‘A bit of a challenge’: 10 of 14 members of Calgary’s new city council will be rookies

Calgary’s new city council will include a lot of fresh faces.

Ten of 14 councillors will be rookies—some of whom campaigned under political party banners in this election.

In Ward 1—Sonya Sharp’s old riding—the mayoral candidate’s fellow Communities First party member Kim Tyers takes it by 474 votes.

In Ward 2, incumbent Jennifer Wyness remains.

In Ward 3, Andrew Yule replaces Jasmine Mian, who chose not to run again.

In Ward 4, DJ Kelly with the Calgary Party replaces Sean Chu, who also did not run again.

In Ward 5, incumbent Raj Dhaliwal is returning to city hall.

In Ward 6, it’s John Pantazopoulos. The ward was previously vacant after Richard Pootmans retired for personal reasons.

In Ward 7, Myke Atkinson takes it, beating incumbent and Communities First candidate Terry Wong.

In Ward 8, Nathanial Schmidt is the new councillor.

In Ward 9, Harrison Clark wins after Gian-Carlo Carra did not run again.

In Ward 10, Andre Chabot with Communities First retains his seat.

In Ward 11, Rob Ward with Communities First wins over incumbent Kourtney Penner.

In Ward 12, Mike Jamieson with the A Better Calgary party wins by fewer than 30 votes after Evan Spencer did not run again.

In Ward 13, Dan McLean wins again.

And in Ward 14, Landon Johnston replaces longtime councillor Peter Demong, who retired.

All results, which can be found here, are unofficial until Friday.

The campaign is over, and as the signs start to come down, things are picking up for Kelly, Ward 4’s new councillor.

Though he’s worked at city hall in the past, it has never been in this capacity.

“Getting up to speed in terms of administration and how the city operates won’t be as difficult for me, but it will be a bit of a challenge getting to know all the new councillors,” Kelly said.

With 10 new councillors headed to city hall and only four members of the previous council returning, there are likely to be some growing pains.

“They say the process of getting up to speed is like drinking from a firehose. There’s a real period of transition where you have to absorb information,” said Jack Lucas, University of Calgary political scientist.

Ward, who defeated Penner in Ward 11, believes the results speak volumes about people’s dissatisfaction with the previous council.

“We know this was one of the lowest-approval-rating councils in history, so to see a good turnover of council is a good thing for people looking for change,” said Ward.

He plans on leaning on returning incumbents to show him the ropes, including McLean, who will represent Ward 13 for a second term.

Both were also part of Communities First—one of three political parties introduced in Calgary, under new provincial legislation for the first time in Alberta’s two biggest cities.

It’s a pilot project that is receiving mixed reviews.

“The party system—nobody liked it. I didn’t even know if I liked it a lot, but it’s new, so people didn’t quite understand it,” said McLean.

“I don’t know if the party system really impacted things. I think people just voted for the representative they thought would represent their community best,” said Ward.

Regardless, once in chambers, some candidates figure those party lines go away—just like the campaign signs across the city.

“What’s the left-wing versus right-wing way to fill a pothole?” said Kelly.

“That’s for campaigning, and once we’re in council, I’d like to see the party lines disappear. … We have a lot of work to do.”

In a statement, Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams said he was pleased with the role local parties played in the municipal elections in Calgary and Edmonton and would be reviewing the pilot project.

“We saw hundreds of thousands of voters cast their ballots in support of clear, transparent platforms and candidates running under the banner of a local political party,” he said.

“We’ll be considering the future of local political parties in the next municipal election during my team’s after-action review.”