Mayoral candidate forum on 'the opportunities and challenges' facing Calgary

Five of the people vying to be Calgary's next mayor squared off Wednesday afternoon at a forum organized by the Calgary Chamber of Volunteer Organizations.

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TheCCVOis a local group thatpromotes the non-profit and voluntary sector.

It saidthe forum was meant to focus on "the opportunities and challenges facing our sector and city," but the discussion was wide-ranging and included many questions from the audience on a variety of topics.

Six candidates were slated to participate, according to the CCVO, including Larry Heather, Naheed Nenshi, Bill Smith, Andre Chabot, Emile Gabriel and David Lapp.

Smith did not attend, however, and the stage included one empty chair.

His campaign communications director, Rick Donkers, said Smith had a scheduling conflict but wouldn't say what Smith was doing instead of attending the forum he had previously agreed to participate in.

The municipal election is Oct. 16.

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