Edmonton city council's urban planning committee recommended setting aside more space for KDays as the Exhibition Lands are redeveloped, accepting Explore Edmonton's position that the annual fair needs at least 30 hectares. That's almost twice as much as the original plan imagined but is still less than the 55 hectares that comprise the fair's current footprint in and around the Edmonton EXPO Centre.
Explore Edmonton is looking forward to having residential development on the Exhibition Lands once the Coliseum is demolished, but the fair can still co-exist with housing, CEO Traci Bednard told CBC. "We're really excited for the development of those Expo lands," she said. "We're really looking for that vision that drives both of those in a complementary way."
The committee's decision comes as Tourism Week wraps up. KDays brings more than $84 million a year into Edmonton's economy, said Arlindo Gomes, Explore Edmonton's vice-president of business development. "Other cities are investing in their festival and event infrastructure, so I think it's important Edmonton does the same," he said in a Postmedia story, calling the Exhibition Lands an asset that can't easily be replaced.
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Economic development
Messer Canada, which makes industrial gases for welding and other uses, is bringing its industrial expo to Edmonton on April 30. The company, which has a main facility in northeast Edmonton and a secondary one in Nisku, saw an opportunity to raise its profile here at a time when shovels are hitting the ground for major projects, suggested Messer's Ryan Brodrecht. "We see a need in bringing the latest and greatest in welding technology to our customers," he told Taproot. "We really felt that there was a need to do something out here in Alberta."
University of Alberta chemistry professor Steve Bergens has patented a process to create hydrogen from water and has licensed it to a clean-energy company called Cipher Neutron. Most hydrogen comes from burning natural gas, which generates carbon dioxide, but this technology makes it possible to derive the gas from seawater.
Several artists, vendors, and businesses who participated in the International Indigenous Tourism Conference in Edmonton have not been paid or were slow to receive payment, due to cash-flow problems at the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, APTN reported. "We felt very slighted," said Nathan Rainy Chief of 49 Dzine. "We came as a community. The community showed up for tourism, now tourism needs to show up for the community, is how I put it."
Startups and SMBs
SketchDeck.ai has closed a funding round led by Montreal's Boreal Ventures, with participation from BDC Capital and BKR Capital. The investment will make it possible to accelerate the startup's product roadmap and expand into other parts of the value chain, beyond optimizing steel estimation, founder and CEO Daniel Kamau said in a release. He added on LinkedIn that JD Saint-Martin of Boreal Ventures will join his board. Saint-Martin posted that he was "completely blown away by the impressive traction and progress the team made in a short period of time."
Entos Pharmaceuticals has partnered with the L-CMD Research Foundation to develop a gene therapy for LMNA-related congenital muscular dystrophy, a rare and fatal childhood disease with no approved treatment. The organizations said they will combine Entos's delivery platform with the foundation's disease expertise.
A peer-reviewed study has validated ClarityDX Prostate models from Nanostics and estimated that they could reduce unnecessary biopsies by 47% while detecting more than 94% of aggressive cancers, the company said in a news release.
The Edmonton Indie Bookstore Extravaganza is back for a third year, encouraging book-lovers to visit 16 participating vendors on April 25 and 26. "Indie bookstores breed and curate and boost and uplift independent or marginal writers, authors, publishers — much like independent music labels," coordinator Céline Chuang of Paper Birch Books told Taproot.
The Long Term Podcast spoke to barber Jack Heath of Hectic Cutz about the costs, uncertainty, and persistence involved in starting a barbering business.
Restaurateurs continue to voice their frustrations with new patio fees implemented by the City of Edmonton. Mona Jager, who owns Pub 1905, and Wayne Jones, who co-owns Rocky Mountain Icehouse and Cask & Barrel, told Postmedia they feel betrayed because the city encouraged restaurants to build patio infrastructure before adding fees of up to $6,900 this year. "I think it's an unfair burden to put it on restaurants and bars who have patios," Jones said, noting that the city had pushed hard for winter patios. Meanwhile, Mayor Andrew Knack maintains that the costs are necessary due to revenue lost from photo radar fines.
Housing Forward: Real Housing Solutions
Housing Forward is the first prairie-wide affordable housing summit, bringing together more than 500 leaders from across Western Canada to advance practical, scalable solutions for housing delivery. The summit takes place May 11 to 14 at the Edmonton Convention Centre.
Some homeowners in south Edmonton's Duggan neighbourhood are turning to legal measures to curb large-scale infill development by placing restrictive covenants on property titles to limit future redevelopment, even after homes are sold. The move comes as some residents object to a proposed multi-unit project they say is out of character for the low-density area.
The City of Edmonton plans to tighten oversight of problem builders following complaints about messy sites and unsafe practices tied to infill development. Because permits cannot legally be denied based on past performance, the Construction Accountability Program will instead flag low-compliance builders for "high oversight," requiring extra planning, training, and on-site monitoring. The city expects to introduce further bylaw changes by 2027 to make repeat offenders cover the added enforcement costs. BILD Edmonton Metro said it supports the program's intent but cautioned against creating barriers for companies already following the rules. BILD has published a 22-point plan to reset the public conversation around infill.
The City of Edmonton will convene housing leaders from across the Prairies from May 11 to 14 in an effort to advance affordable and non-market housing. Housing Forward builds off of a one-day symposium the city held in the fall. The city says the four-day symposium is the logical next step. "Since 2019, we've increased our housing inventory by more than 40%, so we have some successes that we want to share with others, but it's also continuous improvement," Stuart Kehrig, director of the city's Housing Action Team, told Taproot.
Edmonton has become a renter's market, CBC reported, as new supply from zoning changes and federal financing outpaces demand, pushing asking rents lower and prompting landlords to offer incentives.
An undergraduate team from the University of Alberta's eHUB Entrepreneurship Centre finished sixth overall at the Venture Capital Investment Competition global finals and tied for second in the investment committee pitch and memo categories.
Alberta signed a memorandum of understanding with South Korea's Hanwha Group to pursue investment and collaboration in aerospace, energy, and advanced manufacturing.
Business Linklooked back on 30 years of serving Alberta entrepreneurs, from phone and fax support in the 1990s to today's webinars, online tools, and virtual advising.
CPA Alberta is the professional organization for more than 30,000 Chartered Professional Accountants (CPAs) across the province. CPAs are known for the experience, expertise, and business acumen they bring to organizations everywhere. CPAs are leaders, entrepreneurs, business advisors, personal financial advisors, management consultants, financial analysts, and so much more!
