Blogs
Final Statistics on Election Forum 2007
Submitted by dstewart on Fri, 11/09/2007 - 01:00Check out the final statistics on Election Forum 2007!
Do you want to know how many people visited out site?
How often?
Where they were from?
http://www.electionforum.ca/documents/ElectionForumFinalStats.pdf
Thank you to everyone who participated on Red Deer Public Library's Election Forum Website!
Submitted by dstewart on Wed, 10/17/2007 - 22:58
I would like to thank all the candidates for their tremendous efforts to make the Red Deer Public Library Election Website an integral part of Red Deer's 2007 municipal election.
In addition to the candidates, I would like to thank the community and media contributors who helped to make our website a success:
- The City of Red Deer, particularly Frieda McDougall
- Shaw Television
- CHCA Television
- Red Deer Advocate
- Red Deer Express
- CKGY
- Z99
- Big 105
- 106.7 The Drive
- Michael Dawe and Red Deer and District Archives
- Jan Underwood of C.A.R.E.
- Tom Stevens, seniors' spokesperson
- Laura Turner of the Downtown Business Association
- Paul Boultbee and Glynis Wilson Boultbee representing Arts and Culture
- Debby Whitecotton, former Catholic School Board Trustee
- Debbie Murray and Jeannie Lutz for C.A.S.A. (Central Alberta Self Advocates)
- Duane Rolheiser of 24-7videotours.com
I also want to thank the citizens of Red Deer who took the time to add a comment or question to our website. Your contributions were crucial to our website.
Your participation has made the project an unqualified success and helped chart the future of election campaigning in our community.
The site was tremendously popular among the voting public of Red Deer because of your commitment and contributions. You made it interactive, informative and vibrant.
Thousands of Red Deer voters visited the site during the campaign to gather information, offer feedback and, in general, to feel like they were part of the electoral process. They were able to gather the knowledge they needed to make informed decisions at the polls. And the voters were able, I hope, to let candidates know what they believed to be the critical issues of the election. That kind of interplay makes the democratic process far more tangible, vital and organic.
Thank you again,
Donna Stewart
Promotions and Training Assistant
Election Forum 2007
Red Deer Public Library
Election Night Photos, Courtesy of Red Deer Express
Submitted by dstewart on Wed, 10/17/2007 - 22:45
photographer: Chad Hipolito
Reprinted courtesy of Red Deer Express
Jeffrey Dawson and Morris Flewwelling, Election Night, October 15, 2007
Morris and Hazel Flewwelling, celebrating!
Cindy Jefferies, Lynne Mulder and Tara Veer at City Hall, Election Night, October 15, 2007
New Councillors: Buck Buchanan and Gail Parks, Election Night, October 15, 2007
Bev Hughes and Lorna Watkinson-Zimmer, Election Night, October 15, 2007
Congratulations!
Submitted by dstewart on Tue, 10/16/2007 - 19:55Congratulations to Mayor Morris Flewwelling and his new city council!
I'm sure that Mayor Flewwelling, along with Cindy Jefferies, Lynne Mulder, Tara Veer, Buck Buchanan, Gail Parks, Larry Pimm, Frank Wong and Lorna Watkinson-Zimmer will serve the people of Red Deer with skill and compassion.
In addition, the voters of Red Deer have selected two new slates of school board trustees who will serve with distinction and commitment.
The new Red Deer Public School District board is comprised of:
Bill Stuebing Bev Manning
Gail Holland Diane Macaulay
Jim Watters Lawrence Lee
Cathy Peacocke
The new Red Deer Regional Catholic School Division board is comprised of:
Bev Heisler Lloyd Baumgarten
Adriana Lagrange Elaine Halter
Christine Moore
The new trustee for Red Deer Regional Catholic School Division for Sylvan Lake/Innisfail/Bowden/Olds/ ward is Diane J. MacKay.
By acclamation, the trustee for Red Deer Regional Catholic School Division for Rocky Mountain House ward is Stephen Taylor.
These results are unofficial until Friday, October 19, 2007
Complete election results are available at: www.reddeer.ca
Everyone participated in an excellent campaign. Many issues were raised including Molly Bannister Drive, the Gasification Project, Rethink Red Deer, Self-advocacy issues, low income housing and many more.
Red Deer Public Library was proud to provide a forum where the candidates and the public could present their platforms, questions and concerns. We were very pleased that we were able to initiate a strong dialogue between the candidates and the voters, providing information and communication.
Again, congratulations to all the newly-elected representatives.
Donna Stewart
Promotions and Training Assistant
Election Forum 2007
Red Deer Public Library
Final Results - Red Deer Municipal Election 2007
Submitted by dfrey on Tue, 10/16/2007 - 14:53Go here for the final results.
Congratulations to all the winners!
Get out and vote!
