There’s one political leader in Canada who is less popular than Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and it’s Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek.
According to recent data released by ThinkHQ Jyoti Gondek and the city council’s approval ratings have reached an all-time low in June 2024.
The data released tracked mayoral approval ratings since June 2014, when Naheed Nenshi held the role. At the time, Nenshi had an approval rating of 74%. This would plummet to 57% by May 2021, just before his tenure ended.
As of June 2024, Gondek’s approval rating was a mere 26%. In comparison, Trudeau’s latest approval rating was 28%.
“These ratings are unprecedentedly low. They’ve managed to break their own record for low approval ratings set in December of last year, and it seems driven primarily by negative public reactions to policies like the single-use bag bylaw and blanket rezoning,” said ThinkHQ President Marc Henry.
Among the 26% of Calgarians who approved of Gondek, only 7% strongly approved, while 19% somewhat approved of her performance.
Conversely, 48% of respondents strongly disapproved of Mayor Gondek’s performance, while 16% somewhat disapproved.
Henry said that normally, constituents rally around the leader in times of public emergency. However, Gondek’s management has led to the opposite effect.
“Politicians who capably lead during a crisis are rewarded with public support. No such boost for Mayor Gondek, or if there is, it’s masked by unmeasured lower ratings driven by other issues,” said Henry.
Gondek became Calgary’s mayor on Oct. 25, 2021. Soon after being elected her approval rating was 38% by Mar. 2022. This remained relatively stagnant until Dec. 2023, when it dropped to 30% and reached 26% by June 2024.
ThinkHQ’s survey also tracked the approval rating of Calgary’s City Council, which has seen a freefall over the years. As of June 2024, 33% of Calgarians approved of their local councillor, while only 25% approved of the city council as a whole.
In June 2014, 56% of Calgarians approved of their local councillor, while an equal 56% approved of the city council’s performance overall.
“Councillors must also be doing some soul-searching at this stage, with their record-low December approval numbers dropping again,” said Henry.
He added that the ratings for councillors are not uniform, with those who supported the blanket rezoning seeing the largest drop in their approval ratings.
Gondek’s unpopularity had risen so high that she was booed at a Calgary Flames game in April. The boos echoed while a recall petition against her was underway, which eventually ended up receiving over 72,000 signatures. The Recall Gondek campaign was so successful that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pledged to reform the legislation, given that despite its success, it proved impossible to accomplish the requirements.
Men and Calgarians over 55 and older were the least likely to support Gondek, with approval ratings of only 24% and 20%, respectively.
The survey took place between June 13 and 19, surveying 1,114 Calgarians from all four quadrants of the city.
Calgary’s next municipal election will take place on Oct. 20, 2025. Henry said it has taken Gondek three years to fall as low in approvals as she has, so turning it around will be difficult.
“Barring a significant vote split in the next election, if she runs, Gondek has to be considered a long shot for re-election with numbers like this,” said Henry.
