Meet a Council Candidate: Fidel Ammar

What matters most to the people running to lead our city? In the lead-up to October’s election, Urban Affairs is profiling a select group of city council candidates who stand out for their ideas, lived experience or community roots. Know someone who deserves a spotlight? Email us at editor@odvodpublishing.com with their name and a few sentences about why they’re noteworthy. For a full list of registered candidates, visit the City of Edmonton’s elections page.

Meet a Council Candidate: Fidel Ammar

Fidel Ammar has called Edmonton’s northside home since he was three. He first mulled a run for city council around eight to ten years ago. Now 55, he feels the time is finally ripe to step forward, citing a need for better representation than the ward has seen in recent years.

Ammar is running for Edmonton city council in the ward of tastawiyiniwak under the banner of the Principled Accountable Coalition for Edmonton (PACE), a new municipal political party that states tax reform, public safety and business growth among its key pillars. The current councillor for the ward is Karen Principe. PACE and TAPYeg merged under the PACE banner last fall, and PACE became the first municipal political party to enter the election race.

Ammar, a former ETS bus driver, enjoys his current role as a safety and training manager for PWTransit, which runs the transit system in St. Albert. Still, he feels a deeper calling to serve his community in public office. “Working for the city is one thing, wanting to serve is another. I’m risking a lot because I have a stable career,” says Ammar. “But it’s my passion to run for the city and represent my community.”

He’s calling his campaign Voice of Reason, which reflects his belief that city council needs less ideology and more listening. Of particular concern is what he sees as a lack of engagement with the community from the current council, something he feels he could do a better job of.

Ammar points to delayed infrastructure projects and poor community engagement, such as a new roundabout project at 66 Street and 167 Avenue, which he claims residents were “told” about, rather than consulted on.

“Before you talk, you have to listen,” he says. “If the community feels we should be doing A instead of B, then guess what? My opinion only matters to a certain extent. In the end, I have 20,000 voices that I represent.”

Ammar started his career with the City of Edmonton more than three decades ago, working his way through the ranks as an operator and dispatcher, and later moving into safety management, before taking up his current role in St. Albert in 2022.

He values public transit, but is concerned about safety. Like all major urban councils in Canada, Edmonton council is grappling with public concerns over transit safety. A recent report to council highlighted that despite reported decreases in violent crime and drug-related incidents on transit, many riders still report feeling unsafe.

“I strongly believe that if you give it a safe environment and make people feel safe, they will ride the trains and buses,” Ammar says.

Ammar is calling for a renewed collaboration between Edmonton police and transit peace officers, noting that other major Canadian cities have already assigned new police graduates to transit enforcement as part of public engagement training.

While he understands council’s role is to represent the city as a whole, he’s unabashedly running as a voice for Edmonton’s northside. He’s quick to point out what he sees as a long-standing imbalance between the northside and the rest of the city.

He also sees Edmonton’s growing property taxes as increasingly out of step with the value residents receive. “People don’t mind paying property taxes if they’re getting what they paid for. It’s like that amazing $20 burger – it’s worth it once in a while. But if you buy the Chef Ramsay burger and it tastes like a McDonald’s burger, with respect, you’d ask, what am I paying twenty bucks for? And that’s what we’re getting – we’re getting the McDonald’s burger here in Edmonton.”

Ammar says his campaign will continue to focus on policies that reflect the actual priorities of residents, especially those who feel overlooked. He’s joined PACE because its platform appeals to him. “They’re committed to accountable spending, they’re committed to sensible decisions at council, they’re committed to Edmonton,” he says.
Though the party was born out of a merger of two conservative-leaning groups, Ammar says he sits in the centre of the political spectrum.

“I believe that every human being has a right to live peacefully. To live safely in their community. It doesn’t matter what religion you believe in, the color of your skin or who you pray to,” he says.“You don’t ever want to go too far to the right or too far to the left. You want to be somewhere in the centre and be a sensible councillor that cares about expenses. How about just caring about Edmonton? That’s my motto.”