Thank You Edmonton

The results from the election on Monday October 18th are now official and I am honoured to be able to continue serving Edmontonians as your City Councillor for the next four years.

The 2021 Municipal Election was transformative for Edmonton. 8 of 13 City Councillors are new. We haven’t experienced that kind of turnover in decades. What made this even more surprising was that 4 incumbents were not re-elected.

In a future post I will highlight what I heard at the doors and how to best action those items. This post is going to focus on gratitude.

I want to start by thanking my family. For those of you who have been following my time on council, you already know that I don’t post a lot about my family. While the posts might be limited, I’m grateful for their love and support. They were the first people to volunteer back in 2007 when I was 23 and decided to run for council. While I should have realized that I had no chance during that election, they dedicated their lives to help me with my goal to serve others.

Since the unsuccessful 2007 election, they have supported me every step of the way. I wouldn’t have this opportunity to serve you without their love, kindness, and dedication.

This election I was fortunate to have such an incredible campaign team. I’d love to thank each person individually in this post but then this would end up being 20 pages long. What I will say is that there’s no way we could have achieved the result that we did without their tireless efforts. I greatly appreciated their ability to challenge me to think differently. After having served in this role for the last 8 years, it’s possible that people can get used to doing things the same way and they got me out of my comfort zone which helped me become a better person.

Thank you to those that delivered campaign literature, knocked on doors, donated, served on the campaign executive, designed and printed materials, put up signs, wrote endorsements, raised money, built the website, etc. Campaigns are large operations and the team of volunteers we had from across the city and region was humbling.

While I have thanked a number of the outgoing councillors in previous posts, I have not had a chance to thank Bev Esslinger, Jon Dziadyk, Mike Nickel, and Tony Caterina.

Tony Caterina was always ready to provide advice. I knew I could walk into his office anytime and he would be more than willing to share his wisdom. He had institutional knowledge that ensured council made better decisions during complex discussions.

Jon Dziadyk was passionate about the north side. I loved seeing how that passion translated into action. The North Side Hub Facebook page took off in a way that I could only dream of. It is a way for residents to come together and help each other. His level of engagement is something I will strive to match over the next 4 years.

Mike Nickel was the first person to meet with me back when I ran for council in 2007. I knew almost nothing about what I was thinking of getting into and so I was appreciative of his willingness to meet with someone who likely had no chance to be elected but still offered his advice. It’s quite possible that without that meeting, I may not have put my name forward to serve and so I have him to thank for encouraging me to run.

Bev Esslinger and I were elected at the same time. We were the last of the class of 2013 and it’s a connection that’s hard to replace. Bev is someone who brought so much experience and kindness to the role of councillor. The initiatives that she led have transformed me for the better. I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know until I had the opportunity to participate in meetings, events, and discussions that she helped lead. I’ll never forget her support over the last 8 years. I’m beyond thankful to have learned from her.

I also want to recognize Bev for her focus on supporting women running for office. We’ve never had 8 women serving at the same time and I am confident that if she hadn’t made that a priority, we wouldn’t be where we are today. Her work will continue on for decades to come.

I would like to thank Dave Olivier and Steve Weston for putting their names forward to serve. It’s important for Edmontonians to have a choice during an election and I greatly appreciated the ideas you brought forward.

Finally, I want to thank everyone in Ward Nakota Isga and across Edmonton for your support. 12,130 people chose to vote for me which is the highest number of votes that I have ever received. It was humbling to receive over 66% support from all of you.

I realize that for those that did support me, we won’t agree on everything. I’ve said this during my virtual and in-person Community Conversations but the point isn’t for us to agree all the time. It’s important that we have different perspectives. What I committed to during this campaign is at least matching, if not exceeding, the level of engagement that I have done over the last 8 years. The more we can learn from one another, the better the decisions will be.

This is the same approach that I will take for the 34% of people who did not support me. Some of you were kind enough to engage me at your doors and share the issues you were most passionate about. Some people chose not to engage with me while at your doors. I would ask that if you did not support me, please stay involved and be willing to share your feedback. We may not agree on some issues but one of the great things about municipal government is that we will likely have a number of other things in common. If we can find what we have in common, it should open up our ability to better share our feedback about the areas where we might disagree.

Councillors may be elected by the residents within the ward they represent but we are elected to serve all Edmontonians. It’s a responsibility I take very seriously. Considering how diverse this ward is, I feel it provides me with a better understanding of some of the differences that might exist across the city. Municipal politics is not partisan. Therefore, I hope that we all keep an open mind going into every issue we discuss. When we remain open to new ideas and lived experiences, we make more informed decisions.

As we begin this term on council, I realize that I am now the longest serving current member of Edmonton’s City Council. I’ve only been serving for 8 years but with many others not returning, I want to return the kindness and support I received back in 2013. At that time, we had many councillors with many years of service who went out of their way to support the new councillors. They did this even when they disagreed with some of the key issues we campaigned on.

I hope to provide that same opportunity for the 8 new members of council. I’m ready and willing to provide advice and guidance for any member of council who would like it. Each person has their own ideas and areas they are passionate about and even if I disagree with some of the specific areas they want to work on, it’s critical to help bring those ideas forward so that we can have a public discussion.

We have a lot of important work to do and I am overjoyed to be serving you with this group of 13. Thank you again for your support. This is a privilege that I will cherish for the rest of life. These complex issues cannot be solved by the 13 of us alone. It will require support from the many dedicated people working within the City of Edmonton as well as all Edmontonians who have their own ideas and solutions. I’m confident that if we stay committed to working together, we will be able to accomplish extraordinary things.

Thank you Edmonton.