Speaking Municipally

We sit down with Edmonton's new mayor, Andrew Knack, to talk about optimism, regional collaboration, video game marathons, and much more. 

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Mayor Andrew Knack
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Speaking Municipally is produced by Taproot Edmonton, the most reliable source of intelligence about what's happening in the Edmonton region. Through curiosity-driven original stories, tailored and useful newsletters, a comprehensive and innovative events calendar, and thought-provoking podcasts, we inform, connect, and inspire a more vibrant, engaged, and resilient Edmonton region.

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Creators and Guests

Host
Mack Male
Co-Founder and CEO of Taproot Publishing Inc.
Host
Stephanie Swensrude
Stephanie is a curator and reporter at Taproot Edmonton. She attended NAIT's radio and television program and has worked at CBC, CFJC in Kamloops, and 630 CHED.
Guest
Andrew Knack
Serving the people of Ward Nakota Isga and all of Edmonton on #yegcc (Edmonton City Council). He/him.

What is Speaking Municipally?

Taproot Edmonton presents a weekly discussion on key stories in municipal politics. We pay attention to City Council so you don't have to! Join us as we delve into conversations about the context surrounding decisions made at City Hall.

Mack Male:
Return of the Knack. This week, we sit down with Edmonton's new mayor, Andrew Knack.

Stephanie Swensrude:
We talk about optimism, regional collaboration, and video game marathons.

Mack:
Hi, I'm Mack.

Stephanie:
I'm Stephanie.

Mack: And we're...

Both:
Speaking Municipally.

Mack:
Welcome back to Speaking Municipally, episode 331. Uh, we're recording this intro a few days after our interview with the mayor. He's a busy man, and we we had to make the most of our time with him at City Hall, but I thought it was a pretty good conversation, and we're gonna run that for you basically in full here right away. But just off the top, wanted to mention a couple of things. First of all, quick shout-out to Castria. These are the fine folks who've been editing the show for us over the past few months. Uh, we're really glad to be working with them. And if you wanna check out all the things that they offer, you can learn more at WeAreCastria.com. And then next week, just a little plug for you, Stephanie and I will both be back, but we're gonna be joined by Troy. Uh, it's been a while since he's been on the show, obviously, given this municipal election period. And he's gonna join us to talk about that, and also share some of his post-election reflections. So, I don't know what we say in podcasting, Stephanie. It's not really tune in, but subscribe?

Stephanie:
(laughs) Wait for the episode. (laughs)

Mack:
Look for it? (laughs) Something like that. You know where to find us.

Stephanie:
Yes.

Mack:
All right. On to our interview with Mayor Andrew Knack. We are here with Mayor Andrew Knack. Been on the podcast several times, but never with that job title. Congratulations on the win.

Andrew Knack:
Thank you.

Mack:
Welcome back to Speaking Municipally.

Andrew:
Excited to be back.

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Mack:
Uh, tell us how you're feeling. When did it all sink in, or has it?

Andrew:
(laughs) You know, it's still, like, not entirely. It- it's- it's just been so quick since the a- you know, the announcement was made that, okay, we- we- we won this. Uh, we had a brief moment of celebration, then we went into a media scrum, and then went into, like, building the office. And so there have been a few moments where it's got to sink in a little bit. So I had, on Sunday, a few events that I went to where I had to read the proclamation, and I got down to the end and it says, "Oh, therefore I... Oh yeah, Mayor Andrew Knack." I was like, "That's weird." That's a weird thing to say. Um, so that's, it's started to sink in. Getting to be in this office and- and and be here has- has made it feel a little bit more real. But it's, every day it's still becoming a little more real.

Mack:
Well, we wanted to ask you about some of the things you're gonna do, obviously, as mayor, and some of the things you've said. But first we thought we'd just ask a few questions about the campaign.

Andrew:
Yes.

Mack:
I know it's in the past, but we're curious to know. So you s- you told us earlier when we spoke, that you wanted to campaign kind of for the everyday Edmontonian. And you said you were gonna focus on small donations, not big money. So anyway, just looking back at the campaign, how do you feel like you did on all of those things? How do you think it went? I mean, obviously you won, but-

Andrew:
Yeah. (laughs) Yeah, I- I think overall went- went fairly well. I know when we had had a conversation, I was- I was hoping I didn't have to do any corporate donations and and then I sort of shifted to doing small businesses and focusing on there, which- which was great. I mean, we still raised very little money in comparison to others (laughs). I, like, every day I'm like, "How did, how did we manage to pull this off with so little money?" 'Cause I think, you know, our final number, once all is said and done, is probably gonna be in the range of 225 to $250,000, which is incredibly low amount for a mayoral campaign. I'm guessing it's gonna be one of the (laughs), one of the lowest dollar amounts in a mayoral race in- in decades. And- and- and so it's a reminder of just how fortunate I was to have so many people who volunteered their time for this campaign, who- who still, for some reason, believed in this message and- and found a home in it, and wanted to help us make sure we're spreading that word. So when you talk about connecting with the everyday Edmontonian, I mean, that's what this campaign did, and it's, I think, why we ultimately had the success that we did. It's 'cause it sure wasn't the money (laughs). Oh goodness.

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Mack:
You were very consistently outspoken about parties.

Andrew:
Mm-hmm.

Mack:
And- and money in elections. Does, do you take anything from this result, like maybe we didn't need to be worried after all? Or- or any... What's your takeaway?

Andrew:
I- I mean, I- I still look at the system that was created, and it- it- it is hard to battle against that kind of money. I mean, I- I- I'm looking forward to seeing what the final dollar amounts are, but I won't be shocked if it's- was close to an eight or nine or ten to one outspend. And I think one of the reasons I had the opportunity to still have this chance of success is 'cause I've been around for 12 years, and so I had some name recognition going into this. You know, I- I had f- supporters who have been with me for a while. Uh, I- I can't imagine if you were new, trying to- to operate in this system, if you would have had that same feeling. And so, I still feel strongly about the need to see those rules go back to what they were in 2021. Uh, we don't need corporate and union donations. We don't need third-party advertisers. We don't need any of that. It should be everyone on a level playing field, because it's not a level playing field. Anyone that chooses to run as part of a political party is given a democratic advantage because of the way the rules are structured, and that shouldn't be the case.

Mack:
You heard obviously on election night from some of your competitors.

Andrew:
Mm-hmm.

Mack:
And they put out statements congratulating you, saying some nice things about you, I think.

Andrew:
Yeah, yeah.

Mack:
Have you talked to any of them since the campaign, since the election?

Andrew:
Yeah, I had some text messages with a couple of them since since election day, and some great conversations everyone offering to, to help which was great 'cause I also wanted to reach out and see if they would be willing to help still. I think at the end of the day, I talked about how you know, if I'm gonna represent everyone, that means representing everyone, including those that didn't vote for me. And that also means tapping into the campaigns and the passion of those other folks that ran, and seeing if they can help us on the different challenges, because this was an election where we were all campaigning on similar themes, you know? so the fact that I was talking about safety, affordability, and keeping up with population growth was not uncommon from any of the other mayoral candidates. How we wanted to tackle them was different, but not the, not the overarching themes. And so since we can at least agree on the overall themes, that makes it that much easier to say, "How can we work together to try to tackle some of these things even if we won't agree on some of the specific pieces?" And that's how you build bridges. That's how you show Edmontonians that, that, you know, we don't have to remain competitors. Uh, we, we can remain Edmontonians And work together on common themes.

Mack:
I mean, we don't really have a cabinet, so there's no cabinet posts.

Andrew:
(laughs)

Mack:
So, like, what's an example? What's a concrete way that somebody like, say, former Councillor Tim Cartmell might work with you on this?

