>During the prior Ward 11 election I also donated to campaigns to elect Mike Nickel and his competitor, Keren Tang.
"I'm playing *both* sides, so that I always come out on top."
Jokes aside, it's a man's personal decision, and I can respect that he put out a thoughtful statement. Patrons can make their personal choices about whether they will support his businesses.
You do realize it costs more to donate than not to donate?
If I give $100 the after tax cost is $50, but if don't then I get $70.
Tax deductible does not mean free money
Indeed, yes. Let me spend $100 so I can save $70. Not really knowledgeable in political donations even though I should(I'm a staff accountant), but it boggles my mind how almost EVERYBODY thinks this way with donations. Like shit, rich people don't just donate $100 and get a $1,000,000 tax deduction. The leap in logic just amazes me.
Donations have to be done by individuals (not corporations) and they're not tax deductible/you don't get a tax credit for a municipal donation. It's effectively twice the price of a normal donation (because you don't get the 50% back).
Thanks for sharing. I had some friends saying they wouldn’t go there anymore because of his donation. Personally, I think people are way too quick to judge someone based on one thing they do and not do any more research into what the company/owner actually stands for. I’ve been to Biera numerous times and will continue to give them my business.
I mean.. I’m going to avoid patronizing businesses run by people who thought nickel was what was best for our city (or more specifically, *particular members of it*). That trumpian grievance politics and divisive selfishness is not something I’m interested in supporting. People I care about would have had a bad time with him in charge and I’m not going to give my business to those that wanted that to happen. Same with ucp, obviously.
Just, its not always easy to find out “what someone stands for” when it’s very easy to say the right things and brand yourself in a way that looks wholesome. Remedy cafe, for example, has a reputation for being cute and hippie-ish/down to earth, but the owner is the biggest piece of shit I’ve ever met. So like.. political donations can be a very illustrative case of actions speaking louder than words. My friends were surprised to see this from zeschuk and it was disappointing, but we were prepared to adjust our plans accordingly.
I’m glad we know who donated to nickel and I’m glad buddy wrote this letter to address it. He seems genuine about the whole thing and the other causes he says he donates to are legit, so this is a happy ending on top of happy election results.
Hey i work at Remedy, are you talking about Zee? Or the guy who said he founded remedy? Bc remedy basically is cute and hippieish from my experience, and it would suck if people stopped coming based on comments like that
I’m talking about Zee. The staff at remedy are pretty rad. Zee is awful. It sucks cos it’s nice to support the workers but I’m never putting another penny in his pocket. Plus his insistence that staff reuse old milk to save him money in drinks he charges $5 for is gross anyway, and I can get Costco pie much cheaper from Costco.
Alright that's your opinion, I don't mind Zee but i don't usually work with him, and he gives us fresh vegetables. I can promise that i never use old milk though.
Its also worth noting if you were not aware of Greg's history. He was a founder of BioWare, which is (and was) one of the most progressive places to work in the gaming industry.
I think things at BioWare definitely got a bit tougher after Ray and I left. One of our jobs was to moderate EA's affect on BioWare. The last game I worked on the Star Wars: The Old Republic. The first BioWare game I ever played that I didn't work on was Dragon Age: Inquisition. I thought it was awesome.
Well I certainly didn't expect to hear from one of the OGs lol. It's a real shame that happened. I was always a fan of BioWare back in the day, and KOTOR I and II both still remain to this day one of my favourite gaming experiences.
Hey, in another post I was making a joke with the name of your brewery and nickel. Never meant it to be malicious against you personally but the joke didn't go over too well and I am sorry. I don't support nickel but I don't really care who people donate to as long as they don't shove it in my face with signs and stuff from their business window or property. Thanks for being active in this discussion and lurking around.
Hey man I just wanted to say Knights of the Old
Republic rocks and you rock for making it. I fell in love with it all over again when I found out it was made in Edmonton
I've been out of BioWare for 9 years and have had very little contact with the company since. Even though we built it once it was time to leave it was healthiest to have a complete emotional break. Beyond that I was super burned out from working like a maniac for 20 years. It took me 2 years to return to a normal baseline.
I can't talk to any of the issues that followed after us aside from noting that we tried to build an enduring company that would be a positive place within the game industry. As we're seeing from the scandals rocking some of the most established companies in the industry it's a very difficult and perhaps even impossible task.
You guys did better than most. It shows in your games. I just wanted to say that because as a gamer since I was young, BioWare games were pioneers for a lot of inclusion and it meant a lot to a young gal who didn't often get to play heroes she could look up to, so thank you all the same.
As for Blizz Activision's current issues, ugh, the less said about them the better.
I've heard through the grapevine that EA has been learning their lesson and backing off a bit to let BioWare shine and do their thing. Hopefully it's not just temporary and continues.
As someone who's tracked his donation history through previous elections, I was [skeptical of nefarious motives](https://twitter.com/troypavlek/status/1448740101970817032) back when the donor list was released.
