There are just nine days until Election Day in Calgary.

Over the past few weeks, The Sprawl has gone to and recorded candidate forums in Wards 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 (newly posted yesterday!) and 14. That's 10 out of the city's 14 wards. You can watch it all on our YouTube channel.

But we aren't done. Not yet.

It's those remaining four wards that bother us. There have been no candidate forums in Wards 2 and 3 in the far north, and Wards 12 and 13 in the far south.

This can't stand. These are some of the fastest-growing parts of the city. Two of the four have no incumbent. Meanwhile, in more central wards, there has been a proliferation of debates. (Stop showing off, Wards 7, 8 and 9! You love local democracy—we get it already!)

We've waited for others to organize debates in these remaining outer wards. It hasn't happened.

We're officially done waiting.

The Sprawl is now making a last-ditch effort to organize and livestream candidate debates in these remaining four wards before Election Day. We're calling them...

What this will look like—and we are very much working this out as we go—is that we will be renting a couple mics and a decent speaker. We will haul that gear to the wards. We will set it up. We will hold a brisk 60- to 90-minute debate. And we will livestream it so you can watch it live or later.

I've been surprised at how enthusiastic candidates are about this. Ward 3 is a go, with seven (out of eight!) candidates confirmed. The Sprawl's Ward 3 Last-Ditch Debate will be on Wednesday, October 15, at 12 p.m. You'll be able to watch the livestream here.

Ward 12 is also a go, with four (out of five) candidates confirmed. That will also likely be on Wednesday.

Ward 2 looks to be a go for Thursday, October 16. Three (out of five) candidates have confirmed.

And last but not least, half the candidates in Ward 13 have confirmed. There are only two people running, but still!

Make sure you're subscribed to our YouTube channel so you can follow along.

Because of time constraints, these debates will be online only. With more time we could do in-person debates. But we are out of time.

Folks, we are giving this election absolutely everything we've got. As we kick off the long weekend, consider pitching in to support our local Calgary journalism. We're hoping to find free space for these debates but there may be rental costs, and we need to rent the sound gear, too. Support our journalism to help us cover these costs! You can sign up here.

In other news, with the new NHL season underway and the election imminent, check out the new Sprawlcast about Calgary's billion-dollar arena deal. As you'll hear (or read), there are a lot of accusations flying around from mayoral candidates about which deal was best and who got fleeced. The Sprawl cuts through the rhetoric to look at how it all went down.

Even if you heard this episode when it originally came out in 2023, you'll appreciate the new content at the top, where an outgoing city councillor talks about the "great political cost" of approving the deal—particularly for progressive councillors who were part of council's unanimous decision.

You can listen to the episode and/or read it, as you prefer.

Amid all of this work, it's been a delight to see so many Calgarians coming into Sprawl HQ to pick up and share our election guides. Asad Chishti has been a zine machine, connecting with innumerable people around the city and getting election zines into their hands!

Thank you to everyone who has picked up, printed and shared these election guides. Remember: all of our election zines, for all 14 wards plus mayor, can be printed at home!

Thank you so much for following our election coverage. We are fortunate to be part of such an engaged and enthusiastic community. And don't forget: If you value our journalism, sign up today to support it!

Jeremy Klaszus is founder and editor of The Sprawl.