Door-knocking pays off for Crockatt in byelection
MP designate for Calgary Centre to focus on economy
By Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald, November 28,
2012
CALGARY — Despite the criticism of her byelection
campaign, MP designate Joan Crockatt says she won
Monday’s Calgary Centre vote through hard work and
by sticking to a strategy of meeting voters face-to-
face at their homes. In fact, the Conservative winner of
Monday’s federal contest wore out two pairs of shoes
and two pairs of winter boots trudging down Calgary’s
inner-city sidewalks for the campaign. “We really made
a cornerstone of the campaign door-knocking every
available minute we had,” Crockatt, 56, said in an
interview on Tuesday.
The Conservative party focus on direct interactions
with voters — instead of attending all candidates’
forums or granting an array of media requests — has
worked in many recent federal byelections and in
Calgary Centre, the strategy helped give the Tories and
Crockatt the edge. “My background is media. I love
media, and I would have done all the media in the
world — but that simply wasn’t the campaign
strategy,” said Crockatt, a former Herald editor,
political commentator and communications consultant.
Crockatt won the federal byelection with 37 per cent of
the popular vote while her closest rival, Liberal Harvey
Locke, was second with 33 per cent. Chris Turner of
the Green party finished third with 26 per cent of the
vote. But political observers say even though Crockatt
came out ahead, the former journalist has more work
to do to show she can represent a politically diverse
constituency where most of the people who cast a
byelection ballot voted for someone else.
Crockatt was criticized throughout her run for not
attending every byelection debate and not doing a
number of media interviews. Mount Royal University
political scientist Lori Williams said Crockatt’s
campaign has given some people the perception she
wants to avoid those who disagree with her or ask
tough questions. She now has to find a way of relating
with people who voted Liberal, Green or NDP, and the
large number who didn’t vote at all. “Calgary Centre is
not Calgary West,” Williams said. “If she doesn’t reach
out to some of the people that she clearly didn’t
connect with in this campaign, she may be facing a
challenge in the future.”
Throughout the campaign, Crockatt said her goals
were to keep the government’s sights on the economy,
and to explain to other Canadians that the oilsands are
being developed in an environmentally responsible
manner. That singular focus on economic issues is a
concern to Locke, who said Tuesday he’s still worried
Calgary is getting short shrift in terms of arts and
infrastructure funding from Ottawa because the city
always votes Conservative. “She will be exactly the MP
she promised she would be. She’ll focus on the
economy. And she’ll focus on being a Stephen Harper
loyalist,” he said.
Another issue that continues to challenge Crockatt is
the split between provincial Progressive Conservatives
and their more right-of-centre cousins, Wildrose party
supporters. In the byelection, a number of more
“progressive” conservatives supported Locke or Turner.
“There was probably a little bit of that at play,”
acknowledged Ian Todd, a Crockatt supporter and a
former executive assistant to Preston Manning, when
he was the Reform party leader. “I have good friends
that are provincial Conservatives that were involved in
Harvey’s campaign,” Todd said, adding “in the end, she
pulled it off. That’s what counts.”
Although Mayor Naheed Nenshi called Crockatt out for
not attending a debate that his office helped organize
on municipal issues earlier this month, he said
Tuesday that she will be a great MP. “She’s obviously
extremely intelligent. She’s really well-versed on
issues of policy,” Nenshi said. “And she’s been saying
for the last couple of weeks that she’s going to fight
hard for Calgary and that’s really all we can ask.”
Crockatt spent Tuesday doing media interviews and
was scheduled to fly to Ottawa on an evening flight so
she could attend caucus today. She has yet to be
sworn in as a member of Parliament. But speaking the
day after her win, Crockatt said her prolific door-
knocking at more than 16,000 households is proof the
Harper Conservatives are not taking Calgary Centre for
granted. “Voters sort of heard from the media, ‘Well,
the Tories just expect to win this. It’s a cakewalk for
them,’” Crockatt said. “I didn’t take that attitude at all,
and neither did my campaign team.”
