International rugby is coming back to Edmonton this summer.
The inaugural World Rugby Nations Cup will bring elite competition to the city in July.
“This is not just another set of games this is a brand new international tournament,” said Nathan Bombrys, Rugby Canada CEO.
Canada’s Men’s Rugby Team will plain Spain on July 4. Then it’s a double-header the following weekend on July 11 with Tonga taking on Spain followed by Canada vs. Portugal.
The matches will be played at Clarke Stadium, which has capacity for more than 5,000 people.
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“This announcement is a huge win for our city. It brings world class rugby back to Edmonton and once again places us on the international stage,” said Mayor Andrew Knack.
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Twelve teams from six continents will play across the July and November windows. They all qualified for the men’s rugby World Cup next year.
For Edmontonian Austin Creighton, playing on home soil is always special.
“We’re proud to represent not just Canada but this wonderful city as well,” Creighton said.
“I think it’s important to have these games here, because it gives people – especially the younger generation – a chance to experience that next level of rugby up close.”
The city estimates the event will generate about $7 million dollars in economic activity.
“Our visitor economy driven by sport is one of the fastest growing economic sectors in Alberta and Alberta is leading the country,” Explore Edmonton CEO Tracy Bednard said.
With extensive community programming planned throughout the event, it’s a chance to grow the game here.
“For our local clubs this is a major opportunity – with curtain raisers and half time activations – Edmonton’s rugby community will be showcased on a national and international stage,” said Rugby Alberta president, Chris Cooke.
Community leaders in the Alberta Avenue area are breathing a sigh of relief after Edmonton city council decided to get tough on derelict business properties.
“We had been told 21 years ago it wasn’t possible and we actually know now it is possible,” said Christy Morin, executive director for Arts on the Ave.
Morin had been advocating for run-down properties to be dealt with, in the hopes new developments are built in their place.
Derelict properties attract crime and increase the change of severe safety risks like fires, she added.
“When I look at these buildings, I actually feel really sad,” Morin said on Friday, pointing to a half-dozen boarded up businesses sitting vacant along a single block of 111th Avenue, between 93 and 94 Street.
On Thursday, a city committee meeting unanimously passed a motion by Ward Métis Councillor Ashley Salvador.
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It advised administration to “develop a non-residential derelict tax subclass,” and to “bring forward a report with options for a vacant non-residential subclass to address vacancy of developable properties.”
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Property owners could see assessment notices for their derelict businesses go out as soon as two years from now, giving them time to figure out what to do with the buildings.
“Two years is a flash in the pan,” said Morin. “We’ve been doing this for 21 years and others than have gone before us have been trying earlier, so this is one link in the armour that we really, really needed.”
New tax subclass takes aim at derelict commercial property owners in Edmonton
Allan Bolstad, civics director for the Alberta Avenue Community League, said the current residential derelict tax has helped in re-development of rundown homes.
“There’s some owners that have taken the steps to either fix their places up or knock them down,” Bolstad said.
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“The city’s come in and boarded up all sorts of houses that have been identified as problem properties, vacant properties.
“That’s helped clean things up.”
Bolstad wants the city to take a more aggressive approach in dealing with derelict properties. He said the tax subclass will certainly help get the ball rolling.
“That’s really held the neighbourhood back and we’d like to see that change.”
As for the future of the area, Morin is excited at the possibilities a revitalized area could bring.
“Just that real connectivity of commercial and community and arts in the creative industries.”
For two days, the city council urban planning committee heard from several speakers about Edmonton’s residential zoning regulations as it reviewed amendments that would see more restrictions placed on infill development.
On the table are a few changes, including dropping the maximum number of units midblock to six from the existing eight, while also increasing the minimum size of a unit.
Over the course of two days, 70 speakers took time to voice their concerns and it became clear the amendments are not popular with some people on either side of the infill debate.
Coun. Aaron Paquette said there are no wrong arguments.