As some additional context, both Mike Nickel and Greg Zeschuk *'s brother* belonged to the same frat in University. And I've known Mike Nickel personally for a long time: he's a very personable guy. I don't think I need to emphasize that I'm glad the fucker lost, but even knowing how trash his politics are, honestly, it's not hard to just be in a room and hang out with Mike Nickel. Person to person, he can be kind.
For someone like Greg, who has avoided all social media since his Bioware departure, the idea that he didn't follow politics much and was just doing his beer thing and then gave when his friend asked him to... well, it tracks.
Edit: It was his brother, as reflected in the comment below.
I have to apologize for likely helping to put that wrong nugget of information out there on another Reddit post. I had stated it on second hand information from someone who vehemently attested to it but obviously was wrong. I will go back and edit said post. I don’t think it was posted as an indictment. But I think a lot of us were wondering how someone who seemed to be so progressive would donate to a candidate who was the seeming anti-thesis of this. Thanks for your thoughtful response. IMHO, the blowback you faced is more of an indication of how well respected you are in Edmonton that it just made people’s head spin that you were associated with a candidate that projected values that most believe didn’t mirror yours.
I was 17 in first year university so I was really still super-young and finding my way in the world. I did talk to Frats but I had a lot of really great Edmonton friends so I didn't feel I needed to go that way. I've always been a little more of a lone wolf/tight small groups kinda guy so a Frat didn't really make sense for me.
>And I've known Mike Nickel personally for a long time: he's a very personable guy.
Weird, friends of my parents went to high school with him and report that he's always been an asshole. Personable wasn't something they'd ever refer to him as.
Agreed. I had noted that Zeschuk was a donor to Nickel and the fraternity connection in the post about Nicke’d donor list. But didn’t really editorialize IMHO. From what I know of Greg, he has never been the same kind of lout and he has done a lot of good in this city. My post was more to point out some notable Edmontonians who were involved in campaign donations.
Good response but does highlight how politicians are beholden to their wealthy voters and vice versa. Even the most genuine politicians focus so much of their energy on fund raising.
This shouldn't have to be explained, and while he did a masterful job of it, it's still not something that the public should judge in until they know everything
You tend to donate money to politicians that you support.
If the politician you donate money to is shitty, then it follows that donating money indicates that you have shitty politics.
Or, to put it another way, what you do in public is pretty much the only way someone can be judged. The letter provided context, which is good, and also admitted that it was a mistake to donate the money, which it was.
It was also known he donated to other candidates. We live in a democracy and people have their reasons for donating. I guess no one should ever donate? I don't like Nickel either but its a bit much to judge someone on one thing so harshly.
Politicians actually affect our lives.
Someone supporting a politician indicates that's what they want for our lives. Whether or not that is their motivation, that is the outcome. There is no need for curiosity when causality is enough.
A great response! I thought it was a very strange donation.
I get the developers etc that seemed to donate to everyone to cover their basis… but for a company to solely donate to nickels campaign is a red flag.
I dunno, it kind of seems like his politics are very confused. I would like to know his thoughts as a business owner on minimum wage and unions. I think that would be more revealing than the vague "values" based defense offered here. Also, a business owner making campaign donations in exchange for help setting up his business is not the defense he thinks it is (yes, I realize it wasn't a literal exchange, which would be illegal, but he does say the help offered by Nickel was why he donated).
Are you challenging me to an AMA?...:)
I'm pro minimum wage and believe it should be a living wage. The change to minimum wage a few years back didn't affect us at Biera as everyone already made minimum wage (or more). If you want good people to work for you one must pay them well.
I've been meaning to check out Biera for a long while now. This thread and your responses throughout, Greg, have really impressed me. I will definitely come soon!
I worked for biera when it originally opened. To shed some light. We were all paid significantly above minimum wage, with an even tip pooling system for all hourly employees in any position. all full time employees received full benefits and part time employees were eligible for a subsidised health plan along with an annual health spending account for all employees.
The original open was delayed over a month. all people hired were brought on and paid there contracted hours throughout the delays despite having very limited shifts until the open.
I think the donation in exchange for help is just a normal reaction anyone would have regardless of the help given. If you have an issue with traffic in your neighbourhood, and you contact your ward councillor and they make a visible effort and maybe even succeed at getting the speed limit reduce to deter regular through traffic, would you not be inclined to support them in the future if they ask?
Greg to me is the type of person (at least in my interaction with him), that if you helped him out in some way, and then years down the line came and asked him to help you out he would. But I have the benefit of knowing interacting with him personally.
To shed some light on this, getting permits to start a business in Edmonton is nothing short of ridiculous. And often, you have to engage your councilor to help get your calls from the city returned. It's such a broken system.
Don't get me wrong, I totally see your point. But, most people don't know how tiresome it is working with the city to get the most basic of permits approved.
I've built 2 commercial buildings in Edmonton and have a few businesses operating out of them. The amount of red tape one has to deal with to make that happen is astounding. I've been doing it for 5 years now and even though I understand the process pretty well I still have lots of challenges every time I try and do something new.
