{"id":125264,"date":"2026-07-11T01:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T01:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/125264\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T01:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T01:25:12","slug":"city-council-unanimous-edmonton-and-alberta-need-to-stay-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/125264\/","title":{"rendered":"City council unanimous: Edmonton and Alberta need to stay in Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

As city council prepared to scatter for summer break, one of the last pieces of business brought to the table by Mayor Andrew Knack moved the City of Edmonton to declare that Edmonton and Alberta are a vital part of Canada and that Alberta should remain a province of Canada.<\/a><\/p>\n

“I wish I didn’t have to bring this forward, but I think with where we’re at in the public sphere, it is important for council to be firm on this,” Knack said.<\/p>\n

Ward papastew Coun. Michael Janz was hoping the motion would address the other questions on the ballot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I would argue they’re quite racist and xenophobic and are triggering racism and anti-immigrant hatred in our communities,” Janz said.<\/p>\n

Knack said he wasn’t willing to set the motion aside until all the referendum questions could be addressed in one fell swoop, since council was within minutes of embarking on summer recess.<\/p>\n

(Concern about throwing the last game of the season into OT lest some with travel plans get testy had some precedent. In 2025, overtime debate on the day before summer break led to a verbal bare-knuckle brawl<\/a> \u2014 and the F word from a councillor no longer on council this year.)<\/p>\n

“If we don’t do this now, I can’t speak on behalf of council about this,” Knack said, welcoming a motion to debate the remainder at their Aug. 18 meeting.<\/p>\n

He echoed Janz’s words.<\/p>\n

“I think that the other nine questions are designed \u2014 I think I can say it. I don’t think it’s unparliamentary \u2014 I feel that they are racist questions. I feel that those questions are designed to divide, and I am strongly opposed to them, and I would also like to take a stand on that. But I’m not sure that all of council would have the exact same perspective, whereas I think this one’s pretty clear. I’d love to be wrong, though,” Knack said.<\/p>\n

“I’ve already been hearing from employers and prospective investors about what the entire October referendum conversation is doing to our investment strategy. I’ve had to reassure folks that this is something that should not go through, but we need to make sure that people continue to invest in our city.”<\/p>\n

\"Edmonton<\/p>\n

Edmonton City Hall on May 27, 2026.<\/p>\n

Knack said he hopes the motion moves Edmontonians to take “this October discussion” seriously.<\/p>\n

“I’m worried that a small number of people are going to dominate the discussion, and maybe a small number of people will get out to vote, and the vast majority of Edmontonians who want to be a part of this country, are going to be complacent to not get out and vote. So I think the more we can be vocal about it, the better.”<\/p>\n

Ward Anirniq\u00a0Coun. Erin Rutherford said she’s committed to Canada \u2014 she has a maple leaf tattoo on her ankle \u2014 but she wanted to know how the statement would help.<\/p>\n

Knack said he couldn’t guarantee the motion would solve every problem.<\/p>\n

“We throw around the terminology as politicians of ‘the hill to die on.’ This hill is, I think, one of the ultimate hills,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s important for us to stand and to be clear. I think it’s important to take a stand on something that is foundationally impactful to our city.”<\/p>\n

The motion passed unanimously.<\/p>\n

Contrast between Edmonton and Calgary<\/p>\n

University of Alberta political scientist Jared Wesley noted a marked contrast between Knack’s motion and the City of Calgary’s referendum response could be a tale of two cities’ differing council compositions.<\/p>\n

“Mayor (Jeromy) Farkas was saying that cities don’t have the capacity to wage a campaign on this issue. They’re not allowed. I don’t know which law he was talking about. I assume it’s under referendum legislation or some kind of campaign finance law. So he has been very public about saying how the city of Calgary can’t take a position on this,” Wesley said.<\/p>\n

“I think on this particular issue and in terms of their relationship with the governing UCP, the two councils are very, very different,” Wesley said, noting other organizations are starting to take referendum stands.<\/p>\n

“A lot of folks are filtering this through the lens not just of patriotism and connection to Canada, but also economic impact. We’ve seen what discussions around separation referendums have done to the economy in Quebec over the last number of decades.”<\/p>\n

Wesley cited a study released by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce showing a majority are concerned the looming referendum is already having a negative business impact.<\/p>\n

“Many of them said they’re willing to uproot and leave Calgary if this referendum passes. This is reflected in polling that suggests average citizens are also reconsidering how deeply they’re laying down roots in this province, given the uncertainty around the separation question.”<\/p>\n

As a spokesperson for the city, Knack can well use the declaration, Wesley said.<\/p>\n

“It allows him to, on the hustings or in closed rooms, say, ‘Look, the City of Edmonton believes the city of Edmonton is better off in Canada than being in a separate country,'” Wesley said.<\/p>\n

“He’s a leader of the city that needs to be in rooms with folks talking about future investment opportunities \u2014 that and other things \u2014 and so having that in his back pocket I think is useful.”<\/p>\n

jcarmichael@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

Bookmark our website and support our journalism:\u00a0Don’t miss the news you need to know \u2014 add\u00a0EdmontonJournal.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0EdmontonSun.com<\/a>\u00a0to your bookmarks and\u00a0sign up for our newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites.\u00a0The Edmonton Journal<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0The Edmonton Sun<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As city council prepared to scatter for summer break, one of the last pieces of business brought to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3561,17,1642,3557,1772,52,4478,24452],"class_list":["post-125264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-andrew-knack","tag-canada","tag-city-council","tag-city-of-edmonton","tag-david-bloom","tag-edmonton","tag-michael-janz","tag-province-of-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}