Coun. Sonya Sharp joins race to be Calgary's next mayor
Ward 1 rep says she's focused on costs, safety and infrastructure
Coun. Sonya Sharp is joining the race to be Calgary's next mayor.
Sharp, a fiscal conservative, has long been considering a mayoral run. She made her plans official on Monday evening, during an event hosted by the Communities First political party at downtown restaurant The Rooftop.
"I have spent almost my whole career here and I care about Calgary. And last year, when I started to see decisions being made by the majority — and including the mayor — that I was just like, this is not OK anymore, and we need a leader. We need leaders to lead and listen," Sharp said Monday.
Sharp has been the Ward 1 councillor since 2021. She is the chair of the city's infrastructure and planning committee and council's event centre committee, the team dedicated to managing Calgary's arena deal.
She will run under the Communities First party banner. The upcoming civic election in Calgary will be the first to allow political parties.
On council, Sharp has found herself at loggerheads with Mayor Jyoti Gondek at various times, including amid debate over the Green Line LRT revisions and during the city's contentious rezoning saga.
The Communities First party formed in December. Alongside Sharp, the party also includes current councillors Andre Chabot, Dan McLean and Terry Wong.
Should a majority of its candidates be elected, it has promised an "expedited repeal of blanket rezoning."
"It's a bad policy. It needs to go, and, if re-elected, I intend to introduce a motion to repeal it at our first regular meeting of council," Chabot said in a release.
Sharp said if she is elected mayor, she'll focus on affordability, public safety and critical infrastructure.
"We have missed countless opportunities to plan for the future," she said.
Sharp becomes the fifth person to join the race for mayor.
Gondek, former city councillors Jeff Davison and Jeromy Farkas, and Brian Thiessen, former chair of the Calgary Police Commission, have all already launched bids.
Election nominations are open until Sept. 22, and Calgarians will go to the polls on Oct. 20.
With files from Karina Zapata