Andrew:
Well, And I think this is still to be determined, but I, you know, I've started floating the idea, And very early days, so I don't know if we're gonna do this for sure, but I've talked about this with my colleagues of saying, "Do we want to bring back a version of council initiatives?" So this is something that was started under Mayor Mandel and continued with Mayor Iveson And Mayor Sohi. Uh, they continued, but during pandemic, they sort of fell by the wayside. And so do we want to bring a version of that back or something like a council portfolio where, where somebody picks on a topic they're really interested in? And can you do that and partner somebody up with a community member? And maybe the community member is somebody that, that ran in the election that's that, that wasn't ultimately elected. So I wanna explore ideas like that. I don't know if this is the idea. I'm you know, I'm, I'm sort of coming up with a few different ways of, how do we include those voices in the ongoing success of our city? I talked about this building a stronger Edmonton together. Uh, the together part's really important, and I wanna make sure that, that we're bringing in people that supported me and people that didn't support me in building that stronger Edmonton.

Stephanie:
Kind of on that, mm, you know, upward note, in your speech at the swearing-in ceremony, you said no one moves to a city they think is in decline and that you're tired of the narrative that Edmonton is broken. Um, what is the correct narrative to you? What is the state of the Edmonton that you are now leading?

Andrew:
I think the state of the Edmonton that, that's, that we're all living in right now is this is an incredible city that has a lot of positive things going for it and is not without challenges. And we shouldn't shy away from talking about the challenges. We shouldn't shy away from trying to work on those challenges. But we shouldn't let the challenges dominate our th- our mindset, dominate everything we do when we're speaking to it. I think that, that sort of approach of just constant... I don't know if you want to use the term negativity, but just that constant state of, "Oh, it's never good enough." But then why? (laughs) Why is everyone coming here, right? And I think, I think you said it in the last- I think you said it in the last episode, actually, where you were like, "Well, it's, you know, it's an affordable city, so it's the last spot by default." But that's still not the case. There's plenty of other cities that have homes the same prices as, as we do in Edmonton. Yes, we're the most affordable major city, so if you want to live in a big city, yeah, by default, this might be the only one. But still, if you were one- in one of those other cities, are you truly gonna uproot your life to a city that you're not excited about?

Andrew:
Right? And so, you know, I challenge, I challenge you a little bit in the last episode of saying like, no, I, I still think even somebody in, in Toronto or Vancouver where housing prices are so much more you know, but their incomes are higher, and so many of those folks just chose here because they wanted to not just get an affordable home, but get an affordable home that allows them to have a good quality of life to raise a family, to start up their own business, to do things that would not be possible in those other cities right now.

Andrew:
And so that's what I hope people think about in this city is that, that let's, let's be willing to talk about all of the great things that's happening, right? It shouldn't be, you know, there was a, a Reddit thread a couple of days ago. Somebody's moving here from Saskatoon and they're moving here permanently in January, and they already talked about how much they're loving the city in the few times they've come as they- they're looking for a home. You know, why, why does it always take somebody from outside coming here telling us how good we are before the people who have lived here a long time actually just accept and realize, "You know what? Actually, we are pretty darn good."

Andrew:
Let's, let's embrace that. Let's go tell the world how good we are, and let's go work on those challenges together while we're at it.

Mack:
Do you think your council colleagues share that view?

Andrew:
Yeah, 100%. I this has been the, the fun part about the one-on-ones. I had one-on-ones with every member of council before-

Mack:
And you did that in their wards, right?

Andrew:
And in every ward where possible. There were a couple that we couldn't meet in the ward, but almost all of them were in the wards. And I heard that over and over again. No matter what issues they, they were campaigning on, no matter what their top themes were, although there was a lot of similarities to, to the three themes that I ran on there was this sense of optimism, that there was this sense of this is a city that has so much potential opportunity, that is already doing a lot of great things.... and that's why people are calling it home. A- And so I think absolutely we've got this space about this is a city that, that, I think every member of this council wants us to be more positive about, wants us to celebrate more, and wants to make sure all of our partners are doing this, right? So, you know, when we're- when the chamber's hosting an event, what are they talking about? A- again, not ignoring a challenge, but let's make sure the chamber's also talking about the great things. Let's make sure the provincial government... We heard the premier in her State of the Province, hosted by this chamber, spend most of the time talking about all of the great things happening in Edmonton, right? So if the premier can do it, chamber should do it, everyone should be doing it, right? Let's, let's all be using this opportunity. Again, th- not that we should gloss over a challenge, but that we shouldn't let that dominate all of our mo- o- o- our thinking time.

Mack:
You talked at the swearing in ceremony and the inauguration, or inaugural council meeting, sorry, about this idea of a shared strategy for a council. Does that, some of that kind of stuff get embedded in there? Like this is the way we talk-

Andrew:
Yeah.

Mack:
... about Edmonton And our work? Or give us a sense of what that might look like.

Andrew:
Yeah, I think, I think the idea behind this shared strategic vision is, is identifying what, what are those common themes we wanna be focused on. So again, I, I keep coming back to I think you're gonna see in that likely safety, you're gonna, likely gonna see affordability, you're likely gonna see how we keep up with population growth, there might be other components to that. But I think there will some foundational pieces in that work. So if we're working on all of those three areas, how are we communicating about those issues? How are we communicating about our city broadly? So communication is likely less of a, a standalone item, but more of a foundation piece that you embed in this work and how you share that with the rest of the city. But this whole idea was, was making sure that we have something we can all pull together on. But actually, the, the bigger piece, there were, there are a few reasons why I wanted to create this sort of public-facing strategic document, which is that, one is which is that we can hold our city manager accountable to that, 'cause we only have two employees, the city manager of the city, city auditor, and the city manager's really responsible for putting everything into action with all of the other incredible workers in the City of Edmonton. Ah, but if we haven't given the city manager clear direction, how do we, how do we measure their performance? And then there's the other part about, how does the public hold us accountable to that? But then the third piece is, how does the public look at that document and ask themselves, "How can I help make this a reality?" Again, whether you like, w- whether you voted for me or not, chances are you want to make the city safer, chances are you want to make this a more affordable city, chances are you want to help make sure we're keeping up with population growth. So I hope people look at this as a bit of a challenge, and I talked about this in my, in my inaugural speech of, of saying, you know, maybe everyone should be contributing to this as well. So let's put that out there and a- and let other groups, you know, whether it's faith communities, community organizations, business groups, look at that and say, "How are we gonna play a role in this? How are we gonna help support this? And how are we gonna bring this to life?"

Mack:
Where did the idea come from? Like, is this, is this something that's been similar in previous councils? Or...

Andrew:
So Mayor Iveson had started a version of this, not a public-facing document, but we had like we had in our sort of initial meeting where every member of council got to share what we heard at the doors in our public council meeting. We started with that, and then Mayor Iverson was able to sit down with all of us as a group and say, "All right, so you just listed off at the time..." 'Cause that was an election, the first one, where there were 50 different things. You know, there weren't uh two or three central themes. And he said, "Okay, but you got 50 things. What are the five things we're gonna work on in year one? Because you can't do 50 things in one year." And it never materialized into the form of like a here's a strategic document, but at least there was a general guiding principle that we, we were able to use as we went forward, and I think that helped shape the work of the city plan, that helped shape the work of other, other elements. And we did that again in 2017. And in 2021, because we started in the middle of a pandemic, eight new councillors, there was just so much going on and we really didn't get a chance to do that. And th- because we were often having to react to, to the, to the issues. And so this is why I've talked about I think what would have really helped us in the last four years, and there's a lot I appreciate of Mayor Sohi. And so, you know, to me, this is the, the minor critique is that I wish we would have had that to be able to then say, "All right, we just finished reacting to this pandemic. Now what?"

Andrew:
What's our guiding principle? And that's the intent behind this, of what is our guiding principle so that even when we get distracted, and I say distracted somewhat loosely, 'cause there's always gonna be something that pops up, what can we come back to?

