Edmonton mayor says city is ‘ready and willing to partner’ with federal government following budget announcement

Edmonton's new mayor Andrew Knack says he's excited about what the federal budget could mean for the city.

Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack responded to the federal budget on Wednesday morning, a day after the Liberal government presented the 405-page fiscal plan in Parliament.

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Speaking to reporters outside City Hall, Knack said he was “pleased to see the Government of Canada’s investment in infrastructure, housing and transportation.” In particular, he said two Edmonton projects would receive funding this year: Rapid Fire Theatre and Bissell Centre.

“As one of Canada’s fastest growing cities, Edmonton requires this federal investment to renew our existing and new infrastructure, to build a stronger Edmonton,” Knack said.

He added that the city is “ready and willing to partner” with the federal government to meet its goal of double housing construction, saying council is awaiting more details about how the Build Canada Homes fund will support the urgent needs of Edmontonians.

Knack said he will be requesting a meeting with Gregor Robertson, the federal Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada, to gain more “clarity on the impact of the reallocation and streamlining of Canada’s transit fund investments,” too.

“We need to actually see how this works, to see if they’ve worked through a process that will be streamlined – that won’t hold us up – because at the end of the day, we need immediate action on a number of these areas,” the Edmonton mayor said. “Anything that could add time could be a concern, but we need to actually see it in action first.”

Knack said the newly elected city council, which was sworn in last week, will be reviewing the current list of priorities and determining how funding can be used, including in areas of housing, infrastructure, transportation, recreation and amenities.

“(At) the end of the day, we need a program that reflects the reality that we are growing rapidly and we are growing faster than almost any time in our city’s history (or) for sure in more than the last 20 years,” Knack said, stressing his calls for stable and consistent funding from other levels of government.

“We do need to, at some point, get to that stage where funding comes in a way that empowers municipalities to provide the services and amenities and infrastructure that we’re being asked to provide,” he said.

Knack said had a phone call with Prime Minister Mark Carney a couple of days ago, which he described as a “short conversation, but a great conversation.”

Speaking at the Alberta legislature on Wednesday afternoon, Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams made a reminder about the Provincial Priorities Act – also known as Bill 18 – which prevents direct deals between Ottawa and municipalities. The legislation was introduced in April last year.

“There’s no world in which municipalities have a direct relationship with the feds without us having a part in that conversation,” Williams said. “We want to see these dollars benefit municipalities. They also need to align with provincial priorities.”

Williams said the act has “not caused delays” in civic projects and that it has been working as intended for more than a year.

Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner and the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce responded to details of the federal budget on Tuesday.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson