Fish Creek Shenanigans Update - Much Ado About Nothing

Nation, you read about the allegations that "the street" had made regarding a school council meeting being held at Haultain School in the riding of Calgary Fish Creek.

The Chair of the council, Shane Campsall, got in touch with me almost immediately after that post to clarify the position of the council, which is included in the comments under the original post.

I'm happy to report that sources who were in attendance have relayed to me that nothing untoward went on at the meeting - which is a credit to all of the candidates in attendance, and their teams. A factual, reasoned discussion of the education system is what's best for Haultain, Calgary Fish Creek, and the province, not partisan games - and that reasoned discussion is what we got, so kudos to Heather Forsyth, Laura Shutiak, and Eric Leavitt for keeping things civil.

One of the candidates was apparently running a bit late (it happens, especially in Calgary traffic, and when running a campaign), but eventually arrived and gave a quick 5-minute rundown on their party's plans for education, answered one question, and then got up and left - they had door-knocking to do, they suggested.

Nation, door-knocking is of vital importance in a campaign. As a matter of physics, it's virtually impossible to knock on every single door, so the more you can get, the better... but if you're addressing a school council, talking about issues that effect the school and the hundreds of families that have students attending said school, you may want to spend the extra 30 minutes to answer questions, at least PRETEND you care what the other candidates are saying, and show the council that you value dialogue, and their invitation to speak. Failure to do so suggests to the school council, and by proxy those hundreds of voting families (which would take at least 3 to 4 hours to door-knock, even if they all lived on the same street) that it's not THEIR time and issues that dominate your agenda, but rather your own - not a good message to send, as someone trying to be an MLA.

A formal debate may be in the works for Fish Creek sometime next week - hopefully, no one will have to leave early.