Editing Edmonton (section)

=== History of municipal governance ===
{{Update|section|date=January 2023|reason=''Does not contain information about how Edmonton's municipal governance has changed or evolved since 1989. This section should be updated with more information regarding this''}}
[[File:City-Hall-Edmonton-Alberta-2A.jpg|thumb|[[Edmonton City Hall]] is the home of the [[Edmonton City Council|municipal government]] for Edmonton.|alt=|left]]

In 1892, Edmonton was incorporated as a town. The first mayor was [[Matthew McCauley (politician)|Matthew McCauley]], who established the first school board in Edmonton and Board of Trade (later Chamber of Commerce) and a municipal police service.<ref name="Edmonton Politics">{{Cite book|last=Walls|first=Martha|title=Edmonton Book of Everything|publisher=Maclntyre Purcell Publishing Inc.|year=2007|page=129|isbn=978-0-9738063-4-2}}</ref> Due to McCauley's good relationship with the federal Liberals, Edmonton maintained economic and political prominence over Strathcona, a rival town on the south side of the North Saskatchewan River.<ref name="Edmonton Politics"/> Edmonton was incorporated as a city in 1904 and became Alberta's capital in 1905.<ref name="edmontoncanencyclo"/>

In 1904, the City of Edmonton purchased the [[Alberta Government Telephones|Edmonton District Telephone Company]] for $17,000 from [[Alex Taylor (businessman)|Alex Taylor]], a Canadian entrepreneur, inventor, and politician. Amalgamated into a city department as City of Edmonton Telephone Department, City Telephone System (CTS), 'Edmonton telephones'. In 1989, City Council voted to create [[Edmonton Telephones Corporation]] (Ed Tel) to operate as an autonomous organization under a board of directors appointed by the city. In 1995, City of Edmonton ownership of its telephone service ended when Ed Tel was sold to the [[Telus Communications]] corporation. City Bylaw 11713 created The Ed Tel Endowment Fund whereas the shares owned by Edmonton Telephones Corporation in Ed Tel Inc. were sold by the City of Edmonton to Telus on March 10, 1995, for $470,221,872 to be invested for the perpetual benefit of Edmontonians.<ref name="edtel">{{cite web |title=Ed Tel Endowment Fund Bylaw |url=https://www.edmonton.ca/public-files/assets/document?path=PDF/C11713.pdf |website=edmonton.ca |publisher=City of Edmonton |access-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223024746/https://www.edmonton.ca/public-files/assets/document?path=PDF/C11713.pdf |archive-date=December 23, 2022 |date=June 18, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Unions such as the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] struggled for progressive social change through the early years, with the first reformer, [[James East]], elected in 1912, followed by the first official Labour alderman, [[James Kinney (politician)|James Kinney]], the following year. Many thousands of workers participated in the Edmonton general strike of 1919 and a strong block of Labour representatives were on council after the next election: East, Kinney, Sam McCoppen, [[Rice Sheppard]] and [[Joseph Clarke (Canadian politician)|Joe Clarke]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Finkel |first=Alvin |date=1985 |title=The Rise and Fall of the Labour Party in Alberta, 1917-42 |url=https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/llt/1985-v16-llt_16/llt16art02/ |journal=Labour/Le Travail |language=en |volume=16 |pages=61–96 |issn=0700-3862}}</ref>

Labour representation on city council became a near-majority in 1929, and a full majority from 1932 to 1934, during the Great Depression.{{sfnp|Monto|2011|pp=433, 164}} [[Jan Reimer]] became the city's first female mayor when she was elected in 1989.{{sfnp|Monto|2011|p=326}}<ref>Monto, Tom, Protest and Progress, Three Labour Radicals in Early Edmonton, Crang Publishing (available at Alhambra Books, Edmonton), 2012, 71–76</ref>

In 2021, [[Amarjeet Sohi]] became the first person of colour to be elected as mayor of Edmonton.<ref>[https://globalnews.ca/news/8266564/edmonton-election-2021-mayor-amarjeet-sohi/ Edmonton election 2021: Amarjeet Sohi elected mayor]. ''Global News'' Retrieved August 9, 2023</ref>