Mayor refutes speculations of provincial audit on City of Edmonton

Is there trouble brewing at Edmonton City Hall?

Post Media columnist David Staples reports the Alberta Government is ready to ‘stabilize the city and audit the finances and corporate culture’. CityNews has not been able to confirm these claims.

Premier Danielle Smith — while not confirming or denying the allegations Wednesday — does acknowledge Edmonton is facing financial challenges and the province is willing- and ready- to help.

“Look, it’s a big step if you try to intervene in any council’s decision-making, let alone a city as large and important as our capital city, and we would not take that decision lightly, and we would want them to be very specific on whether they think we can help and how they want us to help,” said Smith.

“We do stand by, ready to assist if they would like to ask us for assistance.”Smith added that while “It’s Edmonton’s story to tell about where they find themselves, we have had a number of reports that do have us concerned.”

Smith added that while “It’s Edmonton’s story to tell about where they find themselves, we have had a number of reports that do have us concerned.”

She said there are reported money problems on top of a raft of senior city executives — including the city manager — leaving.

“That is a sign that has us concerned about stability,” said Smith.

“As I understand it, there was a pretty involved meeting at the council a number of days ago that talked about the financial challenges the city is facing.

“There are a number of people who were at that meeting and a number of them started calling us, and so that’s how we heard about it.”

Alberta municipalities are not allowed by provincial law to run deficits.

In a statement from Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, he says “It was clear from the Premier’s comments today that there are no inspections or audits planned for the City of Edmonton. It is unfortunate that the information being reported by some media outlets was based on speculation and not fact.”

Adding, “The City of Edmonton is in compliance with our guiding legislation in all aspects of our operation, including with our financial policies, which are well within the legislated limits. We have a collaborative working relationship with Premier Smith and Cabinet and we will continue to advocate on behalf of Edmontonians for the stable and equitable funding we need. It was clear from the Premier’s comments today that there are no inspections or audits planned for the City of Edmonton. It is unfortunate that the information being reported by some media outlets was based on speculation and not fact.”  

Tim Cartmell, Edmonton City Councillor adding, “We’ve been in a challenging environment I would say, but the city is not financially insolvent. The city does have a budget, it does have a plan, it does have money to operate.”

The speculations come after Edmonton City Manager Andre Corbould announced his resignation last week, councillor Tim Cartmell says the number of high-rank officials leaving the city is a concern and something the city needs to address

“Waiting for the province to complete an audit which would take several months and would frankly probably not be particularly informative, probably wouldn’t tell us anything we don’t already know, I think it’s just a distraction,” said Cartmell.

Cartmell’s not the only councillor raising concerns around the speculation.

Erin Rutherford on social media, saying an audit would find nothing, saying “We came in a challenging time – pandemic recovery.”

This is pure and utter undermining this Council in prep for the next election. I guarantee they would start this ‘investigation’ before the election but it wouldn’t conclude until after. And you know what it would find? Nothing. We came in a challenging time – pandemic recovery. https://t.co/gjOZLDS3oq

— Erin Rutherford (@Erinforanirniq) March 27, 2024

It’s rare, but not unheard of, for the province to intervene in municipal affairs.

Last year, the province fired the mayor and half the councillors in the city of Chestermere, just east of Calgary, saying they failed to act on demands to fix their dysfunctional government. 

Smith said the government won’t be intervening in Medicine Hat, where the council voted unanimously last week to severely curtail the duties and pay of Mayor Linnsie Clark.

Clark was sanctioned for breaking the city’s code of conduct by failing to treat the city manager with courtesy and respect. 

Asked why Edmonton is under scrutiny but not Medicine Hat, Smith said they are two different situations, with the main differences being finances.

“What I understand about Medicine Hat is they’re very healthy from a financial point of view,” she said.

“They have their own gas company, they operate their own power company, (and) they’ve got a massive fund for some of their surplus revenues,” she said.

“I think the nature of the challenges in Medicine Hat are quite different than what we’re hearing about the challenges in Edmonton.”

She said disputes among councillors require a more delicate touch.

“We don’t intervene just because there are personality conflicts in a council. Otherwise we’d be intervening on a lot of councils,” she said.

“We have to identify if the level of infighting is causing a major exodus of senior staff.

“We haven’t observed that in Medicine Hat.”

In Medicine Hat, Clark spoke to reporters Wednesday for the first time since her demotion, announcing she plans to go to court to get a judicial review to overturn council’s decision.

The other sanctions on Clark include a letter of reprimand and request for apology, and the suspension of Clark’s presiding duties under the Municipal Government Act. 

Clark will also no longer be the official spokesperson for council.

In addition, she may no longer attend meetings of the administration committee, is prohibited from entering the administration area of city hall, and outside of council meetings may not have any direct contact with city staff other than the city manager.

The interactions with the city manager are only allowed via email where all members of council are copied, and any in-person meetings must be done with another council member present.

-With files from the Canadian Press