Calgary first of major Canadian Cities to elect Muslim Mayor

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Master_Pedant
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20 Oct 2010, 1:02 pm

Calgary, an economically conservative city in the most Conservative province of Canada, has elected the first Muslim Mayor of a major Canadian City. The man's name is Naheed Nenshi.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nat ... le1762765/

Calgary isn't Edmonton (that is to say, Calgary isn't an island of some red and a little bit of orange in a sea of Conservative blue, it's solidly Tory Blue). This is why Nenshi's win over a Conservative Party backed candidate is even more interesting:

Josh Wingrove wrote:
A grassroots campaign driven by volunteers has delivered Canada its first Muslim mayor – Mr. Nenshi, who scored a staggering win in Calgary’s mayor’s race Monday.

He defeated two better-funded candidates, including one backed by Stephen Harper’s campaign team, and saw his support surge in the final few weeks. To say Mr. Nenshi's campaign was austere is understatement – he delivered his speech in a basement that was donated by a supporter at the last second


Certainly an interesting result.


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20 Oct 2010, 1:16 pm

Master_Pedant wrote:
Calgary, an economically conservative city in the most Conservative province of Canada, has elected the first Muslim Mayor of a major Canadian City. The man's name is Naheed Nenshi.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nat ... le1762765/

Calgary isn't Edmonton (that is to say, Calgary isn't an island of some red and a little bit of orange in a sea of Conservative blue, it's solidly Tory Blue). This is why Nenshi's win over a Conservative Party backed candidate is even more interesting:

Josh Wingrove wrote:
A grassroots campaign driven by volunteers has delivered Canada its first Muslim mayor – Mr. Nenshi, who scored a staggering win in Calgary’s mayor’s race Monday.

He defeated two better-funded candidates, including one backed by Stephen Harper’s campaign team, and saw his support surge in the final few weeks. To say Mr. Nenshi's campaign was austere is understatement – he delivered his speech in a basement that was donated by a supporter at the last second


Certainly an interesting result.

wow, i'mpressed with that! calgary is so much more progressive than edmonton (i've lived in both places).

a little humorous because edmonton just elected a Jewish mayor!


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phil777
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20 Oct 2010, 2:21 pm

wow, that's nice. I heard the next elections in nearby Ontario (for Toronto at least) will oppose an homosexual ecologist (who can still hold his ground and has been around) and uh... Some populist right-winger who's trying to woo the suburbs...Who has lots of support...meh.



Jacoby
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20 Oct 2010, 3:31 pm

That's interesting. Is he actually an observant Muslim or is just just his heritage? Does Calgary have a large Muslim population too?



Master_Pedant
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20 Oct 2010, 11:37 pm

Jacoby wrote:
That's interesting. Is he actually an observant Muslim or is just just his heritage? Does Calgary have a large Muslim population too?


I haven't researched his devotion yet, but according to the 2001 Canadian Census (which was the last census that measured religion) Calgary has

25,660 Muslims

The entire city population is 878,866.

The visible minority population in Calgary has grown since then, so the number of Muslims may have as well.

http://www12.statcan.ca/english/profil0 ... ll&Custom=


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Master_Pedant
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20 Oct 2010, 11:54 pm

Particularly interesting as well, from the article:

Josh Wingrove wrote:
Watching the returns of Mr. McIver closely were Mr. Harper’s Conservatives. The party’s veteran campaign duo of Sam Armstrong and Devin Iversen led Mr. McIver’s push. Along with Rob Anders, they’re credited as being experts in “deep mining” polling – identifying a conservative base, finding wedge issues, and driving those people to the polls. That approach was simply washed away by the broad coalition mobilized by Mr. Nenshi, who nevertheless congratulated his two rivals.


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hyperlexian
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21 Oct 2010, 10:18 am

from The Atlantic (link):

Quote:
The issue of religion did not really enter into the campaign debate which pitted Nenshi, a 38-year-old business professor who harnessed the power of social networking, against the perceived front runners -- established alderman Ric McIver and former TV news anchor Barb Higgins.

When asked to confirm that Nenshi was Muslim, one of his supporters replied, "Barely," at his victory party on Monday night.

this isn't necessarily a legit source, as it's just a random comment from a supporter, but still interesting.


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Master_Pedant
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21 Oct 2010, 7:13 pm

Naheed Nenshi was certainly very wonkish, from what I understand.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89bzyRXK9nQ[/youtube]


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21 Oct 2010, 8:38 pm

I need to have a look at this. Hopefully he's more in the Naser Khader mould.



