Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek says the prospect of never owning a home and becoming a forever renter is a liberating experience.
Gondek, who owns two properties in Calgary, made the comments during a discussion with the development company RNDSQR.
“We’re starting to see a segment of the population reject this idea of owning a home, and they’re moving towards rental because it gives them more freedom,” said Gondek.
“They can travel to different places, they can try out different communities, their job may take them from place to place and so people have become much more liberated around what housing looks like, and what the tenure of housing looks like.”
Gondek then went on to say that the idea of being able to own a home was like being “stuck in the 40s, 50s and 60s.”
“As municipalities, we haven’t kept pace with that change. We’re still stuck in the 40s, 50s and 60s,” said Gondek.
According to Gondek’s disclosure statement, the Calgary mayor owns two properties in Calgary – one in Panorama Hills and another downtown in East Village.
Gondek’s comments were condemned by Calgary Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner.
“”If this isn’t a deepfake, this is a perpetuation of a dangerous myth that most renters are renters by choice and have disposable income to travel and the capacity to uproot their residence for work,” Rempel Garner posted on X.
Gondek recently faced a recall campaign. Following the Recall Gondek initiative, campaign leader Landon Johnston is slated to hold discussions with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith regarding possible reforms to the province’s recall laws.
Johnston handed in a total of 72,271 collected signatures.
The campaign required Johnston to gather signatures from 40% of Calgary’s eligible voters, a total of 514,284, within 60 days. In the previous city election, Mayor Gondek secured 176,455 votes out of the 393,090 ballots cast.
Although the signature count fell short of the target, Johnston viewed the campaign as a success. He embarked on the effort single-handedly and initially did not anticipate garnering any signatures at all.