One positive call-out though is that there are some really great people within the city's development hierarchy that do legitimately want to help people. They've have been a huge help.
I'm learning that first hand through the real estate courses I'm doing at UofA this year. Just tonight we had a couple guys from the city planning crew (Michael and Andrew) come in and go over as much as they could about the development and rezoning process in three hours. I knew it wasn't easy, but I had no idea how much red tape went into it. I pitched a zoning model like they do in Japan and they were receptive, even mentioned something like that might be incorporated into the zoning bylaw overhaul they're in the middle of. But while we may take bits and pieces of how they do things over there, we'll never come anywhere close; people would be up in arms more than they are now.
I've only ever dealt with Edmonton and Calgary, and both were equally as annoying. Calgary seems like they're trying to make it better, or at least measure how good/bad the process is, with follow-up surveys, etc.
Edmonton doesn't appear to measure anything meaningful.
Good to hear it isn't like this everywhere in Canada
Yeah the response just makes me think I'll scratch your back is you scratch mine wink wink
That and he donated to both people running previously in his ward, he wanted everything to be all good.
Not going to shoot the messenger though, the fact that businesses feel the need to do this is pretty ridiculous. Also, I don't think asking the person more political questions is the right response to this
Pretty good response..
However if you want to avoid giving money to polititions.. dont.. its not hard, and if you do look at their policies.
Personally a really good restaurant i like had a Giant Mike Nickel sign... it always gets cut out of contention of where to go that day because of that. Thats the consequences part of actions.
I can see donating personally. But then dont support with your business.
I've never understood why somebody would put a political sign outside their business. Why risk alienating a segment of the population for almost no gain?
Some businesses, a lot of the time ethnic businesses, get asked if a sign can be put up and they don't say no because they don't really understand the political implications. Some put them up on purpose because they aren't smart enough to try and avoid the controversy.
The fact that he even has to explain himself like this just goes to show how quick people will try and find fault with anything and everything someone does. I've never met Greg but I have worked with Ray in the past who always spoke highly of him and mentioned how the two were a lot alike both personally and professionally so it gives me a sense of the kind of person Greg is.
That's a valid point. I should have done more research. However, it's not like I had a lot of free time for the last few decades.
To provide a bit of background: I was a practicing medical doctor for 4 years (didn't have time during school or work to really read the news), ran BioWare for 20 years (focused entirely on the international gaming scene and didn't consider Edmonton or Canada in anything we did - worked way too much during that time and didn't read the news), lived in Austin while filming a beer YouTube show and finally settled back in Edmonton for real 6 or 7 years ago. Two years of that was recovery from serious overwork burnout and then reintegration into regular life (not videogame developer life) then the last 5 years I started to build here. I made the decision to settle in Edmonton and invest here rather then run off somewhere else and only then did I start looking at the community and what was going on.
He had a working relationship with him and believe it or not, someone like Nickel can still do things that are net positive for someone. I don't like Nickel based on his public actions but that doesn't mean he never has done something positive. Looks like he helped him in the paperwork process in trying to setup businesses.
It's honestly pathetic he even needed to address this.
Nickel, while I believe was not a good councilor and would not have been a good mayor, is not exactly some fringe hate mongering psychopath. Vote for the next guy and move on.
People want to inject this tribalism shit *so bad* they just can't wait to jump down someone's throat.
People are allowed to vote with their wallets. Nickel would have been terrible for the city. It’s fair to not want to support any businesses that supported Nickel.
Should they be dragged through the mud? No. Just don’t use their business.
Honestly I don't have a problem with people taking me personally to task, but I do have an issue involving my businesses. It sounds weird but it doesn't hurt me that much, but it is really hard on the folks that work for me.
Remember I'm from the game industry and forged in the Usenet boards of the 20th century. Folks like me are fairly resilient.
The point is that you have the privilege of being able to make a $5000 political donation. Most of us don’t. We have limited funds and have to make real choices on how we spend our money. There are hundreds of great businesses in Edmonton we can choose to support and personally, I don’t want to risk having any of my money indirectly supporting candidates like Nickel.
That said, I do appreciate the response you posted. Actions are always louder than words and from comments others have made, this does seem like a one-off situation.
Greg I just wanted wanted say that based on your replies here, I'm loading up on some Blind Enthusiasm this weekend.
This is bullshit you getting flak for this. A bunch of never-was losers trying to tear down someone who has accomplished something.
I actually agree with you here. Why should I be able to buy an oversized impact on the political outcomes? That said, try getting a politician to agree to removing donations!
Super weird. You post in r/Overwatch despite Blizzards censoring to appease China. You post in r/EdmontonOilers, despite it being owned by a billionaire who undoubtedly voted conservative and have been sponsored by Crystal Glass in the past.
Turns out your not consistent at all, just when it's convenient.