Master_Pedant
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21 Oct 2010, 8:45 pm

Tequila wrote:
I need to have a look at this. Hopefully he's more in the Naser Khader mould.


Canada's different than Continential Europe in two respects

1) Most Muslim immigrants to Canada tend to be professionally educated and socially liberal (albeit some end up driving taxis thanks to dirty tricks by various protectionist professional certification associations).
2) Canada's a LOT less racist than Europe. While there's still a disgusting amount of racist attitudes in Canada (especially when you go into rural areas), most Canadians don't distain foreigners like many continental Europeans do. Hence, racial tensions are cooler.


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skafather84
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21 Oct 2010, 11:00 pm

Master_Pedant wrote:

2) Canada's a LOT less racist than Europe.


Someone got offended last time I said that Europe was racist. Not as bad as Asia but I still think worse than here (although our dirty laundry gets aired out the most).


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Master_Pedant
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22 Oct 2010, 12:13 am

skafather84 wrote:
Master_Pedant wrote:

2) Canada's a LOT less racist than Europe.


Someone got offended last time I said that Europe was racist. Not as bad as Asia but I still think worse than here (although our dirty laundry gets aired out the most).


As bad as large segments of American society are when it comes to race relations (especially in the more rural areas) and as much as America's status as economic-military superpower means it has to do a lot of shaddy dealings with racist regimes to keep the international system going, continental Europe is still by far more racist than the United States.


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22 Oct 2010, 9:35 am

Well, if you look at the concept of social body and apply it to Europe, you might understand that for years, Europe's countries were very homogenous, and each country was proud of that. You could always count on a fellow neighbor because you knew he was a countryman like yourself.

So obviously when the social body becomes multi-colored (and multi-ethnic), their whole world crumbles and flares up defensive reactions. =/

Canada and the States were founded on different basics than Europe's, they were modern multi-ethnic states, so they mostly had liberal ideas (such as freedom) about what their nations's foundations would be.

It also makes generalizing about a nationality a bit harder when the image isn't quite set in stone, whereas this was easier done in Europe. I mean, we all have a perfect "image" of what a British, French, or even German man (or woman) looks like, right? =/

Can you say the same about a Canadian or an American? Not so much.



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23 Oct 2010, 8:33 pm

Master_Pedant wrote:
Jacoby wrote:
That's interesting. Is he actually an observant Muslim or is just just his heritage? Does Calgary have a large Muslim population too?


I haven't researched his devotion yet, but according to the 2001 Canadian Census (which was the last census that measured religion) Calgary has

25,660 Muslims

The entire city population is 878,866.

The visible minority population in Calgary has grown since then, so the number of Muslims may have as well.

http://www12.statcan.ca/english/profil0 ... ll&Custom=


Muslim Mayor on the Prairie topic

The percentage of Muslims in Calgary is then close to three per cent, at least in 2001. Interesting. :)


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23 Oct 2010, 10:39 pm

Master_Pedant wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
Master_Pedant wrote:

2) Canada's a LOT less racist than Europe.


Someone got offended last time I said that Europe was racist. Not as bad as Asia but I still think worse than here (although our dirty laundry gets aired out the most).


As bad as large segments of American society are when it comes to race relations (especially in the more rural areas) and as much as America's status as economic-military superpower means it has to do a lot of shaddy dealings with racist regimes to keep the international system going, continental Europe is still by far more racist than the United States.

I really wish I could disagree with this, but I just can't. It's a very nonchalant kind of racism, which makes it all the more annoying.



skafather84
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24 Oct 2010, 12:44 am

Lecks wrote:
Master_Pedant wrote:
skafather84 wrote:
Master_Pedant wrote:

2) Canada's a LOT less racist than Europe.


Someone got offended last time I said that Europe was racist. Not as bad as Asia but I still think worse than here (although our dirty laundry gets aired out the most).


As bad as large segments of American society are when it comes to race relations (especially in the more rural areas) and as much as America's status as economic-military superpower means it has to do a lot of shaddy dealings with racist regimes to keep the international system going, continental Europe is still by far more racist than the United States.

I really wish I could disagree with this, but I just can't. It's a very nonchalant kind of racism, which makes it all the more annoying.


I think that's more the thing. Europe plays innocent about their racism (from the various Euro's I've had contact with and have hit upon their racism borders...which, sadly, are quite a few but mostly from mainland EU, not from that wanky island) whereas Americans understand that something might be racist but they'll try to skirt around it rather than just blatantly play stupid.

Isn't there a country that recently banned minarets? (Switzerland, I think?) I mean there's idiots here who protest new mosques being built in isolated areas but no one's gone all out and just waged war on a specific piece of cultural architecture.


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