Councillor Karen Leibovici launched her campaign for mayor of Edmonton at a press conference this morning at the CKUA building in downtown Edmonton. The four-term city councillor kicked-off her campaign by delivering a speech that sounded as if it should have been delivered by outgoing Mayor Stephen Mandel, had he decided to seek re-election in this October’s election.
She echoed Mayor Mandel’s oft-heard comment that Edmontonians should not settle for “good-enough” and spent much of her speech praising his progress on infrastructure, transportation and arts issues over the past nine-years.
While Councillor Leibovici spoke about continuing along the current path laid by the mayor, she gave little explanation as to what she would do to build upon the ambitious past nine years. She did talk about the need to return to “bread and butter issues,” and was overly cautious not to criticize the outgoing mayor, vaguely responding that she only wanted to do better on some issues.
It is no surprise that Councillor Leibovici is trying to position herself as the heir to the current mayor. She is expected to have the backing of a swath of Edmonton’s political establishment, including the mayor’s former deputy chief of staff Catherine Keill, now an employee of Hill & Knowlton, and veteran Progressive Conservative Party campaign manager Hal Danchilla, who is rumoured to be a key strategist. Her campaign is also sending a message that it is well-financed, as demonstrated by the slick branding and glossy media kits handed out at her press conference.
She also used her remarks to target one of her competitors. “Edmonton needs a mayor with experience, one who doesn’t reduce significant issues to one-liners,” she told reporters, taking an obvious direct shot at Councillor Kerry Diotte.
Councillor Leibovici will be a formidable contender for the mayor’s chair, bringing with her 27 years of election campaign experience at the provincial and municipal levels.
After two unsuccessful runs as a Liberal Party candidate in the 1986 and 1989 provincial elections, Leibovici was first elected as the MLA for Edmonton-Meadowlark in the 1993 provincial election. She was re-elected as MLA in 1997 and in 1998 she placed third in the Liberal Party’s leadership contest, behind former Tory cabinet minister Nancy MacBeth and Lethbridge MLA Ken Nicol. She was elected to City Council less than a year after the Liberal Party’s rout in the 2001 provincial election, of which she was a surprising casualty. She was re-elected to City Council in 2004, 2007, and 2010.
Edmonton’s last mayor with any lengthy amount of prior elected experience was Jan Reimer, who served three-terms on City Council before being elected as mayor in 1989. Mayor Bill Smith had only run for elected office once before his win and Mayor Mandel served only one-term on Council before being elected as mayor in 2004.
More council candidates enter the fray
Past provincial Liberal Party candidate Arif Khan is expected to run in Councillor Leibovici’s soon-to-be-incumbentless Ward 5. The Edmonton-based consultant placed second to Tory Steven Young in Edmonton-Riverview in the 2012 vote.
Citizenship judge Sonia Bitar and former Edmonton City Councillor Mike Nickel announced their candidacies in southeast Edmonton’s Ward 11. Edmontonians may remember Mr. Nickel from his unsuccessful mayoral bids in 1998 and 2001, and his one-term on city council from 2004 to 2007. In 2007, Mr. Nickel was unseated by Don Iveson in southwest Edmonton’s sprawling former Ward 5.
Councillor Iveson is expected to enter the mayoral race before the end of the month.
10 replies on “Karen Leibovici launches Mandel 2013 campaign”
Karen Leibovici is good if you are looking for a status-quo candidate. Can she bring Edmonton to the next level as a great city? I’m skeptical.
[…] for mayor. Her campaign is centered around the colour blue, and it is definitely sleek! In this post, Dave Cournoyer of Daveberta suggests that Leibovici’s attempting to position herself as the […]
IMHO, we need government to back to doing what it was originally intended to do. They should be minding the public purse and delivering public services in a fair and equitable way.
Forget all this “visionary” crap that has thus far translated into record debt levels and the poorest basic services we’ve seen in decades. They can’t even cut the grass or keep the streets in a decent state of repair, yet seem to freely give away our tax dollars to developers.
I have known Karen for many years. She is a very bright and talented person. She will be a formidable candidate for Mayor
I refuse to announce my intentions until Don Iveson comes out surrounded by cheerleaders next week.
What I will say is if I do run I would consider the following:
1. I would approve 100 new box stores in my first year.
2. I would distribute a free set of bulls balls to all households with an SUV.
3. I would only approve brutalist architecture in the downtown core.
4. I would build a beach next to the water (controversial I know; but Barb wants to parade around in her new Roxy 2 piece. She may be 80, but she’s not quite as chunky as your usual Edmontonian)
How bad has our municipal situation gotten? Well, I agreed with everything Rick just said. I assumed hell would have to freeze over for that to happen. Turns out all that was required was a decade of “visions” accompanied by a complete abdication of the city’s core responsibilities!
[…] held in high regard by Edmonton Journal writer David Staples. Leibovici’s June 13 decision injects some excitement into the race, with fellow city councillor Don Iveson widely expected to make a run for the same […]
[…] Karen Leibovici launched her mayoral campaign this week, making her the first serious challenger to come forward against Kerry Diotte. Councillor Iveson is […]
Edmonton just seems to rehash the same old candidates for different positions
[…] supporters, including many of of Edmonton’s corporate elite and political establishment, to announce her candidacy for mayor. Her campaign chose the brand new CKUA building, an institution embraced by our city’s baby […]