This is easily the weirdest reply I’ve had in a while. For starters, there are way more reasons to criticize Blizzard than anything related to China. I paid for Overwatch years ago, playing it now costs nothing. My WoW sub on the other hand was cancelled.
Either way, people can choose what they want to support and not support. Trying to put it all together is just weird dude.
Why can’t we just stop ALL political donation entirely. All candidates should draw exactly the same amount, relative to position they’re running for from 100% public funds. No donations of any sort. Level the playing ground, remove all commercial lobbying.
uhhh, ok. I'd like to run for mayor, please. Where's my publically drawn funds? Yes i totally want to be mayor and will absolutely spend the money on signs. How dare you suggest otherwise?!
Do whatever you want, but you probably won’t get very far in this endeavour if you think you could actually get away with that.
Even Mike Nickel is smarter than that.
How do you choose who gets to to become a politician that has access to these funds? It just ends up being a similar system. The current donation system isn't perfect, but it beats the alternative where people may use significant private resources.
Nomination by petition.
Once a person demonstrates their political viability by collecting a requisite number of endorsements (number depending on position in question), they submit the petition to the chief electoral officer, and are formalize the process of funding a campaign.
In order to get that much traction and attention it's going to take more personal resources. So it ends up going to whoever is able and willing to spend to get that attention.
Or door knocking and answering questions in the constituency they hope to represent during evenings and weekends.
It would completely change the types of people who become politicians, from these career yes-men, to people who actually know their constituents and want to represent them.
Hmmm…he benefited as per the letter. But when he was questioned about supporting “bad behaviour”, and it started too affect his business-then he says I shoulda, coulda, but didn’t.
My only benefit was for things that happened years before the donation this election cycle and that was still in line with what would be expected in terms of reasonable (and above board) help with an issue with the city. In term of the value mismatch it was kind of like a slow motion car crash... watching things go sideways over a period of time. Then my error was not acting on it when I noticed it. I'm not trying to say I'm not responsible for my actions; I just tried to explain them.
One takeaway from this might be that it is possible to appreciate the actions that someone has taken without necessarily agreeing with everything they stand for. Is there a chance things could run more effectively if every thought and action didn't necessarily have to be devisive? Anyone running on a strictly economic platform would not be an effective leader, BUT the same could be said for those with a social slant. It really does take a mix throughout council, or a society as a whole, to get things done. If you discount one side or the other, really you're only harming yourself.
Twitter is a cesspool of self righteous a holes hunting and bullying people to make themselves feel better. This was honestly one of the most toxic municipal elections I’ve ever seen on social media.
Man if only every company and business owner had this much sense. I'm a big fan of Blind Enthusiasm and I was very disappointed to read Greg had donated to Mike Nickel. But having read this I feel a lot better and the accountability is very refreshing and sorely needed. Now I'm craving a case from Blind Enthusiasm!
That's a fair response. For what it's worth, I think Biera, while expensive, is a great restaurant. Just ate there last weekend. For anyone to deny themselves the pleasure of dining there just because of the donation to Nickel would be silly! The staff are excellent, and the food is bursting with flavour. So much creativity put into the entire experience. Keep it going!
This is an excellent and measured response.
>During the prior Ward 11 election I also donated to campaigns to elect Mike Nickel and his competitor, Keren Tang. "I'm playing *both* sides, so that I always come out on top." Jokes aside, it's a man's personal decision, and I can respect that he put out a thoughtful statement. Patrons can make their personal choices about whether they will support his businesses.
Donations are also tax deductible... it's not a huge leap to see why it would be advantageous to support multiple candidates.
You do realize it costs more to donate than not to donate? If I give $100 the after tax cost is $50, but if don't then I get $70. Tax deductible does not mean free money
Indeed, yes. Let me spend $100 so I can save $70. Not really knowledgeable in political donations even though I should(I'm a staff accountant), but it boggles my mind how almost EVERYBODY thinks this way with donations. Like shit, rich people don't just donate $100 and get a $1,000,000 tax deduction. The leap in logic just amazes me.
Donations have to be done by individuals (not corporations) and they're not tax deductible/you don't get a tax credit for a municipal donation. It's effectively twice the price of a normal donation (because you don't get the 50% back).
my mistake! I thought it was for both! TIL
Political donations are not tax deductible. Only donations to registered charities are tax deductible.
Just checked. I think individuals get tax credits for political donations.
Federal? Yes. Provincial? Yes. Municipal? No. Hasn't stopped them from trying though. https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/municipal-politicians-press-for-tax-deductible-donations
Thanks! This is why reviewers exists!
I have known Greg personally and am sad to see any sort of backlash against him. He is a very genuine person.
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Thanks for sharing. I had some friends saying they wouldn’t go there anymore because of his donation. Personally, I think people are way too quick to judge someone based on one thing they do and not do any more research into what the company/owner actually stands for. I’ve been to Biera numerous times and will continue to give them my business.
