So You Want to Run For City Council?

Running for council in 2025? Are you ready to meet the moment?

When I first decided to run for council in 2013, I had to be talked into it. While I was an easy target after years of community organizing work and a foray into provincial politics, it was still a tough decision. Would this be good for my family? Could I win? What did it pay? Who else was running? What would that moment in time require of me?

Of course 2025 is a lot different than 2013. Politics has changed. There are two sides now without much left in the middle. Progressives and Conservatives. Those words don’t mean what they used to mean.

This year, Edmonton voters might not actually look right or left, but directly at the moment in which we find ourselves. They might be looking specifically for the candidates that can meet this moment.

I’d argue the following are important characteristics for our next council.

An unfamiliar level of fiscal discipline

In recent history, the so-called fiscal hawks were really the only ones punished by voters, particularly for the mayor’s job. But large tax increases have added up and feel unsustainable for many families and especially for the mom-and-pop businesses that make our city unique and original. These tax increases combined with other fiscal and land use policy choices risk making Edmonton less competitive and less attractive for investors. The latter exacerbates the former and it leads to a decline in civic imagination, basic services and pride.

A more balanced approach to public safety

Society has come a long way toward recognizing that safety is something everyone deserves, including marginalized members of our community. We no longer simply believe we need to protect the rich from the poor. Physical and psychological safety are table stakes for every person’s quality of life. However, the pendulum has swung too far the other way. Regular working people often don’t feel safe, particularly in our downtown. People fueled by the demons of drug addiction and a range of trauma have undeniably unsettled our city. We’ve become too tolerant of drug-induced behaviour and too slow to remove people from public spaces, resulting in a lack of safety for everyone. A city cannot function when its people do not feel safe going to and from work, and our most marginalized are left to languish.

Focus on municipal issues

I would look in the mirror if I were you and ask “so I’ve decided to run for municipal council, but do I really want to be an MLA? Maybe an MP?” Are you sure you want to run for municipal office, where you’ll have the least amount of resources and very limited legislative power? If you want to fight for human rights, an end to poverty, stand for or against foreign wars — maybe you should run to be an MP. If you only care about housing or climate leadership or you hate the UCP or you hate the NDP, you should run to be an MLA. If you understand the municipal sandbox which includes delivering great core services, improving transit and public safety, arguing about land use and supporting urban placemaking and community development, then you’re good to go.

Also, read the Municipal Government Act. It’s dry and technical. It’s like an Allan Ginsberg poem without the LSD. Most people can’t relate to it. But these are the rules.

Make friends with a project manager

You don’t need to be a project manager to sit on City Council. They tend to be too in the weeds for a major governance position like this, but you should have one you trust in your favourites’ list. There is no more room for error when it comes to major infrastructure projects in Edmonton. Maybe we can create a system where every councillor gets assigned an experienced and retired “project manager buddy” to help ask the right questions about big projects. In my day, I could tell when we were out of our depth. Projects worth more than a billion dollars are complex. Let’s admit it. We can’t be experts at everything. Be willing to listen to people who know more than you do.

Leave the previous council decisions alone

Let the new bike network and the new zoning bylaw be. If you hate any kind of bike lane anywhere or you despise skinny houses or row houses in your neighbourhood, there are just as many people who support them and three times as many people who don’t care. There is no worse look than for a new council to spend all of its time relitigating decisions made by previous councils. Be humble and realize council is a continuum. Take the good with the bad and focus on the moment in front of you.

So if you’re a humble, future-focused professional accountant who volunteers at a social agency and donates to the Edmonton Police Foundation and you also appreciate dining in trendy restaurants before revelling in the arts in a safe downtown (or on any main street) with your project manager friends – you likely have the basic foundation required to help our city meet this moment.

If you’d like you can even stick a sign on my lawn. No problem.

(Michael Walters is a former Edmonton city councillor and is currently a partner at Berlin Communications.)