The Pulse: Oct. 23, 2025

Voters in the 13 municipalities that make up the Edmonton metropolitan region cast ballots on Oct. 20, ultimately electing six new mayors and several new candidates to councils.

Taproot has compiled the mayoral winners and changes to councils for each jurisdiction in the region by population size, from largest to smallest.

Strathcona County

Incumbent Mayor Rod Frank won with 77% of the vote, compared to his lone challenger, Benjamin Biel, who had 23%. Mike Derbyshire will be the new councillor for Ward 2, where Dave Anderson did not seek reelection. Incumbents are set to win in the remaining seven wards, including one by acclamation.

St. Albert

Scott Olivieri will be the next mayor. Olivieri received 9,453 votes, while runner-up and city councillor Wes Brodhead received 4,965. Outgoing Mayor Cathy Heron did not run for reelection. Incumbent councillors Shelley Biermanski, Sheena Hughes, and Ken MacKay have been reelected. New councillors Neil Korotash, Sandy Clark, and Amanda Patrick will replace councillors Brodhead and Mike Killick, who did not run, and Natalie Joly, who was elected as a public school board trustee.

Spruce Grove

Jeff Acker will be mayor after receiving 72% of the vote. There has been a change to council, however, with Spencer Bennett, Brad Mastaler, and Jeff Tokar replacing Stuart Houston, Reid McDonald, and Dave Oldham, respectively — none of whom sought reelection.

City of Leduc

Lars Hansen will be the next mayor after receiving more than double the votes of his closest opponent. Bob Young, who was mayor from 2017 until October, did not run for reelection. Only two of six incumbents have been reelected, Bill Hamilton and Laura Tillack, as four councillors did not seek reelection. The new council members are Brett Baynes, Ryley Miller, Shawn Raymond, and Jill Spinks.

Parkland County

Rod Shaigec has defeated incumbent Allan Gamble, marking the only defeat of an incumbent mayor in the region. Shaigec received 56% of the vote, compared to Gamble's 43%. Shaigec was the mayor of Parkland County from 2010 to 2021, when he stepped aside to recover from a severe injury. As for council, only Sally Kucher Johnson was reelected. Meanwhile, Jason Doucette defeated incumbent Kristina Kowalski, and Kristine Olson did the same against incumbent Rob Wiedeman. Ben Jespersen, Corey Kyle, and John Alexander McNab won the remaining slots with no incumbent opponent.

Fort Saskatchewan

Lisa Makin is the next mayor, receiving 3,637 votes. Her opponent, Ajibola "Jibs" Abitoye, received 2,256 votes. Makin has served as a councillor since 2017. Gale Katchur decided to run for council after 15 years as mayor, and was elected. Birgit Blizzard, Gordon Harris, and Patrick Noyen were reelected to council. New councillors are Allan Wesley and Arjun Randhawa.

Beaumont

Lisa Vanderkwaak will be the new mayor. Vanderkwaak received 1,602 votes, narrowly winning out over Catherine McCook, who received 1,404 votes. Outgoing mayor Bill Daneluik ran for one of the six council positions, but did not succeed. New councillors in Beaumont include Christopher "Paul" Heide, Anthony Kohlsmith, and Kim Murray.

Sturgeon County

Alanna Hnatiw has been elected mayor for her third consecutive term. Hnatiw won with 2,368 votes, compared to challenger Patrick Tighe's 1,691. New councillors in Sturgeon County include Amanda Papadopolos and Richard Boissonneault.

• After a recount by Edmonton Elections, the Ward sipiwiyiniwak councillor race flipped on Oct. 22, with Thu Parmar securing 30.36% of votes, compared with Darrell Friesen's 27.5%. Edmonton Elections said that a human error in recording counted votes prompted the returning officer to call a recount for Ward sipiwiyiniwak after identifying a potential administrative error. Delayed results from Wards Métis, Pihêsiwin, and Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi were also finalized after Edmonton Elections discovered uncounted ballots. Jon Morgan won in Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi over incumbent Jennifer Rice, Michael Elliott won in Pihêsiwin, and Ashley Salvador secured Ward Métis. All election results will undergo ballot accounting before the official statement of results is released at noon on Oct. 24.
• Edmonton's newly elected and returning city councillors will be sworn in on Oct. 29, with their first meeting immediately following to set the agenda, including when budget talks begin. Edmonton Elections returning officer Aileen Giesbrecht attributed delays to the Alberta government's Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, which mandated hand-counting ballots and voter registration. Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams blamed municipalities for implementation issues.
• In an opinion piece published by Postmedia, Jacob Dawang argues Edmonton voters backed infill housing in the municipal election, giving council a mandate to continue building more homes in existing neighbourhoods. Dawang, a member of Grow Together Edmonton, argues that development should focus near the city's multi-billion dollar LRT infrastructure, arguing against current restrictions that limit higher density near stations like McKernan-Belgravia. This approach is crucial to maintain Edmonton's housing affordability and make up for housing shortages projected by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation across Canada, Dawang wrote.
• The Alberta teachers' strike has entered its 12th school day, bringing the focus to the Alberta legislature in Edmonton. Premier Danielle Smith's government is delivering its throne speech on Oct. 23, and plans to introduce legislation next week to order teachers back to work, which Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said his caucus will vigorously oppose. In a statement, the Alberta Teachers' Association said back-to-work legislation "will not bring an end to the deteriorating conditions" that caused the strike and that it remains open to negotiations. The strike impacts approximately 51,000 teachers and 750,000 students across public, separate, and francophone schools.
• The Alberta government released a report on Oct. 22 that recommends increased pay for members of the Edmonton Police Commission and removing city councillors from the commission, citing "irresolvable challenges" and conflicts of interest. The report also suggests removing the 30% cap on the Edmonton Police Service operating budget, which is currently $560 million, and increasing transparency in how the police service spends public money.
• Edmonton's new Coronation velodrome will host its first national championships for junior and under-17 track cyclists from March 27 to 29, 2026, with the Alberta Velodrome Association organizing the event at the facility, which took 20 years to plan and three years of active construction. The $153-million Coronation Park Sports and Recreation Centre is expected to fully open in January 2026 and also includes a running track, fitness centre, and bouldering wall.
• The Edmonton Police Service confirmed on Oct. 22 that 83-year-old Ruth Clarke, who disappeared from her west Edmonton home on Nov. 1, 1990, was a homicide victim and released new details about the 35-year-old cold case. Detectives now believe Clarke's remains were hidden in a hand-dug well in a rural area less than an hour north of St. Albert and appealed to the public for assistance, particularly landowners familiar with abandoned wells in that area.

Edmonton voters elected nine public school board and six Catholic school board trustees on Oct. 20. Some candidates won their races decisively, while others narrowly did so. Some were reelected, while others will be new to the role.

Before the vote, some suggested the stakes surrounding it were elevated in 2025. In early October, more than 50,000 teachers in Alberta went on strike. They remain out of classrooms, as negotiations with the Alberta government continue.

Edmonton's fast-paced population growth was also highlighted as adding importance to the vote.

"We hear constantly about the need for new schools in this city, and we're on the brink of potentially a teacher strike," former Edmonton Public Schools board chair Trisha Estabrooks told CTV about the upcoming election last month, before the strike was in effect. "We're hearing the autonomy of school boards has been stripped."

Michael Janz, who successfully ran for reelection in Ward papastew, also said before the Oct. 20 vote that there was a potential for culture-war politics to creep into the school board races. "The school trustee is a really important position in our democracy," Janz, who was an Edmonton Public School Board trustee for 11 years, told CTV. "You're seeing it right now with many of the culture wars across the U.S. and in North America. School boards have become a focal point."

For all results from the 2025 municipal election in Edmonton, go to the Taproot results dashboard.

Here are some events happening today in the Edmonton area.

• City Building at the U of A Conference starting at 8am at Matrix Hotel
• Small Business Week Mixer starting at 5pm at Beyond the Meridian
• Startup TNT Happy Hour starting at 6pm at Pub 1905
• VR After Dark 2025 starting at 6pm at Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute
• Women, Wine & Waterways starting at 6:30pm at Maison de Noir
• Sip & Sojourn - A Wine Tasting Event starting at 6:30pm at Strathcona Community Centre and County Hall
• Women Who Dig starting at 6:45pm at Garneau Theatre
• Brian Thomas Isaac in conversation with Conor Kerr starting at 7pm at St. Albert Public Library (downtown)
• 2025 Alumni Awards starting at 7pm at Horowitz Theatre
• Poetry Reading & Open Mic starting at 7:15pm at Stony Plain Public Library
• Buddie with You, Me & Zach and Pearly Moon starting at 7:30pm at The Aviary

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

• Nov. 4: Equity Isn't Extra: Why Inclusion is Essential at University of Alberta (Donadeo Innovation Centre For Engineering)
• Nov. 14: Tipi Confessions 10th Anniversary Show at Horowitz Theatre
• Nov. 15-22: All is Bright Winter Festival at 124 Street and Area

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

Test your crossword prowess and deploy a little of your Edmonton knowledge. Complete the puzzle.

Taproot members had a chance to hear the quote referred to in 6-Across and 8-Across in a recent Taproot Exchange, a members-only livestream that makes sense of the news. Intrigued? Become a member.