Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel expressed relief during his annual state of the city address one day after the provincial election.

"Last night that passion was shown and support for this city and this is a great day for Edmonton," he said to applause at the lunch organized by the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce.

'Edmontonians spoke loud and clear'—Mayor Stephen Mandel

Mandel said he wasn't sure what he'd be saying in his speech while waiting for the election results to roll in Monday.

"There were two versions and it was the one I much happily got to write," he told reporters after his speech.

"Edmonton was the focal point of one party's platform and I'm pleased that we'll be able to go forward with our vision and deliver the kind of things our citizens asked us to do."

"Edmontonians spoke loud and clear," Mandel said, referring to the inability of the Wildrose to win a seat in the provincial capital.

Mandel is at best a lukewarm supporter of Wildrose policies and leader Danielle Smith, who wanted to keep the City Centre Airport open and hold off on building the Royal Alberta Museum.

NAIT LRT line ahead of schedule

In his speech, Mandel moved from politics to city achievements, announcing the NAIT LRT expansion is four to five months ahead of schedule and that the conceputal drawings of the downtown arena are set to be released on May 16th.

"At the end of the day you want to have something to be proud of," he said. "The last thing you want to do is start cutting a corner to save and I know it sounds a lot — a million here, a million there — but when you are building something for $450 million bucks, you want to build it right."

Mandel ended by his speech by challenging the business community to be more engaged and more competitive to help the city grow in the way Edmontonians envision.