Edmonton Minute: Madu Out, Snow Removal, and Bus Route Updates

Edmonton Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Edmonton politics

This Week In Edmonton:

• City Council will be meeting today from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm to discuss a 22-item agenda. Some of the items on that agenda include assessing whether or not an audit should be conducted of the Edmonton Police Commission, a verbal report on COVID-19, and the 2020-2021 annual report of the Edmonton Screen Industries Office. To be perfectly honest, we’re not sure why the Edmonton Screen Industries Office, which spends around $1.5 million dollars annually, needs to exist.
  
  
• On Tuesday at 9:00 am, the Agenda Review Committee will meet, followed at 1:30 pm by a City Council Public Hearing. The hearing will review 15 minor zoning amendments throughout the city. On Wednesday, there will be a continuation of City Council’s Monday meeting should it not conclude on time. At 1:30 pm, there will be a City Council Non-Regular meeting, held entirely in-camera, to discuss an intergovernmental update.
  
  
• The ICE on Whyte festival kicks off this week on Thursday. Dr. Wilbert McIntyre Park will be turned into a sculpture garden, showcasing 11 ice carvers from across Canada and their creations. There will even be ice carving lessons for kids and adults as well as demonstrations by the professionals. Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for children, so it’s an affordable outing for the whole family.

Last Week In Edmonton:

• Edmonton’s Mayor and Council felt the heat (even when it was 30 below) regarding the City's ice and snow clearing program that appears to have failed spectacularly. The Mayor admitted that Edmontonians were right - snow clearing this year has been abysmal. “We need to have a better response in place,” he said. Meanwhile, on residential streets, City crews have been busy blading down to bare pavement and leaving residents frustrated with giant windrows of snow and ice piled up in front of their houses. Be safe out there!
  
  
• Edmonton City Council received a report about how people are reacting to the new bus routes. Although there were some positives such as increasing ridership and more service on Sundays as compared to before, there were complaints about the new system. Gripes included the fact that the City has already reduced bus service to the Stony Plain road area in anticipation of the new LRT line being built. The only problem is that the LRT line is still several years away.
  
  
• Kaycee Madu, Provincial Minister of Justice and MLA for Edmonton Southwest, was suspended from Cabinet due to a phone call he made to Edmonton’s Chief of Police. The call came after Madu received a distracted driving ticket. Madu said he wanted to be sure he wasn’t being racially profiled or specifically targeted, as Shannon Phillips had been, by the Lethbridge Police Service. The Edmonton Police Association noted that its own members are not to reach out to the upper ranks when they themselves receive an infraction.

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