to see the split as one of experience (17 votes) vs inexperience (18 votes).
Somebody else might interpret the split as 28 votes for change vs 7 votes for status quo.[/quote]
That’s the nature of statistics and you are absolutely correct.
If memory serves me correctly, the online sentiment during previous elections was not a true indicator of public sentiment as the actual results were different from what was the common feeling online. As you said, only 35 engaged in this activity. Many, many more out there not tuning in with their own individual perspectives. History also tells us that there is often little change.
Yes, shame on those who dressed well and were prepared, and who had ideas beyond the status quo, and then had the audacity to express those ideas with eloquence. Ridiculous.
[quote=“drummerboy”]
Yes, shame on those who dressed well and were prepared, and who had ideas beyond the status quo, and then had the audacity to express those ideas with eloquence. Ridiculous.[/quote]
I think that Justin, who has the benefit of having successfully run for council, is simply sharing some observations about the limitations of the format. I would not be surprised if his favourite candidates were properly dressed and reasonably well spoken. He’s right, many of the same things are said over and over and it is mostly style and presentation over substance.
Everybody is going to give priority to infrastructure and apply for funds, just like last time and the time before and so on. It was good to hear Blair Mirau say that there really isn’t a lot of money out there that hasn’t been applied for.
Everybody is going to support new business just like they always have.
First nations are always mentioned. On high profile issues they usually come across as being better organized than the City. Much the same could be said about little ole Port Ed. Platitudes aside, do those communities really want to be way more involved with the City, and have any of the candidates actually asked them?
Transparency was not trumpeted like on previous occasions. Apparently at the last council meeting there was talk about disclosing some information about Lot 444 and Legacy Corp, presumably on the theory of better late than never.
And of course no one is going to talk about whether the City really needs to have over $30 million tied up in a telecom business. That topic is always a kind of no-go zone of civic politics.
Some candidates do better than others, but overall forums seem to be more about the possibility of a candidate losing than anyone scoring a major win. The consensus seems to be that the current Mayor lost. Attack dog tactics by candidates, or their more ardent supporters for that matter, are unlikely to win over undecided voters in particular. Who wants to vote for unpleasantness?
Well, then, Justincase might as well also complain about the rain in Rupert because that is, as you said, the nature of candidate forums. Or he should suggest an alternative format rather than saying candidates came off “too polished” as if being polished were a bad thing. The nature of all politics is, for better or worse, to present yourself as capable, informed, and to cover all of the standard bases (which you listed). That said, I think there were a number of things put forward that were new ideas and which weren’t pie-in-the-sky.
Also, you’re right about forums being mostly about not falling on your face and I would say Jack did greatly, with his surly manner and harping on Brain’s age, and Sheila did (to a lesser degree) by complaining about and struggling with “surprise” questions that have been issues in Rupert for some time.
Brain and Briglio did not stumble. How that affects the voting, I don’t know.
I won’t. Attack advertisements are contrived at best. All the best, Lee Brain! 