Tag: Edmonton Municipal Election 2017

Categories
Alberta Politics

116 days left until Edmonton’s Municipal Elections

Edmonton City Hall
Edmonton City Hall

There are 116 days left until the October 16, 2017 municipal elections in Edmonton. Here are some of the latest updates to the list of candidates running in Edmonton’s municipal election for City Council and the Edmonton Public School Board:

  • Emerson Mayers is running for City Council in Ward 4. Mayers is a Registered Nurse and a former vice-president of United Nurses of Alberta Local 183 at Alberta Hospital Edmonton. He was a candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party in Edmonton-Strathcona in the 2012 election. He previously sought the Liberal Party nomination in Edmonton-Manning in 1997, the PC nomination in Edmonton-Manning in 2008, the PC nomination in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood in 2012, and the PC nomination in Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview in 2015.
  • Bill Knight is running for City Council in Ward 6. Knight is the CEO of Three Knights Investments, the founder of B&B Demolition and a well-known philanthropist who has made generous donations to many charities and not-for-profit organizations in Edmonton.
  • Sim Senol is running for City Council in Ward 10. Senol is an administrator at the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Alberta. She is also the President of the Parkallen Parents Association, the Treasurer of the Turkish Canadian Society, and the Chair of the Brightview Playground Development Committee.
  • Sherry Adams is running for re-election to the Edmonton Public School Board in Ward I. Adams was first elected in 2013.
  • Perry Chahal is running for for election to the Public School Board in Ward A. Chahal ran in Ward B in 2001 and 2010, Ward A in 2004, and as an Independent candidate in Alberta’s 2012 Senate nominee election.

If you know any other candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for Mayor, Council, or School Board and are not on this list, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them. Thank you!

Email
Categories
Alberta Politics

There are 124 days left until Edmonton’s Municipal Elections

Edmonton City Hall
Edmonton City Hall

There are 124 days left until the October 2017 municipal elections in Edmonton. Here are some of the latest updates to the list of candidates running in Edmonton’s municipal election for City Council:

  • Kirsten Goa Edmonton City Council Ward 8
    Kirsten Goa

    Alex McFarlane is running in Ward 5.

  • Kirsten Goa and James Kosowan are running in Ward 8. Goa is the Advisory Committee Community Co-Chair of Edmonton City Council’s Initiative on Public Engagement. She was until recently working for Rachel Notley in her constituency office in Edmonton-Strathcona and is a member of the Kokopelli Choir Association’s adult community choir, Vacilando. Kosowan is a high school social studies teacher with the Edmonton Public School Board and has been involved with the Bonnie Doon Community League.
  • Restauranteur Vieri Berretti is running in Ward 10. He will launch his campaign on June 20th at the Royal Gardens Community League.

The Edmonton Elections Office is holding an information session for candidates and their official agents on June 21, from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the Elections and Census Office at 16304-114 Avenue. The session will provide information about Nominations Requirements and Forms, Election Legislation, Bylaws and Signage, and Campaign Finances, Contributions, Disclosures and Expenses.

If you know any other candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for Mayor, Council, or School Board and are not on this list, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them. Thank you!

Email
Categories
Alberta Politics

Edmonton Election Update: School Board Trustees Now Included.

We are now five months away from the October 2017 municipal elections in Edmonton. Here are some of the latest updates to the list of candidates running in Edmonton’s municipal election, now including candidates running for trustee positions on the Edmonton Public School Board and Edmonton Catholic School District.

Edmonton Public School Board

  • Former CBC reporter Trisha Estabrooks announced tonight at The Bellevue that she will run for Edmonton Public School Board in Ward D. A long-time local CBC reporter, Estabrooks is now a freelance journalist and co-host of The Broadcast, a podcast about women and politics. She is being endorsed by Ray Martin, who has served as trustee for the area since 2013 and is not seeking re-election. Local advocate and Alberta Avenue resident Adam Millie is also running in Ward D.
  • The current chairperson of the Edmonton Public School Board, Michelle Draper, is running for re-election in Ward B.
  • Former chairman Michael Janz is seeking re-election in Ward F. Janz was first elected to the public school board in 2010 and has become well-known for his public advocacy on issues such as fair and equitable funding for public schools and improving financial literacy in schools.
  • Bridget Stirling is running for re-election in Ward G. Stirlng was first elected in a 2015 by-election to replace former trustee Sarah Hoffman, who had been elected as the MLA for Edmonton-Glenora and now serves as Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.
  • Local photography business owner Mary-ann Fleming is running for election in Ward I.

