2004 Calgary municipal election

Election in Alberta, Canada September 2023 2004 Calgary municipal election Calgary legislative 2001 Calgary municipal election 2001 2007 Calgary municipal election 2007 Mayor and 14 aldermen to Calgary City Council October 18, 2004 150x150px Dave Bronconnier 94,228 81.5% O. F. Oscar Fech 6,357 5.5% 200px Mayor Dave Bronconnier Dave Bronconnier The 2004 Calgary municipal election was held on October 18, 2004 to elect a Mayor and fourteen Aldermen to Calgary City Council. Only 19.81% of the population voted, making the turnout one of the lowest in Western Canadian history.Alberta Government of 2020 Alberta Municipal Elections Information Government of Alberta https://open.alberta.ca/opendata/http-open-alberta-ca-opendata-alberta-municipal-elections-information The election was highly controversial after allegations of electoral fraud by incumbent Ward 10 Alderman Margot Aftergood who subsequently resigned after the election in 2004.13 years after ballot stuffing scandal, former city council member Margot Aftergood will run again https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/margot-aftergood-runs-for-council-ward-7-1.4064694 20 March 2020 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CBC News April 10, 2017 Ward 10 Controversy The 2004 Calgary municipal election was the first election Calgary would allow the use of mail-in ballots. From September 29 to October 3, 2004, the City would receive 1,080 online applications for special mail-in ballots for Ward 10. Of the 1,080 requests, 1,074 originated from two computers, requesting the ballots be mailed to the same postal box "Suite 307" in a North-East Calgary strip mall. Ultimately 1,266 Special Ballot packages would be mailed to Suite 307, of which 851 were eventually submitted to the Returning Office. Of those 694 were rejected due to improper completion of the certificate envelope, and 157 which were properly completed were marked "rejected" by the Returning Officer. The final result of the Ward 10 election saw Aftergood defeat her next closest opponent Diane Danielson by 138 votes.Clark Robert C. Inspector's Report on the October 18, 2004 City of Calgary Ward 10 Election June 22, 2005 Government of Alberta Edmonton http://www.assembly.ab.ca/lao/library/egovdocs/2005/alma/149819.pdf 9 March 20, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200320202417/https://www.assembly.ab.ca/lao/library/egovdocs/2005/alma/149819.pdf On October 14, the Calgary Police Service Commercial Crime and Arson unit was notified of the irregularity and began investigating. On November 11 Calgary Police executed a search warrant on Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta Hung Pham's home for electronic equipment after the online applications had been traced to an account at his home. Hung Pham identified the traced account holder as his sister-in-law. On November 29, 2004 the City of Calgary and Margot Aftergood reached an agreement where she would resign her office as Alderman for Ward 10 in exchange for the City paying 60% of her legal costs. The City provided Diane Danielson the same offer, which she rejected. Calgary City Council passed a resolution on December 6, 2004 requesting the Government of Alberta convene an inquiry "into and concerning the Calgary October 2004 municipal election in Ward 10 including, but not limited to, the conduct of all Ward 10 candidates, their campaign teams and the City of Calgary elections office". On December 29, 2004, the Minister of Municipal Affairs Rob Renner ordered an investigation into the election under Section 571 of the Municipal Government Act, which was completed by Robert C. Clark on June 22, 2005. The report concluded a significant irregularity occurred during the election involving the application for and return of Special Ballots using the names of persons who did not know that this was taking place. Eventually, Margot Aftergood acknowledged the postal box in question was rented by her husband David Aftergood, but asserted that neither she nor her husband did anything wrong. In 2007 David Aftergood was found guilty of violating the Elections Act and was sentenced to 14 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. However, David Aftergood was granted a new trial on appeal and in January 2010, the Crown stayed charges against him. Ron Aftergood, Margot's brother and campaign volunteer Son Nguyen pleaded guilty to violating the Local Authorities Election Act and were fined $4,000 and $1,500 respectively. Charges against other accused individuals were dropped. Andre Chabot was elected Alderman in the 2005 by-election for Ward 10. Results Mayor Votes % Dave Bronconnier (inc.) 94,228 81.5% Oscar Fech 6,357 5.5% Mike Pal 4,666 4.0% Harinder Dhillon 2,893 2.5% Greg Lang 2,781 2.4% Douglas Allan Service 2,678 2.3% Antoni Grochowski 1,946 1.7% Total 115,549 Council Ward 1 Candidate Votes Percent Dale Hodges 9,861 82.9% Perrault Normand 2,041 17.1% Total 11,902 - Ward 2 Candidate Votes Percent Gord Lowe 8,309 87.0% Daniel Del Re 1,244 13.0% Total 9,553 - Ward 3 Candidate Votes Percent Helene Larocque 2,036 21.3% David Heyman 1,882 19.7% Jim Stevenson 1,855 19.4% Naheed Nenshi 1,259 13.2% Lynn Martin 850 8.9% Balvir Khurana 599 6.3% Blaine Thoreson 338 3.5% Dave Chambers 269 2.8% Allan Hunter 217 2.3% Francis Byron 170 1.8% Jon Saby 69 0.7% Total 9,544 - Ward 4 Bob Hawkesworth - Acclaimed Ward 5 Candidate Votes Percent Ray Jones 4,333 59.5% Jag Brar 1,569 21.6% Wil Garth 841 11.6% Raleigh Dehaney 535 7.4% Total 7,278 - Ward 6 Candidate Votes Percent Craig Burrows 9,145 80.1% James Kohut 2,275 19.9% Total 11.420 - Ward 7 Druh Farrell - Acclaimed Ward 8 Candidate Votes Percent Madeleine King 3,040 44.0% Steve Chapman 2,894 41.9% Matthew Urquhart 573 8.3% Alan Chamberlain 402 5.8% Total 6,909 - Ward 9 Candidate Votes Percent Joe Ceci 5,304 70.2% Russell Welch 1,555 20.6% Stan Waciak 696 9.2% Total 7,555 - Ward 10 Candidate Votes Percent Margot Aftergood 2,072 39.5% Diane Danielson 1,934 36.9% Andre Chabot 979 18.7% Brad Berard 254 4.8% Ward 11 Barry Erskine - Acclaimed Ward 12 Ric McIver - Acclaimed Ward 13 Candidate Votes Percent Diane Colley-Urquhart 6,485 71.6% Bob Krengel 1,579 17.4% Mark Dyrholm 993 11.0% Total 9,057 - Ward 14 Candidate Votes Percent Linda Fox-Mellway 6,122 62.0% Brian Pincott 3,752 38.0% Total 9,874 - See also List of Calgary municipal elections Sources Official Election Results (City of Calgary newsroom) References Further reading Mutimer David Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs, 2004 2010 University of Toronto Press Toronto 9781442642287 https://archive.org/details/canadianannualre0000unse_f1b5 registration Harold Jansen Alberta https://archive.org/details/canadianannualre0000unse_f1b5/page/136 Calgary 2004 Category:2000s in Calgary Calgary