And vote they did. With nearly twice as many voters casting ballots as in 2004, there were some very encouraging results from the municipal election last night. Brian Pincott, the new ward 11 alderman, will be a breath of fresh air on council. Three incumbent aldermen went down in defeat – a truly shocking result for an establishment city. Council will be far better off with Joe Connolly than Craig Burrows and I’m hopeful George Chahal can sneak out a recount victory in ward 3.

As for the Mayor’s race, I was hoping for a slightly higher total for Alnoor, but I’m fairly happy with the results – 17% of the vote makes it the top challenge of an incumbent mayor in 27 years. More importantly, his presence in the race got people (if not the media) talking about issues, boosted voter turn-out, and gave Calgary a real race. Given Calgary’s historical voting trends, Bronconnier’s 61% of the vote is a real slap in the face and it will hopefully send a message that changes need to be made. I think he’ll take the message to heart and, given his political skills, I expect him to do a good job over the next three years.