Rage Against the Commissioner
Surprise! Edmonton councillor and mayoral candidate Mike Nickel is under fire once again. Edmonton’s Integrity Commissioner Jamie Pytel released a report Thursday that suggests Nickel is in violation of the council code of conduct and will face sanction hearings for two alleged infractions. One is what’s described as misleading statements on the cost of investigating a previous complaint submitted against Nickel, and the second is the alleged inappropriate use of email addresses Nickel obtained as a councillor, which he allegedly used to send out campaign literature in his bid for mayor. The report says Nickel violated council rules.
The city’s bylaw on council code of conduct states that council can issue a letter of reprimand for infractions, but cannot prevent a councillor from fulfilling their legislative duties.
Nickel is saying much the same thing he said before, in late 2020, when his conduct on social media was brought into question by Pytel:
Nickel went on a morning show/podcast called The Locker Room to comment on his latest run-in with the rules.
I listened so you don’t have to. The talk show hosts. Lochlin Cross, Grant Johnson, and James White called Nickel and the conversation kicked off with the hosts expressing frustration about the state of politics, and also a bit of sympathy.
“I tried to watch your video. I can’t do it. I am at a point in politics where I am so over all of this sh*t. I want you all to go away,” says one of the hosts.
“The problem is they're wasting your money, Lochlin. I am not going to roll over… This childishness has to stop,” Nickel says.
The hosts continue to tell him that political stunts are making people feel exhausted and disillusioned about politics.
Rage take: Disenfranchisement and voter suppression is actually a political strategy that’s becoming more prevalent. If you can’t get out the vote yourself, you can at least discourage your opponent’s voters from feeling like their vote matters. Exasperated radio DJs giving in to cynicism is not a reason to not engage politically.
Red Deer Battles Addiction
A Lethbridge council candidate is weighing in on the provincial decision to use an industrial park in Red Deer for a recovery community.
"We are taking a wholly different approach in addiction," Jason Luan, associate minister for mental health and addictions, told CBC on Thursday.
Luan said that people using this service will need to be sober when they enter the treatment centre and will not be allowed to use drugs while staying there, including drugs consumed at supervised consumption sites.
The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction advocates for supervised consumption sites as harm reduction and an important part of addiction and recovery.
Calgary Reconciliation
The White Goose Flying report, which we’ve discussed in other newsletters, had an update from Terry Poucette, from Calgary’s Indigenous relations department, provided to the priorities and finance committee.
Bike Lanes v. Potholes
Timothy Gerwing, director of communications for the UCP shared a CBC article (which is probably news in and of itself) about a recent poll that found Edmontonians care about road maintenance.
Fair Deals for Cities
Calgary mayoral candidate Jyoti Gondek played political ju-jitsu with the referendum announcement about Alberta transfer payments this week. Gondek asked ‘What about fair funding for Calgary?’
Crack Watch 2021
Rage continues to follow Coun Andrew Knack’s anti (sidewalk) crack campaign. In Edmonton, you can report sidewalk cracks using 311.
What’s Got Our Attention
The Goal Isn’t to Build a Cycling City — a podcast from Strong Towns about what makes Amsterdam a great city.
Vancouver Council Votes Against Delay for Climate Emergency Plan
Top photo: Screenshot of Mike Nickel’s Facebook Live