{"id":561138,"date":"2026-03-26T02:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T02:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/561138\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T02:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T02:58:16","slug":"calgary-mayor-says-target-of-rcmp-probe-isnt-past-or-present-member-of-council-calgary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/561138\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary mayor says \u2018target\u2019 of RCMP probe isn\u2019t \u2018past or present\u2019 member of council – Calgary"},"content":{"rendered":"

As questions swirl around his predecessor, Calgary\u2019s mayor is claiming that no current or former members of city council are the target of an ongoing RCMP investigation<\/a> after some of their phones were seized.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It comes after Global News confirmed RCMP officers executed warrants at the homes of former mayor Jyoti Gondek<\/a>, former Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu<\/a>, and current Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot.<\/p>\n

Gondek said she has been \u201cfully cooperative\u201d with officers but she called the situation \u201cinvasive,\u201d and noted her lawyer would be reviewing to determine if the warrant was \u201cjustified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chabot also told reporters he is \u201cfully cooperating,\u201d after the warrant was executed at his home Thursday, but is unaware of what the investigation is about.<\/p>\n

A lawyer representing Chu has not responded to Global News\u2019 request for comment.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy understanding at this point is that no member of council past or present is the target of an investigation,\u201d Farkas told reporters Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, certain evidence that they may have in terms of text messages or emails they received are being submitted to the RCMP to be able to support the investigation of a third party.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Farkas claimed that third party is a \u201clocal business\u201d facing allegations.<\/p>\n

When asked later how he knows this information, Farkas reiterated he hasn\u2019t been contacted by the RCMP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will just take my current and my former colleagues at their word, but to be clear I\u2019ve not been briefed at greater detail than anybody else,\u201d Farkas said.<\/p>\n

The RCMP\u2019s Federal Policing Northwest Region confirmed the investigation is ongoing, which is related to \u201ca referral we received from Calgary Police Services in October 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calgary police Chief Katie McLellan told reporters Wednesday that she had \u201creceived a concern\u201d in October 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo ensure that we had independence and objectivity, I turned that over to the RCMP,\u201d she told reporters Wednesday. \u201cThe RCMP is the primary police service that is conducting that investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few details or comments have been released about the complaint \u201cto protect the integrity\u201d of the investigation, according to police officials.<\/p>\n

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So far, no charges have been laid.<\/p>\n

Doug King, a justice studies professor at Mount Royal University, said it \u201cmakes good sense\u201d for the RCMP to handle an investigation related to local elected officials as it\u2019s Calgary city council that dictates annual police budgets.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf it was a criminal offence like an assault or property damage by a member of city council, that would have likely been referred to the Edmonton Police Service, or nearby Lethbridge Police Service,\u201d King told Global News.<\/p>\n

\u201cA more complex investigation that may include financial issues like bank records and all those kinds of things, the RCMP are better able to do those investigations because of their level of expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alberta premier Danielle Smith said she has \u201cno understanding of what it is about at all,\u201d and her knowledge is to the extent of what she\u2019s read in the news since the story broke on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just watching the process play out, just like everyone else,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see what the RCMP turns out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The situation comes amidst a marathon public hearing at Calgary city hall over whether council should repeal citywide rezoning.<\/p>\n

Farkas said he believes how \u201cforthcoming\u201d those publicly named in the case have been \u201creinforces the public trust\u201d Calgarians have in his office and city council.<\/p>\n

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Ward 14 Coun. Landon Johnston, however, said the situation is a \u201chuge distraction,\u201d to the work city council is doing, which he noted is \u201cvery frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, we\u2019re in the dark,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cI think it would be important for administration and whoever is investigating whatever is going on to let us know as governors to ensure we\u2019re on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As questions swirl around his predecessor, Calgary\u2019s mayor is claiming that no current or former members of city…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,71388,177137,12459,48,24156,2169,714,216199],"class_list":["post-561138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-calgary-city-council","tag-calgary-city-hall","tag-calgary-police-service","tag-canada","tag-city-of-calgary","tag-crime","tag-politics","tag-rcmp-investigation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}