Businessman Alnoor Kassam said Monday he's running to be Calgary's next mayor. Businessman Alnoor Kassam said Monday he's running to be Calgary's next mayor. (CBC)

After announcing his candidacy and later backing off the idea, Calgary businessman Alnoor Kassam says he is in the race to replace Dave Bronconnier as mayor after all.

The venture capitalist and owner of O Hotel Suites in Calgary officially launched his campaign Monday, promising to "help reclaim the city for the people."

"The secret to Calgary's greatness is the communities and the people in them…it's time they mattered again," he said in a statement.

Kassam said he would stop cost overruns at city hall, and would cancel projects if necessary. However, he did not reveal many more details, saying he would release those at future announcements.

A day after Bronconnier announced in February he would not be seeking re-election, Kassam told CBC News he would run again for mayor. Two months later, Kassam said he hadn't made up his mind, and might have jumped the gun with his earlier statement.

Kassam spent more than $1 million of his own money in a failed bid for the mayor's job in the 2007 election, finishing a distant second to Bronconnier.

Questionable business

The investor has been dogged by some questionable business dealings in the past.

He addressed allegations that he had stolen millions of dollars from the Trade Bank of Kenya when he lived there. Kassam pointed out Monday that Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board did not find any evidence that he was involved in the scheme.

Kassam also revealed that he's selling the hotels he owns in Ontario that have gone into receivership.

"A businessman needs to know when to cut his losses, and the hotels in Ontario were suffering because of the recession. Every hotel has suffered. So I decided to sell those hotels in conjunction with the bank," he told reporters.

There are now 11 men campaigning to become Calgary's next mayor:

  • Businessman Alnoor Kassam.
  • Businessman Wayne Stewart.
  • Former alderman Craig Burrows.
  • Ald. Joe Connelly.
  • Liberal MLA Kent Hehr.
  • Paul Hughes, past president of the Calgary Food Policy Council.
  • Former alderman and Conservative MLA Jon Lord.
  • Ald. Ric McIver.
  • Ald. Bob Hawkesworth.
  • Mount Royal University professor Naheed Nenshi.
  • Retired railway worker Gary Johnston.

The municipal election is on Oct. 18.