A day after the leader of the Wildrose Party said she wanted to ‘press the reset button' on her relationship with Edmonton's Mayor, Mandel said he's willing to meet with her.
On Tuesday, Danielle Smith unveiled her shadow cabinet – naming herself cities critic – and said there was a serious divide in Alberta between rural and urban residents.
Smith and Mayor Stephen Mandel had been at odds, after Smith unveiled part of her party's platform during the election, which included re-visiting the city centre airport debate, delaying work on the new Royal Alberta Museum and refusing to put provincial funds towards a new downtown arena.
Mandel had responded that he thought all three points would be bad for Alberta's capital city. The day after the provincial election ended with a Progressive Conservative majority – he said in his State of the City address that he was relieved.
"We can now be confident that a new Royal Alberta Museum will be built in our downtown," Mandel said, addressing the hundreds in attendance on April 24.
On Wednesday, Mandel said he would sit down with the new Leader of the Official Opposition.
"I've never talked to her, so I have no idea why her policies were about Edmonton," Mandel said. "We'll find out."
On Tuesday, Smith said she hoped she and Mandel could move forward.
"I've talked to other politicians that have been at the other end of blasts, and they've been able to move on from it," Smith said Tuesday. "I'm hoping he and I can too."
"We know that we have a lot of work to do to build the trust with Edmonton's [City] Council and Edmontonians, that was very clear by the election results."
After the polls closed on April 23, the Wildrose Party failed to win a seat in the greater Edmonton area.
However, the two sides seem to be at odds about how Smith wishes to go about brokering a ‘peace summit' – by getting Calgary's mayor involved.
"I asked Mayor Nenshi if he's willing to broker a peace summit between me and Mandel," Smith said Tuesday.
"No one is going to intervene in introducing me to anyone, our office is independent," Mandel responded.
Mandel told CTV News a spokesperson for Smith's office has called the Mayor's office, and they will meet – but it's not clear when.
With files from Sean Amato
