Welcome to our new series — Edmonton: Our future

CBC Edmonton is exploring the issues that matter most to Edmontonians in the months leading up to October's municipal election. Read other stories published so far in this series:

• Racism and discrimination: Searching for a council that's willing to make change
• Homelessness: 'They need to look at us, not just see us'
• Transportation: Where roads, bike lanes and public transit meet
• Leadership: Who will fill the shoes of outgoing Mayor Don Iveson?

For the first time since Don Iveson won the mayoral race in 2013, Edmonton will soon have a new municipal leader with a new agenda and a new vision for the future.

And while this comes as the city, along with Canada and the rest of the world, emerges from the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, the future appears bright.

An exclusive poll conducted for CBC Edmonton by respected pollster Janet Brown will allow us to explore the matters that mean the most to you in our city through reporting on all of our CBC Edmonton platforms — digital, social, TV and radio — in advance of the October municipal election.

We want you to be part of the conversation. 

Over the coming days, weeks and months, CBC Edmonton will discuss and dissect issues in our city of systemic discrimination, transportation, police funding, transit, infrastructure, homelessness, urban sprawl and densification and many more.

"As the data rolls out, it's going to paint an interesting picture of what Edmontonians are looking for in the next mayor and council," Brown said.

While the issues that we face may appear daunting, one thing is for certain.

Despite all the challenges we have faced as Edmontonians over the past 14 months, optimism remains high for a bright future. 

The poll, conducted just as the province was headed into the third wave of the pandemic, should give us hope.

Asked whether residents believe Edmonton's best days are behind it, just 26 per cent of people agreed.

However when asked whether Edmonton will grow and thrive over the next 10 years, the message was clear — 78 per cent of people believe that to be the case.

Edmonton, this our future. 

CBC News' random survey of 900 City of Edmonton residents was conducted between March 29 and April 14, 2021 by Edmonton-based Trend Research under the direction of Janet Brown Opinion Research. The margin of error is +/-3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. For subsets, the margin of error is larger. The survey used a hybrid methodology that involved contacting survey respondents by telephone and giving them the option of completing the survey at that time, at another more convenient time, or receiving an email link and completing the survey online.