When I came here, I was 18 years old and had little to my name. But I was lucky. I wasn’t in just any city. I was in Edmonton.

Our schools and public libraries helped me learn to speak English. I found friendship and community playing sports and performing in the arts. And I got to discover the city through the windows of our buses—until one day I got a job driving one.

Eventually my bus stopped at City Hall when Edmonton took a chance on me as a city councillor. It was my honour to work hard for a city that invested in me through public services. Every day was an opportunity to give back to a place that gave me so much, the place where my wife, Sarbjeet, and I raised our daughter.

My passion for Edmonton took me all the way to Ottawa. I served as the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, and the Minister of Natural Resources, overseeing billions in investments in our economic future.

From bus driver to city councillor to member of parliament, my experiences have shown me what it takes to bring people together—and build a thriving city for all.

What steps do you believe are necessary for Edmonton to achieve balanced growth between greenfield and infill development as outlined in the City Plan?

The zoning bylaw underway is a great opportunity to re-examine how we build communities. This applies in many ways, the built form first and foremost. How do we encourage more development within existing neighbourhoods that meets the needs of residents at different stages of their lives. Over the past 15 years City Council has made strides in encouraging infill development; the ability to split lots, and many significant infill developments and area plans that encourage it - along with LRT and transit-oriented development - are good examples. We need to follow through with execution on these plans. As Mayor, I will create a developers’ roundtable which will allow our community to identify barriers to infill growth and to address them quickly. Streamlining and simplifying permitting will also make it easier to deliver on infill developments, both residential and commercial.

How will you support Edmonton’s competitive advantage and market affordable housing? How do you see fees, levies, taxes and municipal cost control playing a role in housing affordability? Note: CHBA-ER refers to “market affordable housing” as housing that is market priced and meets the general requirements of affordability based on household income. Market affordable housing may include market rental housing and market home ownership.

One of our biggest advantages in Edmonton is housing affordability, and we must protect that advantage. We need to make infill affordable while adopting a balanced approach to suburban growth and densification, as well as a robust strategy to attract commercial and industrial investment. This is how we keep taxes and user fees affordable for residents.

We need to focus on building amenities within communities, community businesses and recreation centres. That kind of investment can rejuvenate communities and make them more liveable. Those 15-minute communities will not only improve the health of our communities, but also reduce the cost of living throughout the city. This type of community building is what is needed to rejuvenate mature neighbourhoods where affordable housing or land is currently available, but perhaps not desirable because of the lack of amenities. 

My proposal for reducing permitting and licensing timelines and giving builders certainty and predictability will also help make housing more affordable, because builders won’t be waiting around accruing costs while their application is being processed.

What steps do you believe are necessary to reduce red tape and support business investment in the residential construction industry?

There needs to be a balance between ensuring that we have regulations that protect the city, businesses and citizens, and enabling business and residential development to service the needs of citizens. These are some of my proposed policies to reduce red tape and support business and residential construction: 

• Permit & Inspection Delivery Guarantee: An increase through guaranteed delivery timelines for all major permits and inspections. Predictability is particularly important for construction, one unexpected delay can have a cascading impact. For businesses waiting for permits or inspections, reliable timelines allow for better forecasting of cash flow, hiring, and promotion leading up to the opening. 
• Average Permit Timeline Publication: Once permit delivery and inspection guarantee timeliness is established, an annual public report will highlight the average days to permit delivery, increasing transparency and the ambition to improve results each year.
• Development Services Liaison: This City’s role will be specialized to assist small, non-profit, and equity-seeking groups that are entering the development and home-building business. This will complement the work of the new Business Advocacy Office I also proposed.

Do you support welcoming a diversity of housing types throughout Edmonton?

I support housing diversity. We need to densify to manage our land use, protect our environment, and create neighbourhoods that are fiscally sustainable. We also need to ensure those diverse options are affordable for the average Edmontonian, as I mentioned above. 

How do you envision City Council expanding infrastructure capacity to support future development as outlined in the City Plan?

I think we can achieve this through smarter, more purposeful growth. Our infrastructure is taxed by a lack of density, and by leapfrogging greenfield development. By achieving up to 50% of new growth as infill - supported by 15-minute communities, with access to quality amenities - we can make more efficient use of existing infrastructure investments, and by ensuring that greenfield development is contiguous, we can make more efficient use of new infrastructure, as well. 

Do you support the goals of the Community Energy Transition Strategy? How do you envision the City of Edmonton achieving these goals?

I do support the goals of the CETS. The plan calls for half the population to use low carbon modes of transportation by 2040, including electric vehicles, transit, walking, biking, and e-scooters. While I am committed to 2040, I will also explore opportunities to get it done faster if possible.

With the right investments, this can be a transformative decade for Edmonton. I have detailed policy points on Energy Transition on my website. You can read more here: https://sohi.ca/policy-edmontons-energy-transition/ 

Is there anything about your platform that you think CHBA-ER members should know?

One of the Mayor’s most important responsibilities is to be a champion for Edmonton’s businesses. To me, this means working to build strong partnerships with the business community and other levels of government to attract investment and help our businesses grow and succeed. More on my platform for the economy can be accessed at https://sohi.ca/economy/