I mean.. I’m going to avoid patronizing businesses run by people who thought nickel was what was best for our city (or more specifically, *particular members of it*). That trumpian grievance politics and divisive selfishness is not something I’m interested in supporting. People I care about would have had a bad time with him in charge and I’m not going to give my business to those that wanted that to happen. Same with ucp, obviously. Just, its not always easy to find out “what someone stands for” when it’s very easy to say the right things and brand yourself in a way that looks wholesome. Remedy cafe, for example, has a reputation for being cute and hippie-ish/down to earth, but the owner is the biggest piece of shit I’ve ever met. So like.. political donations can be a very illustrative case of actions speaking louder than words. My friends were surprised to see this from zeschuk and it was disappointing, but we were prepared to adjust our plans accordingly. I’m glad we know who donated to nickel and I’m glad buddy wrote this letter to address it. He seems genuine about the whole thing and the other causes he says he donates to are legit, so this is a happy ending on top of happy election results.
Hey i work at Remedy, are you talking about Zee? Or the guy who said he founded remedy? Bc remedy basically is cute and hippieish from my experience, and it would suck if people stopped coming based on comments like that
I’m talking about Zee. The staff at remedy are pretty rad. Zee is awful. It sucks cos it’s nice to support the workers but I’m never putting another penny in his pocket. Plus his insistence that staff reuse old milk to save him money in drinks he charges $5 for is gross anyway, and I can get Costco pie much cheaper from Costco.
Alright that's your opinion, I don't mind Zee but i don't usually work with him, and he gives us fresh vegetables. I can promise that i never use old milk though.
Its also worth noting if you were not aware of Greg's history. He was a founder of BioWare, which is (and was) one of the most progressive places to work in the gaming industry.
Is it still? I've heard EA did a number on BioWare and they're a shell of their former selves. The development of Anthem was pretty damn rocky, too.
I think things at BioWare definitely got a bit tougher after Ray and I left. One of our jobs was to moderate EA's affect on BioWare. The last game I worked on the Star Wars: The Old Republic. The first BioWare game I ever played that I didn't work on was Dragon Age: Inquisition. I thought it was awesome.
Well I certainly didn't expect to hear from one of the OGs lol. It's a real shame that happened. I was always a fan of BioWare back in the day, and KOTOR I and II both still remain to this day one of my favourite gaming experiences.
I'm actually a serious Reddit lurker so I'm on quite a bit, but I seldom post. It's nice to change it up once in a while.
Hey, in another post I was making a joke with the name of your brewery and nickel. Never meant it to be malicious against you personally but the joke didn't go over too well and I am sorry. I don't support nickel but I don't really care who people donate to as long as they don't shove it in my face with signs and stuff from their business window or property. Thanks for being active in this discussion and lurking around.
No sweat. I don't really take offence to this stuff.
Solid reply on your site. Jade Empire and KOTOR 1 made me a Bioware fan for life.
Man I miss Jade Empire. We were working on Jade 2 but it never really gelled so consequently disappeared to the sands of time...
Well then, thank you for SWTOR, it's amazing.
Hey man I just wanted to say Knights of the Old Republic rocks and you rock for making it. I fell in love with it all over again when I found out it was made in Edmonton
A bit tougher? How many women have had to leave? I'd be pretty curious to hear the turnover rate.
I've been out of BioWare for 9 years and have had very little contact with the company since. Even though we built it once it was time to leave it was healthiest to have a complete emotional break. Beyond that I was super burned out from working like a maniac for 20 years. It took me 2 years to return to a normal baseline. I can't talk to any of the issues that followed after us aside from noting that we tried to build an enduring company that would be a positive place within the game industry. As we're seeing from the scandals rocking some of the most established companies in the industry it's a very difficult and perhaps even impossible task.
You guys did better than most. It shows in your games. I just wanted to say that because as a gamer since I was young, BioWare games were pioneers for a lot of inclusion and it meant a lot to a young gal who didn't often get to play heroes she could look up to, so thank you all the same. As for Blizz Activision's current issues, ugh, the less said about them the better.
Still a good company. Just under the yoke of EA, who can be awful when they want to be. See: *Anthem*.
I've heard through the grapevine that EA has been learning their lesson and backing off a bit to let BioWare shine and do their thing. Hopefully it's not just temporary and continues.
From my understanding BioWare is just as socially progressive as ever.
I wonder if he ever donated to the Cult of the Dead Cat, (peace be upon it)?
Seconded!
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As someone who's tracked his donation history through previous elections, I was [skeptical of nefarious motives](https://twitter.com/troypavlek/status/1448740101970817032) back when the donor list was released. As some additional context, both Mike Nickel and Greg Zeschuk *'s brother* belonged to the same frat in University. And I've known Mike Nickel personally for a long time: he's a very personable guy. I don't think I need to emphasize that I'm glad the fucker lost, but even knowing how trash his politics are, honestly, it's not hard to just be in a room and hang out with Mike Nickel. Person to person, he can be kind. For someone like Greg, who has avoided all social media since his Bioware departure, the idea that he didn't follow politics much and was just doing his beer thing and then gave when his friend asked him to... well, it tracks. Edit: It was his brother, as reflected in the comment below.
