Explore Edmonton is highlighting the value of the visitor economy as Canada heads into National Tourism Week from April 20 to 24. The city's economic development agency for tourism reports that visitors spent $2.6 billion in the region last year. Explore Edmonton's own events and venues — the Edmonton Convention Centre and the Edmonton EXPO Centre — delivered $508 million in economic impact that year, a 17-time return on investment. Elsewhere, the Edmonton International Airport welcomed 8.14 million passengers, while hotels in the region averaged 60% occupancy at $153 per night. "Edmonton's visitor economy is built by local entrepreneurs, creators, and community builders," the agency wrote. "Supporting tourism means supporting the people and businesses that define Edmonton."
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Economic development
The Common saw a 20% increase in sales during Downtown Dining Week in March, a welcome boon heading into a summer that will see increased fees for patios. The Common's sidewalk patio configuration would be subject to $3,700 fee, so the owners are scaling it down from 60 seats to 20, which will reduce the associated fee to $500. "It's such a wild card that it just becomes not worth it," co-owner Kyla Kazeil told Taproot. "That money can pay a grocery bill or pay benefits for our staff." The owners of Rocky Mountain Icehouse also oppose the fees and have asked diners to share their concerns with city council.
Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation CEO Andrew MacIsaac told CBC's This is Edmonton about the organization's plans to produce a generic GLP-1 weight loss drug for Vimy Pharma at the Critical Medicines Production Centre. "One of the amazing things about the work we're doing here is we're building something that is part of the supply chain of the pharmaceutical industry," he said. "Most people don't really think about the supply chain of the pharmaceutical industry unless there's a shortage." Vimy Pharma said it will make its application to Health Canada for the drug soon.
Startup TNT community development lead Jesse Wiebe is leaving the organization after five years for a new national role. Wiebe developed Startup TNT's agri-food arm. The organization's spring Agri-Food Summit finale in Calgary awarded a $100,000 investment pot to dental hygiene startup Toothpod on April 9. Wiebe cited Canada's "structural crisis in early-stage capital formation" as the problem he aims to solve, with his transition set to be complete by the end of September. Operations lead Jonah Tetz is also stepping away after four years.
Jeff Bell has departed as director of research and business intelligence at Edmonton Global to run his own consultancy, Understory Advisory. His first client for the practice is the Edmonton International Airport. "One of the highlights of my role was meeting business leaders from around the world and personally showing them what Edmonton has to offer," Bell wrote on LinkedIn. "On a typical week, our team would host delegations from half a dozen countries, from Japan and the United States to Brazil and Germany."
Skies Mag profiled Volatus Aerospace and its work delivering medical supplies by drone from the Edmonton International Airport to Montana First Nations Clinic — a complex beyond-visual-line-of-sight route through active airspace. The company, which has completed more than 11,000 commercial operations across Canada, also announced a 200,000-square-foot drone manufacturing hub near Montreal to serve civil and military markets.
The City of St. Albert has launched a survey to better understand the needs and priorities of local businesses. Deloitte Canada will conduct the telephone and email survey between April 20 and May 8. Results will be shared with council and the community in early summer. Business owners can opt in on the city's website.
Startups and SMBs
Fairly Staffing plans to expand into Ontario and across Canada after an investment from Accelerate Fund IV. The workforce management company handles the paperwork to help dental clinics take on fill-in hygienists. "The demand for dental professionals is growing while the supply is shrinking. Fewer people are entering the profession, and those who do increasingly want the flexibility of gig work," said CEO Amir Reshef, who co-founded the company with Aisha Abdul. Reshef previously co-founded legaltech company DealCloser. Fairly Staffing is also in the top 20 for Startup TNT's next Edmonton investment summit.
Kurtis Broda, co-founder and COO of Wyvern, argues that Canada's space sector generated 25% less revenue in 2024 than in 2014 because the government is not a reliable buyer for Canadian space companies. He pointed to the cancellation of the $43-million Canadian Lunar Rover — which involved more than 30 Canadian companies — while the paused $1-billion Canadarm3 contract stays on the books. Broda also discussed the company's commercialization challenges on Carbon Copy.
