City council race sees major upsets

WATCH: Doug Vaessen reports on a surprise defeat in Ward 8.

CALGARY- Calgary’s new city council has just about been decided, and has seen two major upsets—including the ousting of a well-known city councillor.

Ward 8’s John Mar, who was front and centre during the June flood and was seeking his third term, lost to Evan Woolley. Mar was first elected in 2007 and captured over half of the vote in the 2010 election. A former RCMP officer, he had campaigned to put more officers on the street and was also instrumental in the creation of Mission Possible during the flood.

“Democracy isn’t pretty, it’s a blood sport. There are no rules, you play the cards that you’re dealt,” Mar said, after conceding his defeat. “I believe I ran a clean and fair campaign, and I’m very very pleased with the supporters.”

In a show of solidarity, he showed up at Woolley’s campaign headquarters to congratulate the new councillor in person, offering his support.

Woolley recently worked as a program coordinator for the City of Calgary’s public art program. He has served as a member on a number of local committees and boards, and campaigned to legalize secondary suites and end developer subsidies. He says he won, simply because he ‘worked his butt off’ knocking on 13,000 doors, and has big plans for Ward 8.

“This is about us investing out money back into the inner city. You know, the city is growing so rapidly but we need to make sure we keep our inner city neighbourhoods,” said Woolley. “This is the soul of our city, and we need to be reinvesting tax dollars back into our inner city communities.”

Another incumbent who lost their seat was Ward 4’s Gael MacLeod. MacLeod was first elected in 2010, but was defeated by long-time Calgary Police officer Sean Chu. He recently worked with the Community Outreach unit, and is also an entrepreneur.

There are a couple other new faces on council, as two of the races were open. Joe Magliocca was elected to serve Ward 2, which was vacated by long-time councillor Gord Lowe. Magliocca, a business owner and former president of the Hamptons community association, finished second to Lowe back in 2010.

In Ward 1, Ward Sutherland was elected against opponent Chris Harper by just 85 votes.

City council will continue to be headed by Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who overwhelmingly captured the popular vote while seeking his second term.

List of elected councillors:

Ward 1- Ward Sutherland

Ward 2- Joe Magliocca

Ward 3- Jim Stevenson (incumbent)

Ward 4- Sean Chu

Ward 5- Ray Jones (incumbent)

Ward 6- Richard Pootmans (incumbent)

Ward 7- Druh Farrell (incumbent)

Ward 8- Evan Woolley

Ward 9- Gian-Carlo Carra (incumbent)

Ward 10- Andre Chabot (incumbent)

Ward 11- Brian Pincott (incumbent)

Ward 12- Shane Keating (incumbent)

Ward 13- Diane Colley-Urquhart (incumbent)

Ward 14- Peter Demong (incumbent)