Submitted by dfrey on Mon, 10/15/2007 - 15:40Today is election day. You've had a chance to see the candidates in action on electionforum.ca.
Now you get to decide. Polls are open from 10 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. today. Check out this page on the City website to find out where to go.
Updated Procedure for Posting Comments
Submitted by dstewart on Wed, 10/03/2007 - 16:54
Electionforum.ca is in many ways a new and cutting edge method of involving the citizenry of Red Deer in the democratic process. Providing a method for individuals to be able to interact directly with candidates in an open and far-reaching environment such as electionforum.ca is a risky venture in many ways, but it is also richly rewarding. Being that the process is so new to everyone involved, we have made and will continue to make changes to the site in order to ensure that we can make the entire venture as fair and informative as possible.
To that end, we have made a change in the procedures that must be followed in order to ensure that all comments are valid and fall within our guidelines for participation. As of today, you will now be required to include your full name and email address with your comment or it will not be posted. We will publish your name but we will not publish your email address (it will be kept only for our own use). It is our hope that this will help us maintain the quality of our website by encouraging people to be accountable for their comments in a public fashion and by providing a level playing field for all the candidates.
The goal of this site always has been and will continue to be, to provide a forum for all the citizens of Red Deer so that they have a place to put forward issues that are of concern to them. We will continue to encourage posters to focus on the issues rather than on the individual candidates. We hope that this new commenting process will promote a very positive, healthy and informative dialog between the candidates and the citizens of Red Deer. We look forward to seeing more comments and questions from citizens who want to take an active part in choosing their Municipal Government.
Donna's Blog
Submitted by dstewart on Thu, 06/21/2007 - 22:45I’d like to welcome you to Red Deer Public Library, Election Forum 2007. My name is Donna Stewart, Promotions & Training Assistant for the Election Forum Project for Red Deer Public Library. I have been employed at Red Deer Public Library, in Adult Services, since October, 2002. My family and I have lived in Red Deer since 1979 and have enjoyed every minute of it. I am very excited to be involved in this new, groundbreaking project. .....
The main focus of our website will be to provide an interactive platform for candidates to present their views and comment on election related issues. Our site will allow them to post their comments in their own words. They will be able to update their blog as the election process continues. Interested citizens will be able to post questions and concerns to which the candidates can respond. We hope to create a busy conversation site and give everyone a chance to state an opinion or ask a question. Our website is intended to promote a healthy dialogue, increasing communication and understanding between candidates and voters.Via the Election Forum 2007 website, we will strive to provide information the citizens of Red Deer will need, enabling them to make informed decisions on Election Day.
Our website will provide a forum for interactive communication between candidates and voters. It will also provide a variety of related information, such as where to vote and historical notes about previous elections. I will be the primary liaison between the Library and the candidates, available to work either one-on-one or with groups of candidates to help them benefit as much as possible from Election Forum 2007. I look forward to assisting the candidates to set up and maintain their own blog, within our Forum website.
Connecting with the media and our partner organizations will be another aspect of my responsibilities. I will also be available to answer questions from candidates, potential candidates and anyone else who would like to post a blog comment. If you need any assistance posting a comment or if you have any questions or concerns regarding the Election Forum 2007 website, please contact me at 755-1139 or email me at dstewart@rdpl.org .
NEW! VIDEOS ! CHECK IT OUT!
http://www.24-7videotours.com/player/index.php?siteid=6
Red Deer Advocate - Barrier Broken, October 17, 2007
Submitted by reddeeradvocate on Wed, 10/24/2007 - 19:15Oct 17 2007
By LANA MICHELIN
Advocate staff
Women in municipal politics really have come a long way since Ethel Taylor first broke the gender barrier on Red Deer city council in 1961.
For the first time ever, after Monday night's election, women outnumber men on council five to four.
Not only are there more women on city council, but the most popular councillors by far "according to the number of votes cast" are Cindy Jefferies and Tara Veer.
Newcomer Gail Parks managed to grab one of two vacated council seats, along with retired RCMP officer Buck Buchanan, when Parks received more votes than five other council wannabes, who happened to be male.
Parks, a retired businesswoman, will help shape the future of Red Deer over the next three years with Jefferies, Veer, Lynne Mulder and Lorna Watkinson-Zimmer, as well as Buchanan, Larry Pimm, Frank Wong and Mayor Morris Flewwelling.
"I think it's amazing" that so many women are in leadership positions, said Parks, who believes there's a difference in the way males and females problem-solve.
"Men see the big picture and women see the details, so I think it'll be a wonderful marriage."
Mulder likes that there's still a male-female balance on council. But she thinks it's good on voters from "good ol' redneck Red Deer" to choose candidates for their knowledge and skills rather than gender.
"I think people voted for who would be the best councillors."
While woman and men "do look at things differently," Mulder doesn't think having the balance tip towards females will significantly alter the way council operates.