Bailey Books in St. Albert has found new life under Lisa Bailey, who transformed her father's quiet online used-book shop into a community hub, in part by capitalizing on the BookTok boom in romance and fantasy titles. In-store sales grew 3,200% in the first year of retail operations, The Globe and Mail noted, and the store has won multiple St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce awards.
Edify profiled Johwanna "Jojo" Alleyne, the owner of Mojo Jojo Pickles, which has grown from a farmers' market side hustle into a provincially distributed line of pickles, jams, syrups, and condiments.
Join us for a local history trivia night on April 23 at the downtown Canadian Brewhouse. Chris Chang-Yen Phillips of the Edmonton City as Museum Project and Colin Gallant of Taproot will quiz you about Edmonton's food history, among other things. Tickets are only $5, and fabulous prizes are up for grabs!
Building the critical mass of infill needed in Edmonton relies on execution rather than policy, argued Sydney Bond and Marty Pawlina of BILD Edmonton Metro. "Policy creates the opportunity for housing, but builders also have a responsibility to be good neighbours — maintaining high construction standards and building trust so that new homes strengthen the communities they join," they wrote, adding that BILD's Infill Priority Actions plan can support proper infill execution.
The Garneau Community League is proposing to expand its special-character residential area to preserve historical charm while meeting Edmonton's density targets. The City of Edmonton identified Garneau as a major-growth node in May 2025, prioritizing increased density. League president Steph Neufeld said the community is already Edmonton's densest and wants growth that preserves its unique features. The proposal would reduce maximum build-out potential while still exceeding targets and would diversify housing. Both the city and the community league are seeking public input.
Josan Properties reduced the vacancy rate at the former Phipps-McKinnon Building from 65% to 17% with two years of creative conversions, programming, and amenity additions, wrote Cory Wosnack of Avison Young. Now called Connect Tower, the building on Rice Howard Way leased 33 of 91 new residential units within a month of going to market.
Edmonton's spring housing market cooled from last year's pace but remained strong by historical standards, according to figures from the REALTORS Association of Edmonton. March resales were down 14% year over year, while the average home price still rose just over 2%.
A report by Rentals.ca and Urbanation found that average apartment rent in Edmonton decreased by 2.2% to $1,488 in March. The decline reflects a national trend, where average asking rents in Canada saw their largest drop in nearly five years. Shaun Hildebrand of Urbanation attributed the downturn to declining population, affordability issues, economic uncertainty, and record apartment completions, leading to higher vacancy rates and increased landlord incentives for prospective tenants.
MacEwan University's Social Innovation Institute is seeking equity-deserving entrepreneurs — including immigrants, Indigenous entrepreneurs, women, and people with disabilities — to participate in hour-long listening sessions for a research study on inclusive entrepreneurship.
The City of Edmonton spent $21.9 million covering short-term disability absences, according to an audit of the Abilities Management Program. Officials noted that 25% increase in mental-health claims since the pandemic, rising from an average of 432 in 2018-19 to 548 in 2024-25. Auditors recommended improving case management, evaluating the modified-duty program, enhancing abilities-management reporting, and developing an evaluation framework.
Students at the University of Alberta decried Bill 48, which would expand online betting and gambling privatization, citing concerns about the mental health impacts of increased gambling advertising. Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally said the bill addresses the 65% of black market online gambling in Alberta. "We can stick our heads in the sand and pretend online gambling is not here," he said on CBC's Edmonton AM. "Our approach is a more practical one. We are stepping in and putting player safety and responsibility first."
The Alberta government will not match Ottawa's temporary suspension of the fuel excise tax and will keep its fuel-tax formula in place until at least July. "If we're going to give (the federal government) their flowers over this, you should also give us some on the fact we don't have a (provincial) sales tax," Finance Minister Nate Horner told reporters.
Alberta's energy minister said Bill 30 would create a 120-day review window for priority energy projects worth at least $250 million, provided proponents have substantially completed environmental assessments and Indigenous consultation.
Industry leaders at the BMO CAPP Energy Symposium said Canada's industrial carbon price is reducing oil and gas competitiveness, while arguing the country should move faster on export infrastructure.
Happenings
Here are some events coming up over the next seven days:
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