tastawiyiniwak competitors, first PACE policy

The race in tastawiyiniwak, the ward currently represented by incumbent Karen Principe, is heating up.

Previously we heard that former Alberta NDP MLA Chris Neilsen was running in the ward

Additionally two new contenders have declared they will be taking on the incumbent: Farhan Chak and Fidel Ammar.

Fidel Ammar is running with PACE, a municipal conservative party. Many of his early policy positions match up with what you'd expect. "Common sense", "reduce spending", "better value" are all talking points present in early campaigning.

Farhan Chak has not yet published any policy, but he is a candidate with a very interesting history: the former Federal Liberal candidate in Edmonton-Mill Woods has won $60,000 in a defamation lawsuit against Rebel News' Ezra Levant. He is also very active in writing about the Israel-Palestine conflict - in fact his stated reason for stepping down as a Liberal candidate was due to his writings on the conflict back in 2007.

The incumbent in the race, Karen Principe, still has not confirmed that she will be running in the election. Given the challenger Ammar, with PACE, it's unlikely we'll see her run with that Party. While Tim Cartmell's Party is still an option, I've not heard any confirmation of her exploring that.

Incumbents Confirmed

Keren Tang has confirmed she will run in Karhiio and Erin Rutherford has confirmed for Anirniq.

They join the confirmed incumbents Anne Stevenson, Ashley Salvador, Michael Janz and Tim Cartmell.

The following incumbents still have not officially confirmed their intention to run in the upcoming election:

• Jo-Anne Wright

• Karen Principe

• Jennifer Rice

• Sarah Hamilton

• Aaron Paquette

• Amarjeet Sohi

Andrew Knack will not be running again.

First PACE Policy

The right-wing party PACE has posted their first piece of policy to their website titled: "Edmonton’s New Blanket Bylaw: A Homeowner’s Nightmare".

The post, absent much in terms of data, justification, or indeed actual policy proposals calls Edmonton's new zoning bylaw, which allows up to 8 units on a single lot and doesn't require minimum off-street parking, a "slap in the face" to homeowners and compares the approval process to "The People’s Republic of China". It continues the comparison saying "there, the government decides, and the people just have to live with it".

It appears, to the surprise of absolutely no one, that municipal parties are unlikely to elevate the level of debate.

As mentioned, Fidel Ammar is running in tastawiyiniwak and is expected to be the PACE candidate (but candidates have not been officially chosen or announced for the party yet).

Others associated with PACE (but not yet a ward) are Christine Haines, David Starko, Donald Grimble, Doug Main, and Sheila Phimester.

Other wards

Over in Karhiio, against incumbent Keren Tang, the organizer of Mabuhay Park, Manny Bautista has begun his campaign. Many of his facebook videos include a significant section spoken in Tagalog, directly to the members of the Filipino community Manny is hoping to court.

In ward Métis, Justin Thomas has filed his notice of intent to run. He ran for mayor in 2017 against Don Iveson, and earned 2.6% of the vote. He's a former police officer and has talked about concerns with crime and disorder in the area. This is bad news for Caroline Matthews, who is also a former police officer and has concerns with crime and disorder in the area, and does not want a vote split in the ward.

In papastew, incumbent Michael Janz has his first challenger in Rozalia Janiszewska.

Rozalia, a self-described "revolutionary leftist", is involved in micronationalism. She is the founder of the Federal Republic of Zirconic.

Also filing their notice of intent to run since the last update: Hali Kaur, Joshua Doyle, Zohra Akbarzada, Steven Joyce, and Suzanne McOrmond.

Edit note: A previous version of this post incorrectly identified Justin Thomas as running for Mayor. It has been updated to reflect running in Metis.