Municipal Politics

[ChazYEG]

Cheryl continues to do the best in all the forums I believe. Im not sure where she stands on transit though and I fear not having sohi's connections could be a miss.

Breezy was a tough listen on today's forum. My gosh. Not sure how a guy like that is even allowed. Nickel was absent... surprise. Oshry was decent and snarky. Sohi was general and soft. Krushnell was decent, but scattered like usual.

I really don't know who to vote for still... but I think the main 4 are all decent.

How's everyone else feeling on candidates?

I'm too much of a pragmatist, at least when it comes to politics, so.I still think our best bet is Sohi, especially now with a closer link to Ottawa to help smooth communications.
I don't dislike Cheryl or Krushell, and I believe that both would do well, with Cheryl coming across as a little bit more cohesive and strong, but giving me the same feeling of not being too supportive of transit, or at least the LRT in its current form and planning.

I'm not the biggest fan of Oshry and he looks, to me, as trying to do a little bit of the same thing O'tole tried, and appeal to both sides, without being able to stand firm on anything, for fear of losing votes to either Nickel or the other 3 major candidates. I would probably be much more supportive of him as a councilor, where he would probably be more genuine.

My ideal world would have Sohi as mayor, Krushell, Watson and Oshry as councilors (probably added of Adrian Bruff, too).
If we had a ranked ballot, right now, mine would be
Sohi
Krushell
Watson (a stronger commitment to transit would put her in second, though)
Oshry
My cat
My other cat
My third cat
Any random crackhead
A goose
Literally anyone but Jason Kenney
Jason Kenney
Mike Nickel

 

[EdmTrekker]

Cheryl as much said she is UCP and that its Edmonton (voters) fault there are issues with UCP and Edmonton. How dare we vote independently and elect Councillors that are progressives and fight for Edmonton. It was if she was saying she would kiss Kenney's ass and apologize for Edmonton's misdeeds and offer him tribute. That is what I heard her say. Having been involved as an exec in a constituency for the PC party - I can smell a rata.

 

[Gronk!]

I took the Taproot survey: https://edmonton.taproot.vote/2021/surveys/peoples-agenda
Based on results, I should vote for Amarjeet Sohi as Mayor and Adrian Bruff as City Councillor.
Note that Krushell and Nickel were missing from this survey.

 

[TAS]

Cheryl as much said she is UCP and that its Edmonton (voters) fault there are issues with UCP and Edmonton. How dare we vote independently and elect Councillors that are progressives and fight for Edmonton. It was if she was saying she would kiss Kenney's ass and apologize for Edmonton's misdeeds and offer him tribute. That is what I heard her say. Having been involved as an exec in a constituency for the PC party - I can smell a rata.

I've listened to several mayoralty forums and have never heard anything at all like you are describing. Not in the slightest. Not at all.

If you have a direct quote you are basing that on though, please share. Most of the forums have been recorded.

I would say most of the main four candidates at the forums have quite similar goals and objectives, just some different policy ideas how to get there. All four are passionate about the city. It's also a matter of who do you believe will get it done. Oshry does like to call out Sohi for being the only one to propose raising taxes and giving city workers a 2% pay increase in their current negotiations- don't know if that is actually true. Sohi doesn't respond when Oshry says that.

 

[thommyjo]

Cheryl as much said she is UCP and that its Edmonton (voters) fault there are issues with UCP and Edmonton. How dare we vote independently and elect Councillors that are progressives and fight for Edmonton. It was if she was saying she would kiss Kenney's ass and apologize for Edmonton's misdeeds and offer him tribute. That is what I heard her say. Having been involved as an exec in a constituency for the PC party - I can smell a rata.

I have no idea where you got that impression haha.

Only comments I have heard similar is her acknowledging the tension between city and provincial leaders. But this is a talking point they're all saying, so not sure how it makes her ucp? Exaggeration isn't fair or honest to someone.

 

[TAS]

I have no idea where you got that impression haha.

