Calgary, a major city in western Canada, has elected the country’s first Muslim mayor.

Naheed Nenshi, 38, is a local boy born in Canada to immigrant parents from Tanzania. Political observers in Calgary are calling it a surprise win for the Harvard-educated academic and former business consultant. On election night on Monday, October 18, early poll estimates had him trailing badly behind the two leading candidates late in the evening. But somehow he pulled out a come-from-behind win. Nenshi won with about 40% of the popular vote.

What may be more surprising, though, is that Nenshi has become Canada’s first Muslim mayor in a very conservative region of Canada.

Calgary is in Alberta. Besides the stereotypes of Alberta (cowboys, rednecks, oil fields, minus 30-degree winters and more rednecks) Alberta is also home to a very strong right-wing political movement that rose to prominence in the 1980s and continues to this day. It started with the rise of the Reform Party, a regional protest party that was based on the idea that successive federal governments had been “consistently indifferent to Western Canada while focusing too much attention on Eastern Canada (especially Quebec).” Its conservative foundation was evident in its policy positions: anti-immigration, anti gay marriage and anti abortion. Economically it pushed for lower taxes and free trade, as well as a decentralised government. The Reform Party lasted 13 years and eventually morphed into a new party, the Canadian Alliance (CA). This new party moved farther to the political right, being both more fiscally and socially conservative than its predecessor organisation. The CA became the official opposition, and eventually merged with Progressive Conservative party, Canada’s Tories, uniting the right in Canada. The new party, called the Conservative Party of Canada, is now in power in Ottawa, and is the party of current Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Prime Minister Harper is an über-conservative. He brought George W. Bush-style policies and governing style to Canada when Americans were turning on Bush junior and the rest of the English-speaking Western world was also turning on its leaders who had aligned themselves with the cowboy president: Australia was ousting John Howard, the UK was booting out Tony Blair.

Still, the intelligent, ambitious and likable Nenshi sees nothing ironic in Calgary electing Canada’s first Muslim mayor:

“This is nothing new. This is what Calgary is.”

Journalists and political analysts alike say that race and religion were never issues in the election. In a region of Canada characterised as less liberal, less progressive, that seems like a small miracle. Or perhaps, the stereotypes of Calgary are outdated. Still, it is important to remember that 60% of voters did not vote for Nenshi.

In a television news report on Canada’s CTV, one political scientist, David Taras, said, “I don’t think Calgarians thought of him as the Muslim candidate. They thought of him as the progressive candidate, the candidate with new ideas.”

That, right there, is the difference between Canada and the US.

Watch a fun video from his campaign where he explains to his fellow Calgarians how to pronounce his name: