Former Edmonton MP Jaffer running for mayor in fall’s election

Former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer wants to be Edmonton's next mayor after leaving politics in a cloud of controversy 17 years ago.

A former longtime member of Parliament is running to be Edmonton’s next mayor.

Rahim Jaffer, who at age 25 in 1997 became the first Muslim elected to the House of Commons, announced Wednesday afternoon he is running for office in this fall’s municipal election.

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Jaffer announced his candidacy at his Rooster Kitchen and Bar on Whyte Avenue.

The 53-year-old served as the Reform Party MP in the federal Edmonton-Strathcona riding for 12 years. Jaffer won four terms in office – in later years for first the Canadian Alliance then, after a merger with the Progressive Conservatives in 2003, the Conservative Party – before losing a close race to the NDP’s Linda Duncan in the 2008 vote.

Jaffer said he is running to become mayor because he feels his experience operating a small business and as a politician can be of benefit to the city.

“Being on the front lines, hearing from people every day … they’re telling me the truth of what they really are upset about with the city,” Jaffer told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday. “I decided that it’s no longer acceptable with the experience that I have to sit on the sidelines.

“I think it’s important to get involved to try to make this city as good as it can be, that’s really what it comes down to.”

He said “understanding the challenges of the city” is key to presenting voters an alternative to current politicians who are running for mayor.

“We’ve seen the failed policies of some of the last decade of decision-making, which has impacted all of us,” Jaffer said. “Whether you’re in business, whether you’re raising a family, whether you’re just trying to make ends meet, it’s just not working.”

Jaffer’s time in the federal political spotlight came with some controversy shortly after his time as MP came to an end.

He pleaded guilty in 2010 to a charge of careless driving in 2009, when he was found by police in Ontario to have a blood-alcohol level over the limit and in possession of cocaine. He was fined $500. Jaffer was originally charged with drunk driving and possession of the illegal drug.

A 2011 report found he and his business partner broke federal lobbying rules. His then-wife, Helena Guergis, had previously stepped down as a minister in Stephen Harper’s cabinet and was expelled from the Conservative caucus over the scandal.

Jaffer is not hiding from his past controversies, saying he has grown from those mistakes and is eager to show Edmontonians through his platform in the run up to the September election.

“It’s colourful, no doubt, but it’s also all out there,” he said. “I have no skeletons in my closet.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson