The financial strategies that Bill 20 incentivizes for Edmonton's October 2025 municipal election were on full display last week when Coun. Tim Cartmell launched his campaign for mayor, and added that he's creating a party, Speaking Municipally co-host Troy Pavlek said.
"The only reason he's not doing a slate (of like-minded candidates) is because he gets more money if he launches a party," Pavlek said.
Bill 20 is written in a way that financially discourages slates, Pavlek said. If one creates a party, that individual candidate and their larger party both get to raise money. "If you run a party, each candidate effectively gets double," he said.
Cartmell's interest in running for mayor was long assumed, but was finally confirmed on Nov. 21 in an appearance on Real Talk. Cartmell discussed his campaign's three goals during the interview, which he said are to create safe streets, get tough on property taxes, and build better.
Co-host Mack Male noted that Cartmell's rhetoric as he launches his bid to be the most influential person on city council is less fiery than one might have expected.
"He didn't come out guns blazing ... he even acknowledged at one point that he doesn't feel like he disagrees that much with Mayor (Amarjeet) Sohi, except maybe when it comes to approach," Male said.
Cartmell's party is new, unnamed, and does not yet have candidates (aside from Cartmell), the co-hosts said. They also noted that the two right-of-centre parties already in the electoral mix, the Principled Accountable Coalition for Edmonton and TapYEG, announced last week that they are merging and will now just be known as PACE. Male suggested Cartmell's new, similarly right-of-centre party will likely carry more weight, and could see PACE "fall in line."
Beyond Cartmell's news, the podcasters also reviewed Edmonton's whirlwind week in news. To recap: Edmonton Centre MP Randy Boissonnault stepped down from cabinet; the United Conservative Party government appointed former prime minister Stephen Harper as the new head of AIMCo; Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised many people $250; the UCP is appointing another person to the Edmonton Police Commission; and the biggie — Edmonton Police Service Chief Dale McFee announced he's retiring in February..
Male said the addition to the commission and McFee's exit are related. "It's hard not to look at those things in combination with one another, and to say that the province is stacking the deck to make sure that the next police chief is someone who is friendly to the province," he said.
The Nov. 22 episode of Taproot's civic affairs podcast examines Cartmell's actions on council, what McFee might do after he retires, how a search for a new police chief might affect the 2025 election campaign, efforts by Ivan Beljan and Vivian Manasc to save the former Royal Alberta Museum building, and more. Find all the ways to listen to and subscribe to Speaking Municipally, which comes out most Fridays, right here.