Five new faces head to Calgary’s City Hall

CALGARY – City council underwent a sea change Monday, with at least five new faces headed to City Hall.

And at least another two rookies could join the aldermanic ranks as incumbents were fighting to hang on to their seats early today.

The races in Wards 4, 6 and 12 — left vacant by three aldermen who entered the mayor’s race — were claimed by Gael MacLeod, Richard Pootmans and Shane Keating, respectively. In Ward 9, Gian-Carlo Carra, seeking to fill the seat vacated by the retiring Joe Ceci, had a commanding lead.

In Ward 14, five-term alderman Linda Fox-Mellway appeared poised for defeat, trailing leader Peter Demong by about 2,400 votes with two-thirds of polling stations reporting.

Ward 7 incumbent Druh Farrell, first elected in 2001, was trailing early, but as the night wore on, she edged ahead of challenger Kevin Taylor.

Farrell, who has bore the brunt of anger over the controversial Calatrava bridge, said, "We knew it was going to be a tight race."

In Wards 11 and 2, respective incumbents Brian Pincott and Gord Lowe were also in close races.

Pundits said voters were driven to the polls as much by anger at city hall as they were to vote for a new mayor.

"I think this election was about a great deal of distrust of city hall," said political observer Rod Sykes, who won the mayoralty race in 1969 with the largest majority in Calgary’s history and held the office for three terms.

Indeed, the campaign trail was littered with the fallout from a number of decisions made during the past three years that left Calgarians fuming.

The $25-million pedestrian bridge. A disputed land deal to sell a piece of prime downtown real estate to a developer for a price internal appraisers said was much lower than it was worth.

Multi-million-dollar salaries for Enmax executives and lavish parties on the taxpayer dime. All were issues that amounted to a demand for change at city hall, elder statesmen on council admit.

"It’s what people want . . . they’re looking for changes," said Ald. Dale Hodges, reelected for a 10th term in Ward 1.

Lowe said the issue that came up the most was the Peace Bridge. "There’s a long series of little aggravations," he said.

He spent election night keeping an eye on his competitor Biagio Magliocca, as well as other council members fighting for their political lives.

"I’m busy trying to figure out what the new face of council is going to look like," he said.

Ray Jones, another longtime council member re-elected in Ward 5, agreed there seemed to be an undercurrent of discontent among the electorate.

Civic politicians will need to work harder to ensure there is proper oversight, said Jones.

"I think a lot of us are going to be asking questions that we haven’t asked before."

But before they start questioning bureaucrats, newly elected aldermen will need answers to the most basic ones: what office to put their boxes in and how to find the bathroom.

"Their learning curve is going to be straight up. It’s going to be really hard for the rookies," said Jones.

Political analyst Duane Bratt, of Mount Royal University, said the most immediate challenge facing the new city council and mayor following next Monday’s swearing in will be the "socialization" of its new and veteran members. After that, council will have to deal with the political ghosts such as a review of the city’s bidding processes.

"There are all sorts of issues are going to get dumped into their lap," said Bratt, adding the election could result in a shakeup within the most senior ranks of administration.

Former mayor Sykes predicts that with as many as one-third of the political seats — and possibly more — occupied by political neophytes, tumult is inevitable.

"There is going to be a very divided and fractious council. It will be a cat among the pigeons," he said. "There are going to be blood and guts and feathers flying in every direction. Wait for it."