Find out where Calgary's mayoral candidates stand
Nine of Calgary's mayoral candidates debated Thursday, discussing topics ranging from the city's relationship to the province, the budget and transit.
The debate was hosted by the University of Calgary Students' Union and moderated by CBC's Rob Brown.
Nine out of 27 mayoral candidates participated:
Jan Damery
Jeff Davison
Jeromy Farkas
Brad Field
Jyoti Gondek
Zac Hartley
Zane Novak
Teddy Ogbonna
Shaoli Wang
Calgarians will head to the polls Oct. 18 for the municipal election. See the full list of candidates in the mayoral race.
One of the hot topics at the debate included the city's relationship to the provincial government.
Farkas and Gondek had different takes on the issue.
Farkas says Calgary's future mayor must be strategic in knowing when to stand up to the provincial government, and to not always default to opposition.
"There's a lot of areas where we can and we must work together to be able to secure Calgary's future around, say flood mitigation, around housing, around mental health and addiction," he said.
Gondek says she thinks municipal and provincial governments should be able to get along and work together in the interest of citizens, but that the United Conservative Party government has proven that it doesn't wish to engage with Calgary, and Farkas's plan to play nice won't work.
She says it's not in the best interest of Calgarians to sit back and wait for the provincial government to do the right thing.
"They have not done it for the pandemic. They have cut police budgets. They have cut money to social services in our city. We have to advocate for Calgarians," she said.
The question of whether or not the Green Line should be extended further north or south in the second phase of the project was also discussed.
Damery said she's committed to having the Green Line extend further north.
"I've been spending a lot of time talking with people, particularly in the north, who are incredibly under served, and we need to have a huge commitment in actually moving the Green Line north because that's where we get more ridership," Damery said.
If the Green Line went further north it would connect more people to jobs, school, entertainment and recreation, she said.
Marley Gillies, vice president external of the University of Calgary Students' Union said a lot of the topics discussed at the debate came from students, and are issues that matter most to them.
"Every time I hear from these candidates, it's always a new opportunity to hear their perspectives on the different issues and compare and contrast what they're saying," she said.
