Many have tried to pierce Danielle Smith’s political armour but few have succeeded; Jeromy Farkas may have just put a dent in it
Late Monday night, Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas took to social media and called out Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for her bullshit.
His word. Not mine. It was a bravura performance that raises an interesting question: Will it work?
If it does, Mr. Farkas will be one of the few, if not the first, to actually put a dent in Ms. Smith’s political armour. Most who have failed or are failing have tried a variation of Michelle Obama’s when-they-go-low-we go-high strategy, to which Ms. Smith has proved impervious.
It’s a combination of her fake affability, tireless gaslighting, total lack of shame, and ruthless backroom authoritarianism that lets her get away with it, methinks. Whatever it is, up to now it’s been a formula that has confounded such political opponents as Rachel Notley, Jason Kenney, Naheed Nenshi, and Justin Trudeau.
Mr. Farkas didn’t exactly go low, but her certainly spoke the truth as he sees it, and in unvarnished terms. It wasn’t profane, quite, but his late-night social media video and its print version didn’t mince words about Premier Smith’s bizarre attack on a City of Calgary noise bylaw that has annoyed some obviously well connected music promoters who aren’t used to not getting their way at Stampede time.
“It’s time to cut through the bullshit about the Cowboys tent,” Mr. Farkas’s message began and thereafter repeated that Stampede-appropriate term four more times to describe the “co-ordinated smear campaign from out-of-town politicians” that Ms. Smith has ginned up against the noise bylaw – and him.
She probably would have gone south and solicited a few more attacks from Stateside MAGA pals like Kristi Noem, Tucker Carlson, or maybe the Trumpster himself if they weren’t all squabbling with one another down there.
The long list of federal and provincial conservative politicians, strategic advisors, family members and professional bloviators recruited by the premier “think you’re stupid and want you to believe that we’re somehow cancelling Stampede by asking the big tents to use the same rules in place at Coachella, Lollapooloza and all the other world class festivals,” the mayor posted. And that, he said, is just “the first piece of bullshit.”
He laid out the justifications for the city’s bylaw change clearly: Among them: the noise, the mess, the drunkenness, the social disorder; the lax rules that encouraged it; the complaints from thousands of Calgarians; the false claim by the premier that the change was done at the last minute. I recommend you read the whole thing.
“What isn’t bullshit is that as your mayor I’m fighting for you,” he told the residents whose windows have been rattled and their lawns besmeared. “I want you to know that a permit is not a licence to bully a neighbourhood. It is not a profit guarantee. I was elected to stand up for Calgarians, not to take orders from wealthy donors, lobbyists, or politicians protecting their friends.” Capiche?
Ms. Smith, as noted in this space yesterday, has implied in a letter to Calgary City Council that if councillors won’t roll over, she’ll make the decision for them.
That won’t likely hurt Mr. Farkas – who had a reputation as a Smith-style far-right ideologue before losing the 2021 municipal election to Jyoti Gondek but seems to have adopted strategy more attuned to the wishes of constituents since his election victory in 2025 over Ms. Gondek and the UCP’s favoured candidate, Sonya Sharp.
As one Calgarian with a familiar name – frequent social media commentator Les Stelmach – put it in a post on X yesterday, “I’ve been impressed with his evolution. I didn’t vote for him the first time because I saw too much ‘Manning Centre’ b.s. And I was hesitant the second time thinking there was potential it was just an act. But he’s off to a good start, imo”.
Observed retired Mount Royal University political science professor Keith Brownsey: “I had to be convinced about his transformation, but he has tackled some very sticky problems such as the deteriorating water system and kept Smith and the UCP at bay. Very credible job so far.”
In his column yesterday, Postmedia political commentator Don Braid suggested Ms. Smith was “laying on heavy pressure,” and would probably succeed. “Here’s an educated guess: The rules will shift by Stampede opening. The provincials already detect signs of compromise at city hall.”
His colleague Rick Bell, a commentator influential in conservative circles who is usually found in Ms. Smith’s corner, sided with Mayor Farkas. “The majority of city council, who say they believe all Calgarians should be treated equally and inner-city residents are not second-class citizens, back Farkas.”
Mr. Bell concluded his column: “I talk to Farkas and he sounds like he’s rolling the credits on this movie. ‘The council has decided,’ he says, adding a final mention of the premier. ‘If she thinks she can do better she can run for mayor.’”
In the event, council voted 9-to-6 to stick with the rules that Premier Smith hates, but gave the promoters an extra half hour to clear the premises. We’ll see if that’s enough to get the premier to smarten up, channel Donald Trump, and call her defeat a victory.
One of them had to be wrong, but it’s said here that if you’re a Conservative politician and you lose Rick Bell, you’re losing Calgary.
