Stephen Mandel outlined his top economic priorities for Edmonton Tuesday in his bid to be re-elected as mayor.

In the next three years, Mandel wants to make Edmonton a major transportation hub for a new port 1,500 kilometres away in Prince Rupert, B.C. There are also plans to build a container terminal in Edmonton's south end.

"The challenge is to get everyone in the region working together on this. This is not, again, an Edmonton-based project," he said. "If we can capture the opportunities that are coming out of Prince Rupert, we could become the Chicago of the North."

If re-elected, Mandel said he would focus on finding new ways to attract labour to the region and would continue trying to turn local research into commercial opportunities.

Three years ago, Mandel pledged to set up a venture capital fund for local entrepreneurs. He admitted Tuesday that his promise has taken longer than he would like.

"Over the last three years, we've met with several groups of people and we thought we had it, and then for some reason or another, one partner decided not to get involved, another partner decided not to get involved, so we are going to continue to pursue it and push it," he told CBC News.

The city has helped budding entrepreneurs in other ways, including providing money to renovate the old Bay building downtown for university research work, Mandel said.

Eight other candidates are running against Mandel for mayor in the Oct. 15 municipal election.