The Pulse
Sept. 27, 2021

Public transportation represents a huge chunk of the city budget, and city council makes decisions all the time about the creation and configuration of the road network. So it's important to know where candidates stand on such issues.

On Episode 148 of Speaking Municipally, Troy Pavlek brought information gleaned from the mayoral candidates' platforms and the Downtown Business Association forum, and Mack Male brought data from Taproot's survey, to suss out the mayoral contenders' positions.

"The budget for public transportation in the City of Edmonton is like $360 million a year. It is our second largest line item behind the police — it constitutes 10% of our total budget expenditures of the year," Pavlek said. "So I was shocked that of the mayoral frontrunners ... very few of them have anything at all to say about public transportation, and none of them have a dedicated platform plank."

Some candidates' websites do outline positions that are transit-related, which the episode gets into. For more specifics, the Taproot survey has turned out to be handy. "One thing that I love — and that candidates have complained about — about this survey is multiple-choice forces candidates into a policy position," said Pavlek. "They can't hem and haw their way out committing to anything."

Find the responses of all of the mayoral candidates who have answered Taproot's survey on the city-wide view of the results. And take the same survey yourself to see how you align with the candidates for mayor and council.

• An outbreak at the Edmonton Remand Centre has left 43 inmates sick with COVID-19. The outbreak was declared Sept. 8 and is a mix of community-acquired and facility-acquired cases. All inmates have a mild form of the illness, according to Alberta Health Services.
• A group of Edmonton doctors is calling on the province to reinstate closed supervised consumption sites and increase access to opioid treatment programs. The Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association's Opioid Poisoning Committee says the current drug poisoning crisis is "further exacerbating the acute care system resource shortage" caused by COVID-19.
• In a series of online transition memos, outgoing mayor Don Iveson flagged homelessness as the most pressing issue for the next city council to address. An additional 1,000 people have become homeless since the start of the pandemic. Other priority areas are the city plan, fiscal policy, energy transition and regional economic development.
• The Edmonton Community Foundation (ECF) has created a new endowment fund to support initiatives from the city's Black community. The Black Community Fund is the first such fund for the Black community by the Black community. The goal is to raise $100,000 by the end of the year, with a matching contribution from ECF.
• Edmonton Elks quarterback Trevor Harris has been removed from the six-game injured list. Harris returned to practice on Saturday after suffering a neck injury during the Labour Day match against the Stampeders.
• A new community project aims to transform five alleys in Alberta Avenue into community gathering places. The plans include cleaning up garbage, planting trees and flowers, and increasing lighting. The Green Alley initiative was inspired by a similar project in Montreal that started in the mid-1990s.
• A group of university students is connecting farms to food banks in an effort to save surplus food. Farmlink Project Canada has connected the Edmonton Food Bank with Swiss Leaf Farms, who has been donating produce weekly.
• Alberta's former chief medical officer of health is calling for fire break lockdown of four weeks, among other health restrictions, as doctors begin rationing care. Premier Jason Kenney rejected the idea saying it would be unfair to those who are vaccinated.

• To celebrate the launch of its new Indigenous Made campaign, Business Link will facilitate Indigenous Made: A Fireside Chat on Sept. 28. The conversation will be guided by Indigenous entrepreneurs, including Shannon Pestun from the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub, Joel English-Dubois from Blue Ring Media, Christopher Lightning from Day One, and Tracey Grienke from Shabby Chick.
• The Better When It's YEG Market by the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce is coming to the Fantasyland Hotel on Sept. 28. All wares on sale — jewelry, clothing, gifts — are crafted locally.
• AccelerateAB, Alberta's flagship technology conference by Start Alberta, will bring startup leaders, investors, and influencers together on Sept. 29-30.
• Junior Chamber International Edmonton will host its annual social networking event for Edmonton's young professionals on Sept. 30.
• Startup Edmonton will lead Business 101, a virtual workshop that will help attendees map out key business ideas, on Sept. 30.

Photo: An autumn sunset behind Edmonton's High Level Bridge. (Zahid Yasin/Instagram)