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guest post: red deer election 2010.

A Tale of Two Candidates: How to elect Union and Environmental in Red Deer

By: Jeff Sloychuk

Viewing the results of the Red Deer City Council election, which saw (yet again) a surprisingly high return of so-called “progressive” candidates, readers may well ask: “How did this happen in Red Deer?” Yes, we elected a union leader AND a cultural/environmental activist (who is also the first openly gay councillor ever elected) in Red Deer – but let’s be clear, these are two exceptional individuals, with much more to offer than simply those attributes. In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that I managed the Dianne Wyntjes campaign and assisted the Paul Harris campaign as much as I could. At the outset, I also arranged for the two to have lunch together – which turned out to be the beginning of a close friendship and what will surely be an excellent working relationship within an excellent council team.

A Tale of Two Candidates

The paths from the personal to the political for two new “progressive” city councillors elected to the City of Red Deer’s executive board couldn’t have been more different.

Dianne Wyntjes is an Eckville-born farm girl turned Red Deer-raised veteran of the labour movement, who, having completed her 30th year as a member/staff representative/regional director with CUPE Alberta, decided it was time for a change in her professional life.

Paul Harris, originally from Calgary, is a staple of the Red Deer downtown business community whose stylish home décor shop Sunworks has become a cultural beacon in the revitalizing city core. But Paul was well known long before as one of the anchors of the Red Deer LGBT community, dispensing support, advice, and political acumen around the community scene.

Somehow, two hard-working candidates, one rural-labour, one urban-modern, assembled two great campaign teams that successfully beat out the well-financed, traditional right-wing offerings of Jeffrey Dawson and incumbent Gail Parks.

An observer reading in Edmonton, Calgary, or any other part of Alberta may well be wondering: How?

Getting out the Vote: Traditional vs. SM

The Dianne Wyntjes campaign used every traditional method to dramatic effect, including: a quick and complete front-end postal walk; honk and waves; plant-gating; vote-pitching to unions, Rotary Clubs, organizations and associations; visits to seniors’ homes; and an intensive canvassing and private lawn sign effort, capped off with a softly-worded voice message broadcast gently reminding people to vote and offering rides to the polls.    

The Paul Harris camp eschewed campaign signs, didn’t do a postal walked leaflet, did only limited canvassing, and ignored the demon-dialer (voice broadcast messaging). The campaign made use of an extensive personal contact list painstakingly gathered by Paul over years of business activity; highly-interactive and heavily-used Facebook and Twitter platforms; flash mobs at the local Farmer’s Market; a flash mob (with t-shirts) at the Red Deer Rebels game; YouTube videos; and a complex word-of-mouth network to get out the vote.

Both ran approximately $15,000 campaigns, though returns have yet to be filed. Both were elected, Wyntjes with 7,783 votes, Harris with 6,449. Which worked better? The results speak for themselves, but each campaign focused on a specific type of voter – knowingly or not, along the Patrick Muttart/Thomas Flanagan “Zoe” model. Each camp created offerings for its voting blocks (Wyntjes on P3s, Harris on bicycle lanes for city cyclists) and got its respective vote out. Each camp was obviously successful – but to differing demographics.

A New Synthesis

It soon became apparent that Harris supporters were voting Wyntjes, and vice versa. As the two campaigns marched toward completion, Wyntjes improved upon her social media presence – and some older generation volunteers knocked on a few hundred doors for Harris.

Election Day ended with Harris, Wyntjes, and a few supporters from each camp sharing a beverage at the Harris victory party at the Matchbox Theatre, trading barbs, jokes, and tales from the campaign trail. Organized labour meets small business – and they like each other.

From Crisis Comes Opportunity

The crisis that I couldn’t have manufactured better myself came when former city councillor and right-wing Red Deer Advocate columnist Vesna Higham stood up at Red Deer’s Chamber of Commerce forum (traditionally the largest and most important public opportunity to meet the candidates) and demanded to know this, not of the candidates, but of Dianne Wyntjes specifically:

“Over the past decade, which of the political parties, both provincial and federal, have you supported or feel yourself most closely aligned with philosophically?”

Wyntjes, without a trace of hesitation, replied that she had voted in every election since she was 18 and had supported different people and parties over that time. Furthermore, she said, she was a firm believer in keeping municipal politics non-partisan.

Higham then printed that Wyntjes had “skirted” the question, and that only Higham’s apparent protégé Chris Stephan “did not hesitate to answer [her] straight-forward question with a bluntly straight-forward answer. We learned by his response that he is a Conservative.”

Stephan, a fellow member of Vesna Higham’s church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), had indeed answered that he was Conservative, but that the Wildrose Alliance was worth looking at provincially, causing a murmuring to spread through the room. It is interesting to note that this full response of Stephan’s was not reprinted in the subsequent column, viewable here.

The community reacted. Letters poured into both papers. And before you ask, I knew of only one of them beforehand. The Red Deer Express had this response.

Higham later printed a half-hearted apology of sorts, claiming that she should have phrased the question differently. Nevertheless, the poorly attempted backpedal served only to motivate the progressive vote. The mood on the doorsteps changed from apathy to enthusiastic support, and new volunteers appeared from the sidelines.

What the columns did achieve was the type of polarization that one has come to expect in provincial or federal politics. Higham motivated her core demographic, which turned out for Chris Stephan and his ‘law and order/video cameras in the streets to combat crime’ agenda. Much to Higham’s chagrin I’m sure, however, it also motivated the vote for Wyntjes (and to a lesser extent, Paul Harris).

