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ntt1 said:
Anyone in ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi have any thoughts on who to vote for councillor?

I think that Troy Pavlek has endorsed both Okokude and Morgan, and both are pretty closely matched with me on the Taproot survey.... slightly concerned that the vote will split between them and Rice will get re-elected.
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I am.

We're going Morgan. Great guy, like what he stands for.

I wouldn't be upset if Funke won but I DO NOT want Rice back at all.
 
yeggator said:
In the words of Puneeta McBryan from Ryan Jespersen’s podcast, “We need Edmontonians to start caring about the economy!”

Sorry, guys, but I’m voting Cartmell. If the mayor’s role is to be the spokesperson for the city, set the agenda and liaise with the province (hardcore right-wingers) and the feds, then Edmonton needs a right-wing mayor. We’ve bemoaned our uncompetitiveness when it comes to the corporate sector, so some optics need to change for the city’s top job. Might help us get more goodies from the province too (as much as I hate this being what we have to resort to).
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This was a tough call for me as well - support for businesses never recovered after COVID. The good news is that the Mayor's seat and most wards have solid choices - regardless of whether it shakes out for Knack, Cartmell or Walters, it's going to be better than Sohi.
 
policyenthusiast said:
This was a tough call for me as well - support for businesses never recovered after COVID. The good news is that the Mayor's seat and most wards have solid choices - regardless of whether it shakes out for Knack, Cartmell or Walters, it's going to be better than Sohi.
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Knack went to bat for the businesses along Stony Plain Rd due to LRT construction.

In 2023 and then again in 2024 he wanted the city to adopt a similar approach as Montreal in providing some compensation to small business owners.

It wasn't a huge amount, and in total it was $225,000 for all the businesses combined (although Knack wanted more) - but council decided funds were too tight.

Puneeta McBryan would have probably been in support of that support for businesses. Cartmell wasn't and voted against. It lost 8-5 with Stevenson, Hamilton, Rice and Paquette siding with Knack.

 
TAS said:
Knack went to bat for the businesses along Stony Plain Rd due to LRT construction.

In 2023 and then again in 2024 he wanted the city to adopt a similar approach as Montreal in providing some compensation to small business owners.

It wasn't a huge amount, and in total it was $225,000 for all the businesses combined (although Knack wanted more) - but council decided funds were too tight.

Puneeta McBryan would have probably been in support of that. Cartmell wasn't and voted against. It lost 8-5 with Stevenson, Hamilton, Rice and Paquette siding with Knack.

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It wasn't just Council budget - it was the fact that the proposed grant program wouldn't have made a dent. The per-business grant is less than what many businesses were losing in a week.

It also sets a precedent of compensation for construction causing problems.
 
policyenthusiast said:
It wasn't just Council budget - it was the fact that the proposed grant program wouldn't have made a dent. The per-business grant is less than what many businesses were losing in a week.

It also sets a precedent of compensation for construction causing problems.
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Yes, he did propose more but it got scaled back in the final motion in an effort to get something. An lrt project of several years would be a different precedent versus one season of construction. And we don't have many projects the scale of LRT. It was an interesting discussion anyway and one the business community wanted considered so he brought it forward.
 
I was going to vote for Rajah Maggay when I was in Nakota Isga, now that I've moved to sipiwiyiniwak I'm voting for Thu Parmar. Thu and Giselle General are both great candidates.
 
How you can reasonably say Knack supports businesses is laughable. The business community clearly does not agree.
 
Depends if you believe the polls or not, my feeling is no matter who it is they will work harder than Sohi did. Not that he didn't care, but not always passionate about the issues. I have a feeling some candidates will work better with the province than others but also depends on your perspective. Happy voting!
 
Oilers99 said:
How you can reasonably say Knack supports businesses is laughable. The business community clearly does not agree.
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Along with Knack, I also believe Walters and Jaffer support businesses - but none or very little of the development industry and dt business support has gone to those three - Cartmell solidified that support early on - at a time when it was still expected Sohi would be his challenger.

Where are you getting this belief that Knack doesnt support businesses?
 
TAS said:
Along with Knack, I also believe Walters and Jaffer support businesses - but none or very little of the development industry and dt business support has gone to those three - Cartmell solidified that support early on - at a time when it was still expected Sohi would be his challenger.

Where are you getting this belief that Knack doesnt support businesses?
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Knack has come out and said he already supports tax increases with no mention of controlling the budget. I am not saying anything controversial here, Knack is not the business candidate. I would imagine many of his voters don't want him to be either.
 
Oilers99 said:
Knack has come out and said he already supports tax increases with no mention of controlling the budget. I am not saying anything controversial here, Knack is not the business candidate. I would imagine many of his voters don't want him to be either.
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It's short-sighted, albeit in a way that's so commonplace that it can escape notice, to think only of the taxes without considering the value to businesses (and everyone else) of the services paid for with those taxes.
 
Oilers99 said:
Knack has come out and said he already supports tax increases with no mention of controlling the budget. I am not saying anything controversial here, Knack is not the business candidate. I would imagine many of his voters don't want him to be either.
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You mean property tax increases? That's kind of a business issue in that it's an expense everyone pays, but even with a decrease of the tax rate, taxes would still increase based on assessment values. Excepting Downtown, maybe.

Every politician at every level for the past century has promised lower taxes, knowing full well they wouldn't deliver.
 
policyenthusiast said:
You mean property tax increases? That's kind of a business issue in that it's an expense everyone pays, but even with a decrease of the tax rate, taxes would still increase based on assessment values. Excepting Downtown, maybe.

Every politician at every level for the past century has promised lower taxes, knowing full well they wouldn't deliver.
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I heard that almost a third of our property tax bill goes to province in the way of education taxes that are collected by the city and that this education tax rate has increased significantly but people don't probably recognize that.

I was wondering, for the muncipal taxes collected on business properties, is that soley municipal or do businesses have to pay education tax, too?
 
Oilers99 said:
Knack has come out and said he already supports tax increases with no mention of controlling the budget. I am not saying anything controversial here, Knack is not the business candidate. I would imagine many of his voters don't want him to be either.
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I don't think that's completely accurate... I believe what Knack has said is that many of the increases that will be in the city's budget going forward are already "baked in". This would apply to everything from the police budgeting formula to neighbourhood renewal to replenishing the "rainy day fund" that is already severely depleted to a myriad of capital projects (not just LRT and rec centres) to union agreements. Anyone that says those can be "rolled back" is deluding themselves and the electorate and anyone says that they can be rolled back while increasing service provisions for everything from policing to snow removal has even less credibility.

For the record, I have yet to decide who I will be voting for in the mayoral race so this isn't a partisan post. I am decided on where my ward vote is likely to be cast but not my school board vote.
 
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