Former city councillor Jeff Davison ran for mayor in 2021, lost, and immediately offered winner Jyoti Gondek his support. She thanked him in return.
Now Davison is appalled at Gondek’s leadership — and considering a run against her in 2025.
He thinks Gondek is a terrible mayor leading a council almost as bad.
“She’s not actually interested in what the priorities of Calgarians are,” Davison says. “She’s only interested in what she wants to do.”
He’d join in “because I care too damn much about this city and can’t stand to see where it’s going. We need leadership, vision and some good old-fashioned common sense.”
“I’ve talked to the family about running. We’ve had some serious conversations around whether or not we would jump back.
“There’s a lot of time between now and election day, but I’m strongly considering it.”
The election is set for Oct. 20, 2025.
He says Gondek isn’t what she seemed at first.
“I think she presented herself in the campaign as a credible candidate, a moderate conservative.
“Part of the frustration is that people don’t see her that way anymore. She’s not doing what people thought she would do.”
Davison cites the climate emergency declaration, the bag bylaw now in trouble, the eight per cent property tax hike, her refusal to light a Menorah candle, and the death of the original Flames arena deal.
Gondek is now at historic low support for a first-term mayor. She faces a formal recall campaign. It has no chance of success but the symbolism is powerful.
“It’s her own supporters who have now risen up, saying we’re angry because we voted for her and she’s not doing what we thought she would do,” says the former councillor for west-end Ward 6.
He won 13 per cent of the mayoral vote in 2021, in third place behind Gondek and former councillor Jeromy Farkas.
Davison was attacked during the runup to the 2021 campaign by allegations of improper fundraising from corporations.
He always denied wrongdoing but the charge cost him votes.
On Oct. 12, 2022, nearly a year after the election, Davison received a letter from Elections Alberta exonerating him completely.
“There has been no violation of the LEFA (Local Authorities Election Act),” says the ruling from Chief Electoral Officer Glen Resler.
Davison is happy about the result but not the process. Unlike the initial accusation, the decision got virtually no publicity. The electoral office didn’t even look at the complaint until Sept. 14, 2022.
“Anybody can make an accusation in an election with the intent to cause reputational harm and damage,” Davison says.
“Elections Alberta is so underfunded that it took a full year after the election to get a note from them saying, just kidding, nothing was wrong.”
Gondek had been in the mayor’s chair for only two months when she lost any chance of support from Davison.
On Dec. 21 that year, the new mayor suddenly announced that the signed arena deal was dead after a phone conversation with Flames majority owner Murray Edwards.
Davison had piloted the agreement for many months as chair of a council committee. That achievement, after many tries by the city, was his proudest campaign pitch.
And then it was gone, after one phone call.
“It was like a punch in the gut after working for so many years to get a good deal,” he says.
“In the deal I put together we had the Flames covering all the cost overruns.
“We got a per cent share of the ticket tax, which meant we got all of our money back out of the facility.
“I think her ego got in the way. I think she tried to move the goalposts on a signed deal. When people dug in their heels she said, well, fine, we won’t do it.
“The hard part about all of this is it wasn’t her call. I still can’t believe this thing got cancelled.
“Councillors should have stood up and said, excuse me, mayor, you don’t have the authority to roll back a signed deal that has been approved by the majority of council.
“And now they’ve brought it back at triple the cost.”
But he says that with the event centre work proceeding it’s too late to make changes. “If I were there, I wouldn’t roll that back. At this point we’ve got to move forward.”
On the big property tax hike, he says, “How does a council that claims they care about affordability — in fact, calling it an affordability crisis — then turn around and increase your taxes by nearly eight per cent?
“It’s just completely opposite of what they say they’re trying to accomplish.
“This was all because of the add-ons and the pet projects. They just didn’t care. They said, me too, I want my thing, without listening to Calgarians who said they’re hurting.”
On the bag bylaw now headed for a second vote by council, he says, “Nobody wanted this. Nobody understood this. But council went and did it anyway. And now they have to repeal that.”
Her refusal to light a menorah candle at Hanukkah “was simply outrageous,” says Davison.
“It was absolutely a political move that backfired on her. When you’re the mayor your job is to show up for community. You go to Christmas events, you go to menorah lightings, you go to Ramadan events, you go to Chinese New Year.”
Davison is working as CEO of the Prostate Cancer Centre based at the Rockyview Hospital, a non-profit funded by donations that provides care, research and education for men diagnosed with the disease. Recently he has overseen a big renovation and expansion.
Known as a conciliator during his years on council, Davison now sounds like a fighter. Round one is rousting out this mayor and many of the councillors.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald
X: @DonBraid
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