Article content
A former federal cabinet minister and Edmonton city councillor, Amarjeet Sohi is throwing his hat in the ring to run for the open mayor’s chair in the October municipal election.
Sohi launched his campaign on a Facebook livestream Monday morning and will be taking questions from reporters later. The well-known politician was elected to city council for three terms starting in 2007 as the Ward 12 councillor, but left the post early in his final term to run for the Edmonton Mill Woods federal seat in the 2015 election.
He was elected as part of the Liberal majority government and held high-profile ministerial portfolios including Natural Resources and Infrastructure and Communities. Sohi lost his Edmonton federal seat in the 2019 federal election.
With his announcement, Sohi becomes the 10th candidate to declare a run for the open mayor’s chair after Mayor Don Iveson announced in November he wouldn’t be seeking a third term. Sohi joins Kim Krushell, Mike Nickel and Michael Oshry as candidates with prior council experience. Abdul Malik Chukwudi, Rick Comrie, Brian Gregg, Augustine Marah, Diana Steele and Cheryll Watson have also entered the race.
Of the current council, Scott McKeen, Ben Henderson and Michael Walters will not be running for re-election. All other councillors have announced their intent to run again, with Nickel going for the mayor’s seat for a third time.
Edmontonians will go to the polls Oct. 18.
More to come.
