2007 Calgary municipal election

The 2007 Calgary municipal election was held Monday, October 15, 2007. The citizens of Calgary elected one mayor, 12 of their 14 aldermen (one from each of 14 wards) to the city council, five of the seven Calgary School District trustees (each representing 2 of 14 wards), and three of the seven Calgary Catholic School District trustees (each representing 2 of 14 wards). All but one of the incumbent councillors ran again in this election (Barry Erskine, of Ward 11), and two incumbents were returned by acclamation. Five of the incumbent public school trustees ran again, two were acclaimed, and four separate school incumbent trustees ran, three were acclaimed, while Ward 13/14 had only one new candidate. Since 1968, provincial legislation has required every municipality to hold triennial elections.

2007 Calgary municipal election

← 2004 October 15, 2007 2010 →

Mayor and 12 of 14 aldermen to Calgary City Council
 
A. K.
Leader Dave Bronconnier Alnoor Kassam
Popular vote 128,112 35,442
Percentage 61.08% 16.90%

Mayor before election

Dave Bronconnier

Elected mayor

Dave Bronconnier

The percent of eligible voters who voted was 33% — putting turnout at a higher level than the previous election in 2004.[1]

Results

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Bold indicates elected, italics indicates incumbent.

Mayor

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Mayor[2]
Candidate Votes %
Dave Bronconnier 128,112 61.08%
Alnoor Kassam 35,442 16.90%
Sandy Jenkins 16,531 7.88%
Jeremy Zhao 8,025 3.83%
Allan Foster 6,455 3.08%
David Bertram 5,549 2.65%
Elizabeth Kaur Fielding 4,010 1.91%
Harry Heck 3,811 1.82%
J. J. Sunstrum 1,813 0.86%

Aldermen

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Aldermen[2]
Ward 1 Ward 2 Ward 3 Ward 4
Candidate Votes % Candidate Votes % Candidate Votes % Candidate Votes %
Dale Hodges 12,059 56.1% Gord Lowe 10,269 61.1% Jim Stevenson 5,452 36.86 Bob Hawkesworth 10,555 73.9%
Jennifer Banks 8,579 39.9% Joe Magliocca 3,979 23.7% George Chahal 5,419 36.64 Richard Evans 2,632 18.4%
Normand Perrault 869 4.0% Terry Avramenko 2,242 13.3% Helene Larocque 3,919 26.50 Alex Peterson 1,088 7.6%
Ward 5 Daniel M. Del Re 312 1.9% Ward 6 Ward 7
Ray Jones 7,590 79.6% Joe Connelly 9,068 46.6% Druh Farrell 8,998 68.9%
Mohamed El-Rafih 1,945 20.4% Craig Burrows 6,594 33.9% Barry Elridge 2,249 17.2%
Ward 8 Ward 9 James Donald Istvanffy 2,732 14.0% Merle Terlesky 1,280 9.8%
John Mar 4,014 31.6% Joe Ceci 7,213 56.6% James Kohut 852 4.4% Jag Aithal 532 4.1%
Madeline King 3,847 30.3% Al Koenig 4,962 38.9% Rosemary Berglund 205 1.1%
Steve Chapman 3,430 27.0% Stan Waciak 572 4.5% Ward 10 Ward 11
Lindsay Luhnau 1,412 11.1% Andre Chabot 8,263 88.6% Brian Pincott 6,037 34.2%
Nargis Dossa 1,064 11.4% Evonne Whelan 4,490 25.4%
Ward 12 Ward 13 Ward 14 James M. Murray 3,353 19.0%
Richard William McIver 16,700 91.1% Diane Colley-Urquhart Acclaimed Linda Fox-Mellway Acclaimed Dave Matthews 2,241 12.7%
Nick Halfyard 1,634 8.9% Jim Rockwell 1,539 8.7%

Public School Trustees

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Calgary School District[2]
Ward 1/2 Ward 3/4 Ward 5/10
Candidate Votes % Candidate Votes % Candidate Votes %
Gordon Dirks Acclaimed Lynn C. Ferguson 14,326 73.6% Pamela King 8,927 73.2%
Jadine Kohut 5,136 26.4% Michael P. Stefanyshyn 3,273 26.8%
Ward 6/7 Ward 8/9 Ward 11/13
George S. Lane 9,039 45.8% Pat Cochrane Acclaimed Karen Kryczka 7,990 38.2%
Greg Scott 6,707 34.0% Ward 12/14 Deborah Duncan 5,778 27.6%
Drake Hammill 3,976 20.2% Carol Bazinet 13,720 69.6% Neil Mackie 3,752 17.9%
Gregory C. Humphreys 5,998 30.4% Kathy Power 3,383 16.2%

