Kick-off speech at the Petroleum Club

For those of you who couldn’t attend my campaign announcement yesterday, we captured the whole thing on video. You can watch it directly below, or read the whole speech yourself.

After less than one day, the support Edmontonians have shown me has been inspiring. I’m looking forward to seeing and meeting you on the campaign trail.

Don’s Campaign Kick-off Speech

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Thank you Christian. And thanks to each and every one of you for coming today.

I’d particularly like to acknowledge my council colleagues Councillors Krushell, Anderson, Loken, Henderson, Sohi, and Gibbons. Thank you for being here today.

I’d also like to thank the mentors, colleagues, neighbours, community leaders and business leaders, who are standing up here with me today, for their support.

Most of all, I must thank my partner Sarah, inspiring mother to our two children, Dexter and Alice. Without your unconditional support I would not be standing here today.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with great pride and honour that I announce my candidacy to become the next Mayor of Edmonton.

I started knocking on doors back in 2007 for a simple reason: my friends were moving away. Sarah and I had chosen to build our careers and family in Edmonton. I understood why many of my friends were leaving, and I decided to do something about it.

And for six years, I’ve worked with Mayor Mandel and my council colleagues to lure great people to Edmonton, and back to Edmonton – like Christian here. And I’ve worked hard to make sure we don’t lose any more great people.

We’ve set changes in motion: LRT, a transforming downtown, plans for better care of our roads, pipes and sidewalks. We’ve launched initiatives to prevent crime, to combat discrimination, to increase literacy, to end homelessness. We’ve helped turn Edmonton into Canada’s best city for artists and entrepreneurs.

We have a vision. We have our plans.

Now what? Now it’s time for Edmonton to take its next big step.

I’ve talked with a lot of Edmontonians who are passionate about business, the arts, social ventures, sports, architecture, technology, transportation. I’m passionate about all of it because I’m passionate about the people behind it. In fact…

My passion is city building and my city is Edmonton.

Our city has changed in six years. [Just this morning at the grand opening of the stunning new Jasper Place Library Branch, Mayor Mandel said, ‘7, 8 or even 9 years ago we would not have built a building this gorgeous.” And he’s right. And yet, this remains a humble city. But it’s bigger, more complex, bolder than it’s ever been. Our ambitions have changed, and so have the problems we’re going to solve together. We’re at a point of transition, and we need fresh ideas, new solutions. We need strong and ambitious leadership.

Take a look at our hometown, at our economy and our culture, our spirit of openness, our commitment to learning and discovery, our entrepreneurial energy.

At its best, this is a place for builders and creators.

To build the city we want, we’ll have to find smart new ways to pay for it. We can’t rely as heavily on property taxes, not anymore. Together with citizens we’ve committed to building a more efficient, more beautiful, more prosperous Edmonton. But we can’t place an unfair tax burden on people and their families. This, I know: we are smart; we are enterprising; and we must work together to build a different financial formula to power our city and region’s success.

Today, of all days, is about promises.

I’ll lead a City that’s functional. No one on city council or anywhere else in Edmonton likes potholes. We all want snow cleared quickly. We all want safe playgrounds and clean streets. This isn’t controversial. It isn’t even political. These are the basic, day-to-day things that people expect their city to take care of, so that they can live their lives and focus on their families. My first priority is a city that works, and I believe we can end yearly debates about the quality of basic city services like roads and snow clearing by finding long-term, consistent solutions to these predictable problems.

I’ll lead a city with more housing and transportation choices. Better housing options for people and families of all types and sizes — choices that enhance our city. We’re getting better at building denser housing, but we have work to do so that families like yours and mine have more affordable and more diverse choices in new and established parts of the city. And it’s essential that we continue building LRT and other travel options to connect it all. In recent years, we have seen great planning for both infill and for better suburban communities in Edmonton, and we can’t settle for anything less.

I’ll lead a City that’s profitable and prosperous. One that enables its businesses to succeed beyond their ambitions. This has long been an excellent place to launch an idea. Edmonton must now become an equally good place to take a successful company, of one hundred employees, and scale it to one thousand. This is the city of PCL and Ledcor, Canadian Western Bank, Stantec and Bioware. I want Edmonton to become this country’s laboratory for spinning new ideas into new companies, and small companies — of all sorts — into giants.

I’ll lead a City that’s fair. A place where we take care of each other. If we work together, community by community, with our outstanding social agencies, this can be a city where your race or your sexuality or the country you come from never stands in the way of living the life you want. Our community must take better care of our most vulnerable, from the chronically homeless to children too hungry to learn. Morally, and even economically, these are among our most important responsibilities.

And I’ll lead our city through what I believe is our most pressing ongoing challenge: and that’s getting a fair share for Edmonton in our region, which will start with better relationships with our friends in neighbouring counties, towns, and cities. This is work I’m passionate about and I’m not done.

Edmontonians have also told us that they want to live in a City that excites and delights them and that they are proud to share with friends and family who come from away. A City of culture and art — and interesting architecture and lots to do. A City that’s humming with optimism and community spirit and energy. I’ll lead a City that’s beautiful and exciting and diverse because that’s who we are.

And underlying all of these promises is the imperative to engage with our citizens in the planning and decision-making that affects their neighbourhoods. Edmontonians know best what they want and need in their city, and how they want it to grow and evolve. The tremendous progress Edmonton has made in the last six years is because the citizens of this city demanded it, told us what they wanted and were ready to work for it. We can be more creative in using technology and be more open in our consultations with citizens so they remain the beating heart of our next great accomplishments.

I have been hounored to serve this city as a member of Council for the last six years. In that time, I have never been afraid to look at innovative approaches to improve services and reduce costs; I have built relationships and created partnerships to support our city’s ambitions; I have always preferred diplomacy, but knew when it was time to play hardball; and above all, I have been, and shall remain, committed to acting in the service of the people of this great city.

Like Edmonton, my own life and has changed in the last six years, and so has my outlook. Sarah and I have a son and a daughter now.

I want to lead this city as your Mayor because I want my children… and your children… and our grandchildren to choose Edmonton.

With the right leadership, in the coming years, it will be an easy choice.

My vision for Edmonton is a city that is fair, a city that is functional, a city that is profitable and prosperous. A city that delights us all with its beauty and energy and excitement. I believe that’s the vision of most Edmontonians.

We all know where this city is going. We’ve been dreaming about it for a long time.

When we close our eyes we can see it.

Now let’s build it.