‘Our work begins now’: Calgary mayor and ward councillors sworn-in

Calgary’s newly elected council and mayor were sworn into their positions Wednesday, setting up their next four years of service.

Jeromy Farkas is now the city’s new mayor. His win was affirmed Tuesday following a recount requested by runner-up Sonya Sharp. After it was all said and done, the decision was just 616 votes — 35 more than reported on election day.

“I’m really excited to get to start to work on behalf of Calgarians with this brand new team,” he said.

Sharp finally conceded the race Wednesday in a video posted to social media, saying while it wasn’t the outcome she was hoping for, she is proud to have been apart of a historical mayoral race.

She took the opportunity to reiterate her campaign points, including repealing blanket rezoning and hiring more police officers.

“This was never about partisan politics and it’s unfortunate that misinformation prevailed,” she said. “This was about delivering a to-do list to get Calgary back on track.”

When it comes to what’s next for the long time city servant and one-term councillor, Sharp kept the details vague.

“To Calgarians, it’s been an honour to serve this city for 24 years and I promise, I’ll keep fighting for a safe, strong, and sensible Calgary for all of us. See you soon,” she said.

New faces take over incumbents in council

Ward 1 will have a new representative in Kim Tyers, who ran under the Communities First banner. She is just one of six councillors that were elected under a party banner.

Jennifer Wyness was reelected in Ward 2. Andrew Yule will represent Ward 3. And, The Calgary Party’s DJ Kelly took Ward 4.

In Ward 5, Raj Dhaliwal will serve another four years, and Ward 6 will have a new face in John Pantazopoulos.

Myke Atkinson and Nathaniel Schmidt — both independents — will take on the leadership of Wards 7 and 8, respectively.

Harrison Clark won a narrow margin in Ward 9 to become that area’s new representative.

Incumbent Andre Chabot, who ran with Communities First, will continue to serve Ward 10.

His party peer Rob Ward will take over from Kourtney Penner in Ward 11.

After a recount, the victory of A Better Calgary Party’s Mike Jamieson was affirmed. He beat Sarah Ferguson by 59 votes.

Dan McLean, another incumbent who ran with the Communities First party, will resume his role in Ward 13.

Rounding out the city is Ward 14, which will be represented by Landon Johnston who, earlier this year, ran a recall petition against former mayor Jyoti Gondek.

The total number of ballots cast in the vote was 349,815, for a voter turnout of 39.04 per cent.

Nov. 10 is the first regular meeting of council.

–With files from Phoenix Phillips