In 2025, Edmontonians will elect the city’s next mayor and the councillors that represent them.
However, the next municipal election will come with changes, following new legislation from the Alberta government.
In the spring, the provincial government passed Bill 20, which includes the introduction of local political parties.
Premier Danielle Smith said Albertans deserve more clarity about who and what people are voting for.
Those changes are already starting to come to fruition.
On Tuesday, members of the newly formed Principled Accountable Coalition for Edmonton (PACE) hosted an information session letting citizens know their plans if they’re elected into office.
The group isn’t officially recognized as a party, as they await provincial regulations, but Doug Main, the PACE vice-president of communications, says they’ll be applying for party status as soon as they can.
“The marketplace in Edmonton is ripe for change in city hall,” Main explained. “We’re looking for thirteen candidates. We want to change the faces of council.”
Main believes the current city council lacks common sense and is disappointed by the decisions coming from the municipal leaders.
“The level of dissatisfaction, and I don’t want to say disgust, but disgust, with the output of current at city council. Tax increases, zoning bylaws, bike lanes, LRT, safety, homelessness, and it just goes on and on and on,” Main explained.
“We’re looking for candidates who are fiscally proven, business-friendly, growth-oriented, community focused, fact-based, practical,” he added.
Just days after the Alberta government announced it would allow political parties at the municipal level in Edmonton and Calgary, one group known as the Transparent and Active Partnerships Edmonton (TAPYeg), declared its intentions to run candidates.
In an interview with Global News back in May, local businessman and president of TAPYeg Jeffrey Hansen-Carlson says he believes parties are an important part of democracy in all levels of government.
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“The fact that it’s somehow not contributing to the exercise of democracy municipally, I just can’t reconcile those things,” Hansen-Carlson said.
“We don’t want to define ourselves as the right or the left or the center. We have a big tent in the middle for people that are excited by their ideas and actually want to go out and do them,” he added.
The decision to introduce political parties at the local level was met with swift criticism from several local leaders, including city councillor Andrew Knack.
Knack says not being officially affiliated with a party gives municipal politicians more flexibility.
The ward Nakota Isga councillor fears what this could mean for Edmonton’s democratic system, and how candidates will be able to represent their constituents to the best of their ability while holding allegiance to a prospective party’s goals.
“You don’t have to look any further than, definitely the U.S., but federal Canadian politics now, and even frankly, I would argue provincial arguments now is designed in this sense of ‘party first people second,’” Knack explained.
“Are provincial and federal parties actually representing as many people as possible or are they focused on the small base that supports their party?”
Knack is curious to see the regulations outlined by the province. He questions how independent candidates would fit in this party-style system.
“The biggest worry is that while the minister and the premier have said over and over again that nobody will be required to run as part of a party or slate, are they going to be at a democratic disadvantage if they don’t?” he questioned.
“Meaning, will the party get additional fundraising capacity? Will the party be able to do more than what you can do as an individual?”
McEwan University political scientist Chaldeans Mensah says this will bolster the left-wing to right-wing political spectrum.
“We are going to have a situation where the elections are going to be, essentially, ideologically inclined,” Mensah said.
Mensah says this will be a significant turn in municipal elections, as both new candidates, and incumbents, may show more of their political ideologies.
“Now the question is, will the incumbents run under party labels?” Mensah asked.
“It could very well be that many people decide to run as independents so it won’t really define the playing ground as people expect,” he added.
While Knack announced earlier this year that he won’t be returning to city council, he hopes the people that do run for office are doing so for the right reasons.
“In the end, who are you going to be loyal to? What’s your responsibility as elected representatives?”
— With files from Karen Bartko, Global News
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