Building an Edmonton for all: Mayor Sohi reflects on challenges awaiting council in 2022

When it comes to the new year, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi believes the city has some serious challenges to address but the right ideas to tackle them.

In a year-end interview with CTV News Edmonton, Sohi said his top priority in 2022 will be ensuring pandemic recovery and meaningfully addressing social issues like poverty, homelessness, the opioid crisis, and mental health challenges.

Success on either front depends on success on the other, he said.

"How will we build a thriving downtown, a thriving Chinatown, or 124 Street or 118 business districts, if we are not able to tackle the issues of houselessness, mental health, and addiction?" Sohi asked.

"Those things are causing so much, not only personal trauma and hardship for the people who are suffering, but they also cause disorder and create a sense of a lack of safety in those areas."

Sohi says he plans to continue working on innovative solutions with social agencies, police, and higher levels of government to create a better community safety continuum.

"It is a responsibility that we tackle those tough issues in a respectful way," he added. "We need to have a systemic, coordinated, and integrated approach to community safety and wellbeing."

In his view, that means ensuring an appropriate mix of police intervention in violent situations, support systems and referrals to social agencies, and appropriate levels of funding from Ottawa and the province for social supports.

"That tone of thoughtfulness and the change in thinking, I think, is going to get us to transformative results and would allow us to have more sustained, long-term approaches to those issues," Sohi told CTV News.

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The mayor believes the first step of that process is better defining roles for police and social support programs so that the right people respond to the right situations.

"We need to shift resources in a way that (they go toward) the most effective intervention and use of resources," Sohi said. "We will continue to support our police officers and frontline workers.

"At the same time, we need to invest in resources that we have the right people responding to the right needs."

BETTER EDMONTON FOR ALL

When asked about his guiding vision for the city next year, Sohi summed it up in a few sentences.

"Our goal is to build an Edmonton for all of us. That we all belong in this place that we can thrive in this place, have a welcoming middle-class job to have a decent quality of life, and to see our families and communities succeed."

Sohi says progress has already been made on that work, pointing to the unanimous passing of his anti-racism strategy proposal in November and council's consideration of a fine for displaying hateful symbols in public spaces.

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Additionally, Sohi said the budget process this past year shows that council is serious about ensuring public services are meeting the needs of all Edmontonians by balancing affordability with maintaining critical investments — like $283 million for a new rec centre in Lewis Farms and $153 million for the Coronation Recreation Centre and Velodrome.

"We passed the lowest level tax levy increase in the Edmonton region, as well as Canada, at the same time investing in public services, shifting focus on community safety and wellbeing, keeping transit fares frozen at 2020-21 levels," Sohi said.

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When it comes to the LRT, Sohi says he was disappointed to hear that the Valley Line was once again delayed but wants to ensure the final product is done right so it can serve Edmontonians for generations.

"It is a project that is very near and dear to my heart because I started that project when I was a city councillor by pushing administration to expedite route selection and working with the provincial and federal governments to secure funding," he said.

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Sohi says he is monitoring progress on LRT expansion to the west end and wants to begin exploring how to get a new line to Castle Downs, one of his campaign promises.

"There are a lot of things we need to tackle," Sohi said. "But, I think our council is ready to tackle those."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson and Jeremy Thompson