Recommendations for Candidates

Candidate Evaluation and Voting Recommendations

While Calgarians may not agree with every position advanced by the candidates in this municipal election, we, at Calgarians For Thoughtful Growth, acknowledge that taking the brave step to put one’s name forward for public office is a cornerstone of the democratic process. Running for City Council requires courage, significant personal and family sacrifice, and a deep commitment to civic life. We extend our gratitude to all candidates for investing their time, energy, and resources into their campaigns, and for strengthening democracy by offering voters a genuine choice.

Recommendations and Executive Summary

Calgarians for Thoughtful Growth has undertaken a comprehensive process, described below, to evaluate candidates for Mayor and Council in the 2025 Calgary municipal election. Our goals have been clear: to identify and recommend those candidates most committed to repealing blanket upzoning, preserving inner-city neighbourhoods and green spaces, and restoring both accountability at City Hall and the community’s voice in development decisions. These goals align with the many Calgarians who submitted written statements and appeared before City Council at the public hearing in respect of the blanket rezoning bylaw passed by Council in May 2024.

Our Recommendation for Mayor

We recommend Jeromy Farkas for Mayor. He has committed to repealing blanket upzoning, reinstating community-driven planning, and strengthening accountability at City Hall. While we may differ on some issues, he is the candidate best positioned to deliver a reset and restore balance in Calgary’s planning system, in our view.

Our Recommendations for Council

We have reviewed candidates in all 14 wards and based on our evaluation process we recommend support for the following:

Ward 1: Cathy Jacobs (A Better Calgary) 

Ward 2: John Garden (A Better Calgary)

Ward 3: Atul Chauhan (The Calgary Party)

Ward 4: Jeremy Wong (Communities First)

Ward 5: Reet Mushiana (Independent)

Ward 6: John Pantazopoulos (Independent)

Ward 7: Terry Wong (Communities First)

Ward 8: Gary Bobrovitz (Independent)

Ward 9: Marina Ortman (Independent)

Ward 10: Andre Chabot (Communities First)

Ward 11: Rob Ward (Communities First)

Ward 12: Shane Byciuk (Communities First)

Ward 13: Dan McLean (Communities First)

Ward 14: Landon Johnston (Independent)  

Our recommendations cross party lines and include numerous independent candidates. This reflects our independence and commitment to thoughtful, evidence-based review — not allegiance to any party, group or ideology. 

Why This Election Matters

This election will determine whether blanket upzoning continues unchecked or whether Calgary adopts a more thoughtful planning and development approach to manage growth. We believe the candidates recommended above offer the strongest path to repealing blanket upzoning, promoting an intelligent approach to increasing housing choice and affordability, strengthening individual and community input in development, protecting neighbourhood character, preserving parks and greenspace and restoring trust in City Hall in general and in planning and development specifically.

Vote Splitting

With multiple candidates now pledging to repeal Calgary’s blanket upzoning and responding to the many problems with the planning process in Calgary, the risk of vote splitting is real. For example, if voters opposed to upzoning divide their support among too many candidates, a pro-upzoning contender could slip through with only a fraction of the vote. We saw this happen in the 2021 mayoral election, when the winner prevailed with less than half of the total ballots because the opposing vote was diluted between several similarly positioned candidates. This same scenario played out in a significant number of wards as well at that time.  To avoid repeating that outcome, we urge voters who want repeal and reform to consolidate their support behind the recommended candidates to avoid yet again splitting the vote and inadvertently electing pro-upzoning candidates.

Rationale for Recommendations

In seeking to identify candidates who are most closely aligned with the many concerns Calgarians expressed about planning and development related issues during the public hearing regarding blanket upzoning in April / May of 2024, Calgarians For Thoughtful Growth, has distilled those concerns into a number of key goals, being to:

• Repeal blanket upzoning and work on a revised planning and development process that ensures that communities and individuals have a meaningful say in the continued redevelopment of their communities.

• Preserve community character and greenspace while working with communities to deliver thoughtful densification and increased housing choice and affordability based on infrastructure capacity and other relevant factors.

