EDMONTON – What can a businessman, entrepreneur, arts director, and social worker all agree on? They all say it will be hard to follow Stephen Mandel’s performance.
As the end of his tenure approaches, more and more community leaders are voicing their praise for the mayor’s contributions to Edmonton.
They are not shy about offering advice to the next round of councillors to take city hall, either.
“I would give Stephen a high, high, grade,” said James Cumming, president and CEO of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce. “He has been a consensus builder. He has worked hard. He has set a high bar because of the work that he has done. Stephen has been involved in all kinds of events, all kinds of issues, and showed great leadership with a diverse group of councillors.”
When he announced the end of his run as mayor on Tuesday, Mandel thanked his fellow city councillors for their teamwork on several projects over the past nine years.
If the next mayor wants to win over the business community, says Cumming, city council must again be motivated to work together to build relationships with business owners.
“It is not party politics, so you have to be able to build consensus,” he explains. “I would also suggest that Edmonton has a very diverse business community, and I think whoever the next mayor is should engage with that business community, because really, at the end of the day, they produce a lot of the talent and income for the people of Edmonton.”
Much of that talent is coming in the form of new immigrants. An increasing number of newcomers to Canada are passing over cites like Toronto and Montreal and finding themselves in Western Canada.
“The reality is that, as Canadians, we aren’t having enough kids,” says Erick Ambtman, executive director for the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers – a non-profit organization designed to help new immigrants with their transition to life in Edmonton.
Ambtman stresses the importance of helping immigrants integrate into local communities, rather than treating them like tools of industry.
This is an area where Mandel appeared to shine, he says, and left some big shoes to fill.
“The mayor was unreal,” says Ambtman. “He has been an incredible champion of the issues that newcomers deal with.”
Mandel was seen as someone who tried to see the bigger picture, and tried not to reduce city issues to potholes and new infrastructure. Many feel that made him well liked among non-profits across the city. He was known to make regular appearances at small community events and show interest in fostering community engagement.
“He took a lot of time to learn that there is more to this city than just potholes, and that there are a lot of initiatives that need to be tackled,” says Ambtman. “It is about people, and he understood that. Whoever comes next is going to have to follow in his footsteps and take the time to learn.”
Just down the street from the Mennonite Centre is the Marshall McLuhan House, which is now owned by Arts Habitat and will become a contemplative centre for arts and ideas. Linda Hoffman, executive director of Arts Habitat, has noticed increased support for the arts in Edmonton over the course of Mandel’s run.
“We are all hopeful that will continue,” states Huffman, who believes that art is about adding to Edmontonians’ quality of life.
“If you engage the arts, if you support the arts, if you highlight the arts, and you bring them into all sorts of aspects of city life – things like rejuvenation and revitalization of neighbourhoods – then you gain the benefit.”
Huffman expressed hope that the next city council will appreciate what Edmonton’s arts community has accomplished over the past nine years.
“They’re going to see what’s happened over this tenure, and they are not going to want to go back,” she says. “I think the bar has been raised dramatically.”
During his speech Tuesday, Mandel spoke passionately about the young people of Edmonton, stressing that the next city council must invest in opportunities for the younger generation or watch them leave.
“That is really important for whoever the next mayor is going to be,” says Ken Bautista, co-founder and CEO of Startup Edmonton. “I think retaining that talent is going to be the number one thing.”
Several fresh entrepreneurial projects are housed within the walls of Startup Edmonton, a company that provides workspace for upstart businesses and aims to “ignite creativity and entrepreneurial thinking in our city.” While all are welcome, Startup Edmonton is mostly filled with young business owners who have decided to stay in Edmonton.
“The mayor’s job is to set the bar, and sort of inspire the rest of us to take hold of where the city is going,” says Bautista. “Now, it becomes about being able to have Edmonton as this home base for people to actually create, so they don’t feel they have to leave.”
Mandel described his time as mayor as “the best job in the city.” These community leaders feel, for whoever comes next, replacing him might prove to be the hardest job in the city.
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