Names for recreation centres and sports teams, as well cops and city council mending their fence, were top of mind for the hosts of Episode 310 of Speaking Municipally. Here's a quick glimpse:
1. Edmonton won't sell full facility names to corporations
On May 23, city council voted to scale back Edmonton's corporate naming policy for city-owned facilities. Council made the decision to sell naming rights to pieces of city-owned gathering places but not the entire facility, after naming rights for amenities like the Booster Juice Recreation Centre in Terwillegar went forward in August. This means rec centre names will feature the names of the communities they reside in. The co-hosts of Speaking Municipally noted council identified "community spirit and pride" among the reasons for scaling back the policy. But the co-hosts also said council may be turning away money to deal with Edmonton's "fiscal gap," as Mayor Amarjeet Sohi called it.
"Twenty million (dollars) is $20 million," co-host Mack Male said of the projected revenue that the decision could leave on the table. "It doesn't close the gap, but it does help to address it — does it not?"
2. Elks embrace 'bigoted' history in the locker room
Speaking of names, Commonwealth Stadium's signature football field is now called the Play Alberta field thanks to a rights sale that happened before the latest version of the naming policy. The field's naming rights were sold to Alberta's own online gambling platform for an undisclosed sum. The Edmonton Elks, who play at Commonwealth, did share that Play Alberta generated $270 million in sales its 2024-2025 fiscal year.
Yet it's an old name for the Elks, not the field, that drew the attention of the podcast hosts. The Elks were formerly known as the Edmonton Eskimos, but changed that name due to racism in 2021. But Elks president and CEO Chris Morris said the team will now embrace the old name by re-hanging an old sign that features it in the locker room — all while announcing a returning equipment manager. The old sign reads, 'Once an Eskimo, Always an Eskimo,' and Morris said this was "never just a slogan it was a brotherhood, a way of life."
Both the podcast co-hosts found the choice to double down on the name while announcing an equipment manager to be puzzling. "To change the name (to the Elks), but not accept the name change, that means your organization is bigoted, and that's just a worse look overall," Pavlek said.
3. Police and city play nice, for now
Mayor Sohi and some councillors offered effusive praise for the Edmonton Police Service's annual report last week. Both Male and Pavlek suggested this is a marked change from the way council dealt with the police service under the leadership of ex-chief Dale McFee, who is now one of the top-ranking public servants. While Pavlek called this a departure from the previous "toxic" relationship between council and the police, Male said he's not holding his breath.
"Any progress that feels like it might have been made since McFee left in February feels pretty tenuous to me," he said. "The other thing is, when you have co-chiefs, in a way, you essentially have nobody making a decision."
The EPS co-chiefs as of June 2 are Devin Laforce and Warren Driechel. CityNews reported the same day that a job posting for a permanent, solo chief is now open.
The May 30 episode of Taproot's civic affairs podcast also included discussion on upzoning and speed enforcement for drivers. Speaking Municipally comes out on Fridays. Listening and subscription options are all right here.