Kareem Allam has big ideas to become Vancouver’s next mayor

Kareem Allam says he was born with an interest in public policy. The son of an Egyptian army general and the grandson of a Sudanese activist, Allam grew up around politics and saw its real-world effects.

Hearing those stories as a young person made him more keenly aware of the importance of politics and government and how they impact day-to-day life, Allam told Vancity Lookout during an interview in Downtown Vancouver.

“I'm not particularly ideological about much. I have my theories about what makes societies work, and the experience of my parents, and where they came from, I think colours a lot of that,” he explained.

Now a veteran of 40 political campaigns (of which he won 36, he said), Allam oversaw a landslide electoral victory in 2022 as the ABC party’s campaign manager. But after a brief stint as Mayor Ken Sim’s chief of staff, Allam was ousted and quickly became an outspoken critic of the current mayor.