Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek has set the record as the first big-city mayor in the nation to have a recall process enacted. Her deep unpopularity comes as a shock to her, but the recall petition is no surprise to the Calgarians who have watched the mayor closely since she took control of the city.
As Landon Johnston, the organizer of the recall campaign put it, “I have my own reasons, and everybody else has their own.” Johnston, who operates a home maintenance company in Calgary, launched the petition after speaking with families during his routine work day, realizing that the vast majority of the families he spoke to had one reason or another to want Gondek gone.
Here at The Counter Signal, we have been keeping an eye on Gondek throughout her reign as well, and after speaking with business leaders, families, and advocates, here are the top 10 reasons Calgarians are pining to put Gondek on EI.
1. She defunded the police — then watched in shock as crime exploded
Crime in Calgary is at an all time high under Gondek’s watch. If you live within a few blocks of public transit, you’ll know well the struggle Calgarian families are facing.
From break-ins, stabbing sprees, gun fights on busses, to the rapid growth of a tent-city narcotic distribution network, Calgary is looking more and more like Gotham City.
Perhaps Gondek could avoid some of the blame if she hadn’t just voted to appease radical factions of her voter base by voting to defund the police budget by $20 million.
Shortly after the crime wave began, Gondek looked to shift the blame and begged Danielle Smith and the province to supplement the police service in downtown Calgary.
“We cannot wait for the next tragedy to occur before something more is done,” she said, not accepting an ounce of personal responsibility.
Calgary Mayor Humiliated by Question About Her Defund The Police Record (youtube.com)
Instead of focusing on crime, Gondek’s sole interest in the police force boils down to forcing the men and women in uniform to stop wearing the thin blue line patch, becoming the first police service in Canada to do so.
2. The “climate emergency” that she never campaigned on
Following her victory in the Calgary mayoral election, mayor-elect Gondek announced her first order of business: declaring a climate emergency and vilifying the capital city of Canada’s oil industry.
“We have had the opportunity to declare a climate emergency for years,” said Gondek
“So, let’s get serious. Let’s declare this. And let’s start going after some of the capital that we will see flow in once we make a bold move like that,” she said.
It is still unclear what incoming cash she was referring to. The announcement caught business leaders off guard, causing vacant office space in the city, once home to international energy firms’ headquarters, to skyrocket.
3. She fumbled a great arena deal, then replaced it with a terrible one
After a mere two months in office, Gondek managed to fumble a new arena deal that was already signed.
As the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) explained at the time, the organization initially agreed to fund 50 per cent of the project, with the city shouldering the other half.
Following her official Climate Emergency announcement, Gondek had added $19 million to the project for her personal climate infrastructure, for which the CSEC would be getting a bill for an additional $10 million.
She tried to justify the initial increases and stressed that her climate mitigation infrastructure, specifically climate-friendly pathways and solar panels, were essential, saying she couldn’t imagine why the Calgary Flames wouldn’t want to fund them to the tune of $10 million.
“The City came to the table to assist with $6.4m in roadways leaving $9.7m for the Flames. Based on this gap, CSEC informed me they are walking away from our deal,” Gondek wrote on Twitter.
Calgarians have waited with frustrated patience for nearly a decade while these talks were underway, and Gondek has done nothing but cause chaos and delay.
4. Gondek banned protests she didn’t agree with
Much like her close friend Justin Trudeau, Gondek hates when people protest about things she disagrees with. She introduced a bylaw that bans citizens from protesting against drag queens dancing and playing with children.
In the same style, the city stopped the recall campaign from rallying on the front steps of city hall. Officials lied, telling organizers that the front plaza could not be used on the day the petition was launched, instead relegating them to the backdoor steps.
Gondek’s anti-protest bylaw requires those who protest against anything she disagrees with to remain 100 meters from the entrances to public facilities of events they wish to protest, effectively rendering their protests useless.
Protesters in violation of this bylaw are now liable to pay a $10,000 fine and can be sentenced to prison for one year.
5. She raised property taxes . . . then gave herself a raise
Gondek voted on and greedily pocketed a cash raise for herself just days after hiking taxes on citizens. She announced the tax hike would fund her programming that the city desperately needed, like safe spaces and diversity training for police officers.
Critics argue that the tax hike wouldn’t have been required if Gondek hadn’t fudged the original stadium deal, which is now costing the city millions.
