Mayoral candidate Tim Cartmell apologizes after missing council vote on infill

Edmonton mayoral candidate and current councillor Tim Cartmell has apologized after he missed a vote on changing the rules surrounding infill in the city.

Edmonton mayoral candidate and current city councillor Tim Cartmell is apologizing after missing a vote on infill.

After days of debate on the issue in which councillors heard from hundreds of residents, a motion was passed to delay a decision until 2027 on whether to continue to allow eight units mid-block.

The motion passed 6-5 on July 8, with councillors Michael Janz, Ashley Salvador, Andrew Knack, Jennifer Rice and Karen Principe in opposition.

Cartmell had pledged to curb infill from eight units to six as part of his mayoral platform.

He was absent from the vote on July 8.

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“I regret missing the council meeting continuation last Monday. I know many people were counting on me to be there, and I apologize for letting them down,” he said in a statement issued Wednesday.

Cartmell said it was necessary to miss the vote to spend time with his family.

“I had made family plans to go to a distant, remote place in eastern Canada. A place deliberately chosen because it had no connectivity and therefore no distractions,” he wrote.

“To spend one final week with my family before the final months of the election campaign and hopefully four years as mayor during which there will likely be no opportunity at all to squeeze in a family vacation.”

Coun. Erin Rutherford’s seat was also empty on July 8, but she attended the meeting virtually while on vacation in Kelowna.

Rutherford voted in favour of Mayor Amarjeet Sohi’s motion to leave the decision on infill reduction to a later date after consultations are completed in 2027.

Cartmell says he will continue to work to “get infill right” if elected in October.

“I made a mistake. I intend to learn from it,” he said.

Edmontonians will go to the polls on Oct. 20 to elect a new mayor and city council.

Sohi is not running for a second term after losing a bid to win a seat in the April federal election.