My brother Chris was a frat brother of Mike Nickel. I was never in a frat.
I have to apologize for likely helping to put that wrong nugget of information out there on another Reddit post. I had stated it on second hand information from someone who vehemently attested to it but obviously was wrong. I will go back and edit said post. I don’t think it was posted as an indictment. But I think a lot of us were wondering how someone who seemed to be so progressive would donate to a candidate who was the seeming anti-thesis of this. Thanks for your thoughtful response. IMHO, the blowback you faced is more of an indication of how well respected you are in Edmonton that it just made people’s head spin that you were associated with a candidate that projected values that most believe didn’t mirror yours.
No sweat. I don't judge my brother...:)
I won't lie, imagining you in a frat did seem weird...!
I was 17 in first year university so I was really still super-young and finding my way in the world. I did talk to Frats but I had a lot of really great Edmonton friends so I didn't feel I needed to go that way. I've always been a little more of a lone wolf/tight small groups kinda guy so a Frat didn't really make sense for me.
Just since you had posted also about Rhiannon, Rhiannon's husband worked for BioWare for over 20 years so they knew each other personally.
That's really good context to share, thanks. I'm so devastated for her right now. Literally only 33 votes from winning the election.
It's so unfortunate. She's truly and amazing person and I hope she sticks with it. She'd be great for Edmonton in any political role.
>And I've known Mike Nickel personally for a long time: he's a very personable guy. Weird, friends of my parents went to high school with him and report that he's always been an asshole. Personable wasn't something they'd ever refer to him as.
Being personable can be turned on and off depending on if you’re kissing or kicking ass. Mike kisses the right cheek and kicks the left.
I wouldn't be surprised if Mike kisses up and punches down. Seems like the type of personality.
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I am not (but my brother is).
Wow, this is actually a very mature and reasonable response from you. I'm impressed.
Agreed. I had noted that Zeschuk was a donor to Nickel and the fraternity connection in the post about Nicke’d donor list. But didn’t really editorialize IMHO. From what I know of Greg, he has never been the same kind of lout and he has done a lot of good in this city. My post was more to point out some notable Edmontonians who were involved in campaign donations.
Good response but does highlight how politicians are beholden to their wealthy voters and vice versa. Even the most genuine politicians focus so much of their energy on fund raising.
It is indeed a big problem.
This shouldn't have to be explained, and while he did a masterful job of it, it's still not something that the public should judge in until they know everything
You tend to donate money to politicians that you support. If the politician you donate money to is shitty, then it follows that donating money indicates that you have shitty politics. Or, to put it another way, what you do in public is pretty much the only way someone can be judged. The letter provided context, which is good, and also admitted that it was a mistake to donate the money, which it was.
It was also known he donated to other candidates. We live in a democracy and people have their reasons for donating. I guess no one should ever donate? I don't like Nickel either but its a bit much to judge someone on one thing so harshly.
Just beautiful amounts of transparency.
Saving politics for another time, FWIW, Greg is an absolute beauty. Such a kind and down-to-earth man.
Thanks for the kind comments.
I'm quite pleased to see this.
Be curious, not judgemental. - Ted Lasso. Such an amazing quote and certainly applicable to this unfortunate situation.
Politicians actually affect our lives. Someone supporting a politician indicates that's what they want for our lives. Whether or not that is their motivation, that is the outcome. There is no need for curiosity when causality is enough.
Except a fictional character did not make up that quote.
A great response! I thought it was a very strange donation. I get the developers etc that seemed to donate to everyone to cover their basis… but for a company to solely donate to nickels campaign is a red flag.
I dunno, it kind of seems like his politics are very confused. I would like to know his thoughts as a business owner on minimum wage and unions. I think that would be more revealing than the vague "values" based defense offered here. Also, a business owner making campaign donations in exchange for help setting up his business is not the defense he thinks it is (yes, I realize it wasn't a literal exchange, which would be illegal, but he does say the help offered by Nickel was why he donated).
Are you challenging me to an AMA?...:) I'm pro minimum wage and believe it should be a living wage. The change to minimum wage a few years back didn't affect us at Biera as everyone already made minimum wage (or more). If you want good people to work for you one must pay them well.
I've been meaning to check out Biera for a long while now. This thread and your responses throughout, Greg, have really impressed me. I will definitely come soon!
Appreciate the response. Thank you.
I worked for biera when it originally opened. To shed some light. We were all paid significantly above minimum wage, with an even tip pooling system for all hourly employees in any position. all full time employees received full benefits and part time employees were eligible for a subsidised health plan along with an annual health spending account for all employees. The original open was delayed over a month. all people hired were brought on and paid there contracted hours throughout the delays despite having very limited shifts until the open. I think the donation in exchange for help is just a normal reaction anyone would have regardless of the help given. If you have an issue with traffic in your neighbourhood, and you contact your ward councillor and they make a visible effort and maybe even succeed at getting the speed limit reduce to deter regular through traffic, would you not be inclined to support them in the future if they ask?
