Belligerence from the provincial government and growing partisanship at the municipal level are set to make Edmonton’s upcoming municipal election messy. But Ward Métis councillor Ashley Salvador, who announced her independent candidacy for reelection last week, points to first-term accomplishments that she believes will convince constituents to keep her on the job.

First-term councillor Ashley Salvador announced her candidacy for re-election earlier in May. Image from her campaign website

“I’m very proud to have supported one of the most forward-thinking housing policies in the country,” the councillor told The Progress Report.

Most of council has been involved in efforts to reform housing policy, but it’s a particular focus for Salvador. She said that the rate of home building during her term increased by nearly fifty per cent, and that the growth was attributable to new city policies that allow for a greater diversity of home types.

While we weren’t able to source that fifty per cent figure, data does broadly support the claim that Edmonton is now doing very well on new housing compared to other Canadian cities. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) data shows Alberta leading the country in home-building in recent years, with Edmonton building the most of all.

Edmonton’s new housing policies are earning approval from both builders and buyers. The Canadian Home Builders Association, a developer lobby group, applauded the city’s policies in their latest Municipal Benchmarking Study, rating Edmonton the single best place in Canada to build. Housing affordability commentators Patrick Murphy and Jasmine Steffler argued last year that Edmonton “is the city to beat on housing reform.”

Of course, there’s more to running a city than just getting the zoning laws right.

In our interview, Salvador identified a few other political matters that concern her.

Policing and public safety—and the public’s safety from police—remain thorny issues in Edmonton.

“The Edmonton Police Service has continued to see ongoing increases to their budget,” Salvador pointed out.

From an estimated $379 million in 2019, council has approved continually increasing budgets, with 2026’s projection now at $559 million, according to the city. A funding formula system adopted in 2023 guarantees Edmonton police a rise in funding every year, which has been further supplemented by specific funding demands like $5 million for more cops on transit in April 2025. 

“Going into the previous election, I was committed to freezing that budget and I have voted accordingly. I think when it comes to public safety, we need a comprehensive approach, a holistic approach that is not solely enforcement-based.”

While theft and violence in the city must be addressed, said Salvador, more policing is often not the appropriate solution. Salvador pointed to unresolved issues including poverty, lack of access to health and mental health care, and the province’s belligerent attitude towards harm reduction as worsening crime in the city. Without addressing those root causes, things aren’t going to get better, she said.

“The communities I represent are seeing those compounding challenges now more than ever. They’re looking for those immediate answers to be able to resolve them. And the unfortunate reality is that policing alone can’t make our communities safe—we need that comprehensive response.”

Provincial and partisan politics pose a major challenge, says Salvador

Credit is due to the federal, not provincial, government for the city’s ability to make headway on housing, said Salvador, citing programs like the Rapid Housing Initiative, which provides grants for converting unused buildings into affordable housing. For now, assistance from the federal government is allowing the city to get around hostility from the province. But Salvador says access to that assistance is at risk.

She’s not wrong. The UCP’s 2024 Provincial Priorities Act now requires municipalities to get permission from the province before accepting many forms of federal funding. Mayor Amarjeet Sohi was among many who panned the legislation last year, but the province rammed it through anyway.

“The changes that are being brought in that could potentially limit our ability to access those direct funds from the federal government are deeply alarming,” Salvador told us.

And that bill wasn’t the first time the UCP attempted to meddle in Edmonton politics. Mid-way through the council term, UCP-friendly councillors Tim Cartmell and Sarah Hamilton were briefly involved in a sort of ‘shadow council’ set up by the province, called the Edmonton Public Safety and Community Response Task Force, which cut out the mayor and rest of council.

Today, Cartmell is the mayoral candidate for Better Edmonton, one the city’s first municipal political parties, something enabled by UCP legislative changes.

“I'm very concerned and alarmed about the introduction of political parties into the local level,” said Salvador. “It is not what Edmontonians and Albertans asked for.”

“I worry that it will undermine local voices. I have shared that I feel it is a threat to local democracy.”So far, Salvador has only one challenger in Ward Métis: Caroline Matthews, who was also one of her competitors in the last election. Matthews has not announced a formal affiliation with Cartmell’s party, Better Edmonton, but she has been campaigning with him.