All incumbent councillors re-elected in Calgary election
There were tense moments for some, but every incumbent city councillor in Calgary's 2017 election has won re-election.
CBC News is projecting the 10 incumbents will hold on to their council seats (click on a candidate's name to jump to a detailed description of their vote totals):
- Ward 1 — Ward Sutherland
- Ward 2 — Joe Magliocca
- Ward 4 — Sean Chu
- Ward 7 — Druh Farrell
- Ward 8 — Evan Woolley
- Ward 9 — Gian-Carlo Carra
- Ward 10 — Ray Jones*
- Ward 12 — Shane Keating
- Ward 13 — Diane Colley-Urquhart
- Ward 14 — Peter Demong
(* Ray Jones previously represented Ward 5 but ran in Ward 10, which includes much of the same territory as his previous constituency after the city remapped the ward boundaries.)
Only four new faces will be seated around the council table — all of them coming from wards with no incumbent.
CBC News projects the following winners in those wards:
- Ward 3 — Jyoti Gondek
- Ward 5 — George Chahal
- Ward 6 — Jeff Davison
- Ward 11 — Jeromy Farkas
Ward 1
Ward Sutherland held off a challenge from rival Coral Bliss Taylor in a race that ended up being closer than many anticipated a week ago.
Things suddenly changed last Wednesday night at an all-candidates forum, when Sutherland made a comment about "Johnny Jew from New York" while discussing the types of people who are hired under the city's public art policy.
Sutherland claims he said "Johnny Choo" and was referencing the Malaysian-born shoe designer who lives in the United Kingdom.
The incumbent explained that he had "New York" in his mind because of an episode of Sex And The City that he had watched that included a reference to Choo.
Choo does not do public art installations like those commissioned by the City of Calgary.
Sutherland's rivals weren't buying his explanation and said there was little doubt in their minds that he said "Johnny Jew," especially given the high-quality recording of the forum that was broadcast online.
Sutherland won with 14,336 votes. His closest rival, Bliss Taylor, got 10,601 votes.
Ward 2
Joe Magliocca was widely expected to win a second term in this northwest ward, but his margin of victory wasn't as large as many might have thought before the vote.
The incumbent had 11,828 votes to his nearest challenger Jennifer Wyness's 8,677 in the final tally.
Christopher Maitland was in third place with 2,351 votes, while George Georgeou had 1,091 votes.
Ward 3
Jyoti Gondek successfully stepped up as a candidate after serving as campaign manager for Jim Stevenson, the previous councillor for Ward 3, who did not seek re-election this time around.
The business professor and former citizen member of the Calgary Planning Commission campaigned on her understanding of "complex urban issues" and promise to identify "practical, proven ideas that can be adapted and successfully implemented in Calgary."
She earned 7,745 votes, according to the final count.
The next closest candidate was Ian McAnerin with 4,867 votes, followed by Jun Lin with 4,747 votes. Connie Hamilton got 1,096 votes.
Ward 4
Sean Chu and challenger Greg Miller swapped leads as results came in throughout the night, but ultimately the incumbent came out ahead.
Chu took 16,327 votes to Miller's 13,965.
Blair Berdusco came a distant third, with 2,875 votes.
Miller put an unusually long and dedicated effort into the race, officially launching his campaign to unseat Chu nearly two years ago, after unofficially campaigning for months before that.
He had positioned himself as the antidote to Chu, who has become a polarizing figure at city hall, with a campaign slogan of "Ward 4 deserves more."
Chu, meanwhile, stuck to what worked for him in the 2013 election, calling for lower taxes and "common sense" approaches to decision-making at city hall.
Ward 5
George Chahal emerged as the hands-down winner in this ward, which used to be the stronghold of Coun. Ray Jones but underwent a major shift in boundaries and the electoral redistricting.
Chahal, who lost by a mere 33 votes to Jim Stevenson in Ward 3 in the 2007 election, sailed to victory in Ward 5 on Monday night.
He earned 6,608 votes — besting his nearest challenger, Aryan Sadat, by 2,849 votes.
Preet Baidwan got 2,332 votes.
Ward 6
This race was wide open after incumbent Richard Pootmans opted not to run again, and Jeff Davison quickly emerged as the winner as ballots were counted.
He amassed 13,735 votes, more than doubling his nearest rival in a field of eight candidates.
