Photo by Nichapat Jitpraphan/The Griff
For the second consecutive year, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith hosted the Premier’s Breakfast to officially open KDays, bringing together provincial politicians, municipal officials, and community organizations to kick off the festival. This year, SAMU’s executive committee was absent.
The executive committee attended last year’s breakfast to advocate directly to provincial officials on issues affecting post-secondary students. Former vice-president (external) Wilfrid Youbi Fansi and former vice-president (governance & finance) Andrei Santiago met with Premier Smith while she served pancakes. Youbi Fansi told the Griff that the event provided them with a rare opportunity to directly advocate on priorities like post-secondary funding, affordability, and student mental health.
Current vice-president (student life) Elizabeth Russell said in an email to the Griff that attending the breakfast in 2025 was intended to help the executive committee build relationships with provincial leaders while evaluating whether the event was an effective advocacy opportunity.
Russell said the executive committee ultimately decided not to attend this year’s event because of EC capacity constraints. With both the president and the vice-president (external) unavailable, “the risk of having internal VPs attend outweighed the potential benefits” of attending.
“Our immediate next focus is on planning a municipal roundtable between MacEwan students and City Hall, following up with politicians on our meetings from our Stampede advocacy, and mapping out federal advocacy in the coming year.” – Elizabeth Russell, vice-president (student life).
The executive committee is instead focusing its advocacy efforts on upcoming initiatives, including a planned municipal roundtable connecting MacEwan students with Edmonton city council, following up on meetings held during this month’s Calgary Stampede advocacy trip, and developing their federal advocacy strategy.
Premier Danielle Smith and the majority of her cabinet attended the event alongside the MP for Edmonton Centre Eleanor Olszewski, Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack, and other MLAs. Also in attendance were representatives from Explore Edmonton and event sponsor North Central Co-op. Speakers highlighted KDays as both a longstanding Edmonton tradition and an economic driver for the city.
The Premier’s breakfast returned for its fourth year as the official kickoff to KDays, which runs until July 26 at the Edmonton EXPO Centre grounds.