Her male colleague Larry Pimm concurs, saying debates always come down to issues, not gender differences.
But Gail Surkan, who became Red Deer's first female mayor in 1992, predicts subtle changes could emerge that prove advantageous for council.
Surkan, who stepped down in 2004, believes women are more consultative about decision-making than males "perhaps because our historically patriarchal society has conditioned this approach."
This kind of consensus-building is a good thing, said Surkan, since council has to work with more and more stakeholders and partners on all kinds of projects.
While local voters gave females in municipal politics a strong vote of confidence on Monday, times were different 15 years ago, when some community members appeared uncertain about having a female in the mayor's seat.
Surkan said she must have passed muster, since initial resistance quickly folded. She ran uncontested in one election and was widely regarded as one of the city's most popular and effective mayors.
Seven females sat on city council before Surkan, dating back to 1961 when Taylor made local history.
The Alderman Mrs. Taylor, as she was then known, went on to become one of Red Deer's most influential municipal leaders.
She helped found the Red Deer Public Library board, Golden Circle and Waskasoo Park, and yet had to endure some gender-related wisecracks at her expense after first being elected.
According to a newspaper article from the early 1960s, a city commissioner told council he had booked two or three double rooms for an out-of-town convention, prompting Taylor to quickly respond that she had made other arrangements.
Jumping ahead some 45 years, current councillor Watkinson-Zimmer sees some irony in being asked to comment on having a majority of women on council.
"I was the only woman on council for a long time and no one asked me what it was like working with all men," she said.
Surkan and Mulder agree that one obvious benefit to having more females in leadership roles is they will provide more role models for young girls.
Contact Lana Michelin at lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
Reprinted courtesy of Red Deer Advocate
Red Deer Advocate - Little Interest in Civic Election, October 17, 2007
Submitted by reddeeradvocate on Wed, 10/24/2007 - 19:06Oct 17 2007
By PENNY CASTER
Advocate staff
Less than 22 per cent of Red Deer's eligible voters bothered to head to the polls Monday to exercise their right to choose who would lead their city for the next three years.
The story was almost identical in other Central Alberta municipalities.
Municipal elections are notorious for pulling the lowest percentage of voters off their couches and into the polling stations, but Monday's election hit a new low for Red Deer.
Previously, the lowest turnout ever was in 2001 when only 22.1 per cent of the electorate voted.
This time around, the final tally shows that only 21.6 per cent voted.
Information was sent to every household in Red Deer explaining which polling stations people should vote at, the assistant returning officer for the city said on Tuesday.
Frieda McDougall said the information included the election date and times and also advance poll information, and clearly many found it useful.
"Most of the people who came to the voting stations were carrying it in their hands," she said.
So where was everybody?
"All the indications were that there was a high level of interest," said McDougall.
"There was good media coverage of all the issues the candidates were talking about," said McDougall, adding that there were also several forums where the public could listen to and question candidates.
She said she and her colleagues are simply baffled by the low numbers.
There is one statistic that's well known, however, said McDougall.
"We know the demographics for voters are that they are 35 and up.
"Somehow we need to encourage our young people somewhat differently."
Hazel Flewwelling, wife of Mayor Morris Flewwelling who was elected to a second term Monday, may have an answer.
Flewwelling said she was discussing the problem of the missing voters with a group of students on Tuesday morning.
"We were talking about having people vote online," said Flewwelling.
Young people do a great deal online, she said, so why not vote too?
Some sort of security system would have to be part of the plan, perhaps involving one's social insurance number, she said.
Something else Flewwelling discovered when talking with the group was that some thought that advance polls were only for elderly or disabled people. But they're for anybody who is not available to vote on the actual election day.
Morris Flewwelling thought the online vote would be a good thing.
He has already seen the value of current technology.
His personal website received 7,800 hits in September and 6,700 hits in October, leading up to the election.
Flewwelling ventured the suggestion that if the polls opened earlier, enabling people to vote en route to work, more would do so.
Most polling stations in Central Alberta were open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The problem with extending the hours might be in staffing the polls and costs, said Flewwelling, particularly if two shifts are needed.
Bill Stuebing was re-elected to the public school board on Monday but he responded to the problem of low voter turnout from his perspective as a sociologist.
He thought the large number of incumbents running both for council and school boards in Red Deer helped keep people at home.
The 2004 election's four-way race for mayor, featuring Flewwelling, Ray McBeth, Diana Rowe and Darrell Bedford, also stirred more interest than this year's race, which was largely between Flewwelling and Jeffrey Dawson, Stuebing thought.
The lack of voters is unfortunate, he said, because municipal government is the level of government that's closest to people.
"This is the one we can directly impact and directly access and you would think we would have a larger community involvement with it," said Stuebing.
Contact Penny Caster at pcaster@reddeeradvocate.com
Reprinted courtesy of Red Deer Advocate
