Don Iveson says his top priority for his second term as Edmonton mayor will be to ensure the city is able to sustain its prosperity as it evolves from a resource-based economy.
“We had it really good when oil was expensive,” Iveson said a news conference Tuesday, one day after he won a landslide victory.
“That probably won’t happen again, so we got to fight tooth and nail for investment, for talent, for reputation like every other big Canadian city.”
Iveson said his job will be to “rally the troops” — not only at Edmonton Economic Development Corp. but also at post-secondary institutions, the city’s major employers and small businesses — to ensure the city sees long-term growth in jobs, wealth, entrepreneurship and innovation.
“Our work at city hall has to be to make Edmonton as resilient as possible,” he said.
“But the wind is at our backs right now. People are paying attention now in Toronto, New York and London to what’s happening in Edmonton,” he said, pointing to Rogers Place, the city’s work around homelessness, poverty and reconciliation.
Iveson took more than 72 per cent of the vote as he cruised to victory Monday.
Edmonton voters also elected four new faces to council — Jon Dziadyk, Aaron Paquette, Sarah Hamilton and Tim Cartmell.
Incumbents Andrew Knack, Bev Esslinger, Scott McKeen, Tony Caterina, Ben Henderson, Michael Walters, Mike Nickel and Moe Banga were all re-elected, while incumbent Dave Loken lost in Ward 3 to Dziadyk.