Edmonton Catholic School District

  • Outspoken trustee Patricia Grell is running for re-election in Ward 71.
  • The current chairperson of the Edmonton Catholic School District, Laura Thibert, is running for re-election in Ward 77.
  • Trustee Debbie Engel is running for re-election in Ward 74. Engel was first elected to the Catholic board in 1998.
  • Trustee Larry Kowalczyk is not seeking re-election in Ward 72.

Edmonton City Council

If you know any other candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for Mayor, Council, or School Board and are not on this list, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them. Thank you!

Email
Categories
Alberta Politics

Ed Gibbons and Ray Martin not seeking re-election

Edmonton City Councillor Ed Gibbons in September 2013.
Edmonton City Councillor Ed Gibbons in September 2013.

Two long-time Edmonton politicians announced this week that their names will not be on any ballot when the municipal elections are held on October 16, 2017.

Ed Gibbons announced he will not be a candidate in this fall’s municipal elections. Gibbons has served on Edmonton City Council since 2001, first representing northeast Edmonton’s Ward 3 from 2001 to 2010 and for Ward 4 from 2010 until now. He served as the Liberal MLA for Edmonton-Manning from 1997 to 2001, during which he was the official opposition critic for Municipal Affairs. He was also President of Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues from 1995 to 1997.

Ray Martin NDP MLA School Trustee Edmonton Alberta
Ray Martin

Ray Martin announced that he will not seek re-election as the public school board trustee in Ward D. He was first elected to the board in 2013 and is currently serving as vice-chair.

Martin has been a fixture in Alberta politics for four decades, having stood as a candidate in nine provincial and four federal elections since 1975. He served as the MLA for Edmonton-Norwood from 1982 to 1993 and Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview from 2004 to 2008. He was leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party from 1984 until 1994 and leader of the official opposition from 1986 to 1993.

He was recently appointed as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Email
Categories
Alberta Politics

Edmonton City Council Elections Updates

Edmonton municipal election candidates Aaron Paquette, Brandy Burdeniuk, Tim Cartmell and Keren Tang.
Edmonton municipal election candidates Aaron Paquette, Brandy Burdeniuk, Tim Cartmell and Keren Tang.

There are 179 days left until Edmontonians cast their votes to choose their next city council. With the spring approaching and prime campaigning weather just around the corner, candidates are beginning to launch their campaigns.

Here are some of the most recent updates from my list of candidates running in Edmonton’s 2017 municipal elections:

Ward 1: First-term councillor Andrew Knack held a re-election fundraiser on March 26, 2017 at a at the Delux Burger Bar. Knack is expected to formally launch his campaign in the coming months.

Ward 4: Local artist and advocate Aaron Paquette is running in Ward 4. Paquette was the federal New Democratic Party candidate in Edmonton-Manning during the October 2015 election, where he placed third with 11,582 votes  (23.6 percent of the total votes cast). He is also known as the founder of the clever #Ottawapiskat meme that satirized criticisms of the Idle No More protests.

Ward 5: Sarah Hamilton is running in Ward 5. Hamilton is the owner of a local communications and public relations company. She previously served as the director of communications and media relations for the Coal Association of Canada from 2015 to 2017, and previous to that served as deputy press secretary for health minister Stephen Mandel from 2014 to 2015.

Ward 6: First-term councillor Scott McKeen will launch his bid for re-election on May 13, 2017 at the Westmount Community League. McKeen’s event will feature music from El Niven and The Alibi, singer-songwriter Lucette, and indie folk group Post Script.

Rental property manager and developer Tish Prouse is also running in Ward 6. He ran for city council in 2013 as a candidate in Ward 7 where he placed fourth with 1,053 votes (7.3 percent of the total votes cast).

Ward 7: Matt Kleywegt launched his campaign at the Bellevue Community Hall on March 31, 2017. According to his website, Kleywegt is a Graduation Coach with Edmonton Public Schools, where he assists Indigenous teens graduate High School. Here is the video of his campaign launch:

Ward 9: Physician Rob Agostinis will launch his campaign for election on April 21, 2017 at the Whitemud Creek Community Centre. Agostinis is a former president of the Terwillegar Riverbend Advisory Council and former president of the U of A medical alumni association. HE was briefly nominated a candidate for the Liberal Party in Edmonton-Whitemud before the 2001 election.

Also in Ward 9, engineer Tim Cartmell launched his campaign on April 9 and realtor Payman Parseyan launched his campaign on April 16.

