News polls show Jeromy Farkas and Jyoti Gondek in a neck-in-neck race for the Calgary mayoral election on October 18.
A recent CBC poll has Gondek at 40 per cent support among decided and leaning voters, while Farkas sits at 32 per cent support.
However, it is noteworthy that 33 per cent of voters remain entirely undecided as to whom they will vote for, so these figures could change drastically.
Similarly — though less dramatic — a Leger Poll has Gondek at 26 per cent and Farkas at 24 per cent, with 29 per cent of Calgarians undecided.
This close race is significant, too, as the two candidates could not be more different.
While Gondek supports defunding the police and lambasts protesters, calling them racists, Farkas remains adamant that Calgary is not a racist city and wants to offer Calgarians an appealing four-year tax freeze to address overspending by the government.
My first campaign commitment is to control taxes and city spending.
If elected mayor, I will work with Council to adopt a four-year tax freeze. -Jeromy Farkashttps://t.co/N1fuLsS3pb#yyccc #yyc #yycvote #farkas4yyc pic.twitter.com/CuOQbn85Lg— Team Jeromy Farkas (@JeromyYYC) September 27, 2021
Last night, Farkas dropped the hammer on Gondek, addressing her shady relationship with third-party advertisers (TPAs), which has filled the hole usually filled by donor money.
According to Farkas, unions have rallied behind TPAs by donating $1.7 million into Calgary’s Future, a left-wing TPA hellbent on crushing businesses and promoting lavish spending projects.
“The truth is Councillor Gondek, she doesn’t answer to you. She doesn’t answer to anyone remotely resembling everyday people,” said Farkas.
“She answers to the money. She answers to the backroom union bosses who, at this very moment, have shovelled in those $1.7 million to buy her the mayor’s seat.”
However, Gondek is not the only candidate maintaining a strong relationship with union-funded TPAs.
Candidate Jeff Davison, who lags in third place with 11 per cent or 12 per cent (depending on the poll), is being propped up by Calgary Tomorrow — another left-wing TPA, which is doing all the heavy lifting in terms of spreading Davison’s message through print media.
Jeff Davison with the prime full-page ad in the September Queensland-Diamond Cove Crier. (Authorized, it notes, by Calgary Tomorrow) #yyc #yyccc pic.twitter.com/mO4WDDEdUb
— Jason Herring (@jasonfherring) September 9, 2021
Indeed, Davison’s connection with Calgary Tomorrow runs so deep that he has received two complaints alleging outright collusion.
Davison’s spokesperson has denied these allegations and is adamant that they are following new rules for TPA’s and campaign donations “to the letter.”
However, Professor Lisa Young, who studies campaign financing, is skeptical of the dodgy relationship.
“(I)t creates an advantage for a campaign that can raise money from sources other than individuals via a TPA and then spend on things the campaign would normally spend on,” Young wrote. “If it was the intent of the law to allow this, all candidates should be able to do the same, in the interest of fairness.”