Finally…

Wyntjes led the crop of new candidates, finishing a strong third out of 16 candidates for the eight council positions. Harris almost didn’t make the cut, coming in eighth – 500 votes ahead of defeated incumbent Gail Parks.

Both Red Deer newspapers endorsed Harris and Wyntjes. Traditional media still has an enormous influence on voter opinion, for good or for ill.

I’m sorry to report to the twittering classes (and I’m one of them) that without Paul Harris’ unique and lengthy record of community service, this campaign would not have been won using social media. Conversely, using only traditional methods, Dianne Wyntjes would have still emerged victorious, though I’m sure the SM helped the candidate’s final totals.

In a city the size of Red Deer (just shy of 100,000 souls), and with limited billboard media available, most candidates will need those election signs so many profess to hate.

Many people will similarly complain about unsolicited phone canvassing – whether it be by volunteer or by demon-dialer. Sorry to say, folks, but it works.

Lastly, any candidates who hope to win without spending time and shoes out on the doorsteps had better give their heads a shake – as Warren Kinsella, my campaign-hack soul-mate – states. Many of us would love to live in a world where online campaigning is the be-all and end-all and voter turnout is a little better than this. But we ain’t there yet, Alberta. Get on the ground, on the streets, and into people’s living rooms. That’s where the best democracy takes place – and that’s where we can elect progressive candidates, even in Alberta.

Jeff Sloychuk received his political education through the Dead Kennedys and Bad Religion, and continued that tutelage under NDP Leader Brian Mason. He was the youngest full-time journalist in Conrad Black’s chain of newspapers with the Alaska Highway News at the age of 17, before returning to Alberta in 2001 to serve in various capacities with the Alberta NDP and organized labour. He now works for the Canadian Union of Public Employees in Alberta and moonlights as a contract political organizer.

6 replies on “guest post: red deer election 2010.”

Red Deer, Calgary, Grande Prairie… in different ways, each of these three cities has shown how the average Alberta voter behaves very differently in a civic election from a provincial or federal one, as well as the folly of trying to bring provincial-federal party politics into the municipal arena. Yes, there are a very few Canadian cities that have parties of a sort at the municipal level (Montreal, Vancouver are two examples), but even there, they are municipal-only parties, with no connections to the provincial or national parties.

Well done Jeff – a great summary of two thoughtfully and strategically planned and executed campaigns.
An interesting bit of information that may shed light on the Vesna controversy. When you combine all 3 levels of government (federal, provincial, municipal) and add in Alberta Health Services, two school divisions and Red Deer College, you end up with the largest grouping of employees from any sector in Red Deer. While this does not mean that Red Deer is a staunch labour community – it means that the majority of the working folks pay union dues and are more tolerant of labour than what people may think. The voters were obviously able to look at Dianne’s reputation and platform and understand that she was a viable candidate. In the same vein – Red Deer was willing to listen to Paul’s perspective on the environment and business, and support his ideals and commitment to engaging community members in meaningful dialogue about significant and important issues.
You’re right – labour and environment were certainly “noticed” in Red Deer – but that was only a small piece of why City Council looks the way it does. I think we’re in for 3 very interesting – and productive – years!

Very thoughtful analysis, from an ‘insider’ point of view. I’ve been on a number of campaign teams over the years and have always been intrigued by the complexity of a campaign environment. So much can happen, so quickly, and unpredictably. I certainly agree that newcomers need to be prepared to invest heavily in visibility – and old school door-knocking makes a difference. I had one campaign visit my home, as far as I can tell: Dianne Wyntjes (others may have missed me and respected my ‘no junk mail’ mailbox sticker).

Good points, and thanks for the feedback – for those just reading, Jennifer, Lorne, and Janice are all part of the active & engaged Central Albertan citizenry that I am privileged enough to have brushed elbows with on the campaign trail.

Janice: Absolutely. Not only for the CUPE/AUPE members either – Red Deer is home Building Trades Union members like the IBEW, UA Local 488, Operating Engineers, Ironworkers and others. There are also UNA, HSAA, PSAC, IAAF and CUPW in the public sector, while UFCW, CEP, CAW, TWU, the Machinists and USW make up private sector unionism. Red Deer has a wealth of unionized employees, and via word of mouth at least, Dianne was able to tap into those voters.

That said, I just wanted to use that angle to make a point – Dianne and Paul are far, far from being one-dimensional candidates, and any city would be proud to boast these two as their representatives. Dianne never played the union card, except she did speak to nearly every union local meeting that she could get to. Any other candidate could have done the same – but didn’t. However, meeting participation rates being what they are, one could never hope to speak to more than 2-3% of the union membership – most times, even less.

Lorne: This is an interesting debate to begin: what should a candidate/team do with a campaign flyer when faced with a “No Junk Mail” sticker? In my view, political pamphlets are not junk – but many people do view it as such. I doubt very much that you would consider it so, but at doors very much like yours our volunteers are faced with a choice: leave a leaflet in order to help educate a voter about the election, or, respect the sticker and move on to the next house?

I tell our volunteers to leave leaflets in those homes – a municipal election, or any election, is important enough to warrant campaign material being treated as something leagues above “junk”. That said, does the average citizen feel the same? I doubt it. What have you done in this situation?

Jenn: Thank you! Next time I’m through, it should be relaxed enough to hang out and catch up a little – also, let’s talk labour and community connections!

Jerry: You’re the reason I wrote this post brother! Great work on the GP guest post.

Tyrone: Are you on drugs?

Cheers!

– J.

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