MP designate for Calgary Centre to focus on economy
By Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald, November 28,
2012
CALGARY — Despite the criticism of her byelection
campaign, MP designate Joan Crockatt says she won
Monday’s Calgary Centre vote through hard work and
by sticking to a strategy of meeting voters face-to-
face at their homes. In fact, the Conservative winner of
Monday’s federal contest wore out two pairs of shoes
and two pairs of winter boots trudging down Calgary’s
inner-city sidewalks for the campaign. “We really made
a cornerstone of the campaign door-knocking every
available minute we had,” Crockatt, 56, said in an
interview on Tuesday.
The Conservative party focus on direct interactions
with voters — instead of attending all candidates’
forums or granting an array of media requests — has
worked in many recent federal byelections and in
Calgary Centre, the strategy helped give the Tories and
Crockatt the edge. “My background is media. I love
media, and I would have done all the media in the
world — but that simply wasn’t the campaign
strategy,” said Crockatt, a former Herald editor,
political commentator and communications consultant.
Crockatt won the federal byelection with 37 per cent of
the popular vote while her closest rival, Liberal Harvey
Locke, was second with 33 per cent. Chris Turner of
the Green party finished third with 26 per cent of the
vote. But political observers say even though Crockatt
came out ahead, the former journalist has more work
to do to show she can represent a politically diverse
constituency where most of the people who cast a
byelection ballot voted for someone else.
Crockatt was criticized throughout her run for not
attending every byelection debate and not doing a
number of media interviews. Mount Royal University
political scientist Lori Williams said Crockatt’s
campaign has given some people the perception she
wants to avoid those who disagree with her or ask
tough questions. She now has to find a way of relating
with people who voted Liberal, Green or NDP, and the
large number who didn’t vote at all. “Calgary Centre is
not Calgary West,” Williams said. “If she doesn’t reach
out to some of the people that she clearly didn’t
connect with in this campaign, she may be facing a
challenge in the future.”
Throughout the campaign, Crockatt said her goals
were to keep the government’s sights on the economy,
and to explain to other Canadians that the oilsands are
being developed in an environmentally responsible
manner. That singular focus on economic issues is a
concern to Locke, who said Tuesday he’s still worried
Calgary is getting short shrift in terms of arts and
infrastructure funding from Ottawa because the city
always votes Conservative. “She will be exactly the MP
she promised she would be. She’ll focus on the
economy. And she’ll focus on being a Stephen Harper
loyalist,” he said.
Another issue that continues to challenge Crockatt is
the split between provincial Progressive Conservatives
and their more right-of-centre cousins, Wildrose party
supporters. In the byelection, a number of more
“progressive” conservatives supported Locke or Turner.
“There was probably a little bit of that at play,”
acknowledged Ian Todd, a Crockatt supporter and a
former executive assistant to Preston Manning, when
he was the Reform party leader. “I have good friends
that are provincial Conservatives that were involved in
Harvey’s campaign,” Todd said, adding “in the end, she
pulled it off. That’s what counts.”
Although Mayor Naheed Nenshi called Crockatt out for
not attending a debate that his office helped organize
on municipal issues earlier this month, he said
Tuesday that she will be a great MP. “She’s obviously
extremely intelligent. She’s really well-versed on
issues of policy,” Nenshi said. “And she’s been saying
for the last couple of weeks that she’s going to fight
hard for Calgary and that’s really all we can ask.”
Crockatt spent Tuesday doing media interviews and
was scheduled to fly to Ottawa on an evening flight so
she could attend caucus today. She has yet to be
sworn in as a member of Parliament. But speaking the
day after her win, Crockatt said her prolific door-
knocking at more than 16,000 households is proof the
Harper Conservatives are not taking Calgary Centre for
granted. “Voters sort of heard from the media, ‘Well,
the Tories just expect to win this. It’s a cakewalk for
them,’” Crockatt said. “I didn’t take that attitude at all,
and neither did my campaign team.”
Comment