Stephanie:
So I saw some people online and in kind of my conversations that we may have just elected our first, like, Cyclist, capital C Cyclist as mayor.

Andrew:
(laughs)

Stephanie:
And you're a year-round cyclist, right?

Andrew:
Yes. Yeah, absolutely.

Stephanie:
Um, yeah. So my friends, friends of mine have texted me like, "I just saw Andrew Knackler riding his bike in the bike lane." So-

Mack:
My daughter and I pass you regularly.

Stephanie:
Yeah. Yeah.

Andrew:
Regularly. That's right.

Stephanie:
Yeah. So what are your thoughts on that? Is this just like a normal thing or are you kind of excited to bring your perspective as a cyclist, a year-round cyclist, to the mayor's chair?

Andrew:
I hope we're at the point where it's more normal.

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Andrew:
And I, and I say that 'cause I remember, you know, I didn't actually... I wasn't a cyclist when I first got elected to council. So in 2013, I did not bike regularly in the city.

Stephanie:
Mm-hmm.

Andrew:
I didn't even think about that as a viable mode of transportation. Um, I just-

Stephanie:
Which, like, was it then? Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Andrew:
No, it really wasn't, right? Uh, you know, but I, I've told the story And, you know, And sad to have lost Dr. Darren Marklin, but he was one of the a number of folks who reached out to me in 2014 and said, "Come experience the city on a bike. Come for a bike ride with us." And so I remember going on that bike ride and that, that was the beginning of a transformation. So I've now spent the last 11 years biking. But even, you know, when I first started or, or before, you know, I think about the presidents of the, the Meadowlark Community League when I was vice president he was a person that biked every day, including through winter, and I thought he was the, the crazy cyclist.

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Andrew:
And, you know, even when I started biking, it felt pretty, pretty weird to do that. And, you know, with the infrastructure that we've invested in now, with the increase in ridership that we're seeing-... I think we're at the point now where this should actually just be seen as sort of one way of commuting, you know? I bike as my primary mode of transportation. And yeah, there are still days that are d- I drive. I had to drive today, you know, I didn't get a chance to bike. I biked yesterday though and I biked to, you know, to in the south side of the city before coming downtown in the morning. And and but it's just sort of normal now. It's easier for me to do it, it's good for my health, it's good for my budget, and I hope it's a choice that more and more people can make as we continue to invest in these alternatives. So, I actually don't want it to be treated as something u- unique or special. Yeah, you'll, you know, if you see the guy with the bright blue helmet that's probably me and you'll see me biking across the city because that's a great way to experience the city and it's a great way to find new ice cream shops and cool little side paths. I found one just a couple of days ago on the north side, just right on the other side of the Yellowhead, which is really cool, and had never experienced that before. And I hope people just maybe use this as an opportunity instead of saying, "Ah, nobody does this." They're gonna be like, "Well, actually, the mayor bikes." So, maybe I should try biking. Maybe it's not as crazy as I thought, like I thought a decade ago when I, when I saw those folks running in the winter.

Stephanie:
Well, I think a- again, speaking of, like, Reddit comments, but you'll see people online being like, "You know, it's so clear that council doesn't use transit because I would ch- challenge them to go on the bus for one day." Or maybe the same sentiment for cycling. So yeah, you know, obviously that isn't quite true in this case. (laughs)

Andrew:
Yes. Well, And to that point, right, I think it's worth reminding folks now that, you know, last term was the first term of City Council that I've ever worked with, and likely in our city's history, where a majority of councillors either use transit as their primary mode or at least regularly enough to actually know what, how the system works.

Stephanie:
Mm-hmm.

Andrew:
Uh, last term was the first one where at least a good number of us would bike on a regular basis. So, and this term, because many of us are returning, And y- look at the new ones, we, we represent the way everyone experiences our, this city. So, there are people that bike regularly, there are people that use transit regularly, there are some that walk regularly, and there are some that are drive. Uh, And how great is that to have a group of elected representatives who now all commute through the city in different ways so we can bring that entirety of perspectives to when we're having conversations about what we're investing in our transportation system.

Stephanie:
Mm-hmm. Speaking of investing in the transportation system-

Andrew:
Yes.

Stephanie:
... perfect segue, thank you. Um, on the Taproot survey-

Andrew:
Yes.

Stephanie:
... a question about bike, the bike plan.

Andrew:
Mm-hmm.

Stephanie:
You chose build only what has been planned. The other two options were build less and build more. So, can you expand on your question?

Andrew:
Yes, because, and this is why the ... I love the survey and I didn't like that question, I'll be honest.

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Andrew:
Um, because as I said, in the expansion part of the context-

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Andrew:
... which I hope people read but I got a few questions from people who clearly didn't read that part.

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Andrew:
As I said, the plan that we have actually is more than what is currently being built.

Stephanie:
Mm-hmm.

Andrew:
So, we have a bike plan that sets out we're only building about half of what's already planned.

Stephanie:
Mm-hmm.

Andrew:
So, how do we build the other half that is also planned? So, that's what I was talking about. I do think we need to build out the entire plan. So that's why I didn't say build more, because we got a plan that already plans for more. Uh, now it's just how do we make sure we're funding that along with all of the other priorities that we have? Recognizing that this council's gonna be going into a four-year budget with a significant constraint in capital funding, unless we see a substantial increase in funding from the provincial or federal governments, which I don't expect will be happening any time soon. I don't know if we can do the same scale of investment in, in all of our transportation system, but we should still continue to invest in those options. So that's why, the way I answer the question, sort of like everyone else is yeah, we should build what's planned, because what's planned actually has a much longer term vision.

Stephanie:
Well, I wanna sh- I wanna shift gears then-

Andrew:
Yeah.

Stephanie:
... and talk a little bit about your approach as mayor.

Andrew:
Yes.

Stephanie:
I think, I think a mayor, any politician really, needs to have a little bit of a thick skin.

Andrew:
Mm-hmm.

Stephanie:
Right? You can't please everyone, people are gonna criticize, they're gonna be negative.

Andrew:
Mm-hmm.

Stephanie:
You've gotta be able to let some of that stuff pass you by, right? (laughs)

Andrew:
(laughs)

Stephanie:
And I think sometimes people see you maybe as the opposite end of the spectrum.

Andrew:
(laughs)

Stephanie:
Like, you have such a thick skin that you'll give anybody the time-

Andrew:
(laughs)

Stephanie:
... and you'll sit down and listen and talk to anybody. So I'm wondering, is, is that a fair characterization of, of your approach and-

Andrew:
Mm-hmm.

Stephanie:
... how do you think that's gonna work as mayor?

Andrew:
Yeah, I think it's generally fair, and, you know, I- I've talked about this a bit, but I, you know, I- I remind folks that you know, when I, even before I was elected, I was very different politically than I am today. You know, I, in my, I grew up very, very, very, very, very conservative.

Stephanie:
And your dad said you were a conservative like him.

Andrew:
Yeah.

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Andrew:
Very much, and he was very, very, very (laughs), very conservative-

Stephanie:
Yeah.

