All four mayoral candidates who participated in the municipal election forum. From left to right: Michael Walters, Tim Cartmell, Rahim Jaffer, and Andrew Knack. Amanda Erickson/The Griff

Mayoral candidates provide their solutions to student issues.

Raynesh Ram

Photos by Amanda Erickson

During the 2025 SAMU mayoral forum, candidates addressed questions concerning interrelated student issues, such as housing, affordability, and downtown safety, by proposing measures to attract investment and handling the fractured relationship with the UCP government.

Hosted by SAMU and in collaboration with MacEwan, four of the top-polling mayoral candidates — Michael Walters, Andrew Knack, Tim Cartmell, and Rahim Jaffer — were given two minutes to answer questions from the audience, MacEwan students, and the event’s moderator, Taproot Edmonton reporter and MacEwan alum Stephanie Swensrude.

Walters, Knack, and Cartmell have had previous experience as city council members, with the latter two serving in the most recent municipal government. Jaffer, on the other hand, was a Conservative MP in Edmonton-Strathcona from 1997 to 2008.

Repairing a broken relationship between the city and UCP 

The city’s tender relationship with the provincial UCP government underscored the event, which candidates all agreed needed to improve to help address affordability, housing, and safety issues.

Second-year MacEwan political science student Liam Wilson attended the event, and he believes affordability is not “an issue that the city can solve on its own.” He added that the city will have to cooperate with the provincial and federal governments, without giving up services and infrastructure.

As an MP, Jaffer said he used to work with all levels of government. “We would do that and sing on the same song sheet, so when we went back to our various levels of government, there was at least some commonality of what we were speaking of, and things were getting done at all those levels, for priorities for Edmontonians.”

Cartmell pointed to his previous successful collaborations with the province during his time in city council. However, he blamed other city councillors, who, according to him, have spent too much time publicly criticizing the provincial government.

“And we need to call it what it is. We need to be willing to stand up to that.”

— Andrew Knack, 2025 mayoral candidate and city councillor

“And I am getting really tired, quite frankly, of trying to have those collaborative conversations and having to explain somebody else’s social media post or somebody else’s interview when I get into that room, that that absolutely has to stop,” Cartmell said. “We have to start taking a very adult, mature approach to having those conversations.” 

Knack, who has spent over a decade on the city council, acknowledged the challenging relationship with the province and agreed on the need to collaborate and find common ground. However, he emphasized that the city’s current relationship with the province is uniquely problematic, citing Premier Smith’s recent mandate letter to the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

“Over my 12 years serving on the council, I’ve worked with the PC government, the NDP, the UCP under Premier Kenney, and the UCP under Premier Smith, and that mandate letter, to be very clear, is a direct threat to local autonomy, not just in Edmonton, but across all municipalities,” Knack said.

“And we need to call it what it is. We need to be willing to stand up to that.”

While Walters compared his approach as a “walk and chew gum at the same time” situation. The former city councillor said he believes the city ought to stand up for its autonomy and secure fair deals from the province, and at the same time, find common ground. 

Housing and affordability

While the candidates agreed there needs to be more affordable student focused housing, built quickly to meet the growing demand, they disagreed on whether the city incentivizes development. 

Cartmell envisions building communities with amenities close by for students living downtown. But, according to him, development hinges on partnerships and building incentives such as the Community Revitalization Levy, which allows municipal governments to borrow money for communication development and revitalization projects. 

However, Jaffer argued that while incentives may be available, the city council’s inefficient bureaucratic process has made it difficult for private developers to obtain permits for housing construction. 

Knack contested Jaffer’s claim by pointing to Edmonton’s ability to build housing faster than almost any other city in Canada. Knack, an incumbent city councillor, said that Edmonton’s quick build rate is why the federal government chose Edmonton as one of the six cities in Canada to fund and develop homes through its Build Canada Homes program.

“And the media always portrays stuff in a much more negative way. So watching them talk and being so civil and being kind made me feel hope for the city.”

— Lucas Santos, MacEwan student and event attendee

Downtown safety: addressing homelessness, mental health, and addiction

Knack said the city is spending about $91 million a year to manage the current situation and fill gaps in the provincial government’s response to homelessness, mental health, and addiction. Instead, Knack said he believes the city ought to treat these issues as if it were the city’s, not the province’s. As mayor, Knack said he would invest more money into permanent supportive housing, while working with other levels of government to expand day shelters.

“We also have to be realistic that might not happen, and if it doesn’t happen, we have to be willing to lead.” 

Jaffer contested Knack’s plan, citing the city’s growing budget crunch. Instead, Jaffer said he would build recovery villages around the Alberta hospital “where you can keep people safe, you can get them the services they need, and they don’t have to leave.”

Cartmell said he would move to create urban reserves, where a part of the city would be governed by an Indigenous nation and supported financially by the federal government. As he noted, First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples make up a large part of the unhoused population, who may hesitate to enter recovery spaces that are “underpinned by a colonialist care system,” and an urban reserve would provide spaces where they would feel welcome and culturally supported.

The need for student civic engagement in municipal elections

MacEwan student Lucas Santos said he hears about political apathy a lot, which he acknowledges is a problem. Having attended the mayoral forum, Santos said he hopes to start being an active citizen through civic engagement. 

“I thought everyone was really respectful, and it made me realize that politics is not as polarizing as people say it is,” he said. “And the media always portrays stuff in a much more negative way. So watching them talk and being so civil and being kind made me feel hope for the city.”