The latest Calgary mayoral poll conducted by Janet Brown Opinion Research indicates that Jeromy Farkas could be elected Calgary's next mayor on October 20th.

Source: CBC / Janet Brown Opinion Research

As previously noted by Project Calgary, Farkas' latest election run suggests that his last four years may have been more of a scripted political rebranding exercise than the metamorphosis that he claims.

🤳Farkas spent the last four years trying to rehabilitate his public image

Since his failed 2021 mayoral bid, Jeromy Farkas has been busy working to convince Calgarians that he has “grown” following his term as an “unabashedly acrimonious" city councillor, where he was known for self-promotional rage-farming and sowing public distrust in City Hall, was accused by his council colleagues of “weaponizing misinformation”, and unapologetically stoked division by calling peaceful community movements for racial justice “extremist”. Many will also remember his preceding years of political activism at the pro-sprawl Manning Centre politicizing bike lanes and road safety.

As part of a lengthy public image rehabilitation campaign, Farkas loaded up his LinkedIn profile with stints on the boards of various non-profits. But his most extravagant effort was Hollywood-inspired, channeling his inner Reese Witherspoon and retreading the physical and emotional footsteps of her character in the 2014 movie ‘Wild’, based on the memoir by Cheryl Strayed.

Hiking the exact same trail but equipped with a selfie stick, Farkas live blogged the fundraiser-adventure and even made a documentary movie about his trip, generating for himself plenty of publicity around his personal “change” narrative.

Farkas’ well-publicized hike and live-blogged personal journey along the Pacific Crest Trail retreaded that of Reese Witherspoon’s character in the 2014 Hollywood movie ‘Wild’ (based on the memoir by Cheryl Strayed) on the exact same trail.

👟🥾💨 Farkas can't run (or hike) from his record

Like with any other candidate running for public office, voters in Calgary should consider the track record of candidates running for the job of mayor.

Here's a brief summary of Mr. Farkas' record on City Council:

❌ Focused on self-promotional rage-farming and sowing public distrust in City Hall rather than working with City Council and was accused by his council colleagues for “weaponizing misinformation”;

❌ Voted against a generational investment in public transit to build the Green Line LRT project;

❌ Voted and campaigned against the Southwest Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) / MAX Yellow;

❌ Politicized the safety of Calgarians by attacking bike lanes;

❌ Unapologetically stoked division by calling a peaceful community movement for racial justice “extremist”;

❌ Failed to stand up to the Provincial Government's Calgary Police Service cuts and Green Line funding delays;

❌ Opposed supports for more women in the workforce;

❌ Voted against legalizing secondary suites and against a two-year amnesty program to help bring the estimated 16,000 illegal basement and backyard suites up to code.

👻Farkas' unrelenting political ambition

Though Mr. Farkas may have rewritten his campaign website and bio for this latest mayoral run with higher electoral prospects in mind, perhaps the one thing that has remained consistent over his years as a political activist, a city councillor, and a two-time mayoral candidate has been his unrelenting ambition to be a public figure and politician.

Jeromy Farkas in 2017. (Image source: Calgary Sun)

👾 A reinvented politician should be judged on their full record, not just their latest website

For more than a decade, Project Calgary has supported community-led advocacy efforts on various issues including safer and more affordable housing, better public transit, safer streets for pedestrians and cyclists, curbing financially and environmentally unsustainable sprawl, anti-racism and community-safety initiatives. Across these local efforts, there has not been a single more adversarial individual than Jeromy Farkas. That is his record.