While the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Andrew Knack agreed on much at this year\u2019s State of the City address Thursday, one prickly issue was whether city office workers should return to in-person work full-time.<\/p>\n
Chamber president Doug Griffiths, along with Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams, BILD Edmonton Metro CEO Kalen Anderson and others, penned a letter earlier in the week asking Knack to make the move.<\/p>\n
Edmonton\u2019s city workers went remote during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now most work hybrid. Griffiths said having more people Downtown would help bring needed vibrancy and help improve safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to address Downtown issues around safety and around prosperity and around beautification, safety starts with people being present,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Knack thought differently. He said the move would cost the city between $5 million and $10 million for needed office space. Instead, he said the money would be better spent on the city\u2019s downtown action plan.<\/p>\n
He said there is also a letter of understanding with the city workers\u2019 union, and he wants to honour that. Knack said that he\u2019d rather build a culture where workers would choose to work in person than be forced to.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be a magnet for our employees to come Downtown. We don\u2019t want to have a mandate,\u201d Knack said<\/p>\n
Focus on boosting city pride<\/p>\n
The annual event hosted by the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce is a chance for Edmonton\u2019s mayor to speak about the city\u2019s goals, make announcements and take questions about current issues.<\/p>\n
When it comes to city pride, however, both Knack and Griffiths were on the same page. Both agreed that the city needs to be less humble.<\/p>\n
Griffiths presented Thursday\u2019s audience with a unique map of the world where Edmonton was smack dab in the middle.<\/p>\n
\u201cEdmonton is actually at the centre of everything,\u201d Griffiths said. \u201cThis is the way we need to view the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s event saw a change in format, where then-mayor Amarjeet Sohi didn\u2019t attend. Instead, there was a multi-person panel featuring business leaders and the city manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people from the city will deny it, but Edmonton does not have a pro-business brand out there. I would like to see an attitudinal shift,\u201d said Griffiths at last year\u2019s address.<\/p>\n
This year, Griffiths said he is feeling \u201cencouraged\u201d by the work council had done so far. In their speeches, he and Knack lined up on many points.<\/p>\n
Knack, who is just six months into his four-year term, focused on the city\u2019s new priorities \u2014 economic development, growth management, quality services and safety \u2014 which the council announced in February.<\/p>\n
Griffiths also detailed the chamber\u2019s biggest wants for the city. While two of his asks, on economic growth and safety, lined up with the mayor\u2019s, his third ask was for the city to become \u201cunmistakably investable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need everyone to be talking about the data, the policy, the improved timelines, and signal clearly that Edmonton is truly open for business,\u201d Griffiths said.<\/p>\n
Chamber \u2018encouraged\u2019 by council, eager for results<\/p>\n
Attendees walking into the event were met with reminders from the chamber of the city\u2019s economic situation.<\/p>\n
Signage told how Edmonton is Canada\u2019s fastest-growing major city, but its GDP per capita still trails Calgary. Another mentioned that while incomes are growing, they aren\u2019t keeping up with inflation. A third pointed to how the city has been growing by around 50,000 people each year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year\u2019s tax bill for an average family home is $3,100,\u201d stated another. \u201cAre we getting what we pay for?\u201d<\/p>\n
But since becoming mayor, Knack has been centring the economy as a priority.<\/p>\n
On that front, he spoke about the city\u2019s tourism and making Edmonton a world-class destination for entertainment and sporting events. He has also described how the city could be an ideal place for military infrastructure as the federal government amps up defence spending.<\/p>\n
Housing, something Edmonton has been lauded for doing well, was another thing Knack said is providing opportunity for economic growth.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters, Griffiths pointed to how most of the former council members were re-elected, but the chamber has seen a shift in city hall.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just shows, I guess, that the same mix of people can have a shift in priorities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added that while the chamber has been encouraged by council\u2019s new priorities, what comes next are results which he hopes are measurable and critical.<\/p>\n
lnewbigging@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n @liamnewbigging.bsky.social<\/a><\/p>\n x.com\/nubigin<\/a><\/p>\n Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don\u2019t miss the news you need to know \u2014 add EdmontonJournal.com<\/a> and EdmontonSun.com<\/a> to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.<\/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. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal<\/a> | The Edmonton Sun.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Andrew Knack agreed on much at this year\u2019s State of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3561,20456,20455,52,4331,20457],"class_list":{"0":"post-46116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-andrew-knack","9":"tag-city-workers","10":"tag-doug-griffiths","11":"tag-edmonton","12":"tag-edmonton-chamber-of-commerce","13":"tag-edmonton-convention-centre"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46116","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=46116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}