Meet the new people joining Calgary city council

Kim Tyers is one of several candidates to make it to city hall this year after an unsuccessful bid in 2021, when she ran in Ward 2.

She won Ward 1 running under the Communities First party banner.

In the four years since the last election, she has kept active in politics, working in the offices of the Alberta energy minister and a Calgary MP, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Her website says she was born and raised in Calgary, and lives in Ward 1 with her family.

Tyers did not respond to requests for an interview.

Her website included campaign promises made as part of the Communities First platform, including repealing blanket rezoning, lowering taxes and improving public safety.

After her win, Tyers posted her thanks on social media: “Thank you Ward 1 for choosing me to be your voice at city hall. I will work hard and put our community first.”

After launching the Nose Creek Preservation Society, Andrew Yule said he “stumbled” onto a newfound knowledge of wetlands and the species that inhabit them.

“In the last three years I’ve become really annoying with my family about pointing out all the birds that we’re seeing near our house,” said Yule.

While those birding skills may not be transferable to council chambers, he does hope to flex his know-how of water management and storm-water maintenance, hopefully to avoid repeating mistakes of the past.

Yule describes himself as a known “rabble-rouser” in Ward 3, whether that’s advocating for wetlands, helping get the North Trail High School built, or pushing for transit access in north Calgary.

Transit was the number one issue he heard about during the campaign, with residents complaining of overcrowded buses and the need for the Green Line LRT. 

“North of Stoney Trail is getting super dense, and it needs better transit solutions right now,” he said.

Because of that growing density, Yule said blanket rezoning was never top of his list, since homes are being built regardless and new residents continue to come.

“As a fringe ward, if the inner-city communities aren’t going to assist with that density, it’s coming my way,” said Yule.

He said blanket rezoning is “not a hill I’m willing to die on. So, I want to make sure that we are setting up Calgary for success.”

DJ Kelly emerged the winner in Ward 4 after losing the race in 2021 to Sean Chu, who did not run for re-election this year. 

In the four years since his loss, the director of community partnerships at the University of Calgary said he has been speaking with community members about the issues that matter to them.

“It’s really common for me to go for a dog walk or to the grocery store and for a neighbour to ask me, ‘What the heck’s going on down at city council?’” Kelly told CBC Radio’s Calgary Eyeopener.

“That ‘what the heck’ is now my problem.”

LISTEN | Calgary Eyeopener interviews DJ Kelly:

Calgary Eyeopener8:17DJ Kelly elected councillor for Ward 4

Kelly said he is as ready as he can be for the new role, with experience with the Greenview Industrial Business Improvement Area.

But he acknowledged there will still be a learning curve.

“Nobody is ready to, within three weeks, pass a $8-billion budget. That is a massive ask of any new councillor, especially when you don’t even know where the washrooms at city hall are yet,” Kelly said.  

Kelly is the sole member from The Calgary Party to win a seat on council.

“Obviously, I had higher expectations for a couple of the candidates,” said Kelly.

While political parties did come up while door-knocking, Kelly is unsure how much they ultimately influenced people’s votes.

“I advocated against the creation of them originally, because I just don’t think that left and right wing really matters at city hall,” said Kelly.

“It’s about efficient delivery of government services — doing as much as possible for as little as possible. What’s the left wing versus right wing way to fill a pothole?” 

For John Pantazopoulos, his win only started to sink in when he started to receive congratulatory calls from fellow candidates and Calgary’s next mayor, Jeromy Farkas.

“The mayor said to me, ‘So, John, what are you doing next week?’ and I was like, ‘I’m coming to council.’ You know it was sort of like, oh my goodness,” said Pantazopoulos.

After championing better access to public transit and volunteering for organizations around Calgary, Myke Atkinson took the leap to have a more direct hand in the city by running for council.

In a competitive race, Atkinson unseated Terry Wong.

Looking ahead to the role, he said the magic of working as a city councillor is tailoring the job description to the needs of your ward.

He joins council with a varied work history, after most recently working for the Calgary Public Library’s innovation team. He’s also worked with local organizations like the Calgary Alliance for the Common Good, Calgary Climate Hub and Sled Island, and championed initiatives like the low-income transit pass and free transit for youth 12 and under.

Public transit is Atkinson’s top priority, and he plans to advocate for how to move people around the city effectively, efficiently and affordably.

His other major concern is supporting reinvestment in inner-city Calgary, and downtown revitalization.

As for blanket rezoning, Atkinson supports the policy and wants to ensure redevelopment isn’t happening disproportionately in inner-city neighbourhoods.

“It is time that we start sharing this out and solving the housing, affordability and access issues that we’re having right now on a citywide basis.”

