On The Ballot

On This Page:

Voting 101

City Councillors

Public School Board Trustees

Water Fluoridation

Senate Elections

Federal Equalization Program

Daylight Saving Time (DST)

 

Voting 101

All the information you need to actually get out and vote.

Advance polls: October 4-10 

Advance polls are open across the city during the following times:

Monday, October 4 to Friday, October 8: 8:00 am - 7:00 pm

Saturday, October 9: 10:00 am - 7:00 pm

Sunday, October 10: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Election day: October 18

Election Day is Monday, October 18 from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm.

Find your ward

Find out which ward you're in and figure out which candidates you'll be voting for using the calgary.ca ward lookup map

Find your polling station

Find your polling station and make a plan for where and when to vote using planmyvote.ca

 

City Councillors

Once you know your ward, learn more about your endorsed councillor candidate:

 

Public School Board Trustees

Our volunteer committee reviewed all candidates for public school board trustee through the lens of our principles: thriving, resilient and inclusive. After reading through all available information online, our committee discussed, agreed upon, and suggests looking at the following candidates for public school board trustee. 

 

Water Fluoridation


Question on the ballot:

“Are you in favour of reintroducing fluoridation of the municipal water supply?”

Vote: YES


Why:

  • For more than 75 years, science has demonstrated that by slightly increasing the existing levels of fluoride in our drinking water, we strengthen children’s teeth in early development.
  • Fluoridation is necessary for health equity because it benefits everyone, especially those who have limited resources to access oral hygiene and dental care.
  • Evidence shows that socioeconomically disadvantaged community members have the least access to dental care due to cost and access challenges. This is applicable in Calgary (and Alberta), where dental care is recognized as being relatively expensive.
  • Community water fluoridation is recommended by Alberta Health Services, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the US Centres for Disease Control, as well as every other major public health, dental and medical organization in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

Resources:

 

Senate Elections


Context:

  • The Senate Elections are a waste of money, attention, and effort.
  • Senators are not elected, and these elections carry no weight whatsoever unless a prime minister decides to follow the results - which no prime minister will do if they don’t like the results.
  • If they want Senate reform, the Province should focus their efforts on lobbying other provinces.
  • The $10M going to help fund these pointless Senate Elections could instead be going to municipalities for important services and infrastructure, especially given large provincial cuts to municipal infrastructure beginning in 2022.

Vote:

While the Senate Elections carry no weight and are a waste of money and effort, they do present the opportunity to advance ideas and values - and there is also the small possibility that a Prime Minister may decide to appoint people who win the election. Because of this, we at Look Forward suggest looking into the following candidates:

  • Karina Pillay
    A physician and the former three-term Mayor of Slave Lake, Karina is passionate about “building healthy, resilient societies based on equity, diversity and inclusiveness,” and devotes space on her website to issues such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, economic recovery, mental health and opioid crisis, truth & reconciliation, and racism.

    Dr. Pillay has also received endorsements from a wide range of notable Albertans, including outgoing Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, former Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, and former Calgary Emergency Management Agency Chief Tom Sampson.

  • Chad “Jett Thunders” Saunders
    While Jett Thunders is presented in a tongue-in-cheek style, his real-world alter-ego Chad Saunders is a long-time Calgary community champion and supporter of arts & culture through roles like CJSW’s Station Manager and Director of Operations and Special Projects at the National Music Centre. The Thunders persona serves to draw attention and engage the public, and his website contains genuinely useful context and information.

    “We need representatives who have the personality and demeanor to engage with groups that don’t have the resources or political savviness to lobby governments. We need people in power who actually care about the people, who take the time to listen and understand the difficult and complex issues facing all of us as we navigate out of the pandemic and look towards tomorrow.”

  • Duncan Kinney
    Duncan is a well-known Alberta provocateur, activist, and podcast host, who is running on a platform of both opposing Alberta’s Senate Elections and reforming the Senate itself, along with other issues of justice and equity, as laid out on his website.

    “That means talking about real justice and redress for the First Nations. That means talking about how the program of unfettered capitalism is driving up intolerable inequality in our communities. That means talking about democratizing our workplaces and our economy. That means talking about moving funding away from policing our communities and into helping them thrive.”

Resources:

 

Federal Equalization Program


Question on the ballot:

“Should section 36(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982 – Parliament and the government of Canada’s commitment to the principle of making equalization payments – be removed from the constitution?”

Vote: NO


Why:

  • Removing the principle of equalization payments from the Constitution is not a municipal or provincial issue. This is a meaningless referendum, which can’t change anything.
  • Nothing in the equalization formula can be changed to allow Alberta to receive more payments. This would only happen if our provincial economy and ability to raise revenue continued to shrink.
  • Therefore, this referendum is a waste of time and money if the goal is to bring more Federal money into Alberta. Instead, the Alberta Government should target reforms to the fiscal stabilization program, which has a more direct effect on Alberta’s finances and is easier to change

Resources:

 

Daylight Saving Time (DST)


Question on the ballot:

“Do you want Alberta to adopt year-round Daylight Saving Time, which is summer hours, eliminating the need to change our clocks twice a year?”

Vote: NO


Why:

  • While getting rid of the time change is a good idea, scientists studying the issue advocate for permanent Standard Time and not permanent Daylight Time because of impacts to the health and safety of Albertans, as well as the economy.
  • For example, under a standard DST, many communities in Northern Alberta would not see the sunrise in winter until after 10AM and Alberta would have the same time as Thunder Bay, over 2000km away.
  • Not only is this referendum question poorly constructed, not offering Standard Time as an option, this is also not an appropriate question to decide by referendum. These decisions should be made by our elected officials, following the advice of experts, and implemented through legislation. That’s the purpose of representative democracy.

Resources: