'People are looking for a change': Former councillor Jeff Davison says he'll run for mayor again
Platform to focus on affordability, public safety and infrastructure, including tax freeze
Calgary Herald, Scott Strasser, Published Oct 10, 2024
Former city councillor Jeff Davison speaks at Scotsman's Hill on Thursday, October 10, 2024, to announce his intention to run in the 2025 mayoral election. Brent Calver/Postmedia
Just over a year out from Calgary’s next municipal election, former Ward 6 councillor and 2021 mayoral candidate Jeff Davison has announced his intention to run for mayor again.
Davison, who is the first to declare candidacy for the 2025 mayoral race, made the announcement at Scotsman’s Hill on Thursday, surrounded by family and supporters.
“Calgarians have said they’ve had it with this city council,” he said. “They’re mad at the horrible decisions they make and they’re mad about their inability to work together for Calgarians. Simply put, Calgarians don’t trust them.
“I believe it’s time for a clean sweep come (next) October.”
Davison said his platform will focus on affordability, public safety and infrastructure, with the centrepiece being a promise to freeze municipal property taxes at 2025 levels for four years.
Acknowledging such a promise would require a majority approval among city council, Davison argued that a four-year tax freeze would be possible by cutting wasteful department spending.
“When you start to think about planning department budgets that have tripled over the last three years and it’s taking three times as long to get development permits through — that’s one example of where we’re spending money that we’re not getting a return on,” he said.
“I think there’s a lot of waste and, when you consider it, having been on the inside and now on the outside, (I) know where to look.”
Davison previously served on council from 2017 to 2021 as the Ward 6 representative, before his unsuccessful run for the mayor’s seat. He ultimately finished a distant third in 2021 behind front-runners Jyoti Gondek and Jeromy Farkas, in a crowded mayoral race that included 27 candidates. Davison ended the election with 13 per cent of the vote, or just over 50,000 ballots.
