The next Calgary civic election is more than two and-a-half years away (Oct. 20, 2025) but a Calgary man declared his candidacy for mayor, hoping to oust Jyoti Gondek..“I wanted to make sure I had the time to prepare, that I had everything organized and in order and that I do my research because I don't like to go into something unaware of what my surroundings are or unprepared,” says Derek Smith, explaining why he declared so far out in front of the election..“I think preparation is key when it comes to anything that I commit to, and I just want to make sure that if I'm going to represent the people of the city that I have a clue as to what I'm doing.”.Smith says he's married with three children. His wife works in the oil and gas industry, so he's a full-time, stay-at-home dad during the week..He has written four books, each of which has gone to #1 on Amazon, inspired, he says, by the Freedom Convoy..“I launched my first illustrated book called How the Prime Minister Stole Freedom and since then I have incorporated my own company as unacceptable fringe,” he says..His reason for running is he's not happy with the way Calgary is being managed. .“I just decided I'm distraught with the things that are happening in my city, and I want to use my voice to stand up for people,” he says. “I wanted to do what the freedom convoy did, and I wanted to bring that to my city without a bunch of trucks and find a way to stand up for what I think the people want.”.Smith says excessive government spending, ever rising taxes and politicians’ transparency form the bulk of his platform..“I think here’s a huge problem in the city when it comes to spending. Most governments these days, whether it's municipal, federal or provincial, tend to think that ‘well if we can't afford something, we’ll just continue to tax people and we'll pay for all of our projects that way.’ That's not the way any government should go.”.“Government has lost its way in the sense that it has stopped realizing that it’s there because people have put them there and they're supposed to represent people. Instead, they've started to represent themselves and their ideologies.”.“I think that we need to go back to a time when the people in office continue to represent the people once they're in office and have the best interests of people at heart.”.Supporting Alberta’s primary industry is also part of the platform..“I think that, even in this city, the oil and gas industry has been almost shamed by this so-called climate change emergency,” says Smith. “Alberta has some of the cleanest and safest oil and gas practices in the world. I was speaking with a gentleman from Saudi Arabia last week and he says that we're a laughing stock because their practices are nowhere close to what Alberta’s are.”.Smith announced his candidacy last week on Twitter to good reaction..“It’s been absolutely positive and very supportive,” he says. “I'll be honest, Twitter is seen as a very negative space. A space where the trolls thrive and there’s a lot of negativities in comments. The comments I’ve received, I'd say have been 95% supportive and people have asked ‘just how can I help, how can I get involved, this needs to happen.’”. “I figured this was going to be an uphill battle in the sense of trying to convince people that I’m worthy to run for this position, but instead got the complete opposite, with an outpouring of support. I was blocked immediately by Jyoti Gondek which tells me she takes this as a threat and I’m looking forward to running if the people of Calgary are behind me, so it looks like we’ve got some support.”
