The Pulse: May 23, 2025

More Edmontonians are asking the provincial government to throw the brakes on the city's plans to build active transportation infrastructure.

About 260 people living in the north-central neighbourhood of Delton have signed a petition that calls for the City of Edmonton's plans to build active transportation infrastructure there to be cancelled.

According to a letter to Delton residents that was posted to Reddit, the city will convert 96 Street NW to allow one-way vehicle traffic and remove parking along one side of the street to build a protected bike lane for about 830 metres. The rest of the infrastructure will be bikeways, which are painted lines on streets where cyclists share the road with vehicles. Many cycling advocates describe this type of infrastructure, also known as "sharrows," as unsafe and not likely to encourage biking. The city further plans to add traffic-calming measures like modal filters to the street in an attempt to slow traffic and make it safer for people not in vehicles. The type of infrastructure is decided based on the characteristics of the road, including speed and traffic volumes, the city said.

The petition from Delton residents arrives after Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen visited Edmonton on April 17 to discuss the 132 Avenue NW renewal project, which will turn the four-lane road into a narrower collector that features bike lanes and wider sidewalks. The project has been under construction for more than two years and a portion of the new lanes have already been installed. Dreeshen, who's the MLA for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake, said he's opposed to projects that take away driving lanes from vehicles and said Alberta could follow Ontario in requiring provincial approval for such projects.

Dreeshen thanked the Delton residents for sharing their concerns, and said the province is "increasingly concerned by decisions that use taxpayer dollars to reduce road capacity and disrupt critical vehicle access."

When discussing the 132 Avenue NW project, Dreeshen said there are four other bike lanes in Edmonton that he would like to see removed or cancelled — two downtown, and one each west and north of downtown. Taproot asked Dreeshen's office to clarify which specific lanes should be removed, but staffers did not answer the question, instead sending a statement that said the ministry is "actively reviewing proposals that have raised significant concerns from residents, businesses, and local communities."

The Delton lanes are being built through the City of Edmonton's active transportation network expansion program and do not use provincial funds. Council voted in late 2022 to spend $100 million to accelerate construction of the city's bike plan. In 2024, the first year of the expansion, crews added 17 kilometres over 10 routes. Each of the 2024 routes are shared pathways and most are in north Edmonton.

In 2025, crews will construct approximately 23 kilometres of bike lanes across 23 routes. Again, much of the infrastructure will be built on the city's north side in 2025. Design is underway for routes that will be built in 2026, the expansion's final year. The city plans to build 31 kilometres over 17 routes in 2026.

Meanwhile, Paths for People, Bike Edmonton, and the Edmonton Bike Coalition started a letter-writing campaign in support of Edmonton's bike infrastructure. Nearly 1,200 people have written letters to Premier Danielle Smith, Dreeshen, local MLAs, and city councillors calling for municipal autonomy in active transportation planning.

The Edmonton Bike Coalition is hosting a "Kidical Mass" ride along 132 Avenue NW on May 25. The event is a take on "critical mass" rides and allow children to practice cycling on public roads, taking advantage of visibility and safety in numbers. The location was chosen to show support for the 132 Avenue NW lanes. And in other cycling news, June is Bike Month. The Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues is helping to organize the eighth annual Bike Month Challenge, where the city's more than 160 leagues compete to see which one can rack up the most miles. The federation has also added a scavenger hunt for this year.

Correction: The headline on this story has been corrected to accurately reflect the type of infrastructure that's planned for 2025.

