The Pulse: Oct. 30, 2025

Edmonton's new mayor and city council were sworn in at a ceremony on Oct. 29.

Andrew Knack officially became mayor, and Erin Rutherford, Aaron Paquette, Jon Morgan, Keren Tang, Ashley Salvador, Reed Clake, Anne Stevenson, Michael Janz, Mike Elliott, Thu Parmar, Jo-Anne Wright, and Karen Principe officially became councillors at an event that featured a choir, drummers, and powwow dancers, with many supporters looking on in the audience.

In a speech in front of the crowd, Knack said he and his fellow council members would use the next four years to address affordability concerns, work with the province to solve homelessness, and welcome more people as the city continues to attract plenty of interprovincial and international newcomers. He also said he would meet with the mayors of other municipalities in the region.

The new council then went into council chambers for its inaugural meeting, where it approved the terms for deputy mayor and acting mayor, determined which councillors would be on standing committees and civic agencies, decided on the seating arrangement, and approved its calendar until the end of 2026.

Knack did not introduce a motion at the inaugural meeting. Some mayors use a first motion to set a symbolic tone for their term (for example, former mayor Amarjeet Sohi immediately directed administration to create an anti-racism strategy). Instead, Knack said council would first develop a strategic plan to guide the term.

"Once we have that, we know where we're headed," he said. "Frankly, we want to make sure we're fine tuning a few things, so I'm working on something right now around day-shelter spaces ... we have a meeting coming up on November 3 that would give me an opportunity to ideally make a motion."

New councillors

Morgan, the new councillor for Ward Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi, said a priority for his ward is to twin 41 Avenue SW. "There's a lot of infrastructure and transportation issues within the ward, especially in Heritage Valley."

Clarke, the new councillor for Ward Nakota Isga, said safety, community engagement, and transportation are three of his top priorities.

• Edmonton's new mayor, Andrew Knack, and 12 city councillors were officially sworn in during a ceremony at city hall on Oct. 29. Alberta Chief Justice Ritu Khullar administered the oaths during the ceremony, which featured performances by the Red Elk Singers and the Korora Choir. Knack, along with eight returning and four newly elected councillors for the 2025 to 2029 term, highlighted the need for regional cooperation, despite the former Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board no longer existing. Council's inaugural meeting approved meeting schedules and committee assignments.
• Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack stated his municipal election victory signals a rejection of "big money and party politics," embracing optimism that the "city isn't broken." Raised in Spruce Grove, he began his political journey after unsuccessful council bids in 2007 and 2010, before being elected councillor for Ward 1 (later Ward Nakota Isga) in 2013. Outgoing Mayor Amarjeet Sohi noted Knack's attentive listening. Challenges during his upcoming term include building council consensus on infill and public safety.
• Alberta students returned to classrooms on Oct. 29 after the provincial government invoked the notwithstanding clause, ending a teachers' strike that began Oct. 6 and affected approximately 750,000 students. Both Edmonton Public Schools and Edmonton Catholic Schools confirmed they will proceed with fall break as scheduled, with no immediate plans to extend instructional days. Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides acknowledged concerns over lost learning time. Meanwhile, high school students across Alberta plan an Oct. 30 walkout to protest the back-to-work legislation, which imposes a four-year collective agreement on teachers.
• Unions are mobilizing against the UCP government, with the Common Front coalition aiming to topple the government and introduce a "workers agenda." Members of the United Food and Commercial Services Union (UFCW) voted 79% in favour of a general strike option, potentially affecting grocery stores and food processing plants. Bea Bruske of the Canadian Labour Congress and Jason Schilling of the Alberta Teachers' Association highlight widespread opposition to the UCP's use of the notwithstanding clause.
• Large class sizes continue to challenge Alberta's education system after teachers were legislated back to work, following a three-week strike, CBC News reported. Jason Schilling of the Alberta Teachers' Association noted students in classes of 30-40, including those in Edmonton, struggle for individualized support due to increased learning complexities. Darryl Hunter of the University of Alberta highlighted the academic boost smaller classes offer younger grades.
• Boyle Street Community Services has unveiled a new logo for okimaw peyesew kamik ("King Thunderbird Centre"), created in collaboration with Indigenous artist Virgil Grandbois and guided by elders through ceremony. The new purpose-built community facility will begin opening its services on Nov. 12, with media tours on Dec. 15 and a public open house on Dec. 16.
• A CityNews-Canada Pulse Insights poll found that more than half of Edmontonians feel newcomers are not having a positive impact on the city. The poll, conducted between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6, found 53% of Edmontonians support maintaining current reduced immigration levels, while 37% favor halting it entirely. Many link higher immigration volumes to local issues; 59% blame them for crowded hospital emergency rooms, 64% for affordable housing shortages, and 69% for young people struggling to find jobs. Alberta's Minister Joseph Schow said current immigration levels are "too high" for the province to manage.
• Most Edmontonians will vote in new or redrawn provincial ridings in the next election, as an interim report from the Electoral Boundaries Commission recommends adding two new seats to Alberta's legislature, bringing the total to 89. One new seat will be in Edmonton, increasing its total to 21, and the other in Calgary. The report proposes a new Edmonton-South East constituency and a new Edmonton-West-Enoch constituency, which covers parts of Edmonton and areas just outside city limits. The commission will issue a final report on March 26.
• Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said Zach Hyman will be sidelined for at least another week due to a wrist injury. Hyman, who suffered the injury on May 27 during the Western Conference final against Dallas and underwent summer surgery, had been targeting a Nov. 1 return. However, medical staff are holding him back. Knoblauch noted Hyman's absence affects the team's goal-scoring and tenacity, contributing to the Oilers' current 5-4-2 record.
• The Edmonton Elks have extended the contract of defensive back Tyrell Ford through the 2027 season, the team announced Oct. 29. Elks VP of Football Operations and General Manager Ed Hervey emphasized Ford's consistency and professionalism in reinforcing the team's commitment to building a championship-calibre roster.

