Puneeta McBryan, EDBA CEO, steps down
McBryan took on the role in December 2020 — in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — and has played a crucial part in sparking change in Edmonton's downtown and led many big projects in the core.
For five years, McBryan has been a key voice for businesses in area, helping them succeed in a time of uncertainty.
'I feel like I probably burnt out in that first couple of years, and it's been a sprint for four and a half years, it just felt it's a good time to take a beat,' said McBryan.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
She's hoping to spend more time with her son and family.
McBryan says she's proud of what's been accomplished during her term and highlighted a number of programs within service delivery, including the Downtown Shine Crew, the Hire Good Program and EDBA's Core Patrol.
Story continues below advertisement
She adds that in the future, she hopes the association will grow into a public-private partnership.
'Rather than having city administration, having some resources internally, and then us being over here as this tiny organization, I think we would be a lot more powerful as one combined entity,' said McBryan.
'We'd have so much more power, more latitude, definitely more resources, and I think you can then really empower that group to work on behalf of the city and the businesses to get a lot more stuff done.'
McBryan will remain as CEO until a new one is chosen by the EDBA board.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Labour groups, lawyers hope fall of Hudson's Bay will spur change for workers
TORONTO – When Hudson's Bay employees rallied in front of two of the iconic retailer's properties in late May, days before the retailer closed its doors for good, they knew there was no hope of saving their jobs. Their goal instead was to encourage lawmakers to make the fall of the 355-year-old retailer — and all the failed companies that follow it — a little less painful for employees. They argued that could be done if the government adopted their wish list of ideas ranging from boosting federal support programs to prioritizing workers rather than lenders when companies in creditor protection are repaying what they owe. Such ideas were previously bandied around in labour circles when the Canadian divisions of Sears, Target and Nordstrom collapsed. This time, they're hoping the momentum lasts. 'When you're looking for these kinds of improvements, you will have ebbs and flows, but right now, we have an opportunity because the Bay situation is fresh in people's minds' said Lana Payne, president of Unifor. Her union orchestrated the rallies at one of the retailer's distribution centres in Toronto's Scarborough and another in front of a Windsor, Ont. store because Unifor represents about 595 of the 9,364 employees that worked at Canada's oldest company before it filed for creditor protection in March. The workers were told they will not get termination or severance pay and lost health, dental and life insurance benefits. A law firm representing them has warned that 'given HBC's significant amount of secured debt, it is not clear that employees will be able to recover any amounts owing to them directly from HBC.' The company has blamed its troubles on the COVID-19 pandemic, depressed store traffic and tariffs. After it failed to attract investors that would keep the company alive, it started to sell off its remaining assets in hopes of recouping as much as possible for the thousands of creditors. Back of the line When Canadian companies file for creditor protection, the various groups owed money are often left to jockey for what little cash remains, knowing there usually won't be enough to go around. Secured lenders are typically first in line because they have collateral backing the money they lent, often well before a company sought a reprieve from the courts. In the Bay's case there are 26 pages' worth of creditors, including secured senior lenders Restore Capital, Pathlight Capital and Bank of America. They alone are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars and have started to recoup some of their losses because the Bay has been paying them with cash from its liquidation sales. Employees are on the list of creditors, but they are not listed as secured and the amount owing is marked 'TBD.' 'I think it's pretty clear that workers are not the priority in these kinds of cases,' Payne said. 'The legislation doesn't make them the priority and workers right now are feeling the results of that.' In the future, Unifor would like to see legislation changed so workers' termination and severance claims are paid first, Payne said. Susan Ursel, a lawyer representing Bay employees, agrees with the idea because 'employees are affected in a personal way by their employer's insolvency — losing their income and throwing their futures into uncertainty. 'Unlike sophisticated lenders, they are not able to negotiate security for the contractual promises of their employers and therefore fall behind those secured lenders in recovering money owed to them,' she wrote in an email. 'A legislative priority for employees would provide more certain and effective protection for employees, which we would welcome.' But Sunira Chaudhri, founding lawyer at Workly Law in Toronto, worries that change would scare away lenders long before creditor protection is on the horizon and when companies still have a shot at recovery. 'If employees were to be first in line … any employer that hired a lot of employees would be a bad bet for the banks,' she said. 'You'd want to lend money to them the least, because you'd never be able to recoup on a loan.' Jared Ong, an organizer with the Workers' Action Centre, has heard that argument before. He doesn't agree with it. 'Year on year, the major banks keep making billions more, but compare that to a worker who might be one or two paycheques away from losing a roof over their head,' he said. Existing supports Workers left without a job when their company goes under are typically able to lean on two federal government programs, but Ong said they need to be more generous. The first is employment insurance, which pays employees out of work a portion of their salary while they look for a new job. To qualify, applicants must have gone without work and pay for at least seven consecutive days in the last 52 weeks. The second is the Wage Earner Protection Program, which helps workers whose employees filed for creditor protection recoup owed wages, vacation, termination or severance pay. Bay employees have until Oct. 26 to apply for WEPP, after an extension to their deadline was granted by Service Canada. People who qualify under the program can earn up to $8,844.22 this year — a cap Unifor wants raised. Nadia Zaman, an employment lawyer at Rudner Law, thinks a higher ceiling makes sense, especially for workers who have been with a company for a long time. They generally wind up entitled to a lot more than WEPP's cap, so the program puts them 'essentially at a loss,' she said. While many people don't realize the program exists or understand some of the idiosyncrasies workers face when their company goes out of business, Zaman said the Bay is putting a spotlight on labour relations. 'A lot of people who haven't personally been through the situation, they are becoming more aware of it,' she said, 'And they are also looking for changes even if they haven't been personally affected.' The likelihood of turning that desire for change into actual change may seem 'grim,' acknowledged Ong at the Workers' Action Centre. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. Labour activists have seen momentum turn into disappointment before. For example, a 2014 Ontario bill pushing businesses to insure long-term disability benefits, so they'd be paid out even if an employer folded, passed, but was seemingly never enacted. Change, said Ong, is 'always a back-and-forth fight.' 'You win some things, you lose some things, government changes, but we need to keep pushing regardless of what happens.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 7, 2025.
