Mayor Gondek celebrates 1 year since historic Calgary election

Anniversaries are a chance to reflect, but Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek says there's still plenty of work to do as she enters the second year of her term in office.

On Oct 18, 2021, Calgarians delivered her to the mayor's office. A year later, she points to her swearing in ceremony as the high point of that first year.

Following Naheed Nenshi's 11 years in the mayor's chair, Gondek promised to bring a different style of leadership from that of her predecessor.

It's a style she describes as more collaborative and less focused on her as the mayor. In short, this mayor wants councillors to have a bigger profile on the work that they do.

"I think it's important to make sure that not only in a council meeting do people feel seen and heard but also in the community and on major projects that they feel that they have a role to play. And that's something that I'll continue to cultivate," said Gondek.

She points with pride to council's decision to declare a climate emergency, something that has Calgary joining many other municipalities in doing and bringing the City of Calgary in step with much of the energy industry.

But there have been controversies along the way, too.

A month after the election, most of city council supported reinvestments in the civic budget, which resulted in a municipal tax hike of more than three per cent.

As 2021 ended, the city's deal with the owners of the Calgary Flames on a new downtown arena fell apart when the owners walked away, citing rising costs.

"Did it hurt? Of course it did. It stings. Bad press stings," said Gondek. 

"Hurt feelings sting when members of the community are upset with you for something that you know didn't happen the way they think it did. Of course it hurts."

But from that low point, council got together and created a new committee to kick start the process, and arena negotiations resumed.

Gondek led a local team of film industry officials to Los Angeles to talk up Calgary's growing film and TV resume. It's a trip that she said will be paying dividends in the months and years ahead.

More tech companies have taken the plunge to locate to Calgary, and Gondek says Calgary is again flexing its economic muscles as it diversifies beyond the energy sector.