EDMONTON – As campaigning for the municipal election gets into full swing, some voters are bringing up contentious decisions that many thought were behind us.
Ward 7 candidate Mimi Williams has been a vocal critic of the arena deal.
“Voters are not behind this deal, they do not like the financing of it,” she says.
While preliminary work is already underway at the downtown arena site, the deal is not officially complete. There’s still the issue of securing the guaranteed maximum price. A public hearing also has to take place on the Community Revitalization Levy. It’s not yet known when that will happen, but Williams said that if she’s elected in her ward, she will be not be supporting it.
“I’m not on a crusade to kill the arena,” she explains, adding that the issue is not even in her campaign brochure. “But anything that comes forward after the election, I will be voting ‘no.'”
Councillor Kim Krushell, who will not be seeking re-election, has a hard time understanding that reasoning.
“This City Council passed the third borrowing bylaw, which means we’re going to borrow the money when it’s appropriate to borrow. So, to change that and to change the agreement, yeah, you would be opening up Pandora’s box in terms of liability,” Krushell argues.
“The reality is, with the arena issue, if we don’t meet the obligations – as per what we agreed to – well, I would suggest the Katz group could certainly sue the City of Edmonton,” she adds.
“So, if you’re a Council candidate and this is the position you’re taking, you better know what you’re talking about…we have all of the documents on the City of Edmonton website right now.”
Williams is not the only candidate who has been hearing grumblings about the arena from voters. Ward 5 candidate Terry Demers believes it’s how the deal was handled that’s been the most contentious issue.
Still she’s focused on going forward, and has even made that the title of her campaign brochure.
“You cannot negate all the work done by previous Council on any issue, I don’t believe,” she says.
In the 2010 campaign, Demers expressed concern with another contentious issue: how the Council of the day handled the airport debate, something she says voters have also been bringing up at the door.
“Once again, that’s a done deal. There is no going back. What would be really exciting now is to see is the ideas of what it will be used for,” she says.
With two months of campaigning left, most candidates are focused on the future, hoping to sell their vision for the City over the next four years.
Edmontonians will make their picks at the polls October 21st.
With files from Vinesh Pratap, Global News
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