Mayor rebuffs calls to shift city employees downtown full-time
By Sara Sheydwasser and Mack Male
As Edmonton's business community renewed its call to make municipal employees resume working downtown full-time, Mayor Andrew Knack remains unconvinced that such a move is the best path to revitalization. It would cost $5 million to $10 million to end hybrid work, Knack told reporters a his first State of the City address to the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce on May 14. "Is that money best spent on that, where you would bring in an additional 2,500 people back two more times a week? Or is it better to … use it towards the actions within the Downtown Action Plan?" In a fiscal environment where choices have to be made, Knack said, the "best bang for our buck is actually more people living downtown, 24/7, 365 days a year." He added during his address that hybrid work is part of the city's commitment to its unionized employees. "Our word still does have to matter," he said.
The Chamber sent a letter to Knack on May 11, calling for the city to phase out the pandemic-era work-from-home regime as part of an effort to recover the vibrancy that was lost. Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams co-signed it, alongside BILD Edmonton Metro, NAIOP Edmonton, BOMA Edmonton and North, the REALTORS Association of Edmonton, and the Edmonton Construction Association. Speaking at the Edmonton Real Estate Forum on May 13, Chamber president and CEO Doug Griffiths pointed to a shrinking downtown tax base as the driving concern. "Edmonton at its peak … about 10% of its tax base came from the 1% land mass downtown," he said. "Now, it's about 5.2%. That tax base has to be made up from somewhere, so it's critical that downtown gets rejuvenated."
The Chamber framed the ask as part of a coordinated push across orders of government. The Alberta government returned nearly 12,000 public servants to offices in February. Cushman & Wakefield's Q1 2026 Edmonton office report noted the shift "has contributed to increased foot traffic in Edmonton's downtown core, with locations such as Commerce Place and Edmonton City Centre experiencing greater activity and vibrancy." Federal public servants are set to return four days a week starting in July. "We're seeing this momentum," said Heather Thomson, vice president of economy and engagement at the Chamber. "It's not the only call to action that we need, but we need to see this."
