‘So far so good’: Edmonton mayor reflects on first months in office

Andrew Knack on Alberta Primetime, Dec. 16, 2025.

Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack joins Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins to discuss budget talks, photo radar, the city’s relationship with the province and more in this year-end interview.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: What does this budget say about how strained Edmonton’s finances are?

Andrew Knack: What we’ve been trying to do is catch up to years of under-investing. I talked about this throughout the campaign. If you look at the last four-year budget from 2019 to 2022, our budgets weren’t keeping up with inflation, let alone the population growth. Sooner or later you have to catch up on that, and that’s what we’ve been seeing the last four years.

This budget is one that is very clear this is the last time we have to have these level of increases, because we do have to have a full restructuring of our budget going forward. We also have to recognize in a city growing as rapidly as Edmonton is - we’ve added 200,000 people in the last four years - that puts a lot of financial strain. Every new residential community getting built has a net cost. You’re adding new roads, new fire halls, new infrastructure. There is a financial cost to growth that we have to be honest with Edmontonians about too.

That’s why going into the next four-year budget we’re going to recreate the budget. We’re going to do that with Edmontonians and have an honest conversation about what it costs to run a city, to get a clear understanding from folks about what they are willing to invest in and areas that they’re willing to do without.

MH: In speaking with the Edmonton Chamber, Alberta’s Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams indicated a willingness to give municipalities new financial tools.

What kind of window might you see the province opening there?

AK: I’ve had a few chats with Minister Williams already and I’m encouraged by that discussion topic, because I do think there is a reality that’s very hard to deal with. Municipalities really have two property tax tools, or two revenue generation tools, which is user fees and property taxes. That’s it. When you’re looking at other cities, other jurisdictions, there are jurisdictions in the U.S. where municipalities get a portion of the income tax. There are things like looking at bonds and how to better utilize that to help fund infrastructure.

We need to be willing to have that conversation and really encourage the minister to be open to that because this is something municipalities across this province have been asking for because of the challenges we’re seeing. Even with the increase we’ve had Edmonton is about the average. If you go back to 2019 and compare us against 22 other municipalities, which I’ve done, you actually see Edmonton is about middle of the road for increases. That just talks about a greater sustainability challenge I think municipalities have to deal with.

MH: You appear to be hitting the ground running where housing is concerned – donating surplus land, planning new housing projects.

What kind of pace are you committing to with moves like that?

AK: Moves like that are tied to federal funding as well, so really the goal is within two years there’s building permits for these sites, so that folks are ready to go. My hope is even quicker we’ll actually see some of these under construction. Because while Edmonton has done a lot of great work and we are considered far and away, the most affordable major city in Canada when it comes to housing, and we’ve seen numbers that back this up over and over again, we didn’t get there by accident. We got there by deliberate policy decisions we’ve been making over the last decade.

That work needs to continue in order to ensure the housing affordability advantage we have here in Edmonton is retained for many, many years to come. Because more people are moving here and there are still folks who are struggling with housing affordability. So building up that supply is critical.

MH: Among the goals you’ve set for your first 100 days as mayor is to make an impact on traffic safety.

How much of a solution is photo radar to the rising rate of traffic fatalities in Edmonton?

AK: That’s certainly one component, and that’s why we need to see that tool brought back. We have great data that really shows the effectiveness of that tool when used thoughtfully. The City of Edmonton has been working with groups like the University of Alberta to have that type of independent analysis completed, so we’re not just leaving it to chance or leaving people to guess whether it’s effective or not. We know where it’s effective.

It’s also why I introduced a motion during our budget deliberations to create our own municipally led Traffic Safety Enforcement Team to do Traffic Safety Enforcement out in the community. They can work in partnership with the Edmonton Police Service to do that, because we have sadly seen far more fatalities on our roads in the last two years. I think people are being a bit more dangerous in their driving. We’re seeing much higher speeds than ever before and we need to make sure people realize that those higher speeds cause real harm to people, and there should be consequences if you’re looking to break the traffic rules.

MH: Whether it’s traffic safety or housing, there will need to be an element of working with the province.

What are you doing to establish a relationship with the Smith government and keep it on a positive footing?

AK: So far so good. About two months in I’ve had some incredible meetings with the provincial ministers. I’ve met with five provincial ministers. I’ve met with Premier Smith herself and found a lot of common ground. Found areas of opportunity to work on things like improving safety, to further addressing affordability, to making sure we’re keeping up with our growth. These are things that I talked about in the campaign.

At the end of the day I actually think there’s a lot more similarities in what we want to work on together than there are differences. My plan from the very start was to sit down with everyone I can from the provincial government, find those areas of common ground and get to work. That’s what Edmonton needs to expect if we’re going to build a stronger Edmonton. It’s got to be done in partnership with the provincial governments. I’m encouraged by where we’re at today and we’ve seen some moves already that have been quite positive for the city.

MH: Back to budget talks, there were some councillors frustrated with the outcome.

How do you unite this council and convince Edmontonians you’re on the right track?

AK: It’s first important to remind folks we should never strive to have 100 per cent unanimous votes all the time. That’s never going to be something you accomplish. But you need to create an environment where you encourage people to share their different perspectives, where they feel comfortable enough bringing forward different ideas, even if it’s not supported at the end of the day by a majority of council.

I started that work from the day I was elected. Meeting one on one with members of council, talking about what’s important to them, understanding their needs. Since then we’ve continued to do meetings. We’ve done group gatherings. We’re going to be doing a strategic planning exercise starting early in the New Year to make sure even if we will occasionally disagree on the “how,” we will accomplish certain things. We won’t be in disagreement on the “what” we need to accomplish.

There’s very common ground amongst every member of council on improving affordability within the city of Edmonton, improving safety, keeping up with our growth, focusing on things like economic development. Those are going to be shared by all members of council. Now it’s just a matter of working out some of the specifics of how we do it. There will occasionally be disagreements on that, but we can do it respectfully. As we saw during the budget there, it was done respectfully. Even though it was an 11 to two vote, the two that voted against were not mad. They had a different perspective about what they wanted to see and that’s what we should strive for each and every day. I’m encouraged to see how our first budget went.