Andrew:
... as well. And, you know, my views evolved over time but there are certainly some issues where you can still occasionally see that part of me that still exists and there are other issues that are clearly in a very different direction. Um, but I, what I try to remind people of is that if I constantly was to rule out that person who, you know, maybe I'm not the, the conservative person anymore, quote-unquote, you know, I, and who knows? Political labels, I don't love it, but I get, I'm probably not the most conservative of the mayoral candidates that ran in this last election. But do I want to then s- take anyone that was conservative who didn't vote for me and just say, "Well, you didn't vote for me, I'm not gonna bother engaging with you." Or do I wanna do like what I've done for 12 years which is to reach out to those folks and say, "Hey, listen, I know you didn't vote for me but what can we work on that, that matters to you?" And, you know the, the best indicator of, of why I think this is a successful approach, um uh, solely from a quote-unquote political lens is the 2021 election, right? Uh, is if you go look at the results of the 2021 election in the ward that I ran in, you know, I got reelected with 66% of the votes.So already that means people from across the political spectrum voted for me. But if you actually then went further and looked into the more specific results, you would see the area I did the best was actually the area that votes typically, provincially and federally, the most conservative. How? H- how is this supposed, you know, the most progressive of the choices on mayor getting the greatest level of support from the most conservative area? Because, again, municipal issues aren't as clear-cut and as you know, what, what that part of the city cared about, and it's the suburban part of the city at the very corner of the city, right up against the city of St. Albert, 'cause they cared about, "Hey, is this unsafe road being taken care of?" Right? "Are we trying to help address these things that impact their quality of life?" And when they saw that I took that seriously, and that I advocated for those things, and then we actually successfully addressed some of those things. Yeah, maybe they weren't the biggest fan of bike lanes 'cause they weren't gonna bike from the northwest corner of the city, especially 'cause there's no bike infrastructure there, into the downtown. But they're willing to say, you know, "I, I maybe don't see that as a priority, but I see this person as somebody that cares about the things I also care about, so I should also recognize that maybe he's responding to things that other people care about that I might not care about." And so that's why I find it still so important to be able to reach out to as many different people as possible, give people the time of day not, not immediately rule them out, not rush to judgment 'cause we're in a world now where that's just so easy to do. Right?

Andrew:
And that's the thing. It's just we're s- it's so easy to do it and, you know, I, I've talked about this with my dad and who, who's been public about it, and he's, he's very much (laughs) changed. If he, gosh, if he, there had been Twitter for 50 years and you looked at my dad, you would've been like, for, for 50 years you're like, "Who is this guy?" And then two year, last two years, you're like, "What happened to my dad?"

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Andrew:
Um, but if you had rushed to judge a guy like my dad or rule him out, would he have ever shifted his political views or would he have gotten caught up in this defense of his views and never been open to somebody else's point of view? And so that's what I wa- why I still try to l- lead this, this life that I do. Uh, it's a little harder now as mayor. The, the number of comments I get on my social media is substantially more.

Stephanie:
Mm-hmm.

Andrew:
But I've still been jumping in. Every day I try to jump in, even if it's to one or two comments, to reply to them, and it's gonna be something I keep doing as mayor because I think people w- need to see that their mayor is going to attempt to reach out to as many different people as possible.

Mack:
I imagine the time is just the biggest difference, right?

Andrew:
Mm-hmm.

Mack:
You just, your time is so much more constrained as mayor?

Andrew:
Yeah, it, it's so it's less about the number of hours. So the number of hours I'm working as mayor does not seem like it's more than the number of hours I'm working as a councillor. But what it is now is that as, as a councillor, I could go out to a community league AGM and stay for the full two-hour thing and then stay for an extra half hour, 45 minutes talking to people. Now I can go to that meeting for a half an hour because then I have to go to another meeting for a half an hour, to go to this cultural event for a half an hour, to go to this community group for half an hour. And so it's more smaller pockets of time that we're dealing with, so that's how my schedule has changed.

Mack:
I imagine another reason you did well in those mo- m- more conservative parts of the ward when you were running back back when you were a councillor is because you knocked on every door.

Andrew:
Mm-hmm.

Mack:
Uh, how many doors do you think you got to during the mayoral campaign?

Andrew:
We did get to tens of thousands so still a lot. But not nearly as much as I would like. Uh, you know, door knocking is a little tougher in a mayoral campaign 'cause you've got to balance the door knocking with going to that, even that backyard event where you can get 50 people, or going to that community group that's doing a group where there's 100. So door knocking st- But it was still an important part and I think, you know, what, what was interesting is we had heard about how some of the plans for other campaigns were that they weren't originally gonna door knock.

Mack:
Mm-hmm.

Andrew:
And because we started and we really leaned into that, and I think people saw us going out to every ward and every pocket of the c- uh, the city that, that that started to shift how other campaigns approached the campaign. And then they subsequently started door knocking and to me it's been integral. And I think that's part of why we had the success that we did, is people know that, you know, this isn't just something I do at election time. It's something I've done throughout my entire term. It's something I plan to do as mayor. I s- do still plan to go out door knocking as mayor into different wards across the city and chat with people face to face so that they know that that I'm not gonna stop that just because I was elected as mayor.

Stephanie:
I do th- I, sorry, I was just giggling because I (laughs) just think that if you were just one day chilling at home and all of a sudden you get a knock on the door and the mayor's just at your door- (laughs) if for some reason it's a little bit different than if it's a councillor. I'm sorry.

Mack:
Not during an election time, no.

Andrew:
Yeah. Yeah.

Stephanie:
It's just like, "Did I do something wrong?"

Mack:
(laughs)

Stephanie:
Like, "What's going on?" (laughs)

Mack:
Summer evening, the mayor comes by your place.

Andrew:
Yeah.

Stephanie:
Yeah.

Mack:
Yeah.

Andrew:
Best time to do it.

Stephanie:
Yeah. Exactly.

Mack:
We wanna ask you some questions other additional questions about the Taproot survey.

Andrew:
Okay. Yes.

Mack:
So not just the bike lanes-

Andrew:
I'm ready.

Mack:
But we've got some other ones, so Stephanie?

Stephanie:
Oh. Yes. Okay. So this was something that was really striking to me. Um, on the survey, every council member except for yourself said that if they were pressured to fund services under provincial jurisdiction, they would redirect the pressure back to the province. You stood alone in saying that you would fund the services. And I know why you hold this stance. Um, you've said it many times over the-

Andrew:
Yeah.

Stephanie:
... over the campaign and in the last few weeks as mayor, you know, people are sick and tired about hearing the word jurisdiction being thrown around when people are dying, essentially.

Andrew:
Mm-hmm.

Stephanie:
But my question is, how effective can your stance be when you may be the only one on council who feels that way?

Andrew:
Well, I think yesterday proved it.

Stephanie:
Yeah.

Andrew:
At the time of recording this we, we were, the day after we passed our, our motion and unanimous support to fund day shelters. And yes, the province has put out a statement that suggests that day shelters aren't their jurisdiction, so m- you know, I, you t- I guess we can use that as our argument in saying, "Well, that is in fact municipal jurisdiction." But I think at the end of the day, that isn't something the city's typically taken a lead on.

Stephanie:
Mm-hmm.

Andrew:
And yet this council just unanimously said, "We wanna be involved in this." So you're right, I'm only one vote, but I think I'm only one vote in a council that just heard loud and clear from Edmontonians across the city, in every corner of the city, that they want us, th- th- they want somebody to do something. And so that's why we're gonna continue to push this forward, it's why we'll continue to take a leadership role. It's cont- well, I'll continue to try to find those collaborative opportunities. I'm not giving up on the provincial government, I'm looking forward to sitting down with Minister Nixon and the Premier and others to say, "How can we do things better together?" But I also don't want to just keep sitting back, 'cause e- I think what made it easy is that w- we've tried that approach. You know, everyone else's answer on that survey, I saw the same thing on that particular one that nobody else answered ex- uh, the way I did. But I've also had the last five years of seeing what that approach does, and that approach doesn't get us where we need to go or where Edmontonians expect us to be. And so, I think it was really easy to then bring this idea forward and chat with my colleagues, my new colleagues, and say, "Listen, I've seen, I've been down this road." "I've you know, I d- I don't need somebody listening to me just 'cause I'm the, you know, quote/unquote 'old man' on council like, you know, this is, back in my day, we tried this and it didn't work." But I do think there is something to be said of I've been around long enough to see what has worked and what hasn't worked and in this case, for this particular issue we know everything that hasn't worked, so why, why keep going down that path?

Mack:
The motion was a million bucks, right?

Andrew:
Yeah.

Mack:
Which isn't enough.

