Week in Review - November 6, 2015
November 06, 2015
Family violence is something that is still too common and this week Mayor Iveson helped raise awareness of this type of abuse by proclaiming November Family Violence Prevention Month. City Councillors and the Mayor were at City Hall to shed light on family violence prevention and on the individual assistance available to those who need help. Family violence assistance is free to every Edmontonian and can be found on the City’s website.
This week City Council got its first chance to comment on the 2016-2018 City Budget proposed by City Administration. One of the most significant actions to come out of Tuesday's meeting was the motion to have Administration create a terms of reference for a service level review of all city departments in order to ensure effectiveness and increased efficiency of programming. The Mayor supports this review as it will serve as a ‘check-up’ of how city services might be made more efficient. “It will ensure excellent value for money, while also assuring citizens we do this in a structured way,” said Mayor Iveson. Council has an objective to ensure that every tax dollar collected by the City works as hard as it can, recognizing the current economic situation. The terms of reference are due back to Council in the coming weeks and deliberations on the budget are set to begin November 27th.
Tuesday also saw the Consul General for Israel, DJ Schneeweiss, stop at City Hall to speak with the Mayor on increasing ties between Edmonton and Israel’s business incubators - think TEC Edmonton and NAIT.
Wednesday brought some exciting news with the announcement that former City Councillor Amarjeet Sohi was appointed to the federal cabinet as Minister of Infrastructure and Communities. The Mayor provided his comments on the announcement to the media, congratulating Minister Sohi and stating his cautious optimism on the fulfillment of infrastructure promises made by the Liberal Party during the recent federal election campaign.
As luck would have it, the Mayor had a second Consul General pop by City Hall to see him. This time around it was Thomas Palaia, United States Consul General, who spoke with Mayor Iveson about Edmonton’s robust arts and business sectors.
Later on in the week the newest video edition of Mayor Reads was publicized. In honour of Remembrance Day, the story the Mayor read to school children this time was “Who Was Alex Decoteau?”. Alex Decoteau was a young Cree track and field athlete who became Canada's first Indigenous police officer and fought for our freedoms during World War I. Decoteau has been honoured by having a neighbourhood in southeast Edmonton named after him and will soon have a park named after him in 2016.
Some good news on the economic front this week as our city shows signs of weathering the downturn better than expected. The Edmonton Metropolitan region posted job gains for October - totaling 6,700. The diversity of Edmonton’s economy is credited with maintaining the region’s sixth straight month of job growth and absorbing most of the shock associated with the downturn experienced throughout the rest of the province.
That concludes another week at the Mayor’s Office! From our office, have a wonderful autumn weekend. Maybe it's time to break out that family chicken soup recipe in order to make those chilly nights a little more comfortable. Stay warm.
For More Information
Mayor Don Iveson
2nd Floor, City Hall
1 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, AB
T5J 2R7
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