Jeromy Farkas is Confident Calgarians Want Him Over Nenshi

Currently Calgary city councillor Jeromy Farkas back on September 17 announced his intentions to run for the mayorship of the city. The young fiscally conservative councillor was elected in Ward 11 back in 2017. He is perceived by many as a very serious challenge to Mayor Naheed Nenshi, and likely the most serious since his first election back in 2010. 

The National Telegraph interviewed Councillor Farkas on his planned bid to become mayor, and what he thinks the mood in Calgary is towards Mayor Nenshi and how strongly Farkas perceives change is being demanded.

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TNT: How often have you been told over your time as a Calgary city councillor that you should run for mayor?

Farkas: There has been a steady drumbeat of support for the idea ever since I was elected in 2017. Over the past year or so, I’ve noticed an increase with more and more people being very vocal asking me to run. It’s been a very humbling experience and I feel very fortunate to have such a groundswell of support.

TNT: How do you think Mayor Nenshi has not lived up to the expectations of Calgarians?

Farkas: I respect the mayor but I think that he’s become stuck in the past when it comes to resolving our city’s challenges. He and his supporters may be happy with business as usual at City Hall but I think that we need to be bold and pursue new opportunities for Calgarians especially when it comes to growing our economy and creating jobs.

 He’s been mayor for 10 years and now our city is facing unprecedented challenges. We’ve shed tens of thousands of jobs and our economy is stalled. He can’t figure out how to get the jobs back or how to get the recovery going. All of the solutions that he’s tried have failed to fix the problems and now he’s run out of ideas.

During his time in office, he’s led an out of touch establishment that in so many ways has put its own interests ahead of Calgarians’.

We need to stop the business as usual mentality down at City Hall. We need new thinking, new energy, new ideas, and new opportunities for Calgarians.

TNT: What do you think the role of city government should be and how are we failing to live up to that in Calgary today?

Farkas: Ultimately, the city government should be listening to what the people want and that doesn’t seem to be happening.

We should be focusing on protecting core services like police and fire that keep our homes and businesses and communities safe.

We should be filling the potholes, cutting the grass and managing a clean and well-kept city. Street construction, snow clearing and public transit should be efficient and well-planned so that people can get around our city safely and efficiently leaving more time to spend enjoying family and friends rather than adding hours per week to their commute times.

The mayor’s approach has been more government, higher home and business property taxes, out of control spending, corporate welfare and letting special interests run the show at City Hall.

Just imagine what this city could be if we listened to our businesses and created a business environment within which they could thrive and grow. And, rather than constantly attacking the provincial government, how much further ahead would this city be if we were working with them instead of against them? 

What if we decided that Calgary and Alberta would be partners in a new strategy for economic recovery and worked together to create real opportunities for Calgarians? We should be working together to create and activate a recovery plan for Calgary but this mayor’s only approach in dealing with the province has just been threats and demands for more money.

TNT: With Mayor Nenshi having secured himself three terms up to this point do you believe he will be a tough opponent to beat in an election, or do you think Calgarians are at the point where they are demanding a change?

Farkas: I think it’s time for new thinking and new ideas on City Council. When I talk to Calgarians, I’m hearing the same thing. They are feeling let down and fed up. They’re ready for a change.

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The next Calgary mayoral and city council elections will be taking place on October 18, 2021, and it can be expected to be a tough fight if Mayor Nenshi chooses to run for a fourth term. With a fairly well known name like Farkas running against Nenshi it is unlikely to be a repeat of the 2013 and 2017 elections with relatively unknown and rushed campaigns to challenge him for his office.

With Faraks and Nenshi running it will be a real contrasting race with the socially progressive, public services focused, incumbent mayor serving for over a decade, running against the young business focused first term city councillor, who gained popularity in large part do to his opposition to the mayor’s continuous push for more spending and higher taxes.