A city councillor running to become Edmonton mayor this fall plans to release his donor list “soon” and wants his rivals to do the same as part of his desire to make the municipal political process more transparent. Andrew Knack, who represents Ward Nakota Isga on the city’s west end, said Tuesday morning outside city hall he’s releasing his list as soon as he, his team and his accountant work “through the final pieces.” The 12-year city council veteran said he’ll make it available on a spreadsheet, something he did four years ago during the last municipal election. Knack told media “concerns about the overall transparency (and) the overall respect of the process” he’s heard from city residents in recent months are prime reasons why he’s releasing his donor list. “People need to know that information,” he said. “There’s nothing to hide on this. You need to make sure people understand who’s contributing, how that might or might not influence your decisions.” Knack also said, if he becomes mayor, he would introduce a lobbyist registry and require “proactive disclosure” of conflicts of interest “so people know who is trying to influence decisions at city hall.” His media conference came a day after city council approved a $400-million deal with the provincial government and the Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG) that will see the city contribute $128 million toward a permanent event park to be built east of Rogers Place on land being used by OEG as an outdoor event space called the Fan Park. The deal also includes funding for housing near the downtown arena and for the demolition of the Coliseum, the Oilers’ former home. Knack referred to the deal – one which he said city council “voted to spend tens of millions of their tax dollars” when “the details have been public for less than a week” – in his preamble Tuesday before taking questions from media. “Yesterday’s discussion is a good example of why we do need to make sure we’re still making change because I don’t think people feel like that process was nearly as transparent as it needed to be,” he said. Others running for mayor on Oct. 20 include city councillor Tim Cartmell, former councillors Michael Walters and Tony Caterina, ex-federal MP Rahim Jaffer, lawyer Ronald S. Billingsley Jr., engineer Malik Chukwudi, business consultant Vanessa Denman, Dr. Omar Mohammad, Andrzej Gudanowski and Olney Tugwell.