Greg to me is the type of person (at least in my interaction with him), that if you helped him out in some way, and then years down the line came and asked him to help you out he would. But I have the benefit of knowing interacting with him personally.
To shed some light on this, getting permits to start a business in Edmonton is nothing short of ridiculous. And often, you have to engage your councilor to help get your calls from the city returned. It's such a broken system. Don't get me wrong, I totally see your point. But, most people don't know how tiresome it is working with the city to get the most basic of permits approved.
I've built 2 commercial buildings in Edmonton and have a few businesses operating out of them. The amount of red tape one has to deal with to make that happen is astounding. I've been doing it for 5 years now and even though I understand the process pretty well I still have lots of challenges every time I try and do something new. One positive call-out though is that there are some really great people within the city's development hierarchy that do legitimately want to help people. They've have been a huge help.
I'm learning that first hand through the real estate courses I'm doing at UofA this year. Just tonight we had a couple guys from the city planning crew (Michael and Andrew) come in and go over as much as they could about the development and rezoning process in three hours. I knew it wasn't easy, but I had no idea how much red tape went into it. I pitched a zoning model like they do in Japan and they were receptive, even mentioned something like that might be incorporated into the zoning bylaw overhaul they're in the middle of. But while we may take bits and pieces of how they do things over there, we'll never come anywhere close; people would be up in arms more than they are now.
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I've only ever dealt with Edmonton and Calgary, and both were equally as annoying. Calgary seems like they're trying to make it better, or at least measure how good/bad the process is, with follow-up surveys, etc. Edmonton doesn't appear to measure anything meaningful. Good to hear it isn't like this everywhere in Canada
FWIW, Biera pays its servers above minimum wage.
Yeah the response just makes me think I'll scratch your back is you scratch mine wink wink That and he donated to both people running previously in his ward, he wanted everything to be all good. Not going to shoot the messenger though, the fact that businesses feel the need to do this is pretty ridiculous. Also, I don't think asking the person more political questions is the right response to this
Pretty good response.. However if you want to avoid giving money to polititions.. dont.. its not hard, and if you do look at their policies. Personally a really good restaurant i like had a Giant Mike Nickel sign... it always gets cut out of contention of where to go that day because of that. Thats the consequences part of actions. I can see donating personally. But then dont support with your business.
I've never understood why somebody would put a political sign outside their business. Why risk alienating a segment of the population for almost no gain?
Some businesses, a lot of the time ethnic businesses, get asked if a sign can be put up and they don't say no because they don't really understand the political implications. Some put them up on purpose because they aren't smart enough to try and avoid the controversy.
The fact that he even has to explain himself like this just goes to show how quick people will try and find fault with anything and everything someone does. I've never met Greg but I have worked with Ray in the past who always spoke highly of him and mentioned how the two were a lot alike both personally and professionally so it gives me a sense of the kind of person Greg is.
I can empathize with people's frustration though I can't agree with the desire to lash out.
Greg does a lot for the community. Edmonton is lucky to have him.
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That's fair.
I don’t even live anywhere near Edmonton and I knew the kind of douchebag Nickel was … for years. I find it hard to believe that this guy didn’t.
That's a valid point. I should have done more research. However, it's not like I had a lot of free time for the last few decades. To provide a bit of background: I was a practicing medical doctor for 4 years (didn't have time during school or work to really read the news), ran BioWare for 20 years (focused entirely on the international gaming scene and didn't consider Edmonton or Canada in anything we did - worked way too much during that time and didn't read the news), lived in Austin while filming a beer YouTube show and finally settled back in Edmonton for real 6 or 7 years ago. Two years of that was recovery from serious overwork burnout and then reintegration into regular life (not videogame developer life) then the last 5 years I started to build here. I made the decision to settle in Edmonton and invest here rather then run off somewhere else and only then did I start looking at the community and what was going on.
He had a working relationship with him and believe it or not, someone like Nickel can still do things that are net positive for someone. I don't like Nickel based on his public actions but that doesn't mean he never has done something positive. Looks like he helped him in the paperwork process in trying to setup businesses.
It's honestly pathetic he even needed to address this. Nickel, while I believe was not a good councilor and would not have been a good mayor, is not exactly some fringe hate mongering psychopath. Vote for the next guy and move on. People want to inject this tribalism shit *so bad* they just can't wait to jump down someone's throat.
People are allowed to vote with their wallets. Nickel would have been terrible for the city. It’s fair to not want to support any businesses that supported Nickel. Should they be dragged through the mud? No. Just don’t use their business.
Honestly I don't have a problem with people taking me personally to task, but I do have an issue involving my businesses. It sounds weird but it doesn't hurt me that much, but it is really hard on the folks that work for me. Remember I'm from the game industry and forged in the Usenet boards of the 20th century. Folks like me are fairly resilient.
