The Pulse: Oct. 6, 2021

The majority of city council and mayoral candidates who responded to the Taproot Survey agree that the city should have more permanent public washrooms.

It's an issue that the City of Edmonton has been exploring since April 2019, when it launched its City-Wide Public Washroom Strategy with the aim to improve access, user experience, and management of existing facilities (of which there are now 127), as well as develop more permanent public washrooms like the one on Whyte Avenue at Gateway Boulevard.

"I define a public bathroom as something that's like a bench or a street sign or a stop sign — it's on the street and it's free," said Lezlie Lowe, who consulted on Edmonton's public washroom strategy and wrote No Place To Go: How Public Toilets Fail Our Private Needs. "Everybody needs those amenities for a city to work well, it's paid for by tax dollars, and it's available when you need it."

She explained that cities tend to rely on publicly available washrooms, like those in malls or businesses, rather than investing in truly public amenities. That's problematic because access may be compromised based on race, identity, the need to use a mobility device, or many other reasons.

"Those people are more vulnerable, but they're also less frequently the people who are in decision-making roles," she said. "Access is compromised in different ways for different groups of people ... and so not everybody sees or experiences the problem."

Lowe applauded Edmonton for being one of the few cities to tackle the issue at all, but despite its ingenuity, it has been slow to move towards actually developing new permanent facilities — a need that has been intensified by the pandemic.

Nicole Fraser, the City of Edmonton's general supervisor of parks and roads, said the slow progress has in part been due to a shift in focus to making mobile washrooms available during the pandemic and ensuring that permanent washrooms stayed open, with additional sanitation and monitoring.

"This fall and into 2022 we are continuing to move forward with other goals including finalizing standard operating procedures for permanent and temporary washrooms in parks and open spaces, establishing criteria and a method for prioritization for where permanent and temporary washrooms should be located in the city, further defining the role of city and the business community in ensuring accessible, safe and clean public washrooms, and exploring opportunities to work with various partners including alternative strategies for funding costs for maintaining these spaces," Fraser told Taproot.

• A special air quality advisory has been issued for Edmonton and surrounding areas as smoke from a wildfire near Hudson Bay, Sask. is being blown westward. Poor air quality and reduced visibility will continue throughout the day on Wednesday.
• Edmonton Public Schools is calling for firebreak for all schools in the province, where classes would move online for at least two weeks. Meanwhile, the Edmonton Catholic School District has mandated vaccines for all its employees and the province announced it would resume contact tracing in schools. Advocates welcomed the news, but said it was likely "too little too late."
• The Edmonton Police Commission has extended current Edmonton police chief Dale McFee's contract to the summer of 2026. McFee's contract was set to expire in January 2024, but the commission wanted to give him more time to follow through on plans to reform the department through the Vision 2020 strategy.
• A partnership between YWCA Edmonton and DirectHer Network aims to empower more Alberta women to serve on business and not-for-profit boards. The organizations launched a 12-month pilot project to deliver educational workshops and experiences that will prepare women in taking the next step in board service.
• Single adults are three times more likely to live in poverty in Alberta according to the latest Vital Signs report. In Edmonton, single adults living alone make up the largest poverty cohort, according to the Edmonton Community Foundation, one of the organizations behind the report.
• Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley defended her MLAs endorsements of city council candidates and denied running a slate in the upcoming municipal election. "There is no slate, and it's not a priority for us. We want to have a good working relationship with all levels of government," Notley said.
• Edmonton-Griesbach MP Blake Desjarlais outlined his priorities in an interview with The Star, as he heads to Ottawa for orientation on parliamentary procedure and his first meeting with the NDP caucus. Desjarlais said he was focused on anti-poverty and housing, as well as reconciliation.

As Mayor Don Iveson nears the end of his second term, he hopes his successor will continue to build relationships with the municipalities surrounding the city.

"A top priority is building those key relationships … because of the importance of having some sense of political solidarity with mayors in the region against all the other pressures that all of us in this region face," Iveson told Taproot.

