The 2007 Calgary municipal election was held Monday, October 15, 2007. The citizens of

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

elected one

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

, 12 of their 14

aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members th ...

(one from each of 14 wards) to the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

, five of the seven Calgary School District

trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to ...

s (each representing 2 of 14 wards), and three of the seven Calgary Catholic School District trustees (each representing 2 of 14 wards). All but one of the

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-el ...

councillors ran again in this election (Barry Erskine, of Ward 11), and two incumbents were returned by

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. Five of the incumbent public school trustees ran again, two were acclaimed, and four separate school incumbent trustees ran, three were acclaimed, while Ward 13/14 had only one new candidate. Since 1968, provincial legislation has required every municipality to hold triennial elections. The percent of eligible voters who voted was 33% — putting turnout at a higher level than the previous election in 2004.

Results

Bold indicates elected, ''italics'' indicates incumbent.

Mayor

Aldermen

Public School Trustees

Separate School Trustees

Key Issues

Some of the prominent issues receiving public attention include the following (listed in alphabetical order):

Crime

Recent high-profile violent crimes in Calgary had generated public concern for safety in the city.

Environment

Calgary has the highest per capita

ecological footprint The ecological footprint is a method promoted by the Global Footprint Network to measure human demand on natural capital, i.e. the quantity of nature it takes to support people or an economy. It tracks this demand through an ecological accounti ...

amongst Canada's larger cities. The City has concentrated past efforts on increasing community water conservation and reducing its corporate GHG emissions. Community goals to reduce the community's ecological footprint were identified through the Imagine Calgary process. These were intended to form the basis for comprehensive community-based initiatives to reduce the per capita ecological footprint.

Housing

There was an ongoing shortage of housing in the city. That, combined with what was among the highest rates of growth in housing costs in Canada, had made housing a significant issue for the public.

Infrastructure

A week before the election, the provincial government agreed to provide $3.3 billion for infrastructure in Calgary over the next 10 years. It would be up to city council to allocate those funds.

Transportation

* Disruption of roads, paths and sidewalks due to construction. * Public transit infrastructure. * Increasing motor-vehicle congestion.

Voter participation

Voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Univ ...

in the previous Calgary municipal election was 19.8%, while in the 2001 municipal elections it was 38%.

Controversies

* Campaign finance.

Regarding specific candidates

* Sandy Jenkins was forcibly ejected from the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being inst ...

MacEwan Hall Ballroom by security during a

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concert which he sneaked in after not having paid for a ticket. * Dave Bronconnier's fundraising has raised concerns about the impact of funding on the campaign. * Craig Burrows (incumbent, Ward 6) was the Chair of the City Audit Committee. He was approved to take a University of Calgary business management course which would provide assistance to him in his role on the Audit Committee. He was later asked to repay the course fee, which he did indirectly through a reduction in his spending in the subsequent year. * Mayoral candidate Alnoor Kassam was reported to have spent a million dollars of his own money on his campaign, which led to allegations that his money had been acquired in illegal or unethical manners. Columnist Don Braid attempted to connect him to a banking scandal in Kenya prior to moving to Canada. While Kassam did admit that the local political culture required regular bribes in order to do business, he noted that a Canadian immigration tribunal had completely exonerated him. He insisted that he did not take money when leaving Kenya, but had made his entire current fortune in Calgary. News articles also accused Kassam of attempting economic evictions in a Mount Royal apartment building, although he apparently also supported residents in finding other housing.

References

External links

The City of Calgary: General Election
{{Calgary elections

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

2000s in Calgary