Ward 10: First-term councillor Michael Walters will launch his re-election campaign on May 13, 2017 event at the Yellowbird Community Hall.

Ward 11: Keren Tang and Brandy Burdeniuk have launched their bids for city council in this south east Edmonton ward. Tang is President of the board of the Edmonton Multicultural Coalition and is a health promotion researcher. Burdeniuk is a co-founder of a building certification and sustainability company.

If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for Mayor, Council, or School Board, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list. Thank you!

Email
Categories
Alberta Politics

210 days until Election Day in Edmonton

What Edmonton City Hall is expected to look like on Feb. 22, 2016.
Edmonton City Hall in the depths of winter.
Alison Poste Edmonton City Council Ward 4
Alison Poste

With Edmonton’s 2017 municipal elections now 210 days away, we are starting to see more candidates file their intentions to run for city council. I have updated the list of declared candidates, which now includes Alison Poste in Ward 4, Svetlana Pavlenko and Michael Oshry (presumably) in Ward 5, Payman Parseyan and Sandy Pon in Ward 9 and Brandy Burdeniuk in Ward 11.

Oshry, the current councillor for Ward 5, announced earlier this month that he would like to see stricter rules around who can run in Edmonton’s municipal elections.

CBC reported that for the next election in 2021, Oshry would like to see candidates putting their names forward be required to collect 100 signatures and provide a $1,000 deposit. This would be an increase from the current requirement of 25 signatures and $100 deposit.

Michael Oshry Edmonton
Michael Oshry

I am supportive of a change that would require potential candidates to collect 100 signatures, which I think is fair and probably good practice, but I am reluctant to support such a drastic increase to the financial deposit. For many first-time candidates, especially those without support from private sector developers, $1,000 is no small amount of money in a campaign budget.

We should not seek to limit the number of individuals seeking election by creating unnecessary financial hurdles but we can gauge their seriousness and commitment by increasing in the number of signatures required on their nomination forms.

Tracking Calgary election candidates

I have been asked by a number of readers whether I will also be tracking candidates running in Calgary’s municipal elections. The answer is no, but thankfully, Sarah Elder-Chamanara has launched a new website tracking candidates in Calgary. I will definitely write about any interesting races that develop in other municipalities during the campaign but my focus on municipal politics remains in Edmonton.

Email
Categories
Alberta Politics

40 candidates now running in Edmonton’s Municipal Elections

What Edmonton City Hall is expected to look like on Feb. 22, 2016.
Edmonton City Hall in the depths of winter.

There are 246 days until Edmontonians go to the polls to vote for their Mayoral, Councillor and School Board candidates. While it may feel like a long time away, candidates for the October 16, 2017 have started coming forward to campaign and prepare their bids for public office.

As I have done in past elections, I have created a list of candidates who I know are running for Edmonton City Council. This is an unofficial list of candidates who have declared their intentions to stand for office, as candidates become official after Nomination Day on  Monday, September 18, 2017. The list does not include all 40 candidates who have filed their intent to run, as not all of the candidates on that list have declared what position they are intending to seek.

If you know any candidates who have announced their intentions to stand for Mayor, Council, or School Board, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I will add them to the list.

Email
Categories
Alberta Politics

It’s Official – Don Iveson is planning to run for re-election as Mayor of Edmonton

Don Iveson Edmonton Election Mayor
Don Iveson at the launch of his campaign for Mayor in 2013.

Mayor Don Iveson and 25 other Edmontonians have officially submitted forms expressing their intent to run in Edmonton’s next municipal elections, which are scheduled to take place on Monday, October 16, 2017.

Mr. Iveson’s papers were signed on October 16, 2016 and are now filed in the Office of the City Clerk. After serving two-terms on City Council starting in 2007, Mr. Iveson was elected Mayor by an overwhelming 62 percent of voters in 2013. Along with his mayoral duties, he is currently the chair of Canada’s Big City Mayors’ Caucus, which includes the mayors of Canada’s largest cities.

Other council incumbents who have filed their intent to run for re-election are Mohinder Banga, Tony Caterina, Bev Esslinger, Ben Henderson, Andrew Knack, Dave Loken, Scott McKeen, Mike Nickel, and Michael Walters. Six-term councillor Bryan Anderson announced in October that he would not seek re-election in his southwest Edmonton ward.

Candidates do not have to declare what positions they plan to run for until the official nomination day, on Monday September 18, 2017.

