Dr. Deena Hinshaw says Alberta is flattening the curve

It’s official. The province’s chief medial health officer believes Albertans are flattening the curve. In her daily COVID-19 update, Dr. Deena Hinshaw was asked if Albertans are flattening the curve and she confirmed that appears to be the case as the numbers of new cases are noticeably lower than they have been and they’ve been that way for days now. Since May 2, there have been less than 100 new cases a day. You can hear this exchange in the Q and A session right after Dr. Hinshaw’s statement.

Update from the province

Recovered cases make up more than half of Alberta’s cases of COVID-19 at 3,552.

Seventy new cases have been reported, bringing the total number to 5,963.

Six more Albertans have died.

Latest updates

Cases have been identified in all zones across the province:
- 4,003 cases in the Calgary zone
- 1,111 cases in the South zone
- 503 cases in the Edmonton zone
- 229 cases in the North zone
- 91 cases in the Central zone
- 26 cases in zones yet to be confirmed
Of these cases, there are currently 82 people in hospital, 19 of whom have been admitted to intensive care units (ICU).
730 cases are suspected of being community acquired.
The total deaths are 112: 79 in the Calgary zone; 15 in the North zone; 12 in the Edmonton zone; five in the South zone; and one in the Central zone.
To date, 632 cases have been confirmed at continuing care facilities, and 82 residents at these facilities have died.
There have been 946 cases in workers from the Cargill meat processing plant in High River, with 798 recovered.
There have been 566 cases in workers from JBS Foods Canada in Brooks, with 434 recovered.
Thirty-eight cases have been confirmed at Harmony Beef since March and 12 have recovered.
There have been 160,185 people tested for COVID-19 and a total of 170,509 tests performed by the lab. In the last 24 hours, 3,494 tests have been completed.

Here’s a graph from Alberta Health showing the growing gap between the active cases of COVID-19 and the recoveries. Within just a couple of days that gap between the number of recovered and the number of active cases has stretched to 1300.

That’s good news for hospitals. As you can see in this graph the number of hospitalizations is down significantly in every region of the province.

The number of cases in Red Deer is down to 4 now after another recovery. 2 more cases were diagnosed in the last 24 hours in Central Alberta. There are now 91 total cases in Central Zone. The new cases are in Vermillion County near Lloydminster and Mountain View County which includes Olds, Sundre, Didsbury, and Carstairs. There are 11 active cases in Central Alberta. Here is the breakdown

Red Deer City – 36 cases – 4 active
Red Deer County – 13 cases – 2 active
Mountain View County – 7 cases – 2 active
Vermilion River County – 4 cases – 2 active
Clearwater County – 3 cases – 1 active
Stettler County – 3 cases – 0 active
Lacombe County – 3 cases – 0 active
Ponoka County – 2 cases – 0 active
Kneehill County – 2 cases – 0 active
Camrose City – 2 cases – 1 death – 0 active
Wetaskiwin City – 8 cases – 0 active
Lacombe City – 2 cases – 0 active
Beaver County – 2 cases – 0 active
City of Lloydminster – 1 case – 0 active
Camrose County – 1 case – 0 active
Minburn County – 1 case – 0 active
MD of Wainwright – 1 case – 0 active

And here are the total number of cases in Alberta.

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After 15 years as a TV reporter with Global and CBC and as news director of RDTV in Red Deer, Duane set out on his own 2008 as a visual storyteller. During this period, he became fascinated with a burgeoning online world and how it could better serve local communities. This fascination led to Todayville, launched in 2016.

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Alberta

Former senior financial advisor charged with embezzling millions from Red Deer area residents

Published on April 26, 2024

Todayville

News release from Alberta RCMP

Former senior financial advisor charged for misappropriating nearly $5 million from clients

On April 4, 2024, the RCMP’s Provincial Financial Crime Team charged a Calgary resident for fraud-related offences after embezzling millions of dollars from his clients while serving as a senior financial advisor.

Following a thorough investigation, the accused is alleged to have fraudulently withdrawn funds from client accounts and deposited them into bank accounts he personally controlled. A total of sixteen victims were identified in the Red Deer area and suffered a combined loss of nearly $5 million.

