Numbers give news context, heft, and depth — and 2024 had lots of them. For example, the number of people without stable housing in Edmonton increased by more than 2,000, to 4,697. Meanwhile, a private-sector report called for governments to invest $427 million in the city's downtown, transit ridership rose 12% above pre-pandemic levels, and we learned the city's debt financing for the Yellowhead Trail freeway conversion will grow by $105 million.
As Taproot prepares for a holiday break, we're sharing which numbers might matter most in the years ahead.
0
That's the number Coun. Andrew Knack talked about in a motion that followed council's Dec. 4 approval of a 6.1% property tax increase for 2025. The motion, which Knack worked on with Coun. Tim Cartmell and Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, pitched zero-based budgeting for council's work on budgets for the 2027 to 2030 cycle. Knack said his colleagues are frustrated with the status quo and that this might be the salve.
"I think it's time for a true foundational budget," Knack said during the meeting. "It's not going to be easy, but it's going to allow the next council to fully understand where all of our dollars are going."
Zero-based budgeting starts a budget at zero rather than using a past budget as a starting point. Knack's successful motion means all City of Edmonton departments, agencies, boards, and commissions will present to council before the numbers are crunched for the 2027 to 2030 budget process.
Though Knack talked of going "line by line" through the budget, some question if it's possible. Allan Bolstad, a councillor from 1992 to 2004, wrote that the line-by-line approaches were already tried — and failed. Bolstad said the process is too intensive to be effective.
17
That's how many kilometres of new active transportation routes the city told Taproot it would build in 2024. That came more than a year after Edmonton's city council voted to invest $100 million in active transportation infrastructure. The 2024 promise comprises 10 routes covering 17 kilometres, budgeted in the $100 million pledged in 2022.
The cost of the bike lane investment has roused emotions since 2022, among both those wishing the build-out would accelerate and those wishing it would hit the brakes. In December, during budget adjustment discussions, Coun. Karen Principe introduced a motion to cut $67 million from the $100 million council endorsed in 2022, but it failed.
A person walks through Churchill Square with Edmonton City Hall in the background in late December 2024. (Tim Querengesser)
17
Seventeen is also the number of companies from the Edmonton region that made The Globe and Mail's 2024 list of the 416 fastest-growing in Canada.
Five companies from the region placed in the top 100: Cover All Program, MM Energy, Nanoprecise, Dragon Industrial Services, and Trust Science.
Other recognition came from the Information and Communications Technology Council. The group published a report that calls Edmonton the "backbone" of Alberta's interactive digital media industry. The report says gaming stalwart BioWare has created a "critical mass" of talent that continues to see Edmonton thrive over its 34 years. One challenge to that story, however, was the December story on job losses at Inflexion Games and the closure of Humanoid Origin.
20
That's the number for a bill that the United Conservative Party government introduced in April, and passed in October. While Bill 20 quickly drew heat for its changes to local governance and elections in Alberta, it also gave municipalities the power to offer tax breaks or deferments for up to 15 years on all residential properties.
Another part of the bill was a ban on voting tabulation machines for municipal elections. Many municipalities openly opposed the change, which is set to cost Edmonton $4.8 million extra in 2025.
1,550
Taproot started 2024 by examining the number of shelter spaces available across the city as temperatures plummeted and the City of Edmonton's efforts to remove people from encampments faced legal challenges.
On Jan. 9, the province said that the number of shelter spaces in Edmonton was 1,550. A Jan. 12 Postmedia report, however, suggested it was 1,429. Before Jan. 9, Homeward Trust had a page that allowed people to view the number of available shelter spaces. Then, it vanished. At a press conference on Jan. 12, Jason Nixon, the minister responsible for housing and homelessness, said the province asked Homeward Trust to take its page down because its numbers were wrong.
"They don't have access to the entire shelter system, only the provincial government does, and certainly I think they've done their best," Nixon said. "We're trying to get those numbers up to date. But with the large amount of new shelters that came on, the numbers were off by hundreds of beds."
As of Dec. 19, the province's data reporting page for shelter spaces now lists Edmonton's number at 2,046, with a utilization rate of 89%.