Edmonton Minute: Passport Considerations, Election Results, and Uncontested School Elections

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

This Week In Edmonton:

• In what will perhaps be the final act of the current City Council, Mayor Don Iveson says the City is examining whether it should follow Calgary's lead in implementing a bylaw requiring businesses to check for proof of vaccinations. Calgary's bylaw bans businesses from opting out of the Province's Restriction Exemption Program.
  
  
• Many summer events in and around Edmonton are wrapping up this week, including Downtown Live (live music downtown), Downtown Spark, (a small park with food trucks), and Salsa in the Square (Salsa Dancing in Winston Churchill Square). We'll be out here enjoying every last slice of good weather until the snow arrives.
  
  
• Barring a potential emergency meeting (see above), there will be no City Council meetings this week, as the current Council is done until the election on October 18th.

Last Week In Edmonton:

• It was, of course, the federal election last Monday, and Canadians elected a government that looks a lot like the government before it - another Liberal-led minority. Locally, former MP Liberal Randy Bissionault beat current Conservative MP James Cumming in Edmonton-Centre, incumbent Conservative Kerry Diotte was defeated by NDP candidate Blake Desjarlais, incumbent NDP MP Heather McPherson was re-elected in Edmonton-Strathcona, while all other Edmonton seats remained Conservative.
  
  
• The City of Edmonton began using the provincial Restriction Exemption Program for access to some City facilities. All guests 12 and over entering a City facility, including recreation centres and indoor attractions, will need to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test completed within 72 hours before entering.
  
  
• With the nomination period for the City's upcoming municipal election officially over, the final list of candidates is now available. In total there are 11 mayoral candidates and 74 council candidates running. You can keep up to date with the candidates, their bios, platforms, social media links, and video interviews on our Election Candidate Database. In School Board election news, 6 Edmonton Catholic School Board Trustees won their seats uncontested.

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