Keith Gerein
keithgerein.bsky.social
Keith Gerein
@keithgerein.bsky.social
Columnist, Edmonton Journal. I write about civic issues in #yeg and also coordinate our newsroom's features and investigations.
That's very possible. There are a lot of questions to be asked in the days ahead, because there are a lot of fingers being pointed in a lot of directions.
October 21, 2025 at 3:35 AM
Good question. I don't know what it takes to actually put together a new list. In the past, I remember showing my voter card, having my name highlighted or crossed off a paper list and that was it. Today, there was a lot of fiddling on the laptop, and not enough people doing the fiddling.
October 21, 2025 at 2:34 AM
With the postal strike, the lack of voter cards, the lineup at the voting stations, a campaign where it's been hard to differentiate some of the contenders, and the Blue Jays playing tonight, I do wonder if one of the major storylines of this election will be poor voter turnout. #yeg #yegvote
October 20, 2025 at 7:10 PM
I finally got through the line to vote after an hour and three minutes. The election workers are doing the best they can, but there just aren’t enough of them, and unfortunately, I saw a few voters get pretty upset with them. I hope it’s going better at other polling stations. #yegvote #yeg #yegelxn
October 20, 2025 at 7:08 PM
There are just three election workers with computers processing the crowd and handing out ballots. That better improve later or I can only imagine what the lines are going to be tonight. People will turn around and go watch the Blue Jays. #yeg #yegvote #yegelxn
October 20, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Other than that, there were jokes about vintage video games, and it was generally pretty civil. Anyway, that’s it. Just 10 days to go now. Students make up about 10% of Edmonton’s population, so they could absolutely have a big impact on the result. #yeg #yegelxn 13/13
October 11, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Jaffer asked Cartmell about his ideal Thanksgiving dinner. Cartmell, smiling, answered with a long list of heart-attack inducing breakfast and dinner foods impossible for any one person to consume in a single day. #yeg #yegelxn 12/13
October 11, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Knack didn’t quite say he renounces the endorsement but did say he thinks third party advertisers shouldn’t exist, and called out WFE for attack ads on Walters. Knack said he is the only mayoral candidate to release his full list of donors, not just those up to July 31. #yeg #yegelxn 11/13
October 11, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Cartmell also aimed at Knack, asking him renounce an endorsement from 3rd-party advertiser Working Families Edmonton, and demand they release their full donor list. Cartmell accused Knack of getting the advantage of being backed by a de-facto party but without the same rules. #yeg #yegelxn 10/13
October 11, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Knack answered that he made the motion to start a conversation. The province definitively answered “no” to doing more to help the homeless, so the city now has no choice but to step up, he said. #yeg #yegelxn 9/13
October 11, 2025 at 3:15 AM
The most interesting moments came late when the candidates asked questions of each other. Walters chose Knack, asking him why he made a motion last year to have the province own up to its responsibility for health and housing, but is now vowing to have the city do more on those fronts. #yeg #yegelxn
October 11, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Jaffer took a swipe at Knack and Cartmell for the city’s failed electric busses and also expressed some disdain for the $100-million bike lane project as coming at the expense of other infrastructure. In that room, it didn’t get a great response. #yeg #yegelxn 7/13
October 11, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Walters went after Knack at one point for choosing not to put more money into overdose response and encampment response teams over the last four years to better deal with homelessless. Knack didn’t really respond to that (or else I missed it). #yeg #yeglexn 6/13
October 11, 2025 at 3:13 AM
All four said they supported the idea of expanding the leisure access pass to post-secondary students, though Jaffer said he hoped that it could be paid for through sponsorships rather than coming out of the city treasury #yeg #yegelxn 5/13
October 11, 2025 at 3:13 AM
They agreed on a lot. One area of difference was on infill, where Jaffer/Cartmell leaned into putting more focus on Blatchford and other big open spaces, Walters emphasized more density around transit, and Knack warned against straying too far from current density plans. #yeg #yegelxn 4/13
October 11, 2025 at 3:13 AM
There was no clear winner. All four candidates had good/less good moments. No one stood out. As it was at U of A, a lot of the questions were on topics of interest to students — transit, affordability, housing, youth employment, etc. Climate change was even mentioned a few times. #yeg #yegelxn 3/13
October 11, 2025 at 3:12 AM
Overall, there wasn’t much of note from the debate, because all of the candidates have answered pretty much every possible question multiple times over at this point. Indeed, this is something like their 8th or 9th debate, and frankly, they all came across as a bit tired. #yeg #yegelxn 2/13
October 11, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Reposted by Keith Gerein
And here's @keithgerein.bsky.social with his take on what we've learned from the three-part series

"An archaic consumer protection system built more for the protection of businesses and the convenience of the system itself, rather than the needs of the public"

#yeg
Keith Gerein: Alberta's malnourished restaurant inspection system has become indigestible
Alberta must make upgrades to its restaurant inspection system to improve transparency for diners and impose stricter enforcement on bad eateries
edmontonjournal.com
October 10, 2025 at 2:24 PM