Ep. 1: Nothing to lose

The Confluence

A popular mayor seeking re-election and vying to secure his political legacy. A veteran Ward 10 councillor with "nothing to lose" and everything to gain ... if he can woo enough voters in his favour on election day. No, we're not previewing this October's mayoral bout between Naheed Nenshi and Andre Chabot for the first full episode of The Confluence — we'll tackle that match-up in the coming months. Instead, we're taking a look back to the 1998 municipal election when then-alderman Ray Clark, who was first elected to council in 1983, launched his ultimately doomed effort to thwart former mayor Al Duerr's campaign for a fourth term. Clark's popularity proved no match for Duerr, who won the 1995 election with an astounding 92 per cent of the vote (higher than Ralph Klein or Naheed Nenshi) and sailed to victory again in the 1998 civic vote. While media suggested the campaign between the two became highly personal (both downplay suggestions it was) Clark and Duerr were kind enough to spend more than an hour in the same room with us recounting that campaign, the questionable value of endorsements and even offering Nenshi and Chabot some advice as they gird for the 2017 election campaign.