Sohi to focus on key relationships in 2023: province, police commission, regional transit

As city council settled Edmonton's four-year budget and his first year in office ends, Mayor Amarjeet Sohi is looking toward 2023 and building on relationships with the provincial government, the city's police commission, and regional transit partners.

In his year-end interview with CTV News Edmonton, Sohi said he was "proud" of the budget council approved, including investments in transit, the construction of Lewis Farms Recreation Centre and Terwillegar Drive expansion, and renewing existing infrastructure.

All of that comes to the tune of nearly five per cent property tax increases for the next four years.

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"Raising property taxes is always difficult," Sohi said.

"We always strive to minimize the increases, and we have done everything possible that we could do," he said, "to find savings."

With the city's fiscal framework plotted, the mayor hopes the provincial budget, expected to be unveiled in February, includes key investments in Edmonton.

'DELIVER AND MAKE TRUE'

Sohi confirmed the city already submitted budget asks to the province, including for more community and support services dollars and that police funding matches population growth and inflation.

"There are tangible things that the province can do to improve the lives and well-being of Edmontonians," he said. "I look forward to the discussion in February."

"I have no reason not to believe that they will not deliver on those commitments, but that is to be seen."

Another big ask is that the province honour its previous agreement to pay Edmonton around $400 million in back-payments from 2008 owed through the municipal sustainability initiative (MSI) — a funding formula the province uses to help cities build and rehabilitate infrastructure.

"[At that time], the economy went down, we understand that they had to scale back," Sohi explained. "Now that the economy is back and the coffers are filled with surplus, they could actually deliver and make true on that commitment."

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He also wants Premier Danielle Smith to implement previous pledges of transferring all property tax revenues to municipalities and tackling mental health and addictions.

"I have very high hopes from our new premier," Sohi said. "That she's taking these things seriously. That she'll come with solutions that are practical, evidence-based, workable, and help people heal and get better."

While he welcomes the new provincial safety task force focusing on Edmonton, Sohi worries more recommendations are going to be developed at a time when action is needed. 

"There are solutions out there that have demonstrated that they work," Sohi said, citing Niginan Housing Ventures' Ambrose Place, a wraparound, supportive, affordable housing complex aiding Indigenous Edmontonians. 

CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson interviews Amarjeet Sohi in December 2022 (CTV News Edmonton/Brandon Lynch).

He also pointed to previous plans, like then-Social Services Minister Jason Luan's comprehensive task force on homelessness and the 2019 advisory panel on mental health and addictions.

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"Let's start helping people now," Sohi said. "Let's start saving people now… People are sleeping outside as we speak. And these are Edmontonians I represent."

"Maybe we can and should do more [as a city], but we don't have the capacity; we don't have the jurisdictional authority," he added. "It's the province's responsibility and they have not fulfilled that responsibility yet."

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THIS COUNCIL HAS NEVER DEFUNDED EPS: SOHI

In a separate year-end interview, Edmonton police Chief Dale McFee described his relationship with city council as "strained."

This year, police asked for around $40 million to buy dash cameras, new radios and modernized IT systems. All of those requests were rejected.

Sohi said smaller increases for police equipment and targeted investments in other social services, like transit peace officers, will help improve safety.

"This city council has never defunded the police," Sohi said. "We have never decreased the police budget."

He pointed to the almost 60 per cent rise in EPS' operating budget from 2010 to 2022.

"I'm fine with that because we value our police officers," the mayor said. "Absolutely, we need to fund our police service accurately.

"But I think also, it is our responsibility that other services are supported as well, from crisis diversion to public transit to libraries to recreational facilities to the fire department. None of those departments have seen this kind of operational increase."

'INTEGRATED REGIONAL TRANSIT SYSTEM'

While some councillors worried Edmonton's decision to halt the regional transit commission will sour collaboration with service providers and municipalities, Sohi remains hopeful that a better alternative will enable improved transit for the greater Edmonton area.

"Pulling out of the regional transit commission was not an easy decision, but I think it is the right decision," Edmonton's mayor said. "It would not have been a fiscally prudent approach to invest $13 million on an annual basis far into the future without knowing the benefits and the efficiencies."

He also said building a parallel governance structure overseeing regional transit was "inefficient" and took dollars away from frontline delivery of bus service.

Proposed routes that would connect Edmonton and surrounding communities (Source: Edmonton Metropolitan Transit Services Commission)

Sohi says he asked commission staff for a cost analysis showing how long it would take for it to be more efficient, or on par with, the Edmonton Transit Service. He claims he never received a "clear answer."

He hopes the Arc card implementation and a renewed effort to build on existing transit service will promote better regional bus links.

"Some of my colleagues in the region are upset. I acknowledge that," the mayor said. "I will continue to work with them."

"I firmly believe that we need a seamless, integrated regional transit system," he added. "What I take issues with is the governance model that is very inefficient and costly."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson and David Ewasuk