The race to replace Mayor Don Iveson got a little more crowded today.
Former city councillor and former federal cabinet minister Amarjeet Sohi announced his plans to enter the mayoral election this morning on Facebook Live.
After years working as a bus driver with the Edmonton Transit Service, Sohi was elected to City Council in 2007, where he became a vocal advocate for public transit and the sometimes overlooked communities he represented in south east Edmonton.
After being re-elected to council twice, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Edmonton Mill Woods in 2015. As one of four Liberal MPs elected in Alberta that year, Sohi was appointed to the federal cabinet, first as Minister of Infrastructure and Communities and then as Minister of Natural Resources.
As Natural Resources Minister, Sohi was is believe to have been a driving force behind the federal government’s decision to buy the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project, saving the project at the moment its private-sector shareholders decided to walk away.
Sohi was defeated in his bid for re-election in the anti-Trudeau wave that swept Alberta in 2019, but the loss was more a reflection of Edmontonians unhappiness with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau than with Sohi himself.
A year and a half later, he dusted himself off and is now in the race to become Mayor.
Sohi is a very unique and compelling candidate, and, as anyone who has met him over the course of his 12 years of public service can attest, he is one of the most sincere, humble, and hard-working politicians in Edmonton.
Oshry officially launches
Former city councillor Michael Oshry officially launched his campaign for mayor last week. Oshry submitted his nomination papers to become a candidate for mayor in February 2021 but waited until May 2021 to officially launch his campaign.
Oshry represented south west Edmonton on city council from 2013 to 2017. He was rumoured to have considered a run for the Progressive Conservative Party leadership in 2017 but ultimately declined.
Krushell is back?
After her campaign went silent on social media for an entire month, former city councillor Kim Krushell reappeared online last week. Krushell’s social media accounts went dormant from April 7 to May 4.
Krushell served on council from 2004 to 2013 and launched her mayoral bid with a big media splash in January 2021 so her recent absence generated speculation about whether she was planning to remain in the race.
2 replies on “Amarjeet Sohi is in. Former federal cabinet minister running for Mayor of Edmonton”
Anything but candidates who support the UCP, who waste very large amounts of money on shenanigans.
The Edmonton mayoral field is starting to get a bit crowded. Perhaps name recognition will help Mr. Sohi with so many candidates running.
I think whoever wins will do so by some combination of appearing to be pleasant enough, tough enough and competent. If the race were between Mr. Sohi and Mr. Nickel, I think the former would win. The later has a mixed political record and it seems fairly clear he does not work well with others. However, there may be some ground in the middle for other candidates to try come across as willing and able to tackle the serious fiscal and economic challenges facing Edmonton, but not in a reckless, rigid, ideological way.