| office = 38th [[Mayor of Calgary|Mayor-elect of Calgary]]
| office = 38th [[Mayor of Calgary|Mayor-elect of Calgary]]
| constituency =
| constituency =
| term_start = October 29, 2025<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/newcomers-independents-ward-councillors-calgary-election-9.6947821 |title=Rookies, independents will dominate Calgary city council |author=Jason Markusoff |date=October 21, 2025 |publisher=CBC}}</ref>
| term_start = October 27, 2025
| term_end =
| term_end =
| succeeding = [[Jyoti Gondek]]
| succeeding = [[Jyoti Gondek]]
Canadian politician
Jeromy Farkas (born 1986) is a Canadian politician who has been the mayor-elect of Calgary since 2025. He was elected to Calgary City Council in the 2017 municipal election to represent Ward 11, serving until 2021.[4]
Described as socially liberal and fiscally conservative,[5] he ran as a candidate for mayor in the 2021 municipal election,[4] placing second to Jyoti Gondek.[6] After his defeat, he served as CEO of the Glenbow Ranch Park Foundation.[7] Farkas again ran for mayor in the 2025 municipal election, placing first and defeating city councillor Sonya Sharp and incumbent mayor Gondek.
Early life and education
[edit]
Farkas was born and raised by Hungarian immigrants in the southeast Calgary neighbourhood of Dover. His parents had left Hungary in 1956.[8]
After graduating from Calgary’s Bishop Carroll High School, Farkas attended the University of Calgary and graduated with a bachelor of arts in political science.[9]
Prior to declaring his candidacy for Ward 11, Farkas worked as a senior fellow specializing in municipal governance at the conservative Manning Foundation for Democratic Education from February 2013 to January 2016.[10][11]
Calgary City Council
[edit]
City Councillor (2017–2021)
[edit]
On his first day serving as the councillor for Ward 11, Farkas declined the pension that the mayor and councillors receive. He also declined the transition allowance afforded to him.[12][unreliable source?] He also vowed to oppose the city’s new southwest bus rapid transit line.[13]
In early 2018, he faced some criticism for being the sole councillor to vote against a motion directing city staff to draft a new parental leave policy for city councillors, on the grounds that taking time away from city council business would be a betrayal of the constituents.[14]
In December 2018, Farkas was kicked out of a council meeting for breaching code of conduct rules. He made a Facebook post regarding councillors’ salaries; the basis of his post were deemed to be untrue. His actions were called “dishonest and irresponsible” by mayor Naheed Nenshi.[15] Farkas was accused of grandstanding on the issue from numerous councillors because he was not addressing his concerns through council and proper channels, but rather posting to social media.[16]
In May 2020, Farkas was found guilty of breaching the code of conduct by the integrity commissioner for his Facebook posts in 2018.[17]
On June 16, 2020, Farkas was the only city councillor to vote against the approval of the Calgary Green Line.[18]
In March 2021, a complaint with the integrity commission was lodged against Farkas for advertising in wards outside of his own.[19]
On April 26, 2021, Farkas was the only councillor to vote against the Downtown Revitalization Strategy, a plan that would have brought more mixed use activity to downtown Calgary.[20] He was also only one of three councillors who voted against immediately reserving $200 million for the Downtown Revitalization Strategy.[20]
On May 10, 2021, Farkas was one of two councillors who voted against a pilot program allowing alcohol consumption in public parks. The motion was passed.[21]
On September 22, 2021, a by-law was proposed for proof of COVID vaccinations for certain types of business. This was to further support business owners in applying the provincial health measures, and encourage more people to be vaccinated during a state of local emergency. Farkas was the only member of council to vote against this by-law. It passed 13-1.[22]
2021 mayoral campaign
[edit]
On September 16, 2020, Farkas announced his candidacy for mayor in the 2021 Calgary municipal election.[4]
Farkas’ ten-point platform included a four-year property tax freeze, support for the Calgary Police Service,[23][24] reform to the Council pension plan, support for single-family neighbourhood zoning, improvements to traffic-light synchronization, reduction of Council time spent behind closed doors, the construction of a rail connection between the inner-city and Calgary International Airport, improved snow removal, opposition to selling city parks, and reduction of business red tape.[25]
On October 18, 2021, Farkas placed second to Ward 3 councillor Jyoti Gondek.[26]
Mayor (2025–present)
[edit]
On February 26, 2025, Farkas announced his candidacy for mayor in the 2025 Calgary municipal election, as an independent. Farkas narrowly defeated Communities First candidate Sonya Sharp and incumbent Jyoti Gondek, with under 1,000 votes separating Farkas and Sharp.[27]
He is openly bisexual, making him Calgary’s first openly LGBTQ male mayor and city councillor,[28] and played a key role in pushing the Wildrose Party to adopt a more progressive position on LGBTQ issues.[29] Following his 2021 mayoral loss, he completed a 168 day, 4,260-kilometre journey of the Pacific Crest Trail in support of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Calgary and Area, raising more than $250,000 as part of that organization’s biggest fundraiser in its history.[30]
| Candidate | Vote | % |
|---|---|---|
| Jyoti Gondek | 176,344 | 45.17 |
| Jeromy Farkas | 116,698 | 29.89 |
| Jeff Davison | 50,654 | 12.98 |
| Brad Field | 19,329 | 4.95 |
| Jan Damery | 8,935 | 2.29 |
| Grace Yan | 2,746 | 0.70 |
| Zane Novak | 1,991 | 0.51 |
| Dean Hopkins | 1,832 | 0.47 |
| Kevin J. Johnston | 1,565 | 0.40 |
| Zaheed Ali Khan | 1,247 | 0.32 |
| Virginia Stone | 1,172 | 0.30 |
| Shaoli Wang | 1,061 | 0.27 |
| Ian Chiang | 973 | 0.25 |
| Teddy Ogbonna | 862 | 0.22 |
| Emile Gabriel | 682 | 0.17 |
| Zac Hartley | 582 | 0.15 |
| Sunny Singh | 572 | 0.15 |
| James Desautels | 531 | 0.14 |
| Mizanur Rahman | 450 | 0.12 |
| Larry Heather | 429 | 0.11 |
| Stan Waciak | 423 | 0.11 |
| Paul Michael Hallelujah | 376 | 0.10 |
| Adam Roberts | 308 | 0.08 |
| Will Vizor | 204 | 0.05 |
| Geoff Rainey | 162 | 0.04 |
| Randall Kaiser | 137 | 0.04 |
| Cory Lanterman | 118 | 0.03 |
| David Clark (Withdrawn) | ||
| Kent Hehr (Withdrawn) | ||
| Grant Prior (Withdrawn) |
- ^ Jason Markusoff (October 21, 2025). “Rookies, independents will dominate Calgary city council”. CBC.