Marc St. Pierre, 52, a resident of Calgary, was arrested and charged with:

Fraud over $5,000 contrary to section 380(1)(a) of the Criminal Code; and,
Theft over $5,000 contrary to section 344(a) of the Criminal Code.

St. Pierre is scheduled to appear in Red Deer Provincial Court on May 14, 2024.

“The ability for financial advisors to leverage their position to conduct frauds and investment scams represents a significant risk to the integrity of Alberta’s financial institutions. The investigation serves as an important reminder for all banking clients to regularly check their accounts for any suspicious activity and to report it to their bank’s fraud prevention team.”

Sgt. John Lamming, Provincial Financial Crime Team

The Provincial Financial Crime Team is a specialized unit that conducts investigations relating to multi-jurisdictional serious fraud, investments scams and corruption.

Alberta

Political parties will be part of municipal elections in Edmonton and Calgary pilot projects

Published on April 25, 2024

Government of Alberta

Strengthening Alberta’s local elections

Alberta’s government is introducing legislation to ensure Albertans can rely on transparent, free and fair elections, and municipally-elected officials have clearer accountability measures.

In a democratic society, Albertans expect their local elections to be free and fair, and their elected officials to be held to account by clear rules that govern their local councils. The Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act proposes amendments to the Local Authorities Election Act (LAEA) and the Municipal Government Act (MGA) to add greater transparency to local election processes and ensure local councils and elected officials continue to remain accountable to the citizens who elected them.

“Our government is committed to strengthening Albertans’ trust in their local governments and the democratic process that elects local leaders. The changes we are making increase transparency for Alberta voters and provide surety their votes will be counted accurately. We know how important local democracy is to Albertans, and we will work with local authorities to protect and enhance the integrity of local elections.”

Ric McIver, Minister of Municipal Affairs

Local Authorities Election Act

Albertans expect free and fair elections and that’s why it’s important we strengthen the rules that govern local elections. To strengthen public trust in local elections, Alberta’s government will eliminate the use of electronic tabulators and other automated voting machines. All Albertans should be able to trust the methods and results of local elections; requiring all ballots to be counted by hand, clarifying rules and streamlining processes for scrutineers will provide voters greater assurance in the integrity of the results.

All eligible Albertans should be able to vote in local elections without impediment. Alberta’s government will limit the barriers for eligible voters to cast a ballot by expanding the use of special ballots. Currently, special ballots can only be requested for very specific reasons, including physical disability, absence from the municipality, or for municipal election workers. By expanding the use of special ballots, the government is encouraging more voter participation.

Amendments in the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act would increase transparency in local elections by enabling political parties at the local level. Political parties would be enabled in a pilot project for Edmonton and Calgary. The act will not require candidates to join a political party in order to run for a local or municipal office, but will create the opportunity to do so.

In addition, proposed changes to the Local Authorities Election Act would allow municipalities the option to require criminal record checks for local candidates, thus increasing transparency and trust in candidates who may go on to become elected officials.

Municipal Government Act

The role of an elected official is one with tremendous responsibility and expectations. Changes proposed to the Municipal Government Act (MGA) will strengthen the accountability of locally elected officials and councils. These include requiring mandatory orientation training for councillors, allowing elected officials to recuse themselves for real or perceived conflicts of interest without third-party review and requiring a councillor’s seat to become vacant upon disqualification.

If passed, the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act will also unlock new tools to build affordable and attainable housing across Alberta. Proposed amendments under the MGA would also create more options for municipalities to accelerate housing developments in their communities. Options include:

Exempting non-profit, subsidized affordable housing from both municipal and education property taxes;
Requiring municipalities to offer digital participation for public hearings about planning and development, and restricting municipalities from holding extra public hearings that are not already required by legislation; and
Enabling municipalities to offer multi-year residential property tax exemptions.

Municipal Affairs will engage municipalities and other partners over the coming months to hear perspectives and gather feedback to help develop regulations.

Quick facts

The LAEA establishes the framework for the conduct of elections in Alberta municipalities, school divisions, irrigation districts and Metis Settlements.
The MGA establishes the rules governing the conduct of local elected officials once on council, as well as the overall administration and operation of municipal authorities in Alberta, including any policy those authorities may wish to implement.