Calgary mayor-elect optimistic about ‘meeting the moment’ on safety, affordability

Jeromy Farkas on Alberta Primetime Oct 22, 2025

Calgary mayor-elect Jeromy Farkas joins Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins to discuss his win by a narrow margin, and priorities as he prepares to lead the new council.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: You’ve secured the win but by the narrowest of margins.

What does that outcome suggest to you?

Jeromy Farkas: I’m so grateful for the support of Calgarians, as well as very grateful to the candidates themselves. It’s really tough to put themselves out there — everything that’s involved in running a campaign, the volunteers. So firstly, a giant thank you to the candidates.

Also thank you to outgoing Mayor Jyoti Gondek. She’s led us over the last four years during a particularly challenging time coming out of COVID. So my message today is one of gratitude.

Thank you to the Calgarians who participated in the process. Thank you to the other candidates. And thank you to Mayor Gondek.

MH: What is the mindset you take into city hall as the result of that very narrow victory?

JF: There was a lot of commonality amongst the candidates. We had about 25 different mayoral debates and panels. A lot of common themes emerged around public safety, around affordability and around how we can make our local government more responsive, how we can better listen to Calgarians when it comes to meeting those challenges.

The specifics varied a little bit, but the commonality amongst really the top five front runners was the sense of urgency to meet the moment, to address those safety challenges, to address the affordability challenges, and better open up city hall so the Calgarians see their voices reflected.

I’m very grateful for the mandate that Calgarians have given me, and I’m very much looking forward to the opportunity to work together with this next council to be able to get that done for Calgarians.

MH: In terms of meeting that moment, what does getting right to work as Calgary’s new mayor look like?

What’s first and foremost on your list of priorities?

JF: Over the course of the campaign, we heard a lot about affordability around taxes, spending. We heard about public safety, we heard about the need to repeal blanket rezoning and move forward with a more targeted approach to housing and development.

None of those things can get done unless our next mayor and council work together as a team, and that’s really my job. Number one is to through the course of this day, I’ve been picking up the phone, congratulating the new councillor-elects, and listening and learning from them. Obviously I ran on a certain platform with certain ideas, but I really, really want to make sure, on behalf of Calgarians, that these new councillors see their views reflected in our decisions going forward.

They are really our community leaders. They are the folks that Calgarians have chosen from every single corner of the city to represent them. So it’s part of my job to ensure that their job is easier and that their mark is made through these challenging discussions around safety and budget.

MH: Your council will soon be diving headfirst into budget talks.

What message do you take heading into those discussions?

JF: We heard a strong desire for support around public safety measures, so it’s very clear that we need to take immediate steps to reopen our downtown police station. Calgary is the only major North American city without a downtown police station. We need to make sure that there’s appropriate investment in police officers and transit presence, but also getting to the root causes of crime. Funding the preventative and support work is really essential.

We also heard a lot about the need to invest in essential maintenance and infrastructure right now. Calgary is the is a city with about 25 per cent loss rate in our water pipes due to the aging nature. We still have wooden pipes, we still have lead pipes, asbestos pipes. So it’s very clear that we need to invest in the right things as well as sharpen our pencils to reduce the budget impact and the tax impact on Calgarian residents and businesses.

MH: How eager are you to engage in discussions with the Smith government?

JF: Very eager. Yesterday, I had a great first conversation with [Municipal Affairs] Minister Dan Williams, who extended his congratulations. We both expressed a desire to work more closely going forward on a number of different issues. So I’m very pleased with the fact that the provincial government has leaned in to listen to the concerns of Alberta’s largest city.

I would say, myself having run as an independent, it allows me that practicality to be able to work with both a conservative premier and a liberal prime minister to get things done for Calgarians.

MH: To pick up on that point of running as an independent.

What does the outcome say to you about the injection of political parties into the municipal dynamic?

JF: Calgarians very soundly rejected party politics at city council. They told me they wanted their city hall to focus on solutions, to be practical, to be pragmatic, to take the best ideas, regardless of ideology, to be able to get things done, and that’s my leadership approach as Calgary’s next mayor: to bring together conservatives and progressives to be able to get things done.

I’m very optimistic about our ability to be able to meet the moment on these challenges around safety, around affordability, by taking the best ideas. It also allows us to better work together as a team, without that specter of a partisan fight in the background. Right now, we are one - mayor and council, working together, pushing in the same direction to be able to execute on behalf of Calgarians.

MH: What kind of dynamic do you see building with your Edmonton counterpart, Andrew Knack?

JF: I was very pleased yesterday to speak with Mayor-Elect Knack. There’s a lot of common ground in terms of the issues that both Calgarians and Edmontonians are facing. There’s going to be a lot of areas where we can better collaborate from an advocacy standpoint, and as well to discuss some of the measures that might be required from the provincial or federal governments.

So while the cooperation does not extend to hockey teams, on a political level, I’ve really appreciated the first initial conversations we’ve had.