• Coun. Andrew Knack has announced he will run for mayor in Edmonton's municipal election, with an official campaign launch scheduled for June 14. He told the media he wants to put forward an "independent voice," pointing to his track record of "meeting with people from across the political spectrum." Knack was first elected in 2013 in Ward Nakota Isga, then called Ward 1, and is the longest-serving member of Edmonton city council. He has been outspoken against the UCP's recent changes to municipal elections, including the introduction of political parties.
• Many small Alberta businesses are bracing for a Canada Post worker strike, with about 55,000 postal staff expected to go on strike shortly after midnight on May 23. The Canada Post strike last November required some businesses to spend time and money finding alternative carriers, and businesses are also dealing with uncertainty caused by the U.S.-Canada trade war. The November strike was ended by federal intervention, which had left issues unresolved.
• Alberta has now surpassed 500 cases of measles since the outbreak began in March, with 362 cases in the province's south zone. The vast majority of cases are among Albertans who are not immunized, according to provincial data. "The message is really quite simple: please, please, please get your children vaccinated if you haven't already," said infectious disease specialist Stephanie Smith at the University of Alberta Hospital.
• Shannon Cornelsen, a researcher and member of Saddle Creek Nation, wrote a piece for CBC's First Person series about trying to identify people in unmarked graves at a graveyard off Anthony Henday Drive, which a plaque says is a burial site for Enoch Cree Nation. Many of those buried were patients at the Charles Camsell Hospital, one of 33 segregated "Indian hospitals" in Canada, which operated in Edmonton from 1944 to 1996.
• Lucy: The Stolen Lives of Elephants, a documentary about elephants in captivity that focuses on Lucy at the Edmonton Valley Zoo, premiered at the Metro Cinema in March and became available on CBC Gem in April. The co-founder of Lucy's Edmonton Advocates' Project, a group featured in the documentary, spoke to The Gateway about efforts to free Lucy, who "lives in amongst the worst conditions of any elephant in North America."
• The Globe and Mail published a profile of Bernadette's, a restaurant in downtown Edmonton aiming to "change the perception" of Indigenous cuisine. The restaurant opened in May 2024 and serves "seasonal, traditional, and political dishes that evoke memories and comfort."
• The Edmonton Police Service and the City of Edmonton issued a total of 695 traffic violations during the most recent Operation 24 Hours on May 15, including 195 violations related to speed. The numbers are "quite a bit lower than last year" due to changes in automated traffic enforcement, but automated enforcement is still in place at playgrounds, construction sites, and some red lights.
• Forever Canada, an advocacy effort spearheaded by former Progressive Conservative MLA Thomas Lukaszuk, is trying to push for an anti-separatism referendum, posing the question: "Do you agree that Alberta must remain in Canada and any form of separation be rejected?" Several groups have made headlines recently calling for a referendum in favour of Alberta separatism, including the Alberta Prosperity Project and the Republican Party of Alberta.

One could easily mistake Upper Bound for a silent disco: A kaleidoscope of coloured lights coats roughly 6,000 people in hues as they sit or stand, all wearing headphones that are tuned to the changing lights as they consume panels, pitch contests, fireside chats, and news announcements.

Taproot was on the ground on May 20 at the Edmonton Convention Centre for Canada's largest AI-focused conference, thrown by the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, to gather further details about forthcoming data centres, an announcement from the ministry of technology and innovation, and a new hub at the University of Alberta.

Here's what we found:

1. Beacon wants water

Beacon AI Centers, which has a new CEO and plans to build six data centres in Alberta, was the focus of back-to-back sessions on the first day of Upper Bound. In the second of the two, Beacon co-founder Joseph Shovlin (who's from Ireland) said Beacon is working with Alberta municipalities where its planned data centres will be built to find "water strategies that work around them," rather than making demands for the water that centres need for cooling. Shovlin said this has created discussions on novel uses for wastewater and recycled water. Each municipality is different, he said, and water use will vary from place to place.

Shovlin also said Beacon plans to bring all its data centres in Alberta online around the same time, in 2027 or 2028. In the short-term, that means shoring up on infrastructure like transformers and fibre optic cable, so that the company doesn't experience supply chain delays once it's ready to come online.

2. New hub to use endowment to seed members

Taproot already reported on the launch of the University of Alberta's AI + Health Hub in the recent Tech Roundup and Health Innovation Roundup, but attended a celebration event at Enterprise Square all the same.

Speakers shared at the event that an endowment from the Henry Gusse Foundation will allow the new hub to provide two allotments of pre-seed funding to hub members annually for the next 10 years.

