New council same as the old council?
Edmonton city council will have four new faces, but it might not make a big difference when it comes to votes.
Re-elected Mayor Don Iveson will be down a supporter in Dave Loken, who lost his north-side Ward 3 seat in a surprising upset. But Iveson may have gained a supporter in Aaron Paquette, who replaces retiring Ward 4 councillor Ed Gibbons in the northeast.
Insiders are predicting the new council will continue to tally 7-6 votes on contentious issues, just like the previous one.
“I started doing the math in my head,” said Michael Oshry, whose been watching the election closely even though he decided not to run again in Ward 5.
“I think it’s similar to last council, but the mayor will have a bit more of a challenge,” he said, predicting newcomers Sarah Hamilton and Tim Cartmell will share the more conservative approach he and retiring councillor Bryan Anderson took on council.
Jon Dziadyk seems to lean in that direction, too, critical of any downtown-focused, infrastructure-heavy agenda.
Iveson ran on a platform of continued change — setting up the city to handle one million people through new light rail and highdensity infill arranged in transitfriendly corridors.
He ran to get affordable housing built across the city, tackle racism and Islamophobia, and lower speed limits in residential areas. He also promised to make economic growth his top priority, with a new focus on support for technology companies, regional economic development and lower licensing fees for small businesses.
Iveson met all four councillor-select Tuesday morning, including Dziadyk for the first time. He said building relationships with them will be his top priority.
But he bristled at the suggestion suburban discontent — or a northsouth divide — had any role in getting Paquette and Dziadyk elected.
“Well, that’s your narrative,” he said. “That’s not what I heard. I went door-knocking in the suburbs and found overwhelmingly positive Edmontonians who elected me with greater than 50 per cent of the vote in every poll that we’ve seen so far.”
Paquette and Dziadyk both ran on platforms promising to put the north side first, to stop focusing investment in Edmonton’s downtown and south side.
Dziadyk spent his campaign tweeting pictures of “north side neglect” — patched pavement and bus stops with no buses, only a promise of future service.
Iveson pointed to the $1-billion investment to upgrade Yellowhead Trail and said his record on “working for the whole city is sound.”
He said in his experience, the division is not geographic. “It’s individuals who feel not included or don’t like the direction of the city. They make it about geography.”
As for working with north-side councillors — especially with the contentious north versus south LRT expansion decision looming — Iveson said he’ll focus on “data and evidence.” He’ll base that infrastructure decision on which line will have higher ridership.
“It doesn’t have to be a battle of personalities.”
Dziadyk and Paquette both toned down the rhetoric Tuesday.
“I’m a team player. I’ll get along with my colleagues fine,” said Dziadyk, suggesting his commitment to put the north first doesn’t have to come at the expense of the rest of the city.
“I’ll build relationships with everyone on council. Then it’s just a matter of being loud and vocal,” added Paquette, 43, who said his campaign simply tapped into a long-simmering issue.
During the campaign, Paquette backed the new Homeward Trust supportive housing project near Belvedere, which former councillor Gibbons opposed. He said he would have voted against the 80-storey downtown Alldritt Tower, which the former councillor supported.
Paquette said he would not have supported transferring drainage to Epcor because he felt it was rushed. Gibbons voted in favour after the city studied the issue for more than a year.
On developing the Edmonton Energy and Technology Park, Paquette said he wants to look at what infrastructure upgrades are needed to get the first businesses in. He hopes to meet with Gibbons to learn from his passion and expertise.
Dziadyk (pronounced “za-dyk”) is a professional urban planner with Edmonton Public Schools and a military reserve officer in the Royal Canadian Navy. The 35-year-old spent little on his campaign and beat Loken by 464 votes.
On the proposed bus bridge over Yellowhead Trail and the CN Rail yards, he said he’d at least like it to carry emergency vehicles as well.
He’d like transit overhauled to make bus routes more direct and frequent since people who can’t afford other options are often working two jobs to get by, he said, criticizing “a bias toward the LRT.”