Andrew:
No. No.

Mack:
So you need the other orders of government, right?

Andrew:
Yeah. At the end of the day, to, to truly address housing and homelessness and mental health and addictions, it will require all three orders of government. The, the city alone cannot address this. Uh, even with a re-prioritization of our 91 million a year that we're spending, that alone wouldn't be enough to solve it. I think it can go a lot further than it's currently going though. Uh, and I think through this renewed approach, it's going to help give us that opportunity to engage both the provincial government and the federal government to say, "Listen forget what's happened in the past. We're looking to do something different, we're looking to use our money more effectively. Are you, are you interested in working with us on this?" And why would anyone say no to that question of saying, "Hey, the city's looking to use their money more effectively, they're looking to help the same people that we serve. Why wouldn't we at least try to see if we can find a way, a path forward on this?"

Mack:
Did the Premier reach out to you?

Andrew:
Uh, we had a chance to chat the day after the election results were finalized, so the Tuesday. So the Wednesday, or Thursday, was the throne speech, and I was very fortunate to be invited and actually got to meet with her very briefly before the throne speech started. We chatted for a few minutes. Uh, it was a great conversation. She was very congratulatory very kind. And she and I have had many chats over the years, so it's not like it was our first time meeting each other And expressed a, a great desire to work together. And, you know, I, you know, I know some people say, "Ah, well, of course she's gonna ex-" It's not like she's gonna say, "I don't wanna work with you." Um, but I got a genuine reception that, that felt like she wants to, to find a path forward on some of these different issues. I think we share a lot of common issues, you know, the idea of safety and security, the idea of affordability, the idea of keeping up with growth. These aren't issues that, that the province has been ignoring. In fact, in their throne speech (laughs), they talked about all of those issues. So I think, I think we got a lot of potential. And this is why I'm gonna start from a place of collaboration. I'm not gonna rush to, to go look for a fight. I'm not, I'm not interested in that. I'm looking to get things done, and I think the Premier is as well.

Stephanie:
So you've been a big cheerleader for a regional approach-

Andrew:
Yeah.

Stephanie:
... during your time on council so far. You know, one example is that you were on the board of the Edmonton Region Transit Commission Board, whatever that...

Andrew:
The EMR uh, yeah.

Stephanie:
The transit, the regional transit thing.

Andrew:
The regional transit group, yes.

Stephanie:
And you were the one who introduced the motion to fund that regional transit plan-

Andrew:
Yes.

Stephanie:
... which of course was unsuccessful. Um, now that you're mayor, do you kind of hope to steer the city back to more of a regional approach?

Andrew:
Uh, we definitely need a, a more regional approach with the loss of the EMRB, the Edmonton Metro Regional-

Stephanie:
Mm-hmm.

Andrew:
... Board. Uh, there needs to be a great focus on that, and leadership needs to come from the City of Edmonton. Uh, I, I'm, the great news is I've had now chats with I think nine of the 13 mayors uh, or nine of the 12 other mayors in the region since being sworn in. Uh, short calls first, 15 minutes each, but I wanted to call them early on in my term as mayor to let them know I'm committed to the region. I want to work with them to make sure we're working together, because there was so much value that came out of the EMRB, from the growth management plan, to some of our transportation planning work, to the reg- regional agricultural master plan. There's a lot of great work-

Stephanie:
(coughs).

Andrew:
... that I don't want to see us leave behind. And the great news is in every conversation I've had so far, every mayor has expressed an interest in, in being active in this, and is looking to Edmonton to set a bit of a tone because I think they want to see that we're committed to this. 'Cause if we're committed to this, I think they're gonna be more than willing to commit to this. And again, certainly there will be times where there are specific issues that we disagree on, but I heard far, far more willingness. And this, this aligns with what I saw in my, in my term as the, the representative on Alberta Municipalities. Having had a chance to tour this province and connect with villages and towns and cities of all sizes, way, way more in common than we have in opposition to each other. And so that's why as a, as a region, we stand far more to, to gain if we're actually working together, and I'd like to see us lean into that work the, the same way that we did, I would say for sure during my first term when Mayor Iverson uh, had his first term as mayor.

Mack:
It's kind of, well, there's lots of aspects to the regional file, but two in particular is that there's the planning piece-

Andrew:
Mm-hmm.

Mack:
... which you're talking about, but there's also the economic development piece.

Andrew:
Yes.

Mack:
Lots of these municipalities have said they want to leave Edmonton Global.

Andrew:
Yeah.

Mack:
What's your sense about how likely they are to follow through on that? Are you worried about having to deal with that file this term 'cause at the end of the day if it's, it's just Edmonton left, it's, it's not a regional development agency anymore.

Andrew:
And I don't think there's a desire from everyone in the region to leave. I think some municipalities are in different spaces than others. I mean, some municipalities don't have an economic development agency, right? And so Edmonton Global is a huge benefit to them and a huge attraction for them. Uh, others do have that economic development internally, And might feel that they can do more just sticking with what they have. I keep coming back to a report that I think came out in 2015 the... through the EMRB of... called Be Ready or Be Left Behind. And I remember that discussion well because that report talked about how when the region was busy fighting each other for economic development opportunities, we were missing out on this much larger pie. So we were so busy bickering over this small pie, we didn't realize that if we actually just went out to the world and competed regionally, that we could get 10 times the investment across every municipality, and then we wouldn't have to worry so much about fighting each other for, for what almost felt like scraps, instead of saying, "What is the potential if we're doing this together?" So I... that, that hasn't changed. In fact, if any- if anything at this point, I think it's even more important in this current world environment that we're in to be operating more regionally in our economic development than it is to try to go it alone because there's just so much more potential And the investment is so much more fluid now. And so if you are presenting this sort of united front and giving people great opportunity to say, "Hey, yeah, you can set up your business in one part of the region." Your workers might live in another part of the region. They might spend their recreational time in a, in, in a completely different part, and that's okay. And that's okay, because as long as we're growing the entire pie, overall it's gonna work out for us. Uh, And certainly we have work to do on economic development as a city. We, we are not doing enough to make sure our sites are ready and that we are in... as investment-ready as we should be. But that doesn't have to be at the expense of the regional work that I think we need to do as well.

Mack:
I mean, that's the other constituency, I suppose, you have to figure out how to work with, which is the business community.

Andrew:
Mm-hmm.

Mack:
Uh, and it's not like you haven't done that during-

Andrew:
Yeah.

Mack:
...your time on council as a, as a councillor, but the chamber asked for a s- economic task force, and I think you said, "No, I'm gonna do something different."

Andrew:
(laughs)

Mack:
So, how do you... how are you seeing... And I know the chamber doesn't represent all business.

Andrew:
Yeah.

Mack:
But how are you seeing your relationship as mayor with the business community, And what's going to be your, your approach here?

Andrew:
Yeah, I'm, I'm really excited. I mean, goodness, this, this election gave me the opportunity to connect with so many small business owners in particular across the city, some of whom are members of the Chamber of Commerce, some who aren't. But I heard a fairly united theme. I mean, per-... you know, while we're the best in the country for building a home on permitting timelines, pretty much everything else, there were still way too many examples of where it's taking far too long. So I think there's a u- fairly unanimous agreement around us needing to work on that front. Uh, you know, what I heard about is the s- need for the city to look at our procurement process and how are we making ourselves available to small and medium-sized businesses to be able to bid on city contracts? Are we... or are we setting ourselves up in a way that only allows the, the largest of the large to have the, the best opportunity to get a contract with the city? And so, you know, my approach and, you know, even to the, the chamber's re- uh, suggestion about task force, it's not that I said no, it's just that I said it's not, it's not only gonna be them, right? We need the business community. They need to be a part of the next four-year budget process. But it can't just be them. And I, and I think part of what I noticed over the last four years is that the city... this city cou-... this last city council in particular worked very hard to bring more voices to the table. So that can... if you're the, if you're the voice that was always at the table, it can almost feel like your voice means less, when in reality, I think it... what it actually means is that there's just more voices to help make better decisions. And so I don't think that the business community is being heard any less than they were before. It's that there are now many other voices that didn't realize how to be involved in the civic engagement process. There are different cultural communities and faith communities and other businesses that aren't, you know, part of the, the chamber world, that also want to have a say in things. And so when I talk about the creation of the next four-year budget, this is why I've talked about it needs to be a, a budget road show. We need to be out in the community. I want the chamber there, but I want all of these other groups part of this process so we're hearing from all of those voices, because the chamber has some great input in a lot of different areas and I, I've really appreciated the... their, their insight and their, their leadership team And the s- and the staff that they have there now, they are ready and ready to go. They are fired up. They are working hard to make sure we are competitive as a city and that we're attracting businesses to Edmonton. So I look at them as a, as a huge partner, but just not the only partner, and I wanna make sure that that... we're bringing together as many different partners, because when all of those partners are together, we're making better decisions.