Atkinson said he thinks a compromise with those who support repeal can be found, while working to strike a better balance between providing affordable housing and respecting established neighbourhoods.

“I don’t actually think we have that ratio quite right yet,” he said. “But it’s not about throwing it all out and then trying to develop from scratch; it’s about iterating on what we have from there and taking it forward.”

Nathaniel Schmidt, a former freelance musician turned criminal defence lawyer, has worked everywhere from a brewery’s production line to driving a delivery truck. Now, city councillor is being added to his resumé.

After volunteering on the board of organizations like the Alberta Wilderness Association and Nature Calgary, Schmidt said he decided to run for office in January.

“The joke that I would make with my wife is that I’m doing all this stuff in my free time anyways, so perhaps I can make our lives more manageable by just doing it full-time and creating a situation where I can’t find extracurricular activities to do,” said Schmidt.

Calgary’s rapid growth and the strain it’s putting on the city’s resources are a top priority for council to tackle, said Schmidt, as it will be their responsibility to build a more sustainable city.

He said he doesn’t support repealing blanket rezoning, but thinks there’s a lot of room to compromise with councillors who feel differently. Ward 8 was a close race against an opponent who wanted to see the policy removed, and he said he has to represent the voters who supported her as well.

“I think amendments might be able to achieve what a potential replacement would be and if we can start those conversations right away, we may be able to save time and money as far as what would be a very long and difficult process of starting from square one.”

The owner of Murphy’s Mid-Century in Inglewood, Harrison Clark, knows city council will be an adjustment from running a small business, but he said it is a challenge he’s ready for.

“I mean, no one’s coming in with a degree in councillorship, you know?” said Clark.

“But I’ll tell you what, I’m a person who often jumped into the deep end of the pool in my life.”

Clark won the riding held for four terms by Gian-Carlo Carra, beating his nearest rival Gar Gar by a margin of fewer than 300 votes.

He will now represent 17 communities, including a number of inner-city neighbourhoods, like Inglewood and Ramsey. He wants to see council invest in infrastructure in those areas, including addressing some of the aging recreation centres.

“It’s time for that money to come back to the inner city and sort of shore up these neighbourhoods for the growth that we’re expected to see in the coming years and that we can certainly already feel on the ground,” said Clark.

As for blanket rezoning, Clark said the policy could use some amendments. That means finding a compromise to satisfy those seeking more affordable housing, as well as those concerned about the character of their communities.

Clark said he is excited to get down to work — just as soon as he has had a bit of time to recharge.

In 2021, Rob Ward suffered a close loss in a tight race for Ward 11, finishing second, just 800 votes shy of Kourtney Penner.

In the four years since then, Ward said residents have expressed frustration to him about not being heard on council. It motivated him to run again, and he flipped the result from 2021, unseating Penner for the job.

“I just want to see those people have faith in their representation again,” said Ward, who works as a marketing specialist.

Ward ran under the Communities First banner, and enters office as one of four councillors elected from the party, alongside incumbents Andre Chabot and Dan McLean, and new Ward 1 councillor Kim Tyers.

While Ward said he’ll lean heavily on Chabot and McLean to learn about the role, he said he intends to prioritize the needs of his ward when voting on policy.

The most pressing concern he’s heard from constituents is blanket rezoning. Because of the number of other council members who also support repealing the policy, Ward suggested it should be put on the table in their first council meeting.

“There are people living in Ward 11 who are seeing these developments happen and they don’t have a voice in the matter anymore,” said Ward. “They want blanket rezoning to be repealed quickly before more of these developments come to their streets.”

Along with hiring more police officers to improve public safety, Ward said he also hopes to work toward lowering taxes. He said seniors especially have told him they’re struggling with not being able to keep up with rising expenses.

“As a city councillor, the one thing we can control is the tax rate,” said Ward.

Mike Jamieson was officially declared the winner in Ward 12 on Friday, following a recount due to a tight margin between him and his closest competitor.

In the end, Jamieson, who ran as part of A Better Calgary party’s slate, beat The Calgary Party’s Sarah Ferguson by just 59 votes.

Jamieson was not available for an interview with CBC News.

The ward he will now represent includes a large swath of Calgary’s southeast, including communities like Mahogany and Cranston.

According to his website, Jamieson lives in McKenzie Towne with his wife and two daughters.

He ran on A Better Calgary’s platform promises of repealing blanket rezoning, freezing property taxes and increasing police presence in hubs across the city.

Previously, he has worked as a partner at Calibre Construction and in the oil and gas sector.

His experience in the political arena includes campaigning for two conservative members of Parliament in Calgary, and what his website describes as “instrumental” involvement in Leslyn Lewis’ 2020 campaign for Conservative Party leader, ultimately won by Erin O’Toole.