When I moved to Edmonton from India in the 1980s, services like libraries, parks, rec centres and public transit made all the difference to me.
They are where I learned English, made friends, and found community. The buses took me to school and work. Ultimately, they helped me live up to my full potential.
My vision for Edmonton is a city where everyone can succeed. Our public services are a key element of that vision. We need to treat our public services like investments not only in quality of life but in social mobility, inclusion and economic growth—because they are.
The mayor has a responsibility to provide leadership on public services. That means being responsive to concerns from constituents, and setting the tone for how the City operates and delivers those services. Talking to Edmontonians, I’ve heard loud and clear that we need to keep our services affordable.
Public services are essential for supporting Edmontonians and helping us reach our collective goals. We need to promote a culture of excellence within the City so employees feel respected, bring their best selves to work, and are empowered to deliver top-quality services. We also need to apply an equity lens, to ensure city services are accessible and affordable for everyone.
And we also need to ensure we are fair, use City dollars effectively and rely on evidence-informed decisions for our budget, while focusing our resources in the areas that matter most.
Most importantly, I want to implement a robust process by which residents can bring forward feedback and trust that their voices will be heard.
Here is how I will approach our public services:
This process should align with the City’s overall goals while maintaining fiscal responsibility and accountability to citizens.
A predictable and streamlined process that businesses can easily understand and access is essential both to advancing the City’s objectives and opening up more opportunities for local businesses.
This will help us ensure effective resource allocation within the budget and deliver quality services. The City has been a leader for several years in using data to help us assess our performance and make decisions, and we need to build on that strength.
I will work to build on the Citizen Dashboard to improve transparency and measure progress and implement a tracker to measure real-time service performance day-to-day. This will be based on models such as Boston’s CityScore. This data will help the City quickly identify and adapt to meet the needs of residents.
I want us to increase collaborations with non-profits, educational institutions, and other organizations where City data is used to review and enhance service delivery to address key social and economic issues and drive equity.
I also believe we can better leverage the expertise of our exceptional tech sector within Edmonton. We need to leverage our city’s strengths in AI and computing science to drive innovation and efficiency in public services and to create growth opportunities for that industry as a leader within Canada.
This means applying an equity lens to the City’s services and policies — and working to correct areas where vulnerable groups are being left behind.
For instance, seniors, women, and racialized community members experience services like transit in very different ways. The City needs to ensure safety and accessibility are top of mind to ensure all Edmontonians are being adequately served.
This also means we need a strong commitment to ensuring services, and our buildings and infrastructure, are accessible to persons with disabilities. I am committed to the principles of universal design.
Transit is one of the most important services that the City provides. During my time on council, I worked hard to improve transit throughout the city. I am disappointed to see recent changes eliminating that service impacting many communities—including seniors, people with disabilities. We need to ensure transit is accessible to everyone. That means well-cleared sidewalks for seniors to walk to their nearest bus stops, frequent services that help workers get to their workplaces, and well-lit bus stops and stations where women feel safe.
It also means we need to look at ways of reducing transit costs — if it can’t be done across the board, then it should be done for targeted groups who need the support the most. We can build on models such as the seniors annual pass and the Universal Bus Pass for post-secondary students which I advocated for during my time on city council.
Neighbourhoods should be mini-hubs within the City where families can visit the library, enjoy the pool, or access a beautiful outdoor space to enjoy the Edmonton summers.
I want to see us preserve and enhance community-level recreation facilities. Where buildings have reached the end of their life cycle, we should work with the community to identify small-scale redevelopment opportunities, similar to the renewal of the Rollie Miles district park. Edmonton has a lot of arenas, recreation centres, pools, and other spaces that can continue to serve their community for years to come if managed correctly.
We should be encouraging collaboration between city services, community leagues, and other local organizations and businesses to bring services to where people are on a temporary or recurring basis. This could mean pop-up locations and services at community league halls, and outreach taking place in commonly frequented areas. To serve people, we need to meet them where they are. A good example of this is the Green Shack program.
Support for neighbourhood-level amenities can be incorporated into the neighbourhood renewal cycle, and I will ask city administration to report back on how this can be done, and how we can address amenities for neighbourhoods that have recently completed their renewal cycle.
Each citizen deserves value for their money, and public city services are one of the key ways in which most residents engage with the City. I want to be in touch with how Edmontonians are feeling about these services and have a pulse on where improvements can be made or residents’ ideas can be implemented. I will work closely with City Administration to ensure concerns are being addressed in a sensitive and efficient manner.
As young immigrants, my wife Sarbjeet and I lived on a modest income. We know how to make tough choices and how to stretch a dollar. I know we have to be careful with every City dollar because city finances are going to be tight. As Mayor, I will ensure that property taxes remain affordable and I will fight to ensure every dollar that is spent has an impact and benefits the citizens of Edmonton.