Regional co-operation has come a long way since he first started as a city councillor in 2007, when Edmonton was in open conflict with its neighbours, Iveson said. A lot of current mechanisms for collaboration, like the Capital Region Board, since renamed the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board, had yet to be established.

"The region now rallies behind the name Edmonton," Iveson said. "It's no longer a dirty word for the mayors of the communities around us, but a banner they're proud to stand behind, too."

In a transition memo released last month, the outgoing mayor offered several ideas for future goals and aspirations that Edmonton and its neighbours could work toward following the Oct. 18 municipal election.

A team of University of Alberta engineers is getting help from an accelerator program to create a new breathing device and bring it to market.

Mechanical engineering professor Andrew Martin worked on a new design for nasal prongs for existing oxygen delivery devices with his then-research assistant Cole Christianson. The goal is to improve performance for patients with low blood oxygen, whose shallow breathing can't be detected by some portable oxygen concentrators.

For help in developing and licensing the device, Martin was introduced to Innovation Masterminds Edmonton (imYEG), an accelerator program that takes research from post-secondary institutions and helps develop it into business ventures.

"The question that got me into engineering in the first place is how on Earth do good ideas somehow end up as products that are sold in the market?" Martin said in an interview with Christopher Micetich, CEO of imYEG.

"The technical innovation is part of it for sure … but there are so many other factors in determining which product ultimately finds a path to the market."

Martin's venture, which is still in early stages of development, is one of the first to be accepted into imYEG's program. Martin told Taproot that he'll be working with imYEG for the next 12 to 14 months to define a roadmap. After that, he'll look at raising capital.

Every week in the lead up to Edmonton's municipal election on Oct. 18, we're rounding up the news and announcements you need to know to stay informed.

Policies and campaign updates

• Advanced voting opened on Oct. 4 and will continue until Oct. 13. Intersectional Edmonton posted a guide for what voters need to know on Twitter.
• Mayoral candidate Kim Krushell released her no endorsement pledge as an extension to her no candidate slate pledge to transparency.
• Mayoral candidate Amarjeet Sohi posted his stance on property taxes and claims made about his campaign, as well as how he plans to work with the provincial government.
• Mayoral candidate Michael Oshry committed to fiscal discipline and using tax money wisely if elected.
• Mayoral candidate Cheryll Watson plans to pause the Valley Line West LRT project if elected.
• In a blog post, mayoral candidate Mike Nickel called for an end to "pitting cars against cyclists," in reference to the City Plan and Edmonton's current approach to road clearing and other transportation issues.
• Mayoral candidate Brian (Breezy) Gregg addressed homelessness and current charity models in a blog post.
• Ward Dene candidate Lana Palmer wrote about her stance on road maintenance, early learning and care, and photo radar. Additionally, Palmer posted links to questionnaires and media profiles, her responses to the I Heart Edmonton questions, and answers to the Edmonton Council for Early Learning and Care candidate survey.
• Ward Karhiio candidate Keren Tang reflected on Mayor Don Iveson's open transition memos.
• Ward Métis candidate Liz John-West tweeted that city council endorsements of candidates undermines diversity and democracy. John-West also received an outpouring of support when a fire in her neighbourhood destroyed her vehicles and election materials.
• Edmonton Highlands-Norwood MLA Janis Irwin endorsed Cori Longo for Ward Métis. Longo also presented her Indigenous equity policy.
• Ward O-day'min candidate Anne Stevenson and Ward pihêsiwin candidate Tim Cartmell shared their thoughts on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
• Ward papastew candidate Michael Janz outlined the relationship between COVID-19 and the city of Edmonton in a blog post.
• Ward papastew candidate Tarcy Schindelka shared his ideas on creating safe communities in Edmonton.
• Ward pihêsiwin candidate Guiscela Perez Arellano released her full platform online.
• Ward Sspomitapi candidate Moe Banga tweeted about his position on the city's bus network redesign.
• Ward tastawiyiniwak candidate Iannie Gerona suspended her election campaign and said she would support Ahmed 'Knowmadic' Ali.
• Ward tastawiyiniwak candidate Jon Dziadyk shared his key campaign priorities, a personal introduction, and his thoughts on the future of transit in Edmonton.