How have Edmonton city councillors been voting since election one year ago?

It’s been nearly 12 months since current members of Edmonton’s city council were elected, or re-elected to their roles.

We visited the city’s open data site and went through councillor voting records to see what new and familiar patterns have emerged so far.

The analysis applies to only non-unanimous votes, amounting to about a quarter of the 1,150 votes since the start of this council.

Here’s some of what the records reveal:

Mayor Andrew Knack led all 13 members of council, winning 93 per cent of non-unanimous votes.

Returning Couns. Aaron Paquette, Anne Stevenson, Michael Janz, Ashley Salvador, and Keren Tang, all were on the winning side more than 85 per cent of the time.

Six other councillors won between 81 and 69 per cent of votes.

Similar to last year’s council, Coun. Karen Principe remains the most outspoken opponent on most council votes, being on the winning side of votes just 28 per cent of the time.

Win percentages can help highlight voting coalitions among councillors, but also aren’t indicative of councillor effectiveness as some may be reflecting their constituents’ wishes in voting against council majorities.

The figures show a five-councillor voting bloc has emerged of Couns. Salvador, Stevenson, Janz, and Wright along with Mayor Knack who all voted the same way at least 79 per cent of the time.

Couns. Tang, Morgan, and Paquette form a middle voting group, often joined by Coun. Erin Rutherford.

The trio of newcomer members Couns. Reed Clarke, Thu Parmar, and Michael Elliott, generally vote with the main group of five in between 66 and 55 per cent of votes.

Coun. Principe remains the unofficial opposition, voting with members of the bloc of five in as little as 20 per cent of votes.

She also voted with Couns. Parmar and Elliott a slim majority of the time and with Coun. Clarke in just under half of council votes.

Importantly, the above numbers do not indicate why councillors voted together in each instance.

Top three strongest voting correlations:

• Salvador – Stevenson – 93%
• Stevenson – Janz – 89%
• Janz – Salvador – 88%

Top three weakest voting correlations:

• Principe – Janz – 20%
• Wright – Principe – 20%
• Principe – Stevenson – 21%

So far, council has had 20 votes that were either passed by a 7-6 margin, or defeated by the inverse 6-7 count, on topics that ranged from the broad to very specific.

The 13 one-vote victories include motions passed regarding a report on LRT fare gates, a $2 million decrease in the corporate services budget, and several regarding specific properties and areas including Kettle Lakes Neighbourhood and Dunluce school site.

Motions that council voted down by 6-7 tally included potential changes to property tax reporting, playground budget funding, and an application about the River’s Edge development.

One other such defeated motion also called for an analysis of the potential to sponsor city services beyond naming rights to include assets like snow removal, waste collection, recreation programs, and infrastructure renewal.

One vote, regarding housing in the MacEwan neighbourhood, was defeated after the 12 councillors present split the vote 6-6.

This city council will mark one year since its election on Oct. 20 and one year since its inaugural meeting on Oct. 29.