Election 2025: Campaign Roundup - Day 11

Welcome to Day 11 of our Calgary 2025 Campaign Roundup!

With the 2025 municipal election underway, we'll be bringing you daily updates on all the policy proclamations, platform promises, and political point-scoring from the campaign trail.

As always, our work is entirely funded by donations from residents just like you, so if you appreciate the updates, please consider making a one-off donation or signing up as a supporter for just $10 a month - that's just 36 cents per email!

Campaign Roundup - Day 11:

• The municipal election has reignited the debate over blanket rezoning, with nearly every mayoral candidate pledging to repeal or amend the bylaw. But candidates differ in their approaches: some, like Jeff Davison, Jeromy Farkas, Sarah Elder, and Sonya Sharp, promise outright repeal and replacement with more community-driven planning. Others, including Grant Prior and Brian Thiessen, argue for amending or fixing the policy rather than discarding it completely. Meanwhile, Jyoti Gondek defends the change as a way to provide more housing options in established communities, while candidates like Jaeger Gustafson and Larry Heather call for protecting promises made to homeowners.
  
  
• Voter turnout in Calgary’s last municipal election sat at just 46.3%, and with participation on the decline across Canada, Elections Calgary is teaming up with Calgary Transit and the Calgary Public Library to make voting easier this year. The Calgary Public Library is supporting voters with resources like the “Plan My Vote” tool, civic literacy programming, and events.
  
  
• Eight of Calgary’s mayoral candidates faced off Wednesday night in a lively debate at the packed Central Library, where housing, city spending, and accountability dominated the discussion. Independent candidates Sarah Elder, Jeff Davison, Jeromy Farkas, Jyoti Gondek, Jaeger Gustafson, and Grant Prior shared the stage with Sonya Sharp of Communities First and Brian Thiessen of The Calgary Party. Moderators Jeremy Klaszus and Lori Williams pressed the contenders on hot-button issues like blanket rezoning, infrastructure investment, and public trust in Council. You can watch the debate here.
  
  
• Mayoral candidate Sonya Sharp shared that Communities First has received the endorsement of the Calgary Police Association. The Association said it has taken the "unprecedented step of endorsing 10 candidates" - all of the candidates running under the Communities First banner.

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