Gondek officially sworn in as Calgary mayor, doesn’t administer oath to Sean Chu
Posted Oct 25, 2021 4:26 pm.
Last Updated Oct 25, 2021 9:48 pm.
It is now official.
Those who were elected to take the reigns of Calgary City Council were sworn in on Monday afternoon.
This included the first woman to sit in the mayor’s chair, Jyoti Gondek.
WATCH: Mayor-elect Jyoti Gondek and elected councillors are sworn into council.
Gondek took the oath of office from Justice John Rooke, the Associate Chief Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench.
Following her swearing-in, Gondek then took to the podium and swore in all members of council — except one.
https://twitter.com/Tommy_Slick/status/1452737130665418756
Ward four councillor Sean Chu was instead sworn in by Justice Rooke, with Gondek keeping her promise to not take part in Chu’s oath of office.
RELATED: Calgary mayor-elect says if Chu doesn’t resign, she won’t participate in his swearing-in
Gondek has been very vocal about her stance on the situation surrounding Sean Chu.
Last week she was one of several politicians calling for Chu to resign and was also seen at a rally on Sunday in which one group was calling for Chu’s resignation, and the other was there in Chu’s defence.
WATCH: CityNews’ Cara Campbell reports on a pair of protests outside of city hall both opposing and providing support for Sean Chu.
All of this happened after a pair of incidents came to light surrounding Chu during his time as a police officer.
Chu has admitted that he was disciplined for inappropriate sexual contact with an underage girl while he was with the Calgary Police Service (CPS) in 1997, however, no criminal charges were laid.
In another incident, Chu was allegedly involved in a domestic incident with his wife that involved a firearm and resulted in a police response back in 2008.
Last week, Chu addressed both of these incidents, saying they both had been heavily investigated and resolved.
He also said the timing of it all coming to light was politically motivated and was “character assassination.”
RELATED: Sean Chu says he will not resign amid mounting criticism
Despite the situation surrounding Chu, the ceremony went on as expected, with 11 new faces taking their place on council.
Calgary’s new, now official, council is:
- Ward 1: Sonya Sharp
- Ward 2: Jennifer Wyness
- Ward 3: Jasmine Mian
- Ward 4: Sean Chu
- Ward 5: Raj Dhaliwal
- Ward 6: Richard Pootmans
- Ward 7: Terry Wong
- Ward 8: Courtney Walcott
- Ward 9: Gian-Carlo Carra
- Ward 10: Andre Chabot
- Ward 11: Kourtney Penner
- Ward 12: Evan Spencer
- Ward 13: Dan McLean
- Ward 14: Peter Demong