After the tax hike, Gondek quietly announced she had no choice but to take the extra 2.4% on top of her existing salary and benefits. While Calgarians were still reeling from her recent move to jack up property taxes by 7.8%.
Gondek claims the raise is a result of plans set in motion prior to the cost of living crisis, but made no effort to cancel the raise.
The mayor makes double that of her peers on council at $213,000 per year — somehow more than that of Premier Danielle Smith.
Former Calgary Alderman, John Schmal, sent a letter in December asking the council to call off their automatic raise, calling it “very irresponsible.”
Schmal said that it’s the third year straight that the mayor and city council received pay increases, which follows three straight years where the previous mayor and council declined increases.
Dan Mclean, one of the conservative members of city council, echoed Calgarian’s frustrations, saying he “believe[s] that a council that keeps raising taxes probably doesn’t deserve a pay raise.”
6. She’s been promoting the indoctrination of toddlers into gender ideology
Perhaps the most ludacris premise that Gondek holds in relation to transgenderism is that “trans kids” exist in the first place, especially considering the fact that most minors who believe they are in the wrong body later realize they were simply confused.
Gondek’s belief in gender ideology is what led her to do things like promote a children’s book that teaches transgenderism to toddlers — and one that includes pictures of bearded trans characters with breasts who “work it.”
To say the book promotes trans ideology and transgenderism to toddlers is not hyperbolic, but a matter of public record. During the work-from-home era of COVID, one of the authors of the book — a drag queen named Lil Miss Hot Mess — enthusiastically told a virtual child audience: “I think we might have some drag queens in training on our hands!”
This is the kind of filth that Calgary’s pronouns-in-bio mayor openly celebrates, and if anyone criticizes her for it, she calls them “hateful.”
7. She banned Canada Day fireworks for being racist
Gondek supported the decision to ban fireworks on Canada Day after an unelected city worker declared they are insensitive and a councillor said they are “colonial and racist.”
Instead of what’s normally a massive fireworks show, the city subsequently announced that it would finish off Canada Day with a pyrotechnic show.
Gondek asked Calgarians “to recognize the fact that it’s the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act and there’s Truth and Reconciliation commitments.”
Ten out of the fourteen Calgary city councillors eventually rebelled against Mayor Gondek, signing their names to a notice of motion to overturn the decision.
Gondek was one of the holdouts.
8. She prioritized Hamas supporters and left Jews out in the cold
Illustrating her shockingly bad judgment, Gondek appeased radical Hamas-supporters by boycotting the annual lighting of the Menorah last year — a tradition that has run for over three decades in Calgary, and one that she’s regularly attended in years past.
Energized by the clear support from the administration, masked Hamas supporters then went on to terrorize the city and gridlock the downtown core with dangerous displays in front of traffic.
While Gondek had a bone to pick with Canada Day fireworks, she remained quiet when it came to the illegal fireworks used by Hamas-oriented protesters in the downtown core.
9. She banned free napkins in drive thrus
Gondek banned restaurants from giving out free napkins, bags, and plastic straws. If a mom driving her kids to soccer wanted their burgers in a to-go-bag, she’d better beg. Napkins to clean up spills? Sure, if you pay in cash.
The bylaw quickly became hated by Calgarians, cementing Gondek’s deep unlikeability. In a hail-Mary attempt to dodge the anger from families, the mayor acknowledged that the law was tough, but refused to budge. She voted to maintain the law despite the outrage.
The majority of city councillors disagreed with her, voting 10-5 in favour of repealing the bylaw. The bylaw currently remains in place until a springtime public hearing takes place in light of the vote.
10. The majority of Calgarians want her to resign
A recent poll by ThinkHQ showed that Gondek is the least popular mayor in Calgary’s recorded history, where only 30% of respondents expressed approval compared to 61% who disapprove of her.
“For as long as there has been municipal public opinion polling in Calgary, there has never been a City Council this unpopular,” said Marc Henry, ThinkHQ’s President.
Henry also noted that most of the polling was completed before Gondek’s decision to snub the annual Menorah lighting event.
He added: “So there’s a fairly good likelihood her approval is actually lower than this now.”
The Petition
The official Recall Gondek campaign is hosting petition drives throughout the city, setting an initial goal of reaching 10,000 signatures. Calgarians wishing to add their name to the list must do it in person.
You can register here to receive updates on the campaign, including total signatures received, when signature drives are happening near you, and how the mayor is responding to the self-inflicted political disaster.