Separate School Trustees

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Calgary Catholic School District[2]
Ward 1/2/Cochrane Ward 3/5/Airdrie Ward 4/7
Serafino Scarpino Acclaimed Linda Wellman Acclaimed Margaret Belcourt Acclaimed
Ward 6/8 Ward 9/10/Chestermere Ward 11/12
Candidate Votes % Candidate Votes % Candidate Votes %
Lois H. Burke-Gaffney 4,564 66.4% Rosemarie Goerlitz 3,691 62.7% Michael V. Annuik 6,033 82.4%
Antoni (Tony) Grochowski 2,313 33.6% Gerald A.J. Heighes 1,673 28.4% Cathie Williams 1,287 17.6%
Ward 13/14 Michael O'Malley 520 8.8%
Mary Martin Acclaimed

Key Issues

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Some of the prominent issues receiving public attention include the following (listed in alphabetical order):[3]

Crime

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Recent high-profile violent crimes in Calgary had generated public concern for safety in the city.

Environment

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Calgary has the highest per capita ecological footprint amongst Canada's larger cities. The City has concentrated past efforts on increasing community water conservation and reducing its corporate GHG emissions. Community goals to reduce the community's ecological footprint were identified through the Imagine Calgary process. These were intended to form the basis for comprehensive community-based initiatives to reduce the per capita ecological footprint.

Housing

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There was an ongoing shortage of housing in the city. That, combined with what was among the highest rates of growth in housing costs in Canada, had made housing a significant issue for the public.

Infrastructure

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A week before the election, the provincial government agreed to provide $3.3 billion for infrastructure in Calgary over the next 10 years. It would be up to city council to allocate those funds.

Transportation

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  • Disruption of roads, paths and sidewalks due to construction.
  • Public transit infrastructure.
  • Increasing motor-vehicle congestion.

Voter participation

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Voter turnout in the previous Calgary municipal election was 19.8%, while in the 2001 municipal elections it was 38%.[4]

Controversies

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  • Campaign finance.

Regarding specific candidates

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  • Sandy Jenkins was forcibly ejected from the University of Calgary MacEwan Hall Ballroom by security during a Weakerthans concert which he sneaked in after not having paid for a ticket.[5]
  • Dave Bronconnier's fundraising has raised concerns about the impact of funding on the campaign.[6]
  • Craig Burrows (incumbent, Ward 6) was the Chair of the City Audit Committee. He was approved to take a University of Calgary business management course which would provide assistance to him in his role on the Audit Committee. He was later asked to repay the course fee, which he did indirectly through a reduction in his spending in the subsequent year.[7]
  • Mayoral candidate Alnoor Kassam was reported to have spent a million dollars of his own money on his campaign, which led to allegations that his money had been acquired in illegal or unethical manners. Columnist Don Braid attempted to connect him to a banking scandal in Kenya prior to moving to Canada. While Kassam did admit that the local political culture required regular bribes in order to do business, he noted that a Canadian immigration tribunal had completely exonerated him. He insisted that he did not take money when leaving Kenya, but had made his entire current fortune in Calgary. News articles also accused Kassam of attempting economic evictions in a Mount Royal apartment building, although he apparently also supported residents in finding other housing.[8][9]

References

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  1. ^ "Graphic: Voter turnout for municipal elections in Alberta". Calgary Herald. April 6, 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d "Official Results". City of Calgary. Archived from the original on November 8, 2001.
  3. ^ Kim Guttormson; Colette Derworiz (September 18, 2007). "Mayor faces eight challengers". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on February 28, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
  4. ^ Robert Remington (September 18, 2007). "Young Jeremy tackles apathy". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
  5. ^ "Jenkins weak for the Weakerthans - Mayoral candidate gets kicked out of concert". Gauntlet News. October 11, 2007. Retrieved October 12, 2007.
  6. ^ Derworiz, Colette (July 2, 2007). "Mayor's war chest scares off rivals". Calgary Herald. pp. B1.
  7. ^ "Alderman told to repay city for business course". CBC News. February 16, 2007. Retrieved September 14, 2007.
  8. ^ Don Braid (September 18, 2007). "Challenger takes on Bronconnier dollar for dollar in this campaign". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on March 1, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
  9. ^ Guttormson, Kim; Derworiz, Colette (October 8, 2007). "Who is Alnoor Kassam?". Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
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