Jeromy Farkas

Farkas was born and raised in the southeast Calgarian neighbourhood of Dover. His parents had left communist Hungary in 1956 and settled in Calgary.[3]

After graduating from Calgary's Bishop Carroll High School, Farkas attended classes at the University of Calgary and received his bachelor of arts in political science. Prior to being elected, Jeromy attended the University of Calgary for eight years and worked in the Israel Studies Program. Building on his experience as a Research Team Lead in medicine, Jeromy developed a small business focused on finance and data analysis.[4]

Prior to declaring his candidacy for Ward 11, Farkas worked as a senior fellow specializing in municipal governance at the Manning Foundation for Democratic Education from February 2013 to January 2016. He was the project lead for the Council Tracker project, and published a report in September 2013 called "Growing the Democratic Toolbox: City Council Vote Tracking" where he studied City of Calgary Council meetings from fall 2010 to April 2013, specifically examining 73 votes during that period to understand how council worked, look at voting blocs, time spent in-camera (deliberations that are not open to the public), among other issues.[5][6] He continued the project and established the website Counciltracker.com to track Calgary council activities, which he maintained until he left the Manning Foundation to run for Ward 11.

Farkas is a former Calgary Herald columnist writing about local issues, particularly city council.

Formerly president of the Wildrose Party's constituency association in Calgary-Elbow,[7] Farkas identifies himself as a fiscal conservative and social liberal.[8] He describes his political views as being motivated by an attitude that "you should have the biggest say in how you live your life... chasing, again, the best solutions rather than the ones based in ideology," and has been active in issues such as wildlife conservation and human rights activism.[8] He is openly bisexual, which made him Calgary's first openly LGBTQ male city councillor,[9] and played a key role in pushing the Wildrose Party to adopt a more progressive position on LGBTQ issues.[7]

On his first day serving as the councillor for Ward 11, Farkas declined the pension that the mayor and councillors receive. He also declined the transition allowance afforded to him. The Canadian Taxpayer's Federation estimates that if he serves three terms and lives to age eighty-five, these rejected entitlements will save Calgarian taxpayers more than $1.1 million.[10] He also vowed to oppose the city's new southwest bus rapid transit line.[11]

Throughout his term, Farkas has held monthly town hall events during which he answers questions from his constituents off the cuff. When the COVID-19 pandemic rendered such events unsafe, he compensated by hosting weekly Facebook Live sessions.[3]

In December 2017, his proposal for the city to provide additional compensation to residents of the Midfield trailer park, which is being closed due to poor site design that makes it impossible for the city to repair the neighbourhood's failing water and sewer lines without tearing down the homes, failed to advance after Farkas was unable to find a councillor willing to second the motion.[12]

In early 2018, he faced some criticism for being the sole councillor to vote against a motion directing city staff to draft a new parental leave policy for city councillors, on the grounds that taking time away from city council business would be a betrayal of the constituents.[13]

In December 2018, Farkas was kicked out of a council meeting for beaching code of conduct rules. He made a Facebook post regarding councillors salaries, which the basis of his post were deemed to be untrue. His actions were called "dishonest and irresponsible” by the mayor.[14] Farkas was accused of grandstanding on the issue from numerous councillors because he was not addressing his concerns through council and proper channels, but rather posting to social media.[15]

In May 2020, Farkas was found guilty of breaching the code of conduct by the integrity commissioner for his Facebook posts in 2018.[16]

On June 16, 2020, Farkas was the only city councillor to vote against the approval of the Calgary Green Line.[17]

In March 2021, a complaint with the integrity commission was lodged against Farkas for advertising in wards outside of his own.[18]

On April 26, 2021, Farkas was the only councillor to vote against the Downtown Revitalization Strategy, a plan that would have brought more mixed use activity to downtown Calgary.[19]

Also on April 26, 2021, Farkas was one of three councillors who voted against immediately reserving $200 million for the Downtown Revitalization Strategy.[19]

On May 10, 2021, Farkas was one of two councillors who voted against a pilot program allowing alcohol consumption in public parks. The motion was passed.[20]

On September 22, 2021, a by-law was proposed for proof of COVID vaccinations for certain types of business. This was to further support business owners in applying the provincial health measures, and encourage more people to be vaccinated during a state of local emergency. Farkas was the only member of council to vote against this by-law. It passed 13-1.[21]

On September 16, 2020, Farkas announced his candidacy for mayor in the 2021 municipal election, which is scheduled for October 18, 2021.[1] He was the first candidate to do so. He was also the first candidate to officially submit his nomination papers, which he did on January 4, 2021.