- Mayor Amarjeet Sohi plans to run for the Liberal Party in the upcoming federal election, Postmedia reported, citing unnamed sources. Sohi, who has been Edmonton's mayor since 2021, confirmed he will not seek re-election in Edmonton's 2025 municipal election. Sohi was a Liberal MP in the Edmonton Mill Woods riding from 2015 to 2019, but it's unclear which riding he would choose if he does run again. Troy Pavlek is keeping an updated list of municipal candidates in Edmonton, and Dave Cournoyer is tracking federal candidates across Alberta.
- Prime Minister Mark Carney was in Edmonton, where he met with Premier Danielle Smith. Smith said she delivered a "specific list of demands" the next prime minister must address to "avoid an unprecedented national unity crisis." Carney also made an announcement about housing, which included eliminating GST for first-time home-buyers purchasing homes under $1 million. He also put on a jersey and skates to join the Edmonton Oilers on the ice while the team was preparing for their game against the Winnipeg Jets.
- Education support staff at Sturgeon School Division have voted 80% in favour of ratifying their collective agreement and are scheduled to return to work after spring break. The division includes schools north of Edmonton, including in St. Albert. All labour disputes between support workers and Edmonton-area school divisions are now over, with employees at Edmonton Public Schools, Parkland School Division and Black Gold School Division having already voted in favour of their agreements.
- The City of Edmonton unveiled a Two-Spirit flag at city hall on March 20 in recognition of Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ Awareness Day, alongside an official proclamation from Coun. Tim Cartmell and messages from Joshua Morin of Edmonton 2 Spirit Society and Sadie Thompson of Sacred Circles Village. This is the fourth year that various governments in Canada have marked Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQQIA+ Awareness Day, which began as an advocacy effort from a Vancouver-based nonprofit.
- The Edmonton Valley Zoo will open a new exhibit for Arctic wolves on March 21. The 5,000-square-metre space will contain two wolves that arrived from France last year, along with one wolf whose partner died in 2022. The exhibit provides the wolves a "spacious, naturalistic environment," a release said.
- Edmonton-based singer-songwriter Celeigh Cardinal is up for two JUNO awards. She is nominated for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year for her album Boundless Possibilities, released last year, as well as Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year. She won a JUNO in 2020 for her album Stories from a Downtown Apartment. The 2025 JUNO Awards are happening in Vancouver on March 30.
- ATB Financial's latest economic outlook for Alberta forecasts slower growth and higher unemployment due to U.S. tariffs, threats of tariffs, and accompanying trade uncertainty. In its report, ATB predicts a real GDP growth of 1.5% in 2025 and 1.9% in 2026, with unemployment averaging 7.6% this year. The report says the most pessimistic scenario, which assumes broad U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum plus Canadian counter tariffs, forecasts 0.5% and 1.3% growth for 2025 and 2026.
Headlines: March 21, 2025
By Kevin Holowack