Women a majority on new Edmonton city council after historic election
CBC
It's never happened in Edmonton before — the majority of councillors heading to city hall are women and two of them, women of colour.
In Monday's municipal election, Edmontonians voted in eight women and four men for council, a significant change from the previous council comprised of ten men and two women.
It's something hat Bev Esslinger has been pushing for since she was the lone woman on council from 2013 to 2017.
"The day after I was elected, I did lots of media interviews because I was the only woman on council," Esslinger told CBC News Tuesday. "And today I'm doing lots of media interviews because there's eight women on council."
In 2017, Sarah Hamilton joined her at the council table.
This election, women ran in 11 of 12 wards.
"So, you know, we've come a long way," Esslinger said.
Esslinger lost her seat in Ward Anirniq by a small margin to Erin Rutherford but Esslinger said she's happy she helped encourage more women to run.
"It's exciting — they launched some strong campaigns, and it was great to see them be successful."
The organization, ParityYEG, has been helping women develop their campaigns since 2017 with the aim of increasing the number of candidates.
Rajah Maggay, a research and policy advisor in Edmonton, also the vice chair of research for ParityYEG, said she was surprised and delighted to see the election outcomes.
"Having women at the table means that you get more experiences, you get more diverse policy too," Maggay said in an interview Tuesday. "It means that the experiences of women are going to be at the forefront and not just an after-thought."
Maggay noted that Edmontonians also voted in two women of colour to city council, something many didn't know had never happened previously.
"They wouldn't believe that we've never elected a racialized woman before," Maggay said. "And now we've shattered that glass ceiling."
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