Edmonton's longest-serving councillor enters mayoral race
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Knack said Edmonton can be proud of its status as the best place to get a home built in Canada, and similar strides need to be made for small business.
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'There are still too many examples — and I hear this from small business owners when I'm chatting with them — that it takes too long for inspections or for permits. If we have that capability, and we do, to be the best in building a home, we should be the best in letting you start a small business,' he said.
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'We have the potential. We have the tools. We have the staff who have obviously done a great job creating that infrastructure on one side. Now we just need to apply it to the rest of what we're doing across the city for supporting small business,' he said.
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As signs of homelessness extend past the boundaries of Downtown, the city needs to lean into addressing the problems, he said.
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'We've been trying to help fill in the gaps from the provincial government. But I actually think we need to take a greater leadership role, even though it's not technically our responsibility, because at the end of the day, people have been waiting for action.'
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After more than 12 years on council, with town halls and door knocking and calling people back, Knack said he's worked with Edmontonians from across political backgrounds and ideologies.
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He joins some others on council putting a foot down about provincial efforts to inject city politics with partisan policy.
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'We've seen how party politics is poison — how when you have political parties, party loyalty goes above all else. It should be about the people that we serve, not the political parties,' Knack said.
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'By engaging with all Edmontonians, everyday Edmontonians, that's how you can actually make better decisions. But when they're introducing this partisan system which is really being forced upon Albertans — they've been very clear that this is not what they want — we're going to reject that. We don't need to go down that path.'
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Listening is key for better decision-making, Knack said.
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'We can help make it more affordable, we can help make it safer, and we can actually keep up with the growth that we're dealing with. So that's why it's so important to be independent. It's about all Edmontonians, and not just this very select few or the party that's telling us what to do,' he said.
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Fellow councillor and mayoral hopeful Tim Cartmell is assembling an entire slate of 12 candidates in his bid for the October election.
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Cartmell was sportsmanlike about Knack entering the fray.
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'I think it's great that we have a few different candidates. That allows for a contrast of views and opinions and offerings, and I think that makes for a healthy debate,' Cartmell said.
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