This post is part of a series of frequently asked questions. You can view the rest of them here

Troy, what is your plan for Edmonton's local economy?

I take strong policy positions frequently and make a lot of noise about issues that I am passionate about. So, when I don't frequently talk about Edmonton's economy, many mistake that for me not caring about it. Quite the opposite in fact!

In software development, there is a concept called "don't repeat yourself". If you've already done the work once, don't repeat the work, just re-use it and you'll save time, money and sanity. I find that concept can be applied in broad strokes to other aspects of life (and in fact, the point of answering frequently asked questions on a blog is specifically so I don't have to repeat myself).

I'm not running for city council alone, and I won't represent the city alone. I strongly support the vision and leadership of Don Iveson on many fronts. And specifically, I don't have a lot more to add to his vision to build a new economy for Edmonton.

Having gotten my start in computing science, I've watched my peers year-by-year flock to Vancouver, Seattle or Silicon Valley. I've seen firsthand the loss of spectacular talent and brain drain we've experienced in the past decade.

We've had success stories of course. Our mayor announced his economic plan at Jobber HQ, which is undoubtedly a smashing made-in-Edmonton success story. We have Deepmind choosing Edmonton as their new home for AI research. As a city councillor, I would support our current (and hopefully future, knock-on-wood) mayor's leadership on this front and do my best to encourage as many more of these stories as possible.