Mack:
On the Taproot survey, one of the questions that seemed to have the most cohesive responses from candidates was the one about downtown.

Andrew:
Yeah.

Mack:
What do we do? And our options were essentially focus on residential, focus on workers, or focus on visitors.

Andrew:
Yeah.

Mack:
It seems to me in a lot of the conversations we've had over the last several years that there's broad consensus that increasing the residential population should be this top priority.

Andrew:
Yeah.

Mack:
And it might actually be one of the most effective ways to combat a lot of the things we see about downtown that are p-... you, you know, perceived as negative. So why haven't we seen more action on that? I mean, the downtown student housing incentive was a great thing, but it's only one thing. Like, what, what do you think council can do this term to try to take that forward?

Andrew:
Well, I mean, with the extension of the community revitalization levy, there are...... housing, there are dollars available for housing that I think can go a long way. And, you know, I don't wanna dwell on, dwell on it. I certainly think there could've been a lot more (laughs) that went to housing but that ship has sailed, that boat has passed.

Mack:
Like $187 million, by the way.

Stephanie:
Yeah. (laughs)

Andrew:
Like 108... You know, I think we could've maximized that housing investment, but nevertheless, that decision is made. I honor that And so let's, let's acknowledge that that is moving forward. But with that comes the opportunity for a lot of housing investment too. So I think that's a great opportunity available to us that can see us really kickstart this. I think there's other ways we can look at different economic incentives, whether that be you know... And we might wanna do this in our industrial areas as well. With some of the changes in provincial legislation, can we do it so that if somebody's investing in a new building or if they're gonna retrofit an old building, to say for, you know, three or five years maybe you don't have to pay property taxes on the uplift? Uh, that's a way to further help spark that investment. So I think we have to be willing to use all of those financial tools to help us get to where we need to go because that, that is important. At the same time, it, it might not require a direct grant anymore. I was chatting with one of the companies that's been doing office tower conversion to residential. They started in Calgary, they've been since doing it in Edmonton, and now actually going into 2026, they're gonna be investing more in Edmonton than they are in Calgary even though there's no financial incentive because they have found... They've essentially created a business model that now works for them. So when I asked them like, "Do you want us to have a dedicated grant program?" they said, "Actually, we don't need it anymore. We've got a good business model." So we might look at something more broad of saying a per door incentive for anyone who's doing it, whether office tower conversion, whether it's new, and then it just helps kickstart a, a wide increase. But we've also got great investments coming online. The Warehouse Park-

Mack:
Mm-hmm.

Andrew:
I mean, I'm so excited about that opening coming up very soon, right? I mean, that is something that we know is goi- has already started creating a lot of residential investment around it. I think that's going to have a huge impact on transforming our downtown. So it's, it's gonna be investing in housing, making sure there are amenities around that housing. I do still think we need to have a conversation about a school because I think if we're gonna try to attract as many different family types to our downtown, that, that's probably a component we need to work with the school boards on. But let's, let's be willing to really lean into that And get as many people living downtown as possible because that's gonna be the way we get our vibrancy. That's gonna be the way we improve safety is, is just having... You know, let's shoot for double the population in the next five to 10 years.

Mack:
We're talking about downtown spaces, I have to ask you about one other downtown space.

Andrew:
Yes.

Mack:
I'm very excited about The Warehouse Park as well. It's gonna be so incredible to have that amenity. You're talking about the proximity to the LRT here with the mall. Just a few blocks away we have what is probably the worst-looking plot of land in the entire city, which is the old BMO site.

Andrew:
Yeah.

Mack:
And I saw that the city-

Stephanie:
Boo. (laughs)

Andrew:
It's an embarrassment.

Mack:
I saw the city has doing, is doing some engagement about this, and I can't imagine what that survey is possibly gonna tell them that they don't already know.

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Andrew:
Yeah.

Mack:
What's your-

Stephanie:
It's so funny because the survey's like, "How ugly is this site?"

Mack:
(laughs) Yeah.

Stephanie:
"How much do you hate it?" (laughs) Like, okay.

Andrew:
Yeah.

Mack:
"Wh- why haven't we done something about this? What can we do?"

Andrew:
Well, I think this is why we're, we've been having the conversation of, of expanding the derelict property tax, the residential derelict property tax penalty to commercial sites because that site is an embarrassment, right? And I mean, it, it's, it's so troubling that it's been allowed to exist in that state. And even with some of the limited hoarding that went around it, even with some... Like, it's, it's just, it is not contributing. So in the same way that we have these derelict residential properties that we have started to really turn things around on, and a, a huge credit to my, to my council colleague Ashley Salvador for spearheading that work, And others on, on council. But you know, we now have a tool, multiple tools available to us to helping address derelict residential properties. We're looking at expanding those tax tools to non-residential pro- uh, properties because that property should be penalized.

Mack:
Mm-hmm.

Andrew:
Just like the properties on, in the residential ones that are derelict as well. When you have a derelict site like that that is being under-utilized, that is not contributing folks need to make one of two decisions. You either need to invest in it and turn it into something that's special or you need to sell it to somebody who will. And that's why we started to create these tools on the residential side. It's so critical that we have this on the non-residential side because it's, it's, it's been allowed to exist in that state for far too long.

Mack:
I look forward to your motion about that.

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Andrew:
I... Thankfully the motion's already been made. The work is already happening on this on on the social-

Mack:
On the commercial park?

Andrew:
... on the commercial... Yeah. so again that, that work is underway. We expect that we will have something on that fo- hopefully for next year. Likely we won't be able to start next year, or should be able to start in 2027. So but if there's any way to start it next year, goodness, I will be pushing to get that forward as soon as possible.

Mack:
I have one other tapRIT survey question I wanted to ask you about.

Andrew:
Let's do it.

Mack:
So the one about roadway expansion.

Andrew:
I knew that one was coming.

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Mack:
It kinda felt like a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too response.

Andrew:
Absolutely.

Mack:
You, you chose, "Expansion is important to reduce traffic congestion and accommodate growth." And then the very first thing you wrote in the comments-

Andrew:
Yeah.

Mack:
... "Induced demand is real." (laughs)

Andrew:
Yes.

Mack:
So which is it?

