Western Canada: Calgary and Edmonton elect new mayors

Good morning. It’s James Keller in Calgary.

Calgary and Edmonton have elected new mayors, who will succeed the high-profile, progressive chief magistrates who have led Alberta’s two largest cities for years.

Jyoti Gondek, a city councillor, and Amarjeet Sohi, a former federal Liberal cabinet minister, each won decisive victories in their respective elections on Monday.

They both defeated conservative candidates who campaigned on cutting taxes, constraining public spending and rejecting the direction set by the cities’ outgoing mayors, Naheed Nenshi of Calgary and Don Iveson of Edmonton. In contrast, Ms. Gondek and Mr. Sohi appear more closely aligned with their predecessors.

They will take power in cities that have been struggling under an economic downturn in Alberta that has dragged on for years, which has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployment remains high in both cities, particularly in Calgary, and while there have been recent signs of life in the economy, things are expected to remain sluggish for some time.

In Calgary, one of Ms. Gondek’s most difficult challenges will be addressing the office vacancy problem downtown, which has become a painful reminder of the city’s economic problems. It has also rippled across the city, pushing up the tax bills of businesses outside the downtown core, while wreaking havoc on municipal finances.

Ms. Gondek has also cast the vacancy crisis as an opportunity for transformation as the city comes to grips with the reality that the oil industry is no longer enough to sustain it.

She is an enthusiastic supporter of Calgary’s Greater Downtown Plan, which aims to transform downtown into a mixed-use neighbourhood to get more people living and working in the city centre. And she said she’ll ensure the city explores a wide array of possible solutions, including converting office towers to apartments, building new housing downtown, and working with the tech sector, real-estate experts and others to come up with ideas that haven’t even been imagined yet.

In Edmonton, Mr. Sohi said he believes he can help repair the relationship between the city and the provincial government.

He bills himself as a collaborator who has worked with a string of Alberta premiers, including Jason Kenney, in his previous political positions. Mr. Sohi was first elected to Edmonton’s city council in 2007, serving eight years before leaving municipal politics to run as a Liberal candidate in the 2015 federal election. He won that race and served as a cabinet minister under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Mr. Sohi pointed to his work in federal cabinet to get the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion built. He was federal minister of infrastructure when Ottawa bought the pipeline to save the expansion project

His mayoral priorities are sweeping, ranging from expanding the economy to stamping out discrimination and racism in Edmonton. But Mr. Sohi believes the items on his to-do list, which includes addressing climate change, are interconnected.

“These issues need a systemic, holistic approach to leadership,” he said. “I believe in a collaborative approach to tackling issues.”

Ms. Gondek and Mr. Sohi replace outgoing mayors who had outsized profiles on the national stage.

Mr. Nenshi in Calgary made history as the first Muslim mayor of a major city in North America and then became a household name during a devastating flood in 2013. He is an academic who routinely stepped into contentious policy debates.

As Edmonton’s mayor, Mr. Iveson spent years as chair of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Big City Mayors’ Caucus.

This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief James Keller. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.