Several election scrutineers who were inside voting stations on Oct. 20 spoke to Taproot about their experiences watching a vote result roll out far slower than many hoped.

They told us the processes Edmonton Elections staff were told to use to count ballots left room for improvement and that the well-reported delays in results could be linked to these processes. Our interviews with scrutineers also found that the counting process was not consistent across stations, that several scrutineers saw ballots for mayor or council rejected due to missing signatures from election staff, and that some elections staff were concerned about their pay based on extra hours worked.

On that point, Edmonton Elections told Taproot in a statement that its standard practice is to pay workers a flat fee for training and election-day work, but it has now changed that for this election due to the delays. Workers will receive the original flat fee plus additional pay, Jennifer Renner with the organization said. "We understand that many election workers went above and beyond to ensure that voting and counting procedures were implemented," Renner said.

View from inside

Scrutineers are volunteers linked to one or several campaign teams who stand in the room and scrutinize the elections staff working with ballots. They push for a ballot to be rejected (or a rejected one to be counted) if they feel something is amiss, watch staff seal and unseal ballot boxes, and relay information to their campaign teams far ahead of official results filtering out to the voting public.

"We're just watching to make sure that the counts all add up at the end of the day," Karl Parkinson, who scrutineered for the Andrew Knack campaign at Allendale School, told Taproot. "Basically, it's just sort of a check to make sure that nothing sort of funny happens."

The organization's budget was increased by $4.8 million as compared to the 2021 municipal election, with $2.6 million alone being attributed to the hand-count, requiring 1,230 election-day workers. That increase was to account for the increased human effort required to hand-count the entire vote in 2025, as required by the United Conservative Party government's Bill 20, which outlawed the use of voter tabulator machines — machines that have been in use in Edmonton municipal counts since the 1960s. Calgary, which budgeted an additional budget of $3.3 million for its work, released results at a far faster pace than did Edmonton.

Count challenges in Edmonton saw some call for a full election audit. The vote in Ward sipiwiyiniwak was recounted and Thu Parmar won, after unofficial counts had suggested Darrell Friesen had won.

To understand what was happening, Taproot spoke with scrutineers who watched it up close. Here's what they said.

Here are some events happening today in the Edmonton area.

• Women in Leadership starting at 8:55am at Westin Edmonton
• The Growth Strategy Hiding in Plain Sight: Barter for Business starting at 11am online
• Energy Roundtable Luncheon with Alberta's ADMs & Executive Directors starting at 11:30am at Chateau Lacombe Hotel
• Aba's True Story starting at 5pm at Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts
• Tour: Invest in Commercial Real Estate Downtown starting at 5pm at Alberta Block
• Edmonton Data Society October Meetup starting at 5:30pm at NorQuest College
• Chamber Business Awards of Distinction Gala starting at 6pm
• On Floating Isles Book Launch starting at 7pm at Magpie Books
• Gord Steinke and the Big Stein Band starting at 7:30pm at Festival Place
• Nerd Nite Edmonton #89: Spooktoberween 2025 starting at 7:30pm at Fringe Theatre Arts Barns
• Halloween Eve Coffin Shaker starting at 7:30pm at The Aviary
• Dating Show Deep Dive — A Girls' Night In Series starting at 7:30pm at Hearth Co-work and Co-wellness

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

• Nov. 7: Brewed by Hand - Beginner-Friendly Workshops at Felice Cafe
• Nov. 13: Small Shops - Strategies & Support at Bison Lodge
• Nov. 18: The Bee at Edmonton Public Library (Stanley A. Milner)

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.

Did you know that Taproot sells memberships? Might be a great way to show how much you love the Mini!