Julia Kiniski, an alderman on the Edmonton City Council, died on October 11, 1969. A by-election was held November 27, 1970 to replace her. The electorate also decided three plebiscite questions.

The by-election's winner, Julian Kinisky (Kiniski's son), was the last alderman to be elected at-large in Edmonton. The 1971 election introduced a ward system to Edmonton's municipal politics.

In addition to choosing a new City Councillor, citizens were asked to vote on three related plebiscites. Following the yes vote on the 1968 Convention and Sports Complex plebiscite, citizens were now being asked to support the specific funding requests for the Omniplex project.^[1] With costs of $34,000,000 and an annual operating deficit up to $3,000,000, compared to $23,000,000 and $2,000,000 quoted in the 1968 plebiscite, voters turned down the three related Omniplex requests for funding. The single-site sports and convention concept was eventually served by the distributed Northlands Coliseum (opened 1974), Commonwealth Stadium (1978), and Edmonton Convention Centre (1983).

There were 77571 ballots cast out of 238828 eligible voters, for a voter turnout of 32.5%.

(bold indicates elected, italics indicate incumbent)