Many Ward 12 candidates don’t live there

The largest municipal byelection in Alberta history is attracting a large number of candidates who aren’t residents in the ward.

About one-third of the 32 people seeking Edmonton’s vacant council seat live outside the southeast Ward 12’s boundaries, according to an informal Journal poll.

Candidate Andrew Gorman, who lives outside the area in MacEwan, said Thursday he’s heard questions about where people running to represent Ward 12 actually reside

“It’s a bit of a contentious issue, but I do believe I have my heart there and my roots there,” he said.

“I’m hearing from the other candidates that we’re not connected to the community, but that’s not the truth for me.”

Gorman said he lived until 1997 with his family in Hillview, still on the west side of the Ward 12 50th Street boundary but part of the larger Ward 6 before the number of wards was doubled in 2010.

He also ran the family laundry nearby, although it also wasn’t in what is now Ward 12.

He thinks these links give him strong connections to the ward.

“Everybody that’s in Ward 12 would come to my laundromat because mine was the closest one to them.

“I saw these families, met these families, had a relationship with them.”

But rival candidate Jagat Singh Sheoran, a Laurel resident who has been in the ward for 14 years, said the residency issue is important.

“If we live in the ward, then we can understand the basic interests of the people living there. We can know about transportation … what are the problems,” he said.

Several councillors, including Mike Nickel and Bryan Anderson, don’t live where they’re elected.

Anderson, who lives in Ward 10 and is councillor for Ward 9, said he represented both areas for 12 years before the number of wards was increased. “I had 12 years of relationships with community leagues, advisory committees, homeowners’ associations, community league newspapers, so not living there wasn’t even a hiccup.”

His advice for whoever wins the Feb. 22 byelection is to work on community issues until the next civic election in October 2017.

“Make yourself available to your constituents 24/7. It’s a matter of being depended on.”

Advance polls in the race to replace former councillor Amarjeet Sohi will be open next Monday to Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, at the Meadows Community Recreation Centre, 2704 17th St.