Esmahan Razavi picked up 6,605 votes for a distant second-place showing, while Sean Yost was in third with 2,507 votes.
Davison said he's looking forward to getting down to work.
"Ward 6 has a lot of infrastructure issues, and really that's going to be our biggest challenge going forward," he said early Tuesday morning, once the results were clear.
"I think a lot of those infrastructure issues have led to even trickle down affect of safety in certain communities. That's the number one concern people have around here."
Ward 7
Druh Farrell was looking likely to win although she was still embroiled in the closest race, well after all the others had been decided.
But by early Tuesday morning, the incumbent had won, with 9,753 votes to challenger Brent Alexander's 8,916.
Dean Brawn was in third place with 2,882 votes while Margot Aftergood was fourth with 1,765.
Farrel earned 41 per cent of the vote, an improvement over the 37 per cent she won with in the 2013 election.
Ward 8
Evan Woolley, who defeated incumbent John Mar in the 2013 election, handily fended off all challengers as the incumbent in Ward 8.
Woolley took 15,838 votes while rival Chris Davis was the choice of 8,844 voters.
Karla Charest had 1,839 votes while Carter Thomson, a former mayoral candidate, got 657.
Davis, a land-development lawyer and self-described "tax warrior," said during the campaign that he wants to increase transparency at city hall, which he described as too secretive.
Woolley, meanwhile, accused his opponent of being too secretive himself, as Davis refused to release a list of his campaign donors prior to the election, as Woolley had voluntarily done.
Ward 9
Gian-Carlo Carra sweated it out but ultimately emerged victorious after a serious challenge from rival Cheryl Link.
Link, who owns Mountain Modern Timberframes, had campaigned on a platform to "end the tax hikes" at city hall and pledged to be a "pro-business" politician.
She led Carra as early results came in but, as the night wore on, the incumbent opened up a larger and larger lead.
In the end, Carra took 9760 votes to Link's 8,065.
Trevor Buckler secured third place with 1,126 votes.
Carra said he recognizes he is a "very polarizing figure" and knew he was in for a tough fight but "it was a lot closer than we thought."
"We had to work very hard and we had to lead with positivity and we had to lead with good policy," he said of his win.
Ward 10
Ray Jones, running in a new ward that includes many of his old voters, cruised to another victory but with a smaller margin than in past wins.
While he had sewn up the last couple of elections in Ward 5 with between 62 and 80 per cent of the vote, he picked up just 35.5 per cent of the ballots cast in Ward 10 this time around.
Still, in a crowded field of 11 candidates, Jones' 7,240 votes were enough to secure a win.
David Winkler came in second place with 5,512 votes while Salimah Kassam placed third with 2,126.
Ward 11
Jeromy Farkas, who officially launched his campaign in March 2016 but had been laying the groundwork well before that, emerged as the winner in this ward with no incumbent.
Brian Pincott announced in February that he wouldn't seek re-election, clearing the way for Farkas, who had a significant head-start on other rivals.
Farkas collected 13,169 votes, well ahead of nearest challenger Linda Johnson's 7,588.
Janet Eremenko got 6,889 votes while Robert Dickinson had 4,446.
Farkas, who ran on a campaign to hold the line on property taxes and put the southwest BRT project on hold pending a review from the new council, said he plans to reach out to the other winners before being sworn in next week.
"Well, council is a team, of course, right? It's a variety of perspectives and I know we all care very deeply about our city," Farkas said.
"And the election is over and its time to roll up our sleeves and get working for Calgarians."
Ward 12
Shane Keating cruised to victory in this southeastern ward.
He earned 17,923 of the 24,622 votes cast.
Teresa Hargreaves came a distant second with 2,844 votes.
Brad Cunningham was third with 2,732.
Ward 13
Among a crowded field, Diane Colley-Urquhart won a seventh term on council as the representative for this southwest ward.
The incumbent took 9,117 votes, ahead of nearest rival Mark Dyrholm, who got 4,427.
Art Johnston was in third place with 3,747 votes.
It was a close race for fourth, with Sherrisa Celis picking up 2,959 votes to Adam Boechler's 2,909.
Adam Frisch took 2,732 votes.
Ward 14
This was the most lopsided race of the election, as incumbent Peter Demong cruised to an easy win against just one challenger.
The incumbent locked up 90 per cent of the 31,494 votes cast, taking 28,430 votes.
- FULL COVERAGE | Calgary municipal election 2017
