Election

Calgary elects first woman and woman of color, Jyoti Gondek, as its mayor

Darpan News Desk , 18 Oct, 2021 10:56 PM

The new mayor of Calgary Jyoti Gondek is the first female Mayor of the city. She is also of South Asian descent. In her twitter post she gave a shout out to the voters of Calgary for electing her.

Calgary - thank you. I love you.
— Jyoti Gondek (@JyotiGondek) October 19, 2021

Outgoing Mayor Naheed Nenshi congratulated Gondek on her historic win.
History. Made. Congratulations ⁦@JyotiGondek⁩ and your team! pic.twitter.com/YRlRA8GL2b
— Naheed Nenshi (@nenshi) October 19, 2021

Gondek was born in England to parents who immigrated from Punjab, India. She was in Manitoba for a good chunk of her life and then moved to Calgary 1997.

She has a PhD in urban sociology, and worked in consulting and led the Westman Centre for Real Estate Studies at the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business before entering politics.

Gandek thanked her husband and daugther for their support and love throughout this journey.

The current Premier of Alberta Jason Kenney congratulated both Jyoti Gondek and Amarjeet Sohi via social media on their win.

Congratulations to @JyotiGondek and @AmarjeetSohiYEG on their election as mayors of Alberta’s Largest cities.

Thank you as well to all of those who put their names forward for election. 1/4
— Jason Kenney (@jkenney) October 19, 2021

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged the win by both Punjabi descent mayors-elect over Twitter.

Albertans went to the polls and cast their votes yesterday - to the new mayors of Calgary and Edmonton, @JyotiGondek and @AmarjeetSohiYEG, congratulations on your historic wins! And to everyone who won last night, I’m looking forward to working with you and making real progress.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 19, 2021

Two major Albertan cities have elected a man and a woman of South Asian descent as the mayors of their respective cities.

Video courtesy of YouTube (CTV News)

Photo courtesy of Instagram.

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