The confrontation between councillors Tim Cartmell and Aaron Paquette at the Sept. 3 utility committee meeting caught the ears of the co-hosts of Episode 275 of Speaking Municipally, Taproot's municipal affairs podcast.
Conduct yourself accordingly
Cartmell, who recently earned the attention of the podcasters after holding a campaign-style press conference but not confirming if he plans to run for mayor in 2025, offered words and a tone that co-host Troy Pavlek said reminded him of the rhetoric former Coun. Mike Nickel once used at city meetings and beyond, only to go on and run for mayor. As Pavelek reported by playing the meeting audio (go to 5:59.00 on the recording), Cartmell expressed frustration with the committee's decision to approve a sole-source contract for waste processing. Cartmell recalled what he described as past city mismanagement on waste operations to justify his discomfort, suggesting decisions were being made based on "the fairy tale that people have come to believe about the (city's) waste management facility."
Paquette jumped in on a point of order. "I'm sorry, that is erroneous, and I think that you owe an apology to this body," he said. Cartmell then refused to apologize, only for Paquette to clarify his point. "It's a code of conduct issue. (The committee's decision) has nothing to do with opinion. You placed motivation on this body that has not been expressed by this body — it is your opinion."
Pavlek found the exchange compelling. "It is interesting here that you're starting to get a little bit of what you got with Coun. Nickel towards his election time (in 2021), where he was campaigning in meetings," he said. "And often that campaigning ran afoul of (council's) code of conduct. There are things that you can do in an attack ad that you can't do in a meeting of council. And I do think we're starting to see that a lot more from Coun. Tim Cartmell who, we will note, has not said he's running for mayor."
City as equity investor?
Paquette also gained Pavlek and Male's interest for his new "money plan," as the hosts described it, which made headlines last week. At its most basic, Paquette's idea is to find new sources of revenue for the city to allow it to avoid making cuts or creating tax hikes — something city administration has warned council could be looming.
Male explained his read of Paquette's idea is that Edmonton could change rules for the ED Tel Endowment Fund, a rarely discussed fund that has paid $969 million in dividends to the city since 1995. Male also discussed Paquette's idea for the city to consider taking an ownership stake in some of the companies it provides grants to (perhaps like those that it granted money to in the latest round of the Edmonton Edge Fund, for example).
Pavlek was not impressed, but Male was intrigued. "How refreshing to have identified a problem and have someone come forward with a potential solution, like a policy position that we can debate and we can get into the weeds on, and have a discussion about, versus just 'This is horrible, something needs to be done,'" he said.
Universities have had the same conversation about equity stakes, he said, but it raises challenges. "I think it's a bit of a question about how we see the city's role in economic development, and in creating these kinds of companies and successful projects that can go off and be financially successful," Male said. "Where do we see the city's role? Is it in creating the conditions specifically so that we earn a return? Or is it in building a better place?"
There's much more in the Sept. 6 episode of Speaking Municipally, including conflicts between council and the Edmonton Police Commission, the province's memo that could signal a ban on photo radar almost everywhere in the city, drivers who continue to crash into Valley Line trains, and a newsroom update from Taproot managing editor Tim Querengesser. Speaking Municipally comes out on Fridays at noon. Listening and subscription options are all right here.
Photo: Coun. Aaron Paquette caught the attention of the co-hosts of Speaking Municipally on two occasions over the past week. (Mack Male/Flickr)