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Headlines: May 2, 2025

· The Pulse
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  • Edmonton mayoral candidate Tim Cartmell, currently a city councillor for Ward pihêsiwin, presented his platform at the Edmonton Convention Centre on May 1, promising to prioritize basic services and create a safe streets strategy if elected in October. Cartmell, who is forming his own political party called Better Edmonton, said it would create a panel of experts to scrutinize the City of Edmonton budget, and release a 100-day action plan focusing on public safety, snow clearing, and road construction review. Former city councillor Tony Caterina, also running for mayor, criticized Cartmell's announcements as "typical cut-and-paste, generic statements." Other mayoral candidates include Omar Mohammad, and possibly Andrew Knack.
  • Dozens of members of Edmonton's Filipino community held a vigil in Churchill Square on April 30 to remember victims of the Lapu Lapu Day attack in Vancouver, which killed 11 people and injured more than 20. Postmedia shared a collection of photos from the vigil. The attack in Vancouver happened on April 26.
  • Elections Canada data shows seven in 10 registered voters in Alberta cast a ballot in the federal election, representing the highest voter turnout in the province since 1988, with more than half of Alberta ridings reporting greater than 70% turnout. The riding of Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan, east of Edmonton, had a 78.62% turnout and recorded the second-highest number of ballots in Canada. Meanwhile, Edmonton Griesbach saw a 56.91% turnout, the second lowest in Alberta.
  • Alberta Worker, a labour news outlet run by Kim Siever, examined recent settlements reached between home care agency Qualicare and 200 care workers at the Citadel Care Centre in St. Albert and the Rivercrest Lodge Nursing Home in Fort Saskatchewan, who are represented by USW Local 1-207. Both groups of workers got a 2% increase in the last year of their previous contract and 2% in the first year of their new contract, which is not enough to keep up with 5.58% inflation over the past two years. Negotiations for the second year of their new contract are forthcoming, Siever wrote.
  • Have You Heard Judi Singh?, a documentary by Baljit Sangra set to premiere at the Doxa Documentary Film Festival on May 4, explores the life and career of Edmonton jazz singer Judi Singh, a frequent performer at the Yardbird Suite who made regular CBC appearances in the 1960s. The film also details Singh's family history, highlighting her father Sohan Singh Bhullar, one of the earliest Sikh immigrants to Alberta, and her mother Effie Jones, who grew up in Amber Valley, a community north of Edmonton settled by African Americans fleeing the United States. The documentary was inspired by a 2021 article by Poushali Mitra for the Edmonton City as a Museum Project.
  • The Nonprofit Chamber, which advocates for the province's nonprofit sector, published a Workforce Feasibility Study, which it calls the first step toward a nonprofit sector workforce strategy in Alberta. The report says Alberta nonprofits employ nearly 300,000 people, more than oil and gas, forestry, and mining combined, and provide services that are essential to attracting and retaining workers across all sectors.
  • Several Edmonton organizations were nominated for 2025 Social Procurement and Social Enterprise Champion Awards from Buy Social Canada, which recognize leadership in social procurement and social enterprise movements. Solar Power Investment Co-operative of Edmonton and Clark Builders were nominated in the social procurement category, and Family Centre of Northern Alberta was nominated in the social enterprise category.
  • DON'YA Ukraine's Kitchen, an Edmonton company that started as a donation centre for Ukrainian newcomers and expanded into two restaurants, is set to appear on the reality show Dragons' Den with a dream of opening 300 stores in the next 10 years. Co-founder Janice Krissa and her daughter Jorgia Moore are travelling to Toronto to pitch to the Dragons on May 11, Mother's Day, in hopes of securing an investment to offset expansion costs. The episode will air sometime between October and January.
  • EPCOR announced that Valerie Berger and David Stanton were appointed to its board of directors, and Catherine Roozen is retiring from the board. Berger is chief financial officer at Alberta Blue Cross, and was previously an executive at ATCO. Stanton is CEO of Cleanwater1, an American water and wastewater treatment company.
  • Alberta Parks issued a warning to drivers about garter snakes on roads east of Edmonton, specifically roads heading to Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area and Miquelon Lake Provincial Park. The snakes may be crossing and stopping on roads more often during the spring because they are migrating from "their local hibernacula," the release says.
  • University of Alberta professor Jared Wesley wrote a piece for The Tyee about sweeping changes to election laws that the UCP introduced in a bill this week, comparing them to tactics used by U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. The changes include removing restrictions on union and corporate donations, banning vote tabulators, and amendments to the Referendum Act that were demanded by separatists in the UCP base, Wesley wrote.
  • First Nations leaders in Alberta are denouncing the UCP's plan to lower the signature threshold to introduce a referendum, saying it could enable a referendum on separatism. In a letter, Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation Chief Sheldon Sunshine and Mikisew Cree First Nation Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro state the province has no right to interfere with or supersede Treaties 6, 7, and 8, which were signed between First Nations and the British Crown. Edmonton-West Henday MLA Brooks Arcand-Paul addressed the issue in the legislature, noting that First Nations' "inherent right and jurisdiction over these lands predates the creation of Alberta."
  • The Alberta government tabled Bill 55, which would transfer frontline public health services from Alberta Health Service to Primary Care Alberta, including newborn screening, immunizations, and health promotion. The amendments would also move medical officers of health to Alberta Health, along with policy development, inspections, and surveillance. The bill is the latest step in the UCP government's health care system overhaul, which involves shifting responsibilities to four new provincial agencies and reducing AHS to an acute care service provider.
  • The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings in Game 6 by a score of 6-4 at Rogers Place on May 1, winning the series 4-2. Edmonton came back from a 2-0 series deficit, winning Games 3, 4, and 5 after also trailing in each. The Kings led early in Game 6, but the Oilers ultimately prevailed. The Oilers will play the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
  • Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl was nominated for the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded to the player judged most valuable to their team. Draisaitl is also set to receive the Maurice "Rocket" Richard trophy after leading the league with 52 goals in 71 games. He won the Hart Trophy in 2019 and 2020.