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Naheed Nenshi campaigns on the final day of Calagary's mayoral race on Oct. 18, 2010.Chris Bolin

Stephen Harper's new mayor is an unknown on the national stage. Naheed Nenshi, however, will become very well known to the Conservative government as he is now mayor of Calgary, a city that not only boasts a Prime Minister but two senior cabinet ministers and a minister of state.

Mr. Harper congratulated Mr. Nenshi on his victory Monday night, noting that his hometown is "the heart of the New West and an economic engine for all of Canada," according to an email from his office Tuesday. "The Prime Minister wishes Mr. Nenshi well as he assumes his new responsibilities."

Environment Minister Jim Prentice, also a Calgarian, called the mayoral election "an extremely exciting moment in the city's history. It speaks to what a young, diverse and dynamic city Calgary has become."

Lee Richardson, meanwhile, saw this coming for a few weeks. The Alberta Tory, who was keeping his colleagues posted with regular updates, says he won all the pools, successfully predicting that the 38-year-old bachelor, who lives with his mother, his sister and her children, would become Calgary mayor.

The Calgary Centre MP is one of the several of senior federal Conservatives who hail from the city. The others include the Prime Minister, the Environment Minister, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Diane Albonczy, the minister of state for seniors.

Mr. Richardson told The Globe that Mr. Nenshi ran a "remarkable campaign." He was helped by supporters of previous Joe Clark campaigns, including a former Clark campaign manager. (The former prime minister represented Calgary Centre from 2001 to 2004.)

More importantly, Mr. Richardson noted that the election of the first Muslim mayor in Canada - Mr. Nenshi is Ismaili - "shatters some of the stereotypes" about Calgary as the white-bread Cowtown.

The reality is that Calgary has not been that way for a long, long time, Mr. Richardson said. And it was Mr. Nenshi's high-minded campaign - he's a university business professor - that attracted voters from all walks of life, religion, age and gender.

Though the Immigration Minister's office did offer specific reaction to the mayor-elect's victory, Mr. Kenney was busy tweeting his best wishes. "Congratulations to Calgary's new Mayor, Nahed [sic]Nenshi, who ran a brilliant idea-based campaign. Kudos to all of the other candidates #yycvotes."

Noting that Alberta is also home to Canada's first Muslim and Hindu MPs, Rahim Jaffer and Deepak Obhrai, Mr. Kenney added that while Mr. Nenshi's victory "is important for lots of reasons, but the patronising 'stunning breakthrough for diversity in Cgy' meme isn't one of them."

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