Edmonton chamber asks new city council to create civic economic task force

Doug Griffiths, right, and Heather Thomson of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce on Oct. 28, 2025, at downtown's World Trace Centre.

The Edmonton Chamber of Commerce is asking the newly elected city council to create a task force to review civic finances, programs and debt.

The organization representing local businesses said on Tuesday its 2025 State of the Economy report shows “while the city’s fundamentals remain strong, momentum has slowed, with rising costs, high per-capita debt and lagging job growth compared to peer metros.”

Doug Griffiths, the chamber’s president and chief executive officer, said Tuesday that their suggested task force of “business, civic and financial leaders” would “take an honest look at the economy and deliver real options to strengthen Edmonton’s competitiveness.”

“The goal is to deliver action to put Edmonton back on a sustainable and competitive path for years to come,” Griffiths said during a media conference at its downtown office. “That shows pressure points, there’s no doubt, but it also shows opportunity: the opportunity for a new era of trust between businesses and government, the opportunity to align around new shared goals for the future, and the opportunity to prove that optimism and accountability can coexist.”

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The chamber worked with a consulting firm and businesses over the last year to create the report, “a data-driven, evidence-based snapshot of Edmonton and where we stand from an economic perspective,” said Heather Thomson, its vice-president of economy and engagement.

“The report tells us that Edmonton’s foundation is strong, but our economic momentum is not keeping up with our potential, and that is the gap that we need to close,” Thomson said, adding the report found while the city has pluses such as affordability, a young workforce and industries that anchor growth, it also faces challenges such as job growth that trails other major cities, a decreasing overall median household income and high per capita municipal debt.

Griffiths said he would like to see Mayor-Elect Andrew Knack and the new council “as soon as possible ... (hopefully) in the next 100 days of their activity.”

“We need the business community and the municipal government to come together and figure out how we’re going to tackle this together because these are complex issues,” he said.

The Edmonton Chamber of Commerce plans to go over its State of the Economy report at a Nov. 7 luncheon it’s hosting from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the JW Marriott hotel.