3. Alberta to compute its compute demand

Janak Alford, deputy minister of innovation and technology, announced an engagement portal to calculate Alberta's compute demand during one of the Beacon sessions on May 20. A spokesperson from Amii told Taproot the engagement will result in a white paper that will show the compute load needed for AI in the province.

Taproot asked for more details but as of May 22, neither the province, Alford, or Alford's minister, Nate Glubish, have shared information on the project.

On this day in 1975, Margaret Zeidler made a $100,000 donation towards a new home for the Citadel Theatre.

The 1960s and '70s saw Edmonton in a state of frenzied construction and growth, fuelled by an oil boom. With that prosperity came a wave of philanthropic donations and fundraising campaigns, which helped create many of the city's cultural institutions that we rely on today.

When the Citadel Theatre first opened in 1965, it was housed in a two-storey brick building on 102 Avenue originally commissioned by the Salvation Army, and currently home to The Starlite Room. Four philanthropists, eager to bring professional theatre to the city, purchased the building for $100,000.

The Citadel's first season was a huge success, with 1,300 subscribers by the end of the year. It quickly became apparent that the Citadel would outgrow its original building. Plans were drawn up for a $5-million new complex downtown, with half of the necessary money coming from various levels of government, and the rest raised from private donations. The new Citadel eventually opened in 1976 with a production of Romeo and Juliet.

That same year, another Edmonton icon arrived — the Muttart Conservatory. Construction began in 1974, sparked by a $1-million donation from the Muttart Foundation in memory of Gladys and Merrill Muttart, who were business leaders who established the charity in the 1950s. These days, it's hard to imagine Edmonton's river valley without the conservatory's stunning glass pyramids. Inside, it hosts more than 700 species of plants, artistic displays, scientific exhibits, and other events.

The 1960s and '70s were formative for many organizations that are now anchors of Edmonton's cultural life, including the Edmonton Opera (1963), the Heritage Festival (1976), and Fort Edmonton Park (1974). All of them, and others, benefited from fundraising, philanthropy, and government funding during the city's prosperous booms.

Today's philanthropic landscape is quite different in Edmonton. Many charities and non-profits across Canada are feeling pinched, dealing with the concurrent challenges of rising costs and fewer donations. However, data suggest the situation might be rosier in Alberta, where charitable giving seems to be stable in recent years (although with fewer people donating). A few recent large donations to local organizations have made news, too, including a $1-million gift to help save the CKUA Radio Network, as well as an anonymous $4 million recently dedicated to opening a family medical clinic.

This clipping was found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist Rev Recluse of Vintage Edmonton.

Here are some events happening this weekend in the Edmonton area.

• May 23: Chai with the Chamber - A Taste of Culture and Connection In Celebration of Asian Heritage Month starting at 9am at Villa by Nerval
• May 23-25: 48hr Mobile Device Filmmaking Challenge
• May 24: Plant and Garden Sale starting at 10am at North Edmonton Seniors Association
• May 24: Savour Strathcona Food Tour starting at 11am at MEAT
• May 24: Hanji Workshop with Eunju Park starting 12pm at Art Gallery of Alberta
• May 24: Song and Aria Showcase starting at 7pm at The King's University
• May 24: Dessert Cabaret starting at 7pm at Queen Alexandra Community Hall
• May 24-25: SCARS Spring Fling Gift Market at Alberta Aviation Museum
• May 25: Heart of the City Bike Tour starting at 9am at Government House Park
• May 25: Tom's Walk for Mental Health starting at 12pm at Devon Alliance Church
• May 25: Grown-Up Book Fair starting at 1pm at Bent Stick Brewing
• May 25: Cello & Piano: Beautiful, Poetic Things starting at 6pm at Robertson-Wesley United Church

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

• June 7: What's on your mind, municipally speaking? at Edmonton Public Library (Castle Downs)
• June 13: 29th Annual Esquao Awards Gala at River Cree Resort and Casino
• June 20: Urban Forestry Conference at Fringe Theatre Arts Barns

Visit the beta version of the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.