Andrew:
Yeah. (laughs) Okay, so, and this is why, this, this is why the nuance needs to come into this because there are two-lane arterial roads, so I'm talking one lane in each direction in new areas, that it's not enough. Now, induced demand, a- and I'm, I'm not an expert in this, but the way I do understand it is that there is a, there is a measurable difference between a two-lane, one lane in each direction arterial road, and a four-lane arterial road with two in each direction. But as you start going above four lanes where it really becomes a, a, you know... You, you're not seeing the same benefit if you will, and that's where induced demand kicks in. But there are legitimately two-lane roads that have too many cars to address the efficient movement of people.And so this is why... And I, I've often talked about Winterburn Road in the west end. And I mean, I know you've talked about some of my motions on the show on this. But Winterburn Road, it... Even with the relatively good transit service that we have in some of those suburban communities, was still primarily designed as a driving community. And I can't fault the people that moved there because we didn't have infill rules that allowed them to move into other spaces. So there is a need to turn those, some of those roads into four-lane wide roads. We don't need to go to six-lane wide roads or eight-lane wide roads. It should be four, and if you're gonna do anything wider, it should be bus lanes, BRT lanes. But to say they should only ever exist in a state of a two-lane road actually also isn't a valid traffic flow argument. And there are... I think, the way I understand it, there are traffic engineers that will clearly state that it... Four-lane is sort of your, your reasonable arterial road. Anything beyond that i- is, is induced demand. So that's why I've described it that way, is that there, there are... And you heard it. Like, if you listened to this inaugural council meeting of where councillors were talking about it, including many of us who are, like, pro-cycling, pro-transit, d- do you hear how many councillors talk about roads in their parts of the city that need to go from two to four? Because there are legitimate issues that can be rectified if you put it to four. We just need to make sure that that's not the only thing we're investing in those areas. If all we're doing is moving those two-lane roads into four-lane roads, sure, it will actually help improve things for a while (laughs). Um, but if you're also not then investing in good traffic flow for the buses or getting LRT out to certain, those areas and getting active transportation out, then we're actually not doing the job we should be doing.

Stephanie:
Mm. Yeah, my mom used to live out in Winterburn, and some of the roads we'd be driving over there and just like, "Whoa." The... Like, the potholes felt like I was riding a bucking bronco or something (laughs).

Andrew:
Well, And, I mean, I'll go... You know, I think about the community of Westview Village, which I used to represent. It's a mobile home community that's been in place since the 1970s. And if you go to that stretch of Winterburn Road to 15th Street, which is from Highway 16A to about 114th up, like, the shoulder of that road, because it's a archaic road. I mean, if... I wish we had a visual podcast right now. It's essentially the, the, the width of the chair we're sitting in. So when I'm biking because my bike handlebars are quite short they don't extend out onto the road. But if you wanted to bike on Winterburn Road to Westview Village, you are... And I'm not... this is not an exaggeration. You are putting your life at risk to bike on that shoulder because it is so narrow. So yeah, that road does in fact need to be widened, and by doing that, we can actually put in proper bike infrastructure. We can make sure that people who are taking transit aren't getting dropped off on the ditch, which they literally are.

Stephanie:
Yeah.

Andrew:
They're getting dropped off on a ditch (laughs). Um, and we can also help the movement of vehicle traffic. So this, this is why I go back to, like... You know, as, as much of a cycling advocate as I am and a transit advocate as I am, folks in those communities also deserve some opportunity to, to move efficiently.

Stephanie:
Yeah.

Andrew:
Uh, and I wanna give them choices so they don't have to only rely on driving, but for a lot of times, we didn't give them a choice. So let's not penalize them for a choice that they didn't have. We're the ones that made that choice for them. Yeah, that was a... You know, and I say we from decades ago, we in these seats, but we still did that to those folks. Let's not penalize them for making a choice or, you know, essentially being forced into that.

Stephanie:
Yeah.

Mack:
We've got some fun ones we wanna ask you, but one more-

Andrew:
Yeah, okay.

Mack:
... one more serious one.

Andrew:
All right.

Mack:
Uh, just when you think about this term, you think about the four years, whether or not you choose to run again in the future, what, what will success for this term look like? What do you want to be able to show Edmontonians at the end of the four years?

Andrew:
So I thought a lot about this. I mean, there's obviously the very specific issues I ran on: safety, affordability, keeping up with rapid growth. And I think people want to see some meaningful progress in the... in each of those areas, and I think that's something I plan to do, including... And some of this will be quick wins. Like the motion we did, day shelter spaces, it's not g- it's not gonna solve everything, but people deserve to see some quick wins from this council, and I plan on bringing forward motions And I also know my council colleagues are ready to bring forward quick wins. How do we activate these things and address them in a, in a, in a thoughtful way? Um, let's, let's give folks quick wins. So I wanna see a lot of that. I want to see a focus on those areas And that at the end of the four years people can look back and say, "Yeah, they actually did this." but I, I... At the end of the day, I talk about this more broadly, and this is something we touched on earlier in the show, which is that at the end of the four years, I want more people to be talking about how much they love our city and how much the city is helping them and making their lives better and that they wanna go and talk about the city to their friends and family who live in other parts of this country or other parts of the world. We should celebrate the city and stop being so quick to say, "Yeah, but, you know, what about all the potholes?" Like, yeah, there are potholes, and let's go fix the potholes and let's invest in the roads that we need to. And at the same time, let's go talk about the library system that we have here, 'cause goodness, whether or not you care, but this one looks like a tank.

Andrew:
And I love that it looks like a tank.

Mack:
(laughs)

Andrew:
You know? Like, let's go celebrate everything that happens inside that library, 'cause there is no other city that does what... that... what we do in our libraries in the world. 'Cause I go... Anytime I get a chance to travel, I go into their libraries, and it's incredibly disappointing when (laughs) I come in and compare it back to this. 'Cause you can go do so many transformative things in our library. You've got a river valley unlike anyone else that ha-... Like, let's go talk... The food, goodness, the ice cream choices in this city. Let's go celebrate some ice cream in this city. Um, you know, the investment we're doing in active transportation, the way you can move, the, the, the jobs that you can get, the, the income you can have, the, the... all of these things, I want, at the end of four years, more and more people to be able to go and say, "This city is awesome."... And we're all telling that story, 'cause that's actually a great way for us to attract more economic investment. If everyone here is talking about how great it is, when somebody's coming to set up a new business and they come and meet a bunch of people and say, "You know what? Gosh, this city's amazing. Look at all the incredible things you can do. I love living here," they're gonna say, "Wow. Like, this, this city loves this, their own city. Like, if we set up here, it's gonna be really easy to attract new people to come work in our business because everyone buys into this," right? So, let's make sure that's what we're doing. I know that s- that seems a little intangible, but I actually think we can do a much better job of, of celebrating Edmonton to each other, and then celebrating Edmonton in, in the rest of the world.

Stephanie:
Mm-hmm. Well, don't celebrate it too much, 'cause then we're gonna have even more people moving here and then-

Andrew:
(laughs)

Stephanie:
No, I know, I know. Okay.

Mack:
Well, well, Mayor Knack, thank you for answering all of our questions. It's great to have you back on the show. We, we have some other ones we wanna ask you.

Andrew:
I'm ready.

Mack:
Okay?

Andrew:
Okay, okay.

Mack:
All right.

Andrew:
Okay.

Mack:
Will you be enforcing a strict Taylor Swift soundtrack at City Hall?

Andrew:
Absolutely.

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Mack:
That's all we play now. No Christmas music.

Andrew:
No, I love Christmas music. Or you could listen to the Taylor Swift Christmas music too.

Stephanie:
Oh, my.

Andrew:
That's fine too, right?

Stephanie:
What are, what are your thoughts on, what is, I don't even, her latest, The Life of a Showgirl?

Andrew:
Yeah, it's f- I really like it. I, you know, f- again, let's stop being, let's gi- stop giving the haters all the time, right?

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Andrew:
Haters gonna hate.

Stephanie:
No, you're just scared to because Taylor Swift fans are so intense that if you say anything, you'll get like, a recall petition, and yeah.

Mack:
(laughs)

Andrew:
No, you know, I get why some people ... Like, I love it. There's some good songs, there's some great songs. I think it's not maybe my favorite of all of her albums, but hey, let's have, let's enjoy. Love what you like to, love who you like to love. Enjoy the music you like to enjoy.

Stephanie:
Yeah.