- ^ Jeromy Farkas [@JeromyYYC] (2022-11-04). “Just had our second-last @CPC_HQ Calgary-Heritage board meeting w/ retiring MP @BobBenzen. Bob has built & grown a fantastic team ready to hit the ground running and hold the riding once our next #CPC candidate is nominated. Looking forward to the by-election in the spring!” (Tweet). Archived from the original on 2025-10-22. Retrieved 2025-10-22 – via Twitter.
- ^ Bell, Rick (2023-01-25). “Bell: Farkas speaks out on UCP, Smith, Nenshi, politics and cold beer”. Calgary Sun. Archived from the original on 2025-10-22. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
- ^ a b c “Coun. Jeromy Farkas launches bid for mayor’s seat in 2021 Calgary election | CBC News”. CBC. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
- ^ Potkins, Meghan (2021-09-08). “Left wing? Right wing? Mayoral frontrunners grapple with political labels”. Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
- ^ “Jyoti Gondek elected as Calgary’s first female mayor”. CTV News Calgary. CTV News. 18 October 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
- ^ May, Howard (2024-12-26). “Biggest 2024 Cochrane story was the dam that won’t be built”. Cochrane Eagle. Archived from the original on 2025-02-06. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
- ^ Ward 11. “About Councillor Jeromy Farkas”. www.calgary.ca. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Rieger, Sarah (2021-10-09). “Meet a candidate for mayor: Jeromy Farkas”. CBC News. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
- ^ “Think-tank’s online tool tracks how councillors vote on spending”. Calgary Herald. 2014-05-29. Archived from the original on 2025-10-22. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
- ^ “Manning Centre Report on Calgary City Council – Taxes (3.2K views)”. Scribd.
- ^ “Jeromy supports ending mayor’s double pensions”. Jeromy Farkas. Retrieved 2020-12-07.
- ^ “Ward 11: Jeromy Farkas vows to stop BRT in its tracks”. Calgary Herald, October 17, 2017.
- ^ “Calgary councillor criticized for suggesting parental leave would be ‘betrayal’ of constituents”. Global Calgary, February 26, 2018.
- ^ “Jeromy Farkas kicked out of meeting as Calgary council votes down salary freeze”. Global News. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
- ^ “Calgary councillors accuse colleague of grandstanding with pay cut press release”. CBC News Calgary.
- ^ “Calgary councillor refuses to apologize after breaching code of conduct with misleading Facebook post”. CBC News.
- ^ “City council approves Green Line, with conditions to keep it on budget”. Calgary Herald. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
- ^ “Calgary councillor Farrell files complaint with integrity commissioner over Farkas flyer”. Global News. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
- ^ a b “Calgary council approves plan to revamp downtown with $200M initial investment”. CBC News.
- ^ “Calgary will test allowing alcohol consumption in city parks this summer”. CBC News.
- ^ Markus, Jade (September 22, 2021). “Find out which Calgary businesses will require vaccine passports after bylaw OK’d by council”.
- ^ Villani, Mark (2020-11-02). “‘I would rather be fired’: Farkas’ police commission tenure ends”. Calgary. Retrieved 2020-12-07.
- ^ “Farkas launches petition urging Calgarians to defend our police”. Jeromy Farkas. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-07.
- ^ Farkas, Jeromy (2021-10-08). “Farkas: From snow clearing to taxes, my 10-point plan will bring about real change”. Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on 2021-10-26. Retrieved 2023-03-24.
- ^ “Jyoti Gondek elected as Calgary’s first female mayor”. CTV News Calgary. CTV News. 18 October 2021. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
- ^ Wood, Damien (2025-10-21). “Jeromy Farkas completes his journey, being unofficially elected as Calgary’s new mayor”. CTV News. Archived from the original on 2025-10-21. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
- ^ Farkas, Jeromy (2023-09-23). “Farkas: Hate against LGBTQ+ community puts kids’ lives on the line”. Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on 2024-02-02. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
- ^ Woods, James (2016-06-03). “Local Wildrose official wants party to become champion of LGBTQ issues”. Calgary Herald. Archived from the original on 2025-10-22. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
- ^ Krause, Darren (2023-01-27). “Farkas Pacific Crest Trail finale screens at Calgary cinema”. LiveWire Calgary. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
- ^ “List of nominated (official) candidates & candidates elected by acclamation available for 2025 General Election”. City of Calgary. 23 September 2025. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
