“The Capital View” continues Wednesday, with a look at what an NDP government would mean for Edmonton.
Brian Mason says as a former Edmonton city councillor, he understand the issues and needs of the city. He says his government would make sure important things to Edmonton, like funding for the Royal Alberta Museum, are taken into account.
“There are things that a capital city needs to have and we certainly think that those things are important.”
When it comes to the matter of the City Centre Airport, he says although he is an Edmonton politician, he doesn’t believe the provincial government should be interfering in that decision.
“I think that decision is best made by the people of Edmonton and their city council and I think that the decision has now been made.”
And when it comes to the downtown arena, he says he has always been very forward about his opinion on that.
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“No, no, we do not support public money because that’s a private business. It’s a private business and that’s the difference. People don’t pay their tax money to have it given by their government to a billionaire for his private investment purposes,” Masons explains.
University of Alberta political scientist, Jim Lightbody, weighs in on what he thinks Mason’s party would do for Edmonton.
“The NDP would be very grateful to urban voters if they were elected.”
He describes the NDP as a party that is knowledgeable about urban issues however, if they were elected, provincial money would likely not be directed towards major infrastructure.
“The money that would come from the province would be directed more towards homelessness, safe sights for women, kids and the like,” Lightbody says adding, “They would be a transit-oriented government and certainly the attempt to have an environmental bus fleet, or things of that nature, anything with an environmental green tinge would appeal to the NDP orange.”
Mayor Stephen Mandel is weighing in as well. He says he hopes whoever is elected has an understanding of what is important to the city.
“We all have what we like to see done and we need to work with the province to do that, and so, we would think that any leader would have, who is a worthy leader, would have the respect for what those cities desire.”
Our series continues Thursday, with a look at how a Liberal government would impact Edmonton.
With files from Vinesh Pratap.
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