Edmonton Minute: Papal Visit, Heritage Festival, and a Large Airport Expansion

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

This Week In Edmonton:

• As summer break continues at City Hall, there is just one short meeting this week. The Agenda Review Committee will meet at 9:00 am on Tuesday. Council will return to regular meetings in August.
  
  
• The Pope is in Alberta this week. The City is warning commuters to plan ahead because there are several road closures throughout Edmonton and surrounding areas. The Pope will hold an open-air mass on Tuesday in Commonwealth Stadium, which is expected to draw an attendance of 65,000 people.
  
  
• Edmonton Heritage Festival will open this weekend at Hawrelak Park. There will be 90 countries and cultures represented at over 70 pavilions, food available for purchase, music, and other events. This is the last year the festival will be held in Hawrelak Park for the foreseeable future, as a major rehabilitation project for the park is planned for 2023 that will see it closed for several years.

Last Week In Edmonton:

• Thomas Dang, MLA for Edmonton South, facing an upcoming court appearance, announced that he will not seek re-election in the next provincial election. In 2021 it was alleged by the RCMP that Dang had breached the AHS medical records website. Dang has maintained he only did so in order to expose vulnerabilities in the site.
  
  
• Compassion House Foundation, an organization that provides women with options for housing and support while travelling for cancer treatment, received the largest donation in its history. The $1 million donation came from Liam Burgess, who owns a heavy equipment servicing company in Fort McMurray. The non-profit's CEO said the gift will allow the organization to expand its support to the post-treatment phase of a cancer diagnosis.
  
  
• The federal government announced a $100 million expansion to the Edmonton airport, focused on cargo and logistics handling operations. The money will go to a project that will convert 2,000 acres of land around the airport into a global cargo handling operation. The federal government believes this will strengthen the supply chain.

-----

Donate:

Common Sense Edmonton doesn't accept any government funding and never will. We think you should be free to choose, for yourself, which organizations to support. If you're in a position to contribute financially, you can make a donation here.

-----

Share:

If you're not in a position to donate, we understand, but if you appreciate our work, you can help by spreading our message. Please email this post to your friends, share it on Facebook or Twitter, and help make sure every Edmontonian knows what's really going on at City Hall.