The Pulse: Oct. 7, 2022

An express bus from the Edmonton International Airport (YEG) to downtown could become a reality if city council approves the idea during the upcoming 2023-2026 budget deliberations.

"I've been hearing very strongly from the airport and the downtown business community that this service is needed," Coun. Anne Stevenson told Taproot. She is expected to make a motion as early as Oct. 7 to request an unfunded service package for council's consideration.

Stevenson said she had previously been skeptical of the need given the existence of the Route 747 service, which runs from Century Park to YEG seven days a week at either 30- or 60-minute intervals, depending on the time of day. "I felt the transfer to the LRT at Century Park was reasonable."

But a couple of factors caused her to rethink that position. "I heard from the business community that it might be a barrier to having events come downtown," Stevenson said. "And I learned that a majority of taxi rides from the airport are to downtown."

In fact, about half of all taxi trips from YEG head to downtown, a spokesperson confirmed to Taproot.

Brett Bain, director of parking and ground transportation at YEG, said the airport is supportive of the idea, in part because it would benefit employees who need to get to the airport for work.

"As a regional partner in transit, creating a direct route to Edmonton's downtown core will also help to strengthen business and tourism opportunities," he said in a statement. "As we continue to grow as an airport and a region, more transit services will be needed and this direct route to downtown is a natural next step in our regional transit journey."

Stevenson said she wasn't sure where the downtown terminus of the service might be, but suggested locating it close to hotels and convention space would make sense. "My expectation is that it would be informed by input from downtown partners."

• The United Conservative Party chose Danielle Smith as its new leader, making her Alberta's next premier. "I'm back!" she declared after winning the leadership race with 53.8% of the vote. About 85,000 votes were cast in the seven-candidate race. Edmonton's only UCP MLA, Labour Minister Kaycee Madu, backed Smith during the campaign.
• Mayor Amarjeet Sohi and at least two councillors say they've received complaints about on-duty members of the Edmonton Police Service telling the public to lobby city council to increase police funding. "These allegations are unsettling," said John McDougall, chair of the Edmonton Police Commission, "and we will raise this matter with the police service to make clear this type of alleged conduct is not the commission's expectation." Spokespeople from EPS and the Edmonton Police Association said they weren't aware of the problem.
• Sohi published his thoughts on the revised police funding formula, which council is scheduled to discuss again Oct. 7. "I want to see an amendment to the formula that allows for reductions when necessary," the mayor concluded, noting once again that the EPS is the most well-funded service per capita among jurisdictions studied by the city's administration.
• The Edmonton Police Service is moving 62 officers from other units to frontline work and implementing a new 10-squad patrol model on Nov. 13 that will increase officer presence in all six policing zones. According to deputy chief Darren Derko, there is "no question that the community wants to see frontline policing be a bigger priority, even within a tough resource environment." The changes will result in "service implications" that may be noticed by the public.
• The Edmonton Police Service has apologized for its use of DNA phenotyping in trying to identify a suspect in a sexual assault case. The police service paid Parabon NanoLabs $1,700 for a computer-generated composite image of a Black man based on unidentified DNA evidence and shared the image, resulting in widespread criticism and accusations of racism. Enyinnah Okere with EPS's community safety and well-being bureau said that he "prioritized the investigation" and pursuit of justice over potential harm to Black people. "This was not an acceptable trade-off and I apologize for this," he said.
• Edmonton is the first Canadian city to join UNESCO's Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC), a collection of cities committed to excellence and learning for all. UNESCO's press release highlights the City of Learners initiative, which has been run by the Edmonton Public Library since 2013.
• Hawrelak Park users lamented the three-year closure slated to begin next spring. Jesse Banford, the city's director of facility infrastructure delivery, said the long closure is because most underground utilities are at the end of their lifespan. The city had earlier rejected the plan of a 10-year phased project. Some former park events, including the Heritage Festival, are still deciding on a new location.
• More than 500 Ukrainians are arriving in Alberta every week, as a second wave of people fleeing the war continues. According to Orysia Boychuk, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Alberta Provincial Council, around 32% of them are going to Edmonton and 42% to Calgary. An estimated 10,500 Ukrainians have arrived since Russia's invasion in February.
• The Edmonton Oilers have released Jake Virtanen after a brief tryout. Virtanen's contract with the Vancouver Canucks was bought out after he was accused of sexual assault, for which a B.C. Supreme Court jury later found him not guilty.

The Edmonton Chamber of Commerce hosted its first State of the Region gathering, bringing together leaders and experts to discuss a collaborative vision of regional development.

"Since the Metro Mayors Alliance produced its final report in 2016, we have known that to compete globally, we have to consolidate locally," Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said in his address at the Oct. 6 event, referring to a report called Be Ready, or Be Left Behind that urged a regional mindset without amalgamation.

The message of municipal collaboration has since become central to any conversation about economic growth, as seen in the inaugural forward/slash summit on Sept. 28.

It continued with the State of the Region event, featuring a panel made up of Edmonton Global CEO Malcolm Bruce, Edmonton Metropolitan Transit Services Commission CEO Paul Jankowski, Edmonton Airports CEO Tom Ruth, and Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board CEO Karen Wichuk, each laying out their vision of the potential the region has and what needs to change to realize it.

"One of the greatest challenges this region continues to suffer under is a lack of awareness in the global marketplace," Bruce said. When it comes to the major centres that are top of mind for the average global investor when they think about Canada, Edmonton isn't in the mix, he said.

"So anything that you collectively do, in terms of advocating or highlighting some of the incredible attributes that we have here from a regional perspective, drives that perception in the international marketplace even higher."

The region's prospects as a major player in hydrogen and petrochemical markets are often named as reasons to be bullish about Edmonton's economic future. Less talked about is the region's positioning to become an agricultural hub in Canada, and the stability that development in that sector could provide.

"When you think about our region, and the necessity for food security, we have 30% of our region's prime agricultural land, and we don't often talk about this. We do not think about the economic generator that that can be," Wichuk said.

"That could be a $25 billion economic generator. We have not invested in that."

This Thanksgiving weekend offers a chance to face your biggest fears, enjoy music from a galaxy far, far away, experience the wonder of the night sky, sing along with Sondheim, or celebrate at a festival of lights.

• Oct. 7-8, 7pm: Dark at Fort Edmonton Park (continues to Oct. 30)
• Oct. 7-8, 7:30pm: The Music of Star Wars at the Winspear Centre
• Oct. 7-8, 9pm: Gateway to the Stars at Elk Island National Park
• Oct. 8, 7:30pm: Hey, Old Friend! An Evening of Sondheim at the Varscona Theatre
• Oct. 8-9: 4th Annual Diwali Fair at the Millwoods Town Centre
• Oct. 9, 5pm: Mount Pleasant Cemetery Tour from Edmonton Ghost Tours

Find even more things to do in the Arts Roundup.

Photo: Fort Edmonton Park's DARK opens on Oct. 7, offering three "wicked experiences that will leave you sleeping with one eye open." (Facebook)