Global News
12 hours ago
- Global News
Toronto's Olivia Chow heads to U.K., Ireland on trade mission
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow will be leading a trade mission to the United Kingdom and Ireland, which she says will focus on supporting economic opportunities for Toronto businesses and workers. The trip was set to begin Sunday and Chow says she will be accompanied by leaders from Toronto's film industry. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The mayor is scheduled to meet with production companies and broadcasters to encourage Canadian content production through agreements with Ireland and the U.K. Chow says at a time of 'historic uncertainty,' reliable trade partners have never been more important, adding the trip is part of the city's economic action plan to respond to U.S. tariffs. The mayor has meetings scheduled with the Ireland-Canada Business Association, Enterprise Ireland executives and the UK-Canada Chamber of Commerce. She is also scheduled to participate in bilateral meetings with Dublin Lord Mayor Ray McAdam and London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan.
Global News
14 hours ago
- Global News
Environment group warns against repealing federal electric vehicle mandate
An environmental think tank is warning the federal government against repealing its electric vehicle mandate, instead suggesting that politicians should be helping to put more EVs on the road. In a statement published Friday, Clean Energy Canada gave three recommendations to the federal government to help deliver affordable EVs to Canadians for less than $40,000. The group, based out of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, said Ottawa should retool its EV mandate by revisiting its near-term targets to help the auto sector 'weather this temporary storm' of slumping EV sales. 'Any additional flexibility added in the regulation should be designed to achieve other EV-related goals, such as delivering more affordable EVs and building out Canada's charging network,' says the statement by executive director Rachel Doran and director of public affairs Joanna Kyriazis. The plea comes on the heels of auto manufacturing leaders meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney last week, in which the CEOs repeated their calls for the mandate to be repealed. Story continues below advertisement Starting next year, the mandate would require 20 per cent of all new light-duty vehicles sold in Canada to be zero-emission vehicles. Those also include plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The target rises annually to 100 per cent by 2035. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Recent data from Statistics Canada suggests EVs accounted for 7.53 per cent of all new vehicles sold in April. Following the meeting, the head of an organization representing Ford Canada, GM Canada and Stellantis said he was 'cautiously optimistic' the government would take action on the mandate. Clean Energy Canada also called on Ottawa to re-fund the EV incentive program, but to be clearer as to when the program will be phased out. The government launched the Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles program in 2019, which gave car buyers up to $5,000 toward the cost of an electric vehicle. The program was abruptly suspended back in January when its funding ran out. It has left many dealerships on the hook for the rebate if they hadn't already sent in their claim before the program ended. The federal government put nearly $3 billion into the program during its lifespan. 'The rebate should start at $5,000 and decline by $1,000 each year, providing consumers and automakers with a well-communicated phaseout that avoids periods of artificially lowered EV sales as buyers await the return of rebates or at least clarity,' Clean Energy Canada says. Story continues below advertisement A similar policy is in place in Quebec. Federal ministers have said in recent months that the government was working toward bringing back consumer incentives on EVs. Those promises faced criticism from automakers themselves because, without implementing a rebate, EV sales are slumping further, as buyers wait for the rebates to come back. Clean Energy Canada also called on the federal government to reconsider its approach to cheaper EVs from China, which are subject to a 100 per cent tariff which took effect in October. Ottawa is scheduled to review the measure later this year. 'Allowing in a limited quota of these affordable vehicles while also recognizing EU-approved vehicles … would open Canada's vehicle market to fill important market gaps, drive innovation and ultimately make our auto sector more competitive,' the group says.
