Interim disclosures from candidates running in the Oct. 20 municipal election and the departing thoughts from outgoing Mayor Amarjeet Sohi were discussed on Episode 327 of Speaking Municipally. Here's a quick snapshot.
Cash rules everything around me
Co-host Mack Male's story, which tracked campaign disclosures through July 31 for candidates running for mayor and council positions on Oct. 20, was an episode focus. The data shows from the highest level that candidates have raised almost $1 million less in the 2025 election than they did in the 2021 election, albeit, 2021 candidates only had to provide full campaign disclosures, not for this interim period. Still, Male said contributions appear to be less widely distributed. "It just seems to me like there's less money overall in this election, but it is more concentrated," he said.
Male then noted these concentrations, including mayoral candidate Tim Cartmell, who has raised nearly half of all money for open positions, and Coun. Jennifer Rice, who has raised the third highest amount of any candidate, including those for mayor. Rice has raised more than $70,000, which Male said was "just incredible to me."
The co-hosts also noted the comparative small amounts that the eight other incumbents running for council positions have raised, at a rough average of $12,000. They also said that candidate Karen Principe, who's running for reelection in Ward tastawiyiniwak, has declared just $99 in revenue and did not complete the Taproot candidate survey. "I have not seen a great deal from Karen Principe. She's been pretty quiet … I feel like she's banking on name recognition," he said.
Sohi says goodbye
Male and co-host Stephanie Swensrude paid departing Mayor Amarjeet Sohi a visit to ask about the 2021 to 2025 council term. The duo noted Sohi remained careful and chose words carefully.
Swensrude asked Sohi about his anti-racism work, his first motion as mayor. As Taproot reported in 2023, the committee charged with that strategy was dissolved against its will.
"I think the most successful part of the anti-racism strategy has been that is now embedded in the city budget," Sohi said. "It is all now embedded in the corporation. So anyone who wants to take away that work would have to initiate through a motion of council (a rollback of) those successes, which will be very difficult to do. Yes, it took us a little bit longer I hoped that it would … But at the end, I think the result is better."
The co-hosts asked Sohi about how the city consults people on decisions and how that plays into what gets built.
"When you are trying to transform your community in a meaningful way for the long run, there comes a time when where you start to implement things that you have heard, that (the) community wants," Sohi said. Later, Sohi added an example using bike lanes to strengthen his point. "How long are we going to continue to talk about bike lanes without building them? And I think demonstrating actually how bike lanes look creates buy in. You bike on 83 Avenue in Strathcona and Whyte Avenue, people love that, and there were a lot of complaints when the neighbourhood was being rehabilitated. Now people use it. I think we need to also show to people what these new changes actually look like."
The Oct. 10 episode of Taproot's civic affairs podcast also includes a discussion of bike lane signage. Listening and subscription options are all right here.