Edmonton Headlines: Wednesday, March 22, 2017

It’s budget day (again)! Today, Edmonton will be looking for money for transportation and housing projects from the federal government. Just like last week’s provincial budget dominated the news, this will be the big story this week. (And beyond! As the government makes follow-up announcements, organizations getting money/not getting money fire off news releases, and journalists dig into deeper levels of the budget documents.)

Speaking of all that money…

Should LRT expansion in the southwest become a bigger priority for the city? It’s an idea getting some traction from the outgoing councillor of Ward 9, and an announced new hospital could bump the area up on more infrastructure lists. Right now, the expansion of the line from Century Park further south is behind the “Valley Line”, which would head west from the downtown, and a connection to the Blatchford neighbourhood on the old City Centre Airport lands (an extension of the line from Kingsway/NAIT).

Speaking about the ongoing budget stories…

Edmonton’s got its full list of school projects connected to the provincial budget.

As the Alberta government moves to hire more crown prosecutors to help with court backlogs, Legal Aid Alberta’s budget is also going up this year. That’s important because all the new crown attorneys would have found themselves waiting on backlogs of a different sort if people facing charges couldn’t get a defense lawyer.

There’s already an Edmonton connection to the budget. It’ll be on the finance minister’s feet.

Did you know that it’s a ritual for the Finance Minister to select a new pair of shoes to announce Canada’s Budget every year? We are thrilled and honoured that @billmorneau selected a pair of #PoppyBarleyMen’s shoes today (watch the video in @PoppyBarley’s Insta-Stories ☝️)! Inspired by our female founders @kendalljbarber and @justbarber, our ethical manufacturing and innovation in the ecommerce space, the Edmonton Oxford is saying a whole lot with every step. #Budget2017 #LuxuryForThePeople #PoppyBarley #ShoesToLiveBy

A post shared by Poppy Barley Men (@poppybarleymen) on Mar 20, 2017 at 10:09am PDT

The black “Edmonton Oxford” is an excellent choice, if I do say so myself.

Around the city

Photoshop via Troy Pavlek

City councillors won’t decide on increased security measures at City Hall. But that doesn’t mean it will remain as open and welcoming as it is today. They’ve just decided to let City staff make the call on what’s needed to protect people in meeting rooms and council chambers (without any actual cases of violence or perceived violence having yet occurred). The decision will also be made in private, so we may not know what’s changing until metal detectors, security walls and whatever they used to scan skeletons in Total Recall are being installed.

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Well, you really don’t want to have monthly oil spill updates from Strathcona County, but…

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The Treaty 6 and Metis flags will soon be flying alongside city, provincial and Canada flags at City Hall. This is an excellent decision and one of those small steps to reconciliation a government can take.

Flags of the Treaty 6 territory and Metis Nation

Public Engagement

If you’re interested in the North Saskatchewan river valley, there’s an open house for the City’s Ribbon of Green project tonight, 4-8 p.m., at the Terwillegar Community Recreation Centre.

There’s an open house on a 31-storey tower proposed for 99 Street in Old Strathcona, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., at King Edward School.