Categories
Alberta Politics

7 City Council races to watch in Edmonton

With most attention focused on Edmonton’s mayoral election, it is important to remember there are a number of contest for City Council that could produce interesting results on election day. There are seven Wards that I will be keeping a close watch on when voting ends on October 21.

Andrew Knack Edmonton Ward 1
Andrew Knack

Ward 1
After three-terms, councillor Linda Sloan  announced only weeks before the nomination day that she would not seek re-election. This must have been a big surprise to her lone-challenger Andrew Knack, who had already been campaigning for months. This is Mr. Knack’s third attempt at winning a city council seat and he is not unchallenged. Health economist Bryan Sandilands, community activist Jamie Post, past-Wildrose Alliance candidate Sharon Maclise, and former CTV reporter Sean Amato have also entered the race. I suspect Mr. Knack’s head-start could be hard to overcome.

Ward 2
With three-term councillor Kim Krushell choosing not to seek re-election, there is an open race in north Edmonton’s Ward 2 . Both Don Koziak and Bev Esslinger will have name recognition from their previous political adventures. A perennial election candidate, Mr. Koziak placed a close second behind Ms. Krushell in 2010 and has run for office many times in the past, including as the Edmonton-Glenora Wildrose candidate in the 2012 provincial election and the mayoral election in 2007. Ms. Esslinger is known from her time as a public school trustee and as last year’s unsuccessful Progressive Conservative candidate in Edmonton-Calder. Candidate Nita Jalkanen could also play a factor in this race as a vocal opponent of the downtown arena project.

David Dodge Edmonton Ward 3
David Dodge

Ward 3
Is first-term councillor Dave Loken politically vulnerable? Challenger David Dodge hopes so. The low-profile Mr. Loken is facing a strong challenge from Mr. Dodge, the former president of the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues. Mr. Loken has an incumbent advantage, but it could be a close race.

Ward 5
The race to replace four-term councillor Karen Leibovici has drawn a crowd. Businessman Michael Oshry, former City Hall insider Terry Demers, transit worker Allan Santos, community league president Rob Hennigar, beer man Jim Gibbon, and former Catholic schools trustee Rudy Arcilla are among the nine candidates. My money is on the cool and confident Mr. Oshry.

Heather Mackenzie Edmonton Ward 6
Heather Mackenzie

Ward 6
Sixteen candidates have entered this race to represent north central Edmonton’s core neighbourhoods. Public school trustee Heather Mackenzie, former Edmonton Journal columnist Scott McKeen, police offcer Dexx Williams and community league president Derrick Forsythe are who I would pick as leaders of the pack. But leading the pack might not be enough. Many of the candidates in this race can expect to receive a few hundred votes each by simply being on the ballot, which could siphon votes away from the front-runners.

Ward 10
Filling Don Iveson‘s shoes in Ward 10 will be a tall order (both literally and figuratively). Community organizer Michael Walters has been pounding the pavement and waging a well-financed campaign for months. As a past provincial election candidate, Mr. Walters also has name recognition in the area. He is facing challenges from university instructor Richard Feehan and businessman Hafis Devji, but they may have a difficult time catching up. My prediction: Mr. Walters’ sweeps Ward 10 on October 21.

Ward 11
Who will replace Kerry Diotte in Ward 11? Hoping to leverage his name recognition and local outrage over potholes, two-time mayoral candidate and former city councillor Mike Nickel is attempting to stage a political comeback, but he is not alone. Mixed martial arts company owner Harvey Panesar (watch his video below), retired citizenship judge Sonia Bitar, and Mujahid Chak could be the biggest obstacles to Mr. Nickel’s return to politics.

Categories
Edmonton Politics

edmonton election 2010: surveys say.

Having been involved in a few election campaigns, I am fully aware of the influx of surveys and questionnaires that end up landing in a candidate’s email inbox over the course of the campaign. They can sometimes be annoyingly time consuming to respond to, but they are sometime an easy way to distill where candidate’s stand on specific issues. Sometimes they also reveal some gems. A question asked in the Edmonton Public Library’s questionnaire posed one of these gem questions to candidates standing in Edmonton’s municipal election:

What character from fiction do you most relate to/is most like you?

Jamie Post – Ward 1: Hard to say, at the moment I’d have to go with Dr. Watson.
Scott Robb – Ward 4: I generally don’t read fiction, but I usually relate to the conflicted hero type.
Thomas Roberts – Ward 6: Can not think of any that is close to me– would love being a combination of Captain Jack Sparrow and Sherlock Holmes, and avoid Dorian Grey(what little I know of the charactor)/Falstaff.
Scott McKeen – Ward 7: OK, that’s tough. I’ll pick Frodo from the Lord of the Rings. A reluctant hero who faces his constant fear to reach journey’s end.
Grant Pullishy – Ward 7: Stephen King- I love thrillers.
Lori Jeffery-Heaney – Ward 8: Hmm, hard to answer – I am more of a non-fiction reader.
Hana Razga – Ward 8: Margaret Laurence Stone Angel’s Hagar Shipley – in about 30 years.
Councillor Don Iveson – Ward 10: James T. Kirk
Al Slemko – Ward 10: Marko Ramius – Red October movie
Shane Bergdahl – Ward 11: That is difficult to say. Frodo from the Hobit and Lord of the Rings comes to mind. A normal person (of sorts) tasked with doing great things.
Roberto Maglalang – Ward 11: Tom Sawyer.
Chinwe Okelu – Ward 11: None.
Brent Schaffrick – Ward 11: Some days, Dilbert, most days I seem to walk a different path then characters in books.
Daryl Bonar – Mayor: I think Rocky Balboa. He perservered with brute force and ignorance as well as a never say quit attitude. He didn’t have all the natural talent and had to overcome many obstacles but his work ethic carried him. I try my best to emulate these traits.
Dan Dromarsky – Mayor: My favorite fictional character is James Bond but how we relate or are alike is also fiction.
Dave Dowling – Mayor: Frodo.
Stephen Mandel – Mayor: I don’t know that he’s like me but the Gene Hackman character as the coach in Hoosiers.

You can also read questionnaire responses from the Professional Arts Coalition of Edmonton, the Canadian Cancer Society, Cycle Edmonton, and the Realtors Association of Edmonton. If you have links to any other surveys and questionnaires, feel free to post a link in the comment section below.