In a week and a half, Albertans will head to the polls to elect a fresh slate of municipal representatives.
In Edmonton, that means a new mayor, city councillors, and trustees for both the public and Catholic school districts.
There is no incumbent for the mayor’s seat, after Amarjeet Sohi decided not to run again amid low polling.
While 13 people — 12 men and one woman — submitted paperwork to run for mayor, polling has found six of those candidates have a likelihood of getting enough votes.
They are current city councillors Tim Cartmell and Andrew Knack, former councillors Tony Caterina and Michael Walkers, former MP Rahim Jaffer, and a lone political outside — pediatric dentist Omar Mohammad.
In recent weeks, Global Edmonton reporter Sarah Komadina sat down with all six men for extended interviews on why they feel they have what it takes to lead a growing city of over a million people.
Watch what they said below.
Election day is Monday, Oct. 20. Global News will have results coverage that evening and in the ensuing days.
Tim Cartmell
Edmonton mayoral candidate Tim Cartmell has been representing the southwest Edmonton Ward pihêsiwin (formerly Ward 9) since 2017.
His mayoral run announcement last November had been anticipated for many months.
Before becoming a city councillor, Cartmell was a small business owner and engineer who specialized in structural design and project management. He also worked for the Alberta’s government’s Treasury Board Ministry.
In his time on council, Cartmell has been vocal about the need for the city to live within its means.
His campaign platform focuses on fiscal responsibility, safer streets and neighbourhoods, cracking down on taxes, doing a more efficient job at building public infrastructure, and better management of core services like snow removal.
Cartmell has called for the city to revisit the current infill policy amid concerns from established neighbourhoods.
This election is the first time local political parties are allowed in municipal politics.
The latest term on council was challenging, Cartmell said, noting relationships were strained between some councillors. He said he felt he could lead a more collaborative group.
To that end, Cartmell is the only mayoral candidate with a party: Better Edmonton, which has put up a slate of candidates in all wards that includes current councillor Karen Principe and former Edmonton Police Association president Mike Elliott.
Tony Caterina
Edmonton mayoral candidate Tony Caterina believes his former council and life experience is what is needed for the job.
Caterina represented Ward 7 from 2007 until 2021.
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Caterina grew up in Edmonton’s McCauley neighbourhood and was a business owner in the downtown core in the 1970s.
He took a leave from city council to run in 2015 provincial election as the candidate for the Progressive Conservatives in the Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview riding, but but was beat out by NDP MLA Deron Bilous.
In 2021 after ward boundaries moved, Caterina changed wards and ran in O-day’min, where he lost to current councillor Anne Stevenson.
The veteran politician feels his fiscal platform will get him the votes he couldn’t secure last election. He came out of retirement a year ago to run for mayor, and is running a grassroots campaign with no office or lawn signs — which he says is a testament to his dedication to fiscal responsibility.
He is running on being stricter on tax increases, safety and security — including a zero-tolerance approach to open air drug use and social disorder — and get back to the basics. He believes the way the city is handling infill housing is not working.
Caterina is running as an independent candidate.
Rahim Jaffer
Edmonton mayoral candidate Rahim Jaffer is no stranger to politics, but this is his first foray into the municipal level.
Jaffer, whose family came to Canada when he was a child to escape persecution in Uganda, was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1997. Under the Reform Party, which eventually became the Conservative Party, the then-25-year-old was the first Muslim elected to House of Commons.
Jaffer held onto his federal seat until 2008, when he lost the Edmonton Strathcona riding in a surprising defeat to Linda Duncan of the NDP.
He experienced various legal troubles after that, including impaired driving and cocaine possession charges that were later thrown out, as well as being found in violation lobbying rules.
In announcing his run for mayor, Jaffer said he’s grown from the mistakes of his youth and has no skeletons in his closet because they have already been laid out for all to see.
In recent years, he’s focused on raising his family and running a coffee shop on Whyte Avenue. Jaffer says the city isn’t working. Jaffer said he would force city hall to work within existing revenue and request audits to find savings.
He said he is running make the streets safer with more police hires while also freezing new bike lane construction, reviving businesses and rolling back taxes — saying his experience as a Conservative MP will help him push to get back to the basics.
Jaffer is running as an independent candidate.
Andrew Knack
Edmonton mayoral candidate Andrew Knack was set to leave city hall after representing Nakota Isga in west Edmonton since 2013 — he even announced last year he’d be stepping away from municipal politics.
But then this past spring, Knack began fielding requests to run for the city’s top job and in in May, launched his campaign.
Before being elected to council, Knack managed a retail business in West Edmonton Mall.
Knack says he is the only mayoral candidate one being honest and realistic about taxes, explaining he would advocate for responsible budget but not one that cuts back on essential services.
He is promising affordability, a safer city and a strong economy. Knack said infill developments play a vital role in housing affordability and sprawl sustainability, but there are concerns from the public that do need to be addressed.
While homelessness and housing is a provincial responsibility, Knack said Edmonton ends up dealing with the social disorder and fallout of people falling through the cracks so he would push for the city to do more to address it.
Knack is running as an independent candidate.
Omar Mohammad
Edmonton mayoral candidate Omar Mohammad is not a career politician and his campaign is not traditional.
Mohammad’s strategy includes a touch of humour and leaning heavily on social media, with humorous campaign videos intended to increase engagement amongst young voters.
The pediatric dentist was born and raised in Edmonton, and said his resume instead includes past gigs as a newspaper carrier, mechanic, filmmaker, educator, and business owner.
Mohammad said his life includes periods of food and housing insecurity that led to shelter stays and homelessness — experience he feels has left him the tools to lead city council from a place of first-hand knowledge.
The first-time candidate sold his dental practice in order to run for mayor. He said he elected for that over running for city council first, as he felt he could be a more effective voice for change in the mayor’s seat.
Mohammad wants to ensure fiscal responsibility in city hall, security for Edmontonians and shelter for the vulnerable. He said he would freeze taxes for homeowners and businesses, work on making the city safer and help small businesses.
Mohammad is running as an independent candidate.
Michael Walters
Edmonton mayoral candidate Michael Walters said he is the change the city needs.
Prior to entering politics, he spent 20 years working as a community organizer and policy leader and says he holds perspectives on both the left and right side of the political spectrum.
He received the Queen’s Jubilee medal in 2000 for his work at Edmonton’s Bissell Centre, was chosen as one of Edmonton’s Top 40 under 40 by Avenue Magazine in 2009 and was named one of Alberta’s Next 10 Most Influential Leaders by Alberta Venture magazine in 2013.
Walters was first elected to Edmonton city council in 2013 and was re-elected in 2017. He did not seek re-election in 2021.
After four years as a resident on the outside looking in, Walters wants back in.
Walters calls himself a coalition builder at a time when the city needs strong relationships.
He said Edmonton has to address hard issues such as the city’s tone on policing, the relationship with the provincial government, homelessness and the related social disorder, making not just downtown but all of the city safer, construction delays and tax increases.
He said he will focus on getting city services done right, support vulnerable residents and help grow the city.
Walters is running as an independent candidate.