“Whether you’re dealing with the facts and the figures and the needs of the city or you’re dealing with the change of a neighbourhood or the feeling of not knowing what’s going to happen, those are all valid concerns,” Paquette said.
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Edmonton infill debate returns before a new council at city hall
Council has been tasked with balancing the need for more affordable housing that developers actually want to build and people are willing to buy or rent with the concerns of existing residents about property values, not enough parking, predatory developers, quality of builds and housing affordability.
Paquette noted Edmonton is dealing with a massive population catch-up from hundreds of thousands of new people moving to Alberta in recent years, while there are also federal grants for multi-unit builds that developers are being enticed to take advantage of.
“So we see this natural spike based on those artificial or unusual circumstances. When those go away — and they will, like the pressure of the population and the pressure of that grant — we get back into a normal state of development and so what happens there? And should we change policy mid-stream in an unusual time? Or do we see how it plays out over the next six months and then revisit?”
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Representatives from Edmonton’s development community argue that further restrictions could impact their profitability, which would in turn drive up the cost of infill housing.
City of Edmonton receives feedback on proposed infill changes
Meanwhile, owners of mature homes said six units on a single lot that previously contained a single-family home is still too many. Some argued that a unit reduction doesn’t even necessarily equate to smaller buildings.
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“It’s all about the massing,” said Kathy Hawksworth, who lives in the south Edmonton Parkallen neighbourhood and is with the Residential Infill Working Group.
“A huge building is a huge building whether it has one, two, six or eight dwellings in it.”
Hawksworth noted large infills can affect the privacy and sunlight of neighbouring yards, affecting plants and energy efficiency investments, like solar panels.
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“The loss of gardens, the loss of solar: these have real impacts for residents that are quite apart from whether it’s six units or eight units, or in fact one unit or two.
“It’s all about the massing size, the sheer volume of these huge buildings.”
Edmonton homeowner worries neighbouring 8-plex infill will block his solar panels
A handful of presenters at the urban planning committee on Monday and Tuesday were from the Residential Infill Working Group.
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They said the issue is largely the size of the multi-family housing buildings popping up next to bungalows or other much smaller existing homes.
“Infill can fit in nicely, we just need to do it nicely. We just need to do it right,” said Beverly Zubot, who is with the Residential Infill Working Group. “We need some tweaks in the zoning bylaw to make that happen.
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“We’re hoping we can sit down with city administration and the development industry, builders, to come up with those metrics.
“The kind of things that will work for everybody.”
They presented a number of potential solutions, including lining up front setbacks with existing homes and splitting housing among a front home and back garage suite, with yard in the middle — breaking up big walls that block sunlight.
“The best format is to have four [units] in the front and two in the rear, and I guess that’s why we’re really encouraging the six-unit cap because that creates the building pattern that now exists in our lovely mature neighbourhoods with trees, with large enough space in between the rear building and the front building for landscaping, amenity areas, gardening, et cetera,” Zubot said.
Other speakers expressed a desire to leave the existing zoning rules as they are, feeling they’ve been successful in developing more homes in mature neighbourhoods and more affordable rents.
When councillors on the urban planning committee began questioning city administration Tuesday afternoon, many of their queries surrounded how amendments would effect change that actually remedies problems Edmontonians are bringing forward.
In the end, the committee decided to send the debate to city council, where the public hearing process will start over again.
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Edmonton man buys neighbour’s house to prevent infill development
In 2023, the City of Edmonton changed zoning bylaws to allow for more multi-unit buildings up to three storeys in all neighbourhoods.
The aim was to encourage a variety of development to be built more easily in residential areas.
Since then, there’s been mixed reaction to the increase in multi-unit buildings replacing single-family homes.
Infill ended up being a contentious topic during the 2025 fall municipal election campaign after residents of established communities expressed concerns with property values, not enough parking, predatory developers, quality of builds and housing affordability.
