The Pulse: Oct. 22, 2021

Edmonton's new city council members are on record supporting the downtown vibrancy strategy, increasing resources for homegrown economic diversification initiatives, and maintaining current spending levels on pandemic aid for businesses.

In responses to Taproot's pre-election survey of key municipal issues, mayor-elect Amarjeet Sohi and 11 of the 12 successful councillor candidates provided insights into where the new leadership at City Hall stands on business-related concerns. Karen Principe did not answer the Taproot survey.

Sohi and councillors Aaron Paquette, Anne Stevenson, Michael Janz, and Tim Cartmell supported the downtown strategy and favoured fully funding the plan. Another five council members — Keren Tang, Ashley Salvador, Andrew Knack, Sarah Hamilton, and Jo-Anne Wright – also backed the plan at the current level of investment. New councillors Erin Rutherford and Jennifer Rice supported investment in downtown, but not the plan approved by council in June.

Only two winning candidates – Cartmell and Hamilton – said the city's current approach to encouraging economic diversification is heading in the right direction. Nine council members said the city should put more resources behind nurturing homegrown businesses.

There seems little support for increased city spending to help local businesses recover from the pandemic, an option chosen by only Paquette and Stevenson.

Edmonton companies should also not expect the new council to ease their tax burden by shifting more of the load onto the residential sector. Only Cartmell and Hamilton want residential property owners to pay higher taxes while nine other council members who answered the question supported the current split between residential and business taxes.

• The Edmonton Police Service said 95.5% of its employees (2,673) have indicated they are or will be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 30. Another 3.8% (104 employees) will participate in rapid testing at their own expense, and just 0.1% (four employees) have chosen to go on leave without pay.
• The Alberta Professional Planners Institute (APPI) has recognized the City of Edmonton with an award of merit for its Open Option Parking project. On June 23, 2020, Edmonton became the first major Canadian municipality to eliminate parking minimums city-wide.
• Postmedia wrote about the eight new faces on city council.
• The second phase of excavation work at the former Camsell Hospital will look at 21 detected anomalies in the search for unmarked graves. Chief Calvin Bruneau of the Papaschase First Nation said elders will again be present to observe the work.
• Mayfield Toyota has rebranded as West Edmonton Mall Toyota alongside its move into phase one of the mall. "To our knowledge, we have yet to find anything like this anywhere on the planet," said David Friesen, general manager and managing partner.
• The Remembrance Day ceremony at the Universiade Pavilion (Butterdome) on the University of Alberta campus has been cancelled for the second straight year due to COVID-19 restrictions.
• The final report of the public inquiry into anti-Alberta energy campaigns, led by commissioner Steve Allan, was released to the public on Oct. 21. Out of $1.28 billion in foreign funding from 2013 to 2019, the report found only $54.1 million in grants were designated for what it calls "anti-Alberta resource development activity."

Mamma Mia! Everyone's favourite Swedish disco band is back, and so is CKUA's music podcast Hidden Track. To commemorate the November launch of Voyage, ABBA's first studio album in 40 years, the podcast dedicated its first episode of Season 3 to "the much-misunderstood story of an iconic band that re-wrote the rules of pop music." The new episode also features Carl Magnus Palm — a historian, esteemed ABBA researcher, and author of Bright Lights, Dark Shadows: The Real Story of ABBA — to guide us through ABBA's star-studded and complicated history.

Hidden Track brings listeners the stories behind the music. Previous seasons have unpacked the works of k.d. lang, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Beethoven, Feist, The Pixies, and many more internationally beloved artists. For the newest season, host Grant Stovel promises to "connect with more musicians, journalists, and producers to deliver great untold music stories."

CKUA is currently hosting its fall fundraiser, where you can directly support Hidden Tracks and other projects by the station. You can find Hidden Tracks on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify.

You can listen to podcast picks from Taproot on Listen Notes or Spotify.