September 11, 2025
RED FM News Desk
As Calgary’s municipal election campaign gets underway, two of the city’s highest-profile mayoral contenders are facing scrutiny over spending and ethics.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek has been accused by a rival of using taxpayer dollars to boost her re-election bid, while former councillor Jeff Davison is fending off suggestions from an anonymous source that he is leaning on his ties to a cancer charity to advance his campaign. Both deny any wrongdoing.
Observers say the campaign is off to a sharply negative start.
“It’s a bit more negative than usual right out of the gate, and that’s quite unfortunate,” said Lori Williams, a political scientist at Mount Royal University. “Voters don’t like negativity. But in close races, candidates often turn to negative campaigning because it grabs attention.”
The Calgary Party is demanding a public inquiry into more than $100,000 in city funds spent on a mayor’s office communications and branding project, alleging the initiative doubled as campaign preparation for Gondek.
Brian Thiessen, the party’s mayoral candidate, argues the project — which included a new website and other materials — blurred the lines between city business and political promotion.
“We think Calgarians deserve to know that $100,000 of their hard-earned taxpayer money is being spent to rebrand the mayor in an election year and give her, as the incumbent, an unfair advantage,” Thiessen told CTV News.
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