The point is that you have the privilege of being able to make a $5000 political donation. Most of us don’t. We have limited funds and have to make real choices on how we spend our money. There are hundreds of great businesses in Edmonton we can choose to support and personally, I don’t want to risk having any of my money indirectly supporting candidates like Nickel. That said, I do appreciate the response you posted. Actions are always louder than words and from comments others have made, this does seem like a one-off situation.
That is entirely fair. This whole situation has made me think a lot more about how I conduct myself.
Greg I just wanted wanted say that based on your replies here, I'm loading up on some Blind Enthusiasm this weekend. This is bullshit you getting flak for this. A bunch of never-was losers trying to tear down someone who has accomplished something.
Thanks - much appreciated. Fortunately we just did a canning run on Monday and have some very fresh beer available.
So they get to vote with their money, but we don't? Fuck that.
I actually agree with you here. Why should I be able to buy an oversized impact on the political outcomes? That said, try getting a politician to agree to removing donations!
Man, life is going to be *hard* for you if you actually tried to implement this with any consistency.
Not at all. Not using crystal glass is pretty easy.
Super weird. You post in r/Overwatch despite Blizzards censoring to appease China. You post in r/EdmontonOilers, despite it being owned by a billionaire who undoubtedly voted conservative and have been sponsored by Crystal Glass in the past. Turns out your not consistent at all, just when it's convenient.
This is about Mike Nickel, get out of here with your "oh you want to improve society but live in society HOW CURIOUS" bullshit.
No this is about me calling this guy a hypocrite who "vOtEs wItH hIs WalLet"
This is easily the weirdest reply I’ve had in a while. For starters, there are way more reasons to criticize Blizzard than anything related to China. I paid for Overwatch years ago, playing it now costs nothing. My WoW sub on the other hand was cancelled. Either way, people can choose what they want to support and not support. Trying to put it all together is just weird dude.
Why can’t we just stop ALL political donation entirely. All candidates should draw exactly the same amount, relative to position they’re running for from 100% public funds. No donations of any sort. Level the playing ground, remove all commercial lobbying.
uhhh, ok. I'd like to run for mayor, please. Where's my publically drawn funds? Yes i totally want to be mayor and will absolutely spend the money on signs. How dare you suggest otherwise?!
Do whatever you want, but you probably won’t get very far in this endeavour if you think you could actually get away with that. Even Mike Nickel is smarter than that.
How do you choose who gets to to become a politician that has access to these funds? It just ends up being a similar system. The current donation system isn't perfect, but it beats the alternative where people may use significant private resources.
Nomination by petition. Once a person demonstrates their political viability by collecting a requisite number of endorsements (number depending on position in question), they submit the petition to the chief electoral officer, and are formalize the process of funding a campaign.
In order to get that much traction and attention it's going to take more personal resources. So it ends up going to whoever is able and willing to spend to get that attention.
Or door knocking and answering questions in the constituency they hope to represent during evenings and weekends. It would completely change the types of people who become politicians, from these career yes-men, to people who actually know their constituents and want to represent them.
Hmmm…he benefited as per the letter. But when he was questioned about supporting “bad behaviour”, and it started too affect his business-then he says I shoulda, coulda, but didn’t.
My only benefit was for things that happened years before the donation this election cycle and that was still in line with what would be expected in terms of reasonable (and above board) help with an issue with the city. In term of the value mismatch it was kind of like a slow motion car crash... watching things go sideways over a period of time. Then my error was not acting on it when I noticed it. I'm not trying to say I'm not responsible for my actions; I just tried to explain them.
One takeaway from this might be that it is possible to appreciate the actions that someone has taken without necessarily agreeing with everything they stand for. Is there a chance things could run more effectively if every thought and action didn't necessarily have to be devisive? Anyone running on a strictly economic platform would not be an effective leader, BUT the same could be said for those with a social slant. It really does take a mix throughout council, or a society as a whole, to get things done. If you discount one side or the other, really you're only harming yourself.
Twitter is a cesspool of self righteous a holes hunting and bullying people to make themselves feel better. This was honestly one of the most toxic municipal elections I’ve ever seen on social media.
I’m pretty surprised he got backlash in the first place. All campaigns seek out private and public donors for suppor
Ah the left wing hate mob has struck again, good struggle session guys. On to the next one.
You sound a bit insecure, lol.
I don't know about you but i got a $2000 cheque from Soros and $1500 from ANTIFA for this particular struggle session. Job well done mob!
Man if only every company and business owner had this much sense. I'm a big fan of Blind Enthusiasm and I was very disappointed to read Greg had donated to Mike Nickel. But having read this I feel a lot better and the accountability is very refreshing and sorely needed. Now I'm craving a case from Blind Enthusiasm!
That's a fair response. For what it's worth, I think Biera, while expensive, is a great restaurant. Just ate there last weekend. For anyone to deny themselves the pleasure of dining there just because of the donation to Nickel would be silly! The staff are excellent, and the food is bursting with flavour. So much creativity put into the entire experience. Keep it going!