The article gets it roughly correct. It's true that, while the Muslim thing got the most attention outside the city, it was a non-issue in the campaign. It's actually more surprising that Calgary would elect an ideas guy.
Nenshi's victory came from a huge last-minute surge, as if the city all at once realized hey, we could dump these two losers (the front-runners, a boring grump and a vain TV anchor) and vote in someone completely different. The next morning, everyone I talked to was stunned and delighted at what had just happened. I suspect that many, including me, were surprised to discover that they weren't such a freak in this place after all.
Perhaps it is a shift in the consciousness of the city, which would be an interesting thing. It has been a wasteland of soulless land developers and corporate robots for such a long time... or at least appeared that way. This event feels a bit like the moment in Pleasantville where the black-and-white world turns to color. Except it's not the whole world, just a single purple crocus. We'll see if more appear.
We loved this guy even before we discovered he's trying to bring politics out of the dinosaur era through tech. His signs were purple and he dotted his i with a star! How refreshing! :)
Nenshi's victory came from a huge last-minute surge, as if the city all at once realized hey, we could dump these two losers (the front-runners, a boring grump and a vain TV anchor) and vote in someone completely different. The next morning, everyone I talked to was stunned and delighted at what had just happened. I suspect that many, including me, were surprised to discover that they weren't such a freak in this place after all.
Perhaps it is a shift in the consciousness of the city, which would be an interesting thing. It has been a wasteland of soulless land developers and corporate robots for such a long time... or at least appeared that way. This event feels a bit like the moment in Pleasantville where the black-and-white world turns to color. Except it's not the whole world, just a single purple crocus. We'll see if more appear.