Election 2025: Campaign Roundup - Day 5

Welcome to Day 4 of our Edmonton 2025 Campaign Roundup!

With the 2025 municipal election underway, we'll be bringing you daily updates on all the policy proclamations, platform promises, and political point-scoring from the campaign trail.

As always, our work is entirely funded by donations from residents just like you, so if you appreciate the updates, please consider making a one-off donation or signing up as a supporter for just $10 a month - that's just 36 cents per email!

Campaign Roundup - Day 5:

• The municipal election coincides with Diwali, a major South Asian festival, prompting candidates like Ward Sspomitapi’s Harman Kandola to call for mobile polling stations at temples and cultural centers to ensure voters can celebrate and vote. Other candidates, including Andrew Knack, Michael Walters, and Tim Cartmell, supported this call for accessible voting. Elections Edmonton noted multiple opportunities for advance and special-ballot voting, while advocates say future election calendars should account for major religious holidays to avoid disenfranchising communities.
  
  
• Mayoral candidate Michael Walters says he plans to make Edmonton a sustainable food capital by expanding access to local gardening and farming. His initiatives include opening vacant lots for community gardens, doubling the number of public community gardens, planting an orchard in every ward, and protecting regional farmland.
  
  
• Rahim Jaffer, also a Mayoral candidate, says he will repeal “bad development policies.” His plan calls for better protecting neighbourhood character, privacy, parking, and sunlight. He says he will mandate one parking stall per housing unit in mature neighbourhoods when building between single-family units and repeal the Complete Streets Policy.
  
  
• Mayoral hopeful Andrew Knack released a traffic safety plan. Key initiatives include upgrading 100 crosswalks per year, expanding Vision Zero Street Labs, adopting AI-enabled traffic technologies, cracking down on noisy and reckless vehicles, and modernizing intersections and signals. He says he will create a dedicated Traffic Safety Team to crack down on unsafe driving.
  
  
• Saints Church hosted an Edmonton Mayors Forum, featuring candidates Tim Cartmell, Tony Caterina, Andrew Knack, and Michael Walters. The event included opening statements, a curated audience Q&A on key municipal issues like growth, public safety, housing, and infrastructure, and closing statements outlining each candidate’s vision. It is available online here.

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