Ward 1 councillor Sonya Sharp, running for the Communities First party, wants Calgary’s top job.
Before getting elected to city council in 2021, Sharp worked in multiple roles for the City of Calgary, including a 14-year tenure in planning and development and as small business coordinator, before finishing as the head of the city’s business and local economy team.
A lifelong resident of Ward 1, Sharp promises to bring her 20 years of experience working for the City of Calgary and her 16 years of experience as a business owner to running the province’s largest city.
As a long-time business owner, Sharp wants to make Calgary an affordable, efficient and supportive city where residents feel safe while future entrepreneurs choose Calgary as their next home.
Sharp says she is committed to uniting Calgarians and the municipal government, drawing on her years of public service experience and her long-standing presence in northwest Calgary.
More about Sonya Sharp:
Web: sharpformayor.ca
X: @SonyaSharpYYC
Instagram: @sonyasharpyyc
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonyasharpyyc/
7+ questions with Sonya Sharp
Why are you running for mayor?
I am running for mayor to create an affordable, safe city that works, and so that you can trust city hall again.
What are the most pressing issues for you as a mayoral candidate, and how will you solve them?
Number one would be repealing blanket rezoning. I’m working with communities first. We’re repealing blanket rezoning, we’re reinstating what was there before, and we’re going to reform the planning department to cut red tape in order to get permits across the finish line faster to build housing. Second would be public safety, and so we pledged to hire 500 police officers, put more safety mechanisms on transit, including police and open up a 24/7 police station downtown. We are going to do that over the next budget cycle. We were also endorsed by the Calgary Police Association. And the third thing that is top of mind is bringing administration to heal. We have some serious governance issues happening with senior administration, and making sure that they know they report to counsel, and then we, as counsel, report to the people.
You’ve mentioned on your website that you want local entrepreneurs to choose Calgary as their next home. What specific steps will you take to support these local entrepreneurs?
The first thing when you want to talk about local entrepreneurs and businesses, opening their business in Calgary or coming here to Calgary, is creating a safe city. You need to create a safe atmosphere for businesses to survive. And right now, we know that local businesses are spending money on creating safe places, not just for themselves, but for their employees and their patrons. And then the other big thing is cutting red tape, making sure the city is never in the way of businesses opening their business, and that is by cutting red tape. Having a more one-window approach to permits and licensing, and elevating that profile above into the city manager’s office, where it should be, because business creates the vibrancy and allows people to live in the city. It’s kind of like this: business creates a lot of different things in our city that people don’t realize it does, but people move to these cities because of the businesses that are already here, too.
How will you appeal to and meet the needs of young people?
What I always say about civic politics, cause I do know that people don’t think civic politics really kind of matters, they’re not gonna make a difference. It is the one that affects your life the most. And we also, at our level, are your biggest champions to the provincial and federal government. I always say to 18-year-olds that maybe thinking about should I vote or shouldn’t I vote? We are gonna shape the next four years of your life. So think of where you want to be in four years. And who do you want to be able to help shape the path you want to take in the next four years? And local government is the most impactful government to you every day.
I’m 25 years old. What did you think a big city mayor did when you were my age? So around the 2000s.
It was the really heavy rainstorm in 2005. I was 25 when that happened, and we had restrictions because of all the flooding, not like 2013, but we did have a flood in 2005. And I think what was important during that time was the call to action for people to stop washing their cars, making sure that we weren’t putting more water into our systems. And at the time, Calgary was going through a boom. Making sure that we were supporting local businesses and keeping, obviously, our businesses in Calgary thriving, because the United States was actually going through a recession. So we were trying to open up our business, I would say, community to expand with oil and gas before the bust happened in 2008. There was a big call to action to create a lot more vibrancy in Calgary.
With how the city has been growing quickly. How do you want the city to prosper?
I want the city to prosper by just really focusing on all the different cultures that have come here. Becoming a city where everyone is safe to live and be able to live their life. And wherever you’ve come across, the continent or the world. Because people come to Canada sometimes for a better life, and we want to make sure that those cultures are shaping the change and vibrancy of our city. And those of us who were born here and born and raised Calgarians are indulging in it and learning, which is really important.
And finally, when you’re not running for mayor, what do you do on your downtime?
If I’m not in my kids’ sports because they play a lot of hockey and soccer. I’m generally listening to music, hanging out with my friends or even just hanging out in my kitchen. I like to bake, I like to cook, it’s kind of my little bit of an outlet and I just really know how to shut down when I need to.
Sonya Sharp leads the Communities First party in Calgary. PHOTO: RALPH SAULOG
Do you have any final message for this upcoming election?
I will say it is such an important election. Please get out and vote. Oct. 20th is six days away from today’s interview, and please look at electionscalgary.ca on your closest polling station. If you need any support, reach out to my website, my team, sharpformayor.ca, and we can also assist you in finding the right place for you to vote.
Watch video of Calgary Journal reporter Ralph Saulog speaking with Sonya Sharp.
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