Only comments I have heard similar is her acknowledging the tension between city and provincial leaders. But this is a talking point they're all saying, so not sure how it makes her ucp? Exaggeration isn't fair or honest to someone.

Because I get so bothered and find it so distasteful when somebody's words get so twisted as was done with Cheryll Watson above, I actually spent 10 minutes to transcribe her answer from yesterday's forum - that's the one I think you are talking about @EdmTrekker right? Because there was a comment almost the exact same as yours above on the forum chat after she said this. Here is what she said exactly talking about Edmonton and the province and then she added Calgary into it:

"Here is the key in a partnership…. There are two aspects that are really important. First is mutual respect and the second is that you recognize that it’s a two way partnership. We do need to repair our current relationship with the provincial government. Right now it is fractured and it is broken because we haven’t approached that partnership in that way. So I propose to use some of my experience and practice around resetting the partnership with our provincial and federal government with those principles that I described – mutual respect and two-way partnerships so that we can identify common ground, remove barriers so that we can work together effectively because the only way that we will solve our biggest challenges is collectively. I will also offer that when I was leading in the innovation space (vice-president of innovate Edmonton) it was really much more effective when we join partnership with Calgary so that we could prevent any political games or even complexity of having two major cities advocating to the same funders and same partners."

@EdmTrekker, if it was not this quote you were referring to, please share what you are talking about.

 

[Gronk!]

10 Commitments to Downtown

10 Commitments to Downtown – Sohi

 

[EdmTrekker]

Because I get so bothered and find it so distasteful when somebody's words get so twisted as was done with Cheryll Watson above, I actually spent 10 minutes to transcribe her answer from yesterday's forum - that's the one I think you are talking about @EdmTrekker right? Because there was a comment almost the exact same as yours above on the forum chat after she said this. Here is what she said exactly talking about Edmonton and the province and then she added Calgary into it:

"Here is the key in a partnership…. There are two aspects that are really important. First is mutual respect and the second is that you recognize that it’s a two way partnership. We do need to repair our current relationship with the provincial government. Right now it is fractured and it is broken because we haven’t approached that partnership in that way. So I propose to use some of my experience and practice around resetting the partnership with our provincial and federal government with those principles that I described – mutual respect and two-way partnerships so that we can identify common ground, remove barriers so that we can work together effectively because the only way that we will solve our biggest challenges is collectively. I will also offer that when I was leading in the innovation space (vice-president of innovate Edmonton) it was really much more effective when we join partnership with Calgary so that we could prevent any political games or even complexity of having two major cities advocating to the same funders and same partners."

@EdmTrekker, if it was not this quote you were referring to, please share what you are talking about.

Just reading that. I wonder why a reset was needed with the Federal Government that Watson refers to? I understood that the Mayor has an excellent relationship with PM and Ministers in the Federal Liberal Government but Watson seems to make is clear it is not so. Iveson and Nechi enjoyed a tremendous working relationship ... something Watson chooses to ignore. But Watsons answer is to take a swipe at Iveson (and in abstentia Nechi) when she talks about YEG YYC partnerships, inferring none existed. To fix that she will go sit in Jason Kenney's lap and that of the new Mayor in Calgary and drag Edmonton in that direction. I see Iveson was interviewed this evening about endorsing candidates and he says he will be very soon. I do find that surprising but on the other hand reading Watsons transcript I can see a least one possible motivation for Iveson's endorsements if he does issue them. That motivation is to continue the work he was doing with a like minded Council and not have his legacy trashed by Watson.

