‘Will the real Jeromy Farkas please stand up?’ asks Dan McLean, calling out Farkas for speaking of fake conservatives on Calgary city council
“Will the real Jeromy Farkas please stand up?”
The questioner is Dan McLean, a councillor who doesn’t like what he’s been hearing and is more than willing to push back.
Yes, politics is a contact sport and this day it is game on.
There’s an election in October of next year and connected individuals are saying Farkas will almost certainly be on the ballot.
Some of those same political big brains figure Farkas could win.
In the course of the chinwag, Farkas doesn’t hold back on what he thinks of Calgary city council.
They are bad.
They are even worse than when he was on city council in the last term of former-mayor Naheed Nenshi.
And here’s the kicker.
Farkas doesn’t just throw Mayor Jyoti Gondek and the self-styled progressive councillors under the bus for the many failings of city council.
He also points to “fake conservatives” on city council, folks he claims talk a good game but don’t really stand up to the city hall establishment when the chips are down.
You knew the Farkas remark would get a reaction. Farkas no doubt knew as well.
And no one should be surprised if it sounds like you are accusing Dan McLean of being a fake conservative member of city council you can expect him to drop the gloves.
McLean is just that kind of guy and he goes for it.
“Who is fake? He’s the darling of the left and used to be a champion of the right and now he’s palling around with Nenshi and NDP and Trudeau and the Libs and CBC,” says McLean, of Farkas.
“I don’t know who he is and most people didn’t know who he is either.
“He’s persona non grata in conservative circles. He’s burned every bridge there is. The only people who think he’s a conservative are the people who don’t know who he is. They don’t know his record. If there’s anybody fake it’s the new Farkas.
“I’ll tell you this much. His old campaign manager and everybody who worked on his campaign last time will have nothing to do with him.”
In the last election where Farkas lost to Gondek in the mayor’s race, McLean says he was a big supporter of Farkas.
“He was a champion of conservative ideals. The next thing you know he is hanging out with Nenshi.”
Naheed Nenshi, the former Calgary mayor and now Alberta NDP leader.
“He’s trying to play both sides. That’s what he’s doing. But if you try to be everything to everyone you end up pleasing no one.
“Good luck with that, Jeromy. Are you going to run on the left or the right or are you a progressive?
“He’s having an identity crisis.”
Farkas says he is reaching out to “broad middle ground” of Calgarians but he is still, at heart, a conservative.
He says he’s now better able to pick his battles and he is more willing to listen.
Farkas believes he fell short in 2021 when he lost to Gondek because he was thinking he had all the answers and was not keeping an open mind.
“I thought I knew how to solve all the problems and once I had that in my mind I was really a one-trick pony.”
The former councillor eyeing the mayor’s chair says: “I don’t want to be a city for millionaires and billionaires or the city councillors with their automatic pay raises and heated parking and executive suites.”
Farkas sees no “coherent vision” from city council.
“But, with Nenshi, at least you kind of knew where he stood and where he wanted to bring the city even if you thought some of what he was saying was B.S.”
McLean continues to ask his question. Will the real Jeromy Farkas please stand up?
McLean says he doesn’t want anyone “fake” running in the next election.
And, when the dust finally settles a year or so from now, the councillor who speaks what’s on his mind is worried Farkas could actually split the vote with other mayoral hopefuls and Gondek, believe it or not, could actually win another term as mayor.
“He’s palsy-walsy with Nenshi. He may as well be palsy-walsy with her as well.”