Ep. 5: An '80s TV dad for mayor and Calgary's garish Stampede cartoons

The Confluence

The race to become Calgary's next mayor has another entrant. Bill Smith, a Calgary lawyer and former president of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, formally kicked off his campaign at a well-attended event at Fort Calgary on June 12. On this episode, we visit the launch party and speak to Postmedia politics reporter James Wood about his thoughts on a "very easy-going, likeable guy" who surprisingly, hasn't had his fill of politics just yet. Hosts Trevor Howell and Annalise Klingbeil also talk briefly to Paul Denys, a city election official, about the so-called "red zone" for city staff and council members during the campaign. But it's not all politics. ATB economist Todd Hirsch also joins us to talk about civic identity and his vision for the tacky, garish Stampede-themed images that will soon cover windows around the city. In a city notorious for complaining about public art, few — if any — take issue with the longstanding tradition of plastering street-level windows with cartoonish rodeo animals, women in daisy dukes, and huge, all-caps words like YAHOO, YEEHAW and HOWDY. Until now. As always, Kerianne Sproule makes us sound great.