• Confirm that City Council is the source of policy direction for the City, rather than City Administration.

• Evaluate and reform the current City administrative structure, including the more broad sharing of information to Council – rather than through the current single controller of information (Chief Administrative Officer) .

• Demand greater accountability, transparency and fiscal responsibility from City Council and the City Administration.

• Prioritize municipal operations and services rather than delving into areas of provincial and/or federal jurisdiction.

In addition to assessing candidates’ alignment with these goals, we also considered the following attributes:

• How well are they informed and connected to the needs of their ward, and do they clearly pledge to be accountable to those residents?  

• Were they clear on how they will deliver on their promises? 

• Did they understand that they are only one vote out of fifteen and confirm that they will work collaboratively with fellow councillors to get things done during their fouryears in office? 

• What experience do they have in management, budgeting, financial oversight and public communication? 

• Do they have a history of community involvement and service? 

• What experience do they have with City Hall that will allow them to hit the ground running? 

The candidates that we have recommended scored well in alignment with these goals and demonstrated many of the beneficial attributes above. We believe they will work to fulfil the necessary reforms.

All mayoral candidates except Jyoti Gondek and Brian Thiessen completed our questionnaire and accepted our invitation to meet. Mayor Gondek voted for blanket upzoning and continues to support it. Mr. Thiessen initially endorsed blanket upzoning but has since shifted his message, now saying he would leave it in place while referring it to the Housing Committee for review — the same committee that initially advanced blanket upzoning. His changing stance raises concerns about clarity and consistency on this critical issue.

By contrast, Jeff Davison, Jeromy Farkas, and Sonya Sharp fully participated in our process. In both questionnaires and interviews, they acknowledged the need for cultural change at City Hall and emphasized accountability — that councillors and the mayor must answer to Calgarians, and administration must serve Council. Our recommendation for mayor reflects the majority consensus of our group, identifying the candidate whose position most closely aligns with Calgarians’ concerns on blanket upzoning and related planning issues.

Process

Our process for developing thoughtful and well-informed recommendations for the upcoming municipal election began with a comprehensive review of the platforms of all individual candidates and all parties. We spent hundreds of hours considering all of the candidates’ positions, as communicated through their websites, public statements, responses to our planning questionnaire, and follow-up discussions and questions in subsequent interviews.

While our group holds clear positions on the various election issues such as repeal of blanket upzoning, the importance of meaningful community and individual input in development decisions, and the preservation of green space and the urban canopy, we endeavoured to approach all candidates equally and objectively. We sought to understand the full range of candidate perspectives on these key matters so that we could serve as another source that the public can use to make informed decisions at the ballot box.

In developing our detailed questionnaire, we engaged directly with community associations, planning professionals, and informed community members to gather a broad range of insights on Calgary’s current planning and development challenges and potential solutions. We invited all candidates to complete that questionnaire which addressed topics such as blanket upzoning, responsibly adding new housing supply, ensuring community participation, park and open-space protection, and preservation of urban canopy.

The questionnaire was distributed to all candidates, and their verbatim responses were published on our website (www.calgariansforthoughtfulgrowth.com) to ensure transparency and allow the public to evaluate each candidate’s stance. We also compared those responses with the candidates’ previously published statements and policy materials to assess depth, consistency, and alignment with community priorities. 72% of candidates responded to our questionnaire.

As a further follow-up, we invited candidates to participate in individual live interviews with our group of volunteers. A total of sixteen candidates accepted the invitation. These interviews provided valuable additional context, helping us assess not only the candidates’ stated positions but also their understanding of complex development and planning issues.

Finally, in forming our recommendations, our group met to review each candidate’s record, questionnaire responses, and interview performance in detail, along with their various public communications and websites. 

Conclusion

Voting is both a right and a responsibility. Local government decisions often affect our homes, neighbourhoods, and city more directly than those made in Edmonton or Ottawa.

We encourage all Calgarians to become informed through many sources — including our work, candidate materials, media, and conversations with neighbours — and to cast a thoughtful vote.

Advance polls run October 6–11, with Election Day on October 20. Your voice matters, but only if you use it.