Edmonton has much to be proud of, and no one is a bigger champion of our City than Mayor Stephen Mandel.
As part of an Editorial Board with Global Edmonton’s Shaye Ganam, Vinesh Pratap and Emily Mertz, Mandel speaks to the outside perception of Edmonton, saying our City and our people are underappreciated.
“I wouldn’t say we’re neglected,” says Mandel. “I’d say we’re overlooked, and that’s a disappointment.”
“We need to do a better job to talk about this amazing City that has the second largest university in the country, the largest technical institution in the country,” he adds, “a research community that’s second to none. Our environmental standards in Edmonton are the best in the country.”
Mandel says the City is selling its Waste Management system to other cities around the world.
So, what’s keeping us from having a national and international reputation that matches the successes we’ve achieved?
“For some reason, we have not gotten out the Edmonton story,” explains Mandel. “I think the one thing that’s going to help more than anything else in the way we prosper is going to talk about that.”
Like most significant evolutions, this change must come from within, Mandel believes.
“We, first of all as a City, have to convince our citizens how great this City is. Many believe it is. They need to be able to brag about this City, and not have the first thing that comes out of their mouth is that it’s cold.”
Mandel is frustrated by the singular association of Alberta’s Capital as cold. He says most other cities in Canada are cold in the winter as well, and there’s so much more to our City that we need to promote and focus on.
“It’s cold in Toronto in the winter! It’s cold in Winnipeg in the winter! That’s not an issue,” he stresses.
“Cold cities are the place where energy is to make money. If you look at the world, the growth of the economic world is happening in the north, not in the south.”
Mandel says, in addition to having citizens embrace the greatness of their City, we should also be embracing the future, evolution, and progress; a step that can be hindered by those who are satisfied with the status quo.
“I call them the ‘good enough’ people,” explains Mandel. “Not that they’re not wonderful people or committed to the City, but they think things are just ok here; you don’t need a new arena, you don’t need to build recreation centres.”
“Historically, we’ve had councils that were divided, and were unable to accomplish things, and listened to the ‘good enough’ people too much that ended up not building the great city that it is, not promoting it.”
This current City council is committed to pushing forward, and pushing Edmonton onto the international stage.
“We want to accomplish as much as we can, within reason,” says Mandel.
“We need to attract the younger generation. That’s what so important; that people see this as the city of the future for themselves,” he adds.
“If we do that, that’s what I’d be most proud of.”
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