 

[TAS]

^
Many people are fairly happy with the direction Edmonton has been going under Iveson and had he been running again I think he would have won.
Watson advocates for some of these same policies including expanded multi-use pathways and the 15-minute city concept - those are supported in her platform too.
What I've heard her frustrated about is city committee work on different issues where no action has resulted. Years of work with good ideas generated and no results, no action. Also, she advocates that the city focus on its core mandates and then looking at other levels of government, non profit groups and private industry doing those things outside that specific mandate. It's rather non political and instead an approach that identifies the work we need to get done right at the city level and then do it well.
Blatchford, as one example, is an area she advocates the city is outside its core mandate (I think it won't even meet the city's new neighbourhood target for affordable housing).
And then she argues the city can do better in terms of construction timelines and the general state of downtown in terms of cleanliness and safety.
When she talks about partnerships between yeg-yyc, she has referred many times to the Alberta Innovation Corridor which she helped establish in 2019 - see link below. It has many successes for both cities.

About - AB Corridor

90% of the province’s tech talent and companies are located in Calgary and Edmonton. About Us The Alberta Innovation Corridor (AIC), a joint pursuit in Alberta’s big-city innovation ecosystems, is an advocate for technology-enabled innovative companies in Alberta, Canada. These leaders...

abcorridor.com

Her platform highlights expanding that partnership beyond just tech to include more collaboration on other promising industries: life sciences, energy, manufacturing, agribusiness, financial services, creative industries and aerospace and logistics.

I still don't know what you're talking about above @EdmTrekker. The trash talk about her sitting in Jason Kenney's lap is truly rubbish.

 

[occidentalcapital]

If only Krushell actually were Mandel 2.0, she would have my vote in an instant. Unfortunately, I can't see any of the candidates come close to Mandel in terms of his vision and his position that it was time to think like a capital city. Sorely missing from this race.

 

[thommyjo]

Just reading that. I wonder why a reset was needed with the Federal Government that Watson refers to? I understood that the Mayor has an excellent relationship with PM and Ministers in the Federal Liberal Government but Watson seems to make is clear it is not so. Iveson and Nechi enjoyed a tremendous working relationship ... something Watson chooses to ignore. But Watsons answer is to take a swipe at Iveson (and in abstentia Nechi) when she talks about YEG YYC partnerships, inferring none existed. To fix that she will go sit in Jason Kenney's lap and that of the new Mayor in Calgary and drag Edmonton in that direction. I see Iveson was interviewed this evening about endorsing candidates and he says he will be very soon. I do find that surprising but on the other hand reading Watsons transcript I can see a least one possible motivation for Iveson's endorsements if he does issue them. That motivation is to continue the work he was doing with a like minded Council and not have his legacy trashed by Watson.

Sounds like you're looking to be offended and putting all sorts of assumptions together.

You can talk about improving a partnership without 1) meaning that none exist or that they're in horrible shape. And 2) without it meaning you'll kiss the ass and sit in the lap of those you want to partner with...

Lots of cynicism for someone with a decently progressive platform. Its fine to be unsure of or not a fan of certain policies. But resorting to criticizing their integrity based on huge leaps of logic is wrong man. Let's be kinder.

 

[northlands]

Iveson endorses 3 candidates for council

Outgoing Mayor Don Iveson declared his support for three city council candidates on Monday.

edmonton.ctvnews.ca

Iveson endorses Anne Stevenson in Ward O-day'min, Ashley Salvador in Ward Métis and Ahmed Knowmadic in Ward tastawiyiniwak.

Still really hoping Ashley Salvador wins Metis. She has a bright future in muni politics here, I think.

 

[TAS]

^100%
Salvador is progressive herself but up against a big NDP and union push for another candidate. Still, she's running a hard campaign with widespread support.

Here's my bold prediction, haha, I think if Salvador can win this ward, she will be Edmonton's mayor in 8 years.

 

[Gronk!]

As a downtown voter, I'm torn between 3 City Council candidates. Mayor Iveson endorses Stevenson, but according to Taproot I'm most compatible with Bruff followed closely by Battiste. Bruff is also under consideration since he is BIPOC but I also want to see more women voted to City Council. I also see way more Battiste signs in my hood. Whoever I vote for, it will be anyone but white male Caterina, who should retire by now.

 

[archited]

Iveson has been such a placebo Mayor that his endorsements ring hollow.