Andrew:
Uh, if you don't like Taylor Swift, that's fine. Keep it to yourself.

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Andrew:
I don't need to, I don't need to hear about it. I'm gonna enjoy my Taylor Swift here. But you can listen-

Stephanie:
Yeah.

Andrew:
I wanna listen to all sorts of music too.

Stephanie:
Okay, awesome. Um, if Councillor Clarke keeps sneaking in a bunch of sports puns, how many of them are going to fly over your head?

Andrew:
I don't think many people realize, I am, I watch a lot of sports.

Stephanie:
Oh.

Mack:
Oh, what's your favorites? What do you, what do you get into?

Andrew:
I mean, I saw, I played soccer for about 18 years.

Mack:
Oh, wow.

Andrew:
So, I really love soccer, but I watched a lot of NFL football. Um, so up until about just before the pandemic so including while I was a councillor, I ran a fantasy football league.

Stephanie:
Oh.

Andrew:
Yeah, I'm pretty intense when it comes to, to most sports.

Mack:
Oh.

Andrew:
So, yeah. It's, it's deceiving. You might not expect that of me, but yeah. I love, I love most sports you know, but American football uh, you know, football, the worldwide football of soccer, and-

Stephanie:
Mm-hmm.

Andrew:
But you name it, I'll pretty much watch it, you know. Uh, hockey playoffs. I was watching the b- baseball playoffs too, and so I enjoy my sports. So, I'm happy ... I will probably get all of his puns 'cause I'm pretty good, I'm, I'm pr- I watch enough sports to-

Stephanie:
You guys are on the same team.

Andrew:
Oh.

Stephanie:
Team, get it?

Andrew:
Yeah, I got it.

Stephanie:
Sorry, that was like, the most lame thing. I'm not a sports person, so that was very lame. I'm sorry.

Mack:
Are you going to be able to participate in Extra Life Edmonton on the weekend? I ask partly because your face is on the website.

Andrew:
I know. So, I you know. What? I don't know what day we are because I've lost track of days. I just signed up because I obviously was pretty busy running a campaign. I have my donation link. I need to post it on social media. But if you're listening to this right now, I have my donation page for my Extra Life. I am going to be participating. I think I'm gonna be able to still play the whole 24 hours. Um I don't think that's a wise life decision. Um, 'cause I haven't really caught up on the sleep. But I also, I love, I love that event. I love that community. As a video game nerd, I truly, I love what Extra Life stands for. Um, not just the cause of raising money for the Stollery, but I love the g- the gaming community that we have. And so yeah, I'm, I already signed up as of about two days ago of recording this. I've got the link. I just need to start getting some donations and hopefully I can get a few more. Like, this is the, maybe the hopefully one perk of, of being the mayor now. Like, can I get a few more donations for the Stollery?

Mack:
Yeah.

Andrew:
Like, it's not donations for the campaign, to be clear.

Stephanie:
(laughs) Yeah.

Mack:
Yeah.

Andrew:
Just donate. That's already done. Can we get donations for the Stollery? So we'll, we'll send you the link. Can you put it in your show notes?

Mack:
We can put it in the show notes. That's absolutely-

Andrew:
Fantastic.

Mack:
Yeah. Well, what, what games are you playing these days?

Andrew:
Well, I ha- I literally haven't played for like, four months, and it's been depressing.

Stephanie:
You have to get all the 24 hours in and then the next year-

Andrew:
Yeah, this is why I wanna catch up. I wanna play... Although I did play Rocket League for a few hours at U of A during the campaign uh, with ... So, I invited students out and we talked about city issues. And what was so much fun is I crushed every one of them. I beat every ... Like, like when Troy and I played Rocket League and I crushed him and embarrassed him so much he left the show-

Stephanie:
(laughs)

Mack:
(laughs)

Andrew:
... um, that I did that to all of those U of A students, and it brings me so much joy. But I think for, for Extra Life, I wanna play, there was a new release uh, Hades II that just came out that I'd really like to play 'cause I played the first one for far too long. I do wanna get back into Stardew Valley a little bit, and Stardew Valley's one of my favo- well, is my favorite s- game of all time, so.

Stephanie:
Okay.

Andrew:
Yeah, see? You said you're not a yeah.

Stephanie:
Yeah, okay. It was funny because when you were talking about like, beating Troy, I was thinking, "Okay, what's a video game that I could potentially destroy Andrew Nack at?" And I'm like, "Stardew Valley," 'cause I have like, like, over 2,000 hours on Stardew Valley. But it's not a very competitive game, right?

Andrew:
No, it's not really ... We can, we can r- work on a farm together.

Stephanie:
Yeah. Oh.

Andrew:
We could be-

Stephanie:
That would, that would be cool.

Andrew:
And this will embrace our collaborative spirit in the City of Edmonton, that we want to all work together raising a farm, raising goats and-

Stephanie:
And be like, "Okay, you have to harvest the parsnips, harvest the parsnips! Go pet those pigs!"

Andrew:
You gotta get the pigs to get all the truffles.

Stephanie:
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Andrew:
So, we gotta get ... That's, that's your money maker.

Stephanie:
But the fishing, the fishing minigame. Oh my God. Don't even get me started.

Andrew:
Oh, absolutely.

Stephanie:
(laughs) Mack is like, "What is going on?"

Andrew:
Did you go to the symphony and watch?

Stephanie:
No, the tickets were really expensive-

Andrew:
Oh. I know.

Stephanie:
... and I really wanted to. But I think they're coming back s- now.

Andrew:
They probably are. I, I didn't get the first one. I got the second one.

Andrew:
And actually that was like, the oddly, out of all the things I did during the campaign, probably like, the most well-respo- well-received campaign video I did, which was me talking about my love of Stardew Valley.

Stephanie:
Yeah, that's valid.

Andrew:
There you go.

Mack:
That's awesome.

Stephanie:
It's a very- it's a very intense fandom, sorry about that, yeah.

Andrew:
It is.

Stephanie:
Well, I think that's it.

Mack:
Okay. Well, we're so glad to have you, thank you for taking the time. I know you've got extra things on your plate now, but you're always welcome back on Speaking Municipally.

Andrew:
I appreciate that. Thank you. Thanks for all the great work you're doing.

Mack:
Thank you.

Stephanie:
Of course, thank you.

Mack:
Well, hopefully you enjoyed that interview with Mayor Andrew Knack. I thought we had a great conversation. I'm sure we'll be talking with him more in the weeks and months ahead. He's already been on the show lots of times, as we noted, so I look forward to that. Before we close for today though, we've got one more thing, and that is Rapid Fire.

Stephanie:
Halloween got an extension this year. We had, of course, October 31st. The next night was Daylight Savings, and that's been followed by an unseasonably late first snowfall. Nothing like disrupted sleep and climate anxiety to keep the spooky vibes going.

Mack:
CSU52 workers are thrilled this week. They've all been assigned hours of overtime as they begin to enact the new City Council's vision for Edmonton. Crews are working 60 hours a week, tearing up every road in the city to be replaced with bike lanes. Meanwhile, the bridge department had a field day this weekend as they used dynamite to demolish every bridge in the city. The police, meanwhile, have been busy arresting everyone living in a single family house, as it's now illegal to live in anything other than an eight-plex. Thanks, Andrew Knack.

Stephanie:
Premier Danielle Smith announced that Alberta will form a class size and complexity task force to address issues raised by the Alberta Teachers Association during contract negotiations. In the task force's first report, it stated, quote, "Yeah, there's like 38 kindergarten kids in here. Dang, that's crazy." (sigh) Anyways...

Mack:
Until next week, I'm Mack.

Stephanie:
I'm Stephanie.

Andrew:
And I'm Andrew.

Mack:
And we're...

All: Speaking Municipally.

Andrew:
Nailed it.

Stephanie:
Yeah. (laughs)

Mack:
Good job.

Stephanie:
It was perfect.