Some recent additions to the list of interested candidates, who have filed their papers since my previous updates, include:

Beatrice Ghettuba – A Chartered Professional Accountant and Board Chair of Edmonton’s Africa Centre. She ran as a federal Liberal candidate in the St. Albert-Edmonton riding in the 2015 election. In that race she finished second with 22.6 percent of the vote, ahead of incumbent Independent MP Brent Rathgeber.

Rocco Caterina – The son and executive assistant of Ward 7 Councillor Tony Caterina. He says he does not plan to run against (or to potentially succeed) his father but instead that he plans to run in the neighbouring Ward 4 currently represented by Councillor Ed Gibbons.

Here is the list of the remaining candidates, most who have been mentioned in previous updates:

Email
Categories
Alberta Politics

Thirteen candidates now filed to run in Edmonton’s 2017 elections

What Edmonton City Hall is expected to look like on Feb. 22, 2016.
Edmonton City Hall in the depths of winter.

Two more candidates have joined the list of Edmontonians who have filed their intentions to run in Edmonton’s next municipal election on October 16, 2017. This is an increase of two since I last reported on July 19, 2016 that eleven candidates had filed their papers.

  • Moe Banga Edmonton City Council
    Moe Banga

    Mohinder Banga was elected to City Council to represent southeast Edmonton’s Ward 12 in a by-election on February 22, 2016. The by-election was called to choose a successor to Amarjeet Sohi who was elected as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Mill Woods on October 19, 2015. Mr. Banga was briefly a candidate for the federal Conservative nomination in the Edmonton-Wetaskiwin riding in 2014 before his candidacy was rejected by party officials.

  • Mimi Williams Edmonton
    Mimi Williams

    Local writer and political activist Mimi Williams has run for Edmonton City Council numerous times and most recently in Ward 7 in 2013, where she placed third with 12.3 percent of the vote. Ms. Williams is well-known in New Democratic Party circles and was a candidate for that party’s leadership in 1996. It was reported that she was recruited by the NDP in advance of the party’s recent Calgary convention to identify Kudatah activists who had purchased party memberships with the intention to disrupt the meeting. She is listed on the Elections Alberta website as the President of the NDP association in the Whitecourt-Ste. Anne constituency.

Prospective candidates need to file their intentions to run in order to fundraise for their campaigns but they do not need to identify what position they plan to run for until they submit their papers to the City Clerk on the official nomination day.

Email
Categories
Alberta Politics

Ten candidates have already filed to run in Edmonton’s 2017 elections

Michael Walters and a team of supporters at the Edmonton Municipal Election Nomination Day in 2013.
Michael Walters and a team of supporters at the Edmonton Municipal Election Nomination Day in 2013.

There are 455 days until Edmontonians go to the polls to vote in the next municipal elections and some candidates are already starting to organize their campaigns.

I dropped by the Office of the City Clerk yesterday and discovered that ten candidates have officially registered their intent to run in Edmonton’s 2017 municipal election. Prospective candidates need to file their intentions to run in order to fundraise for their campaigns but they do not need to identify what position they plan to run for until they submit their papers to the City Clerk on the official nomination day.

Five incumbent city councillors Bev Esslinger, Dave Loken, Scott McKeen, Michael Walters and Mike Nickel have filed their papers. I suspect that the five incumbents will run for re-election in their respective Wards. It was suspected that Mr. Nickel could make a third attempt at running for mayor (he did in 1998 and 2001) but a rape joke published on his now-former online talk show’s Facebook page may have convinced him to focus on re-election in Ward 11.

The five challengers who have filed their intentions are:

  • Kris Andreychuk, a Supervisor of Community Safety with the City of Edmonton and 2015 Avenue Magazine Top 40 Under 40, announced at a BBQ event at his home in Highlands last weekend that he will run as a candidate for City Council in Ward 7. He has previously worked as a social worker with Neighbourhood Empowerment Teams on 118th Avenue.
  • Rob Bernshaw ran for city council in north Edmonton’s Ward 3 in 2013 and in the Public School Board Ward G by-election in 2015.
  • Sam Hachem was the sole candidate to challenge Councillor Ed Gibbons in Ward 4 in 2013. He earned 22.8 percent of the vote.
  • Shelley Tupper has been a candidate for City Council in north west Edmonton wards in 2007, 2010 and 2013. In 2013 she ran in Ward 2, finishing 5th with 9 percent of the vote. She has previously served as president of the Kensington Community League and is the current Secretary of the Edmonton-Griesbach Conservative Association.
  • Matthew (Matty) Wray, about whom I could not find any information online.

The next Municipal Elections will be held on Monday, October 16, 2017.

Email