EDMONTON – For Michael Oshry, it all starts with the economy.
“We‘ve got to bring prosperity back to the city and one of the ways we can do it is to make it easier for businesses to do whatever they do,” he said.
He promises necessary rules, but says the city needs to “cut red tape” for companies and become more user friendly for everyone.
But business is not all he cares about. Lots of people working and sales thriving will generate the taxes that will allow Edmontonians to have a strong and compassionate social safety net, he believes.
“Without that (strong economy) people aren’t going to want to live here. And without that we’re not going to be able to pay for the social challenges we have now and coming up,” he said in a sit-down interview with CTV News Edmonton.
‘I THINK I’M UNIQUELY POSITIONED’
The businessman and one-term city councillor jumped into the race because he’s convinced Edmonton must have a mayor with his set of skills.
“We need somebody that has experience on city council, somebody from a background that understands the economy and someone that cares about people. And I think I’m uniquely positioned to be that person, which is the reason I stepped up.”
Oshry is promising direct language and a straightforward approach. Perhaps the word he uses most to describe himself while selling his political skills is “pragmatic.”
“I don’t have an ideological belief, so I make decisions based on evidence. I surround myself with smart people whenever possible and I end up coming to solutions to problems that are pragmatic.”
Oshry once publicly considered a leadership run for the Progressive Conservative Party, but ultimately decided not to challenge Jason Kenney for that job.
Oshry served one term on city council from 2013 to 2017, and chose not to run for a second.
Instead, he decided to focus on his entrepreneurial pursuits, growing local retail and hospitality businesses and building a foreign exchange company called FIRMA.
Politically, he’s perhaps best known for leading the charge to ditch the “City of Champions” slogan.
CAMPAIGN PROMISES
Aside from making business boom, his goals now include guiding the city through a pandemic downturn by being careful with city coffers.
He’s not running around promising major projects, instead offering more frugal ventures like more off-leash parks and bike parks.
They won’t cost taxpayers a lot, he says, but they will boost the “livability” of mature neighbourhoods.
“The economic realities of the city is that we’re not going to have a lot of money going forward in the next few years. So we’re not going to be able to afford really big rec centres, we’re not going to get money from other orders of government like we have in the past. We can still have a win, though, by putting small infrastructure in many, many neighbourhoods around the city,” he said.
Also top of mind for Oshry is how to help the growing population of people who are homeless — a number that has gone from 1,500 to 2,500 during the pandemic, he said.
He’s pledging to build 1,000 supportive housing units and wants to use old busses to provide washrooms and showers to people who don’t have their own.
He’s also offering a compassionate approach to addiction and mental health, and believes it’s unfair for the city to centre all of its supervised injection sites around Chinatown.
He wants to move them around the city to better serve people who need them.
“We want their experience with homelessness to be brief, to be non-reoccurring and not chronic. The city has to step up in a big way to do that.”
One of the ways he wants to help low-income families is by giving kids a safe place to go in the evenings so parents can finish up the workday.
“We have an after-school program that we have released that’s going to provide access to all the recreation facilities from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. for every kid in the city. And for the highest need schools we’re going to include busing.”
On the topic of transit, Oshry says Edmonton’s service is “not great.” He’s not sold on the new on-demand service plan, but he’s willing to give it some time before coming up with improvements. He also mentioned a desire to increase safety near buses and LRTs.
But Oshry isn’t promising more LRT lines anytime soon.
“It’s not for sure that other levels of government are going to fund it. Everyone is challenged by the economy right now.”
What he does promise is to guide the west LRT to completion in a way that benefits nearby communities with increased development along the line.
As for bike lanes, “I’m not a fan of expanding that network further outside of those core areas, for now. But I’m not going to rant and rave about that. It’s always a sore spot in our city for some reason. We have more important things,” he said with a chuckle.
Oshry has often said he’s “not a politician.” He doesn’t really speak like one, and he’s not trying to make it his only career forever.
The election is Oct. 18.
GET TO KNOW YOUR CANDIDATE
Favourite meal in the city?
“There’s a Greek restaurant called Little Village, a little takeout place on Stony Plain Road that’s actually pretty good.”
Best summer activity in the river valley?
“I would say the bike ride thing…Actually I can go for walks too. Quite pleasant.”
Favourite viewpoint or public art piece in Edmonton?
“There’s actually another one in the west end that overlooks the Terwillegar off-leash park. No one would know where that spot is, it’s kind of a weird spot. And then you see the bend of the river. It’s quite high up, it’s quite nice.”
Any talents or hobbies most voters wouldn’t know about?
Mediocre oil painter and he’s “pretty good at spreadsheets.”
What was the last book you read?
Seven Fallen Feathers.
“It’s about Indigenous kids that disappeared. Seven stories of kids that disappeared or they found their bodies eventually, but they never know what happened.”
Sport you enjoy playing/watching the most?
“I just pick hockey because it’s Edmonton. I’m not sure if that’s my favourite sport to watch. Maybe soccer.”
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Touria Izri
