{"id":789192,"date":"2026-07-08T22:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T22:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/789192\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T22:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T22:42:12","slug":"edmonton-mayors-chief-of-staff-steps-down-after-3-months-on-the-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/789192\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton mayor&#8217;s chief of staff steps down after 3 months on the job"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Three months after becoming the Edmonton mayor\u2019s chief of staff, Blake Desjarlais is leaving the position.<\/p>\n<p>Desjarlais, in a statement shared by a City of Edmonton spokesperson, said the decision to step down followed \u201ccareful reflection and discussion\u201d with Mayor Andrew Knack.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cServing our City has been one of the great privileges of my career. The lessons and stories shared with me during my time are ones I will truly treasure,\u201d said Desjarlais.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI leave with respect for our Mayor and Council as they continue the hard work of building a city for all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Calling the decision \u201cmutual,\u201d Desjarlais didn\u2019t specify his reason for stepping down, nor what he plans to do next.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have always practiced my values and lessons learned from Elders and community and what I\u2019ve learned is that there is a time for everything,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd although my time in the Mayor\u2019s Office is coming to an end, I know that with every sunset there is a sunrise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The City of Edmonton spokesperson also shared a brief statement from Knack.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am proud of Blake\u2019s service to my office and our city, and have no doubt that he will continue to serve Edmontonians to the best of his ability, thank you Blake,\u201d the mayor said.<\/p>\n<p>Desjarlais became Knack\u2019s chief of staff in April. He was an MP in Edmonton Griesbach between 2021 and 2025.<\/p>\n<p>\t\tKeep it Factual<\/p>\n<p>Add CityNews Edmonton as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=edmonton.citynews.ca\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"add-trusted-source-badge\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778178555_824_google-trusted-badge.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"198\" height=\"63\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three months after becoming the Edmonton mayor\u2019s chief of staff, Blake Desjarlais is leaving the position. Desjarlais, in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-789192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}