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Alberta

Province offers alberta.ca/bizconnect – information hub for businesses about to open during pandemic

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From the Province of Alberta

Supporting Alberta’s businesses through relaunch

To support businesses reopening during stage one of Alberta’s phased relaunch, government is launching a new resource to help them keep their staff and customers safer.

The new alberta.ca/bizconnect webpage will provide business owners with information on health and safety guidelines for general workplaces and sector-specific guidelines for those able to open in stage one of relaunch to ensure businesses can reopen safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As businesses reopen, we’re committed to making sure they have the information they need to operate during the pandemic and get people back to work. We expect businesses to follow these safety measures so that we can continue to reopen our economy while protecting the health and safety of all Albertans.”

Tanya Fir, Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Tourism

As part of government’s commitment to support businesses as they reopen and to eliminate red tape, alberta.ca/bizconnect will include a red tape reduction submission form so business owners can share their ideas on modernizing regulations and reducing red tape, especially as they respond to COVID-19.

“We know that Alberta businesses are dealing with a whole new reality because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We want business owners to continue to let us know how we can help make their lives easier so we can reduce unneeded regulatory barriers to their success and get Albertans back to work.”

Grant Hunter, Associate Minister of Red Tape Reduction

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants have provided their communities with safe and reliable meal options and this will continue to be their priority as they reopen their doors to diners. Restaurants Canada looks forward to continuing to work closely with the Alberta government on efforts to help foodservice businesses get ready to reopen their dining rooms and ramp up operations. We appreciate the guidance that the government has provided to help restaurants prepare to resume on-premise dining services as early as May 14.”

Mark von Schellwitz, vice-president Restaurants Canada, Western Canada

“Businesses who are planning to reopen want to ensure they do so safely while following all proper guidelines. A single website with resources will provide small businesses the information they need to reopen and continue their operations while protecting the health and safety of their staff and customers.”

Annie Dormuth, provincial affairs director, CFIB Alberta 

The launch of alberta.ca/bizconnect is part of Alberta’s comprehensive response to COVID-19, which includes measures to enhance physical distancing, screening and testing. Financial supports are helping Alberta families and businesses.

Quick facts

  • The website includes guidance documents for sectors currently allowed to operate under public health orders:
    • Disability service providers
    • Farmers markets
    • Golf course operators
    • Health non-essential services
    • Health sector PPE guidelines
    • Homeless shelters
    • Industrial work camps
    • Private/municipal campgrounds
  • Planning documents to prepare businesses for stage one relaunch are posted for:
    • Day camps
    • Daycare and out-of-school care
    • Hair salons and barbershops
    • Museums and art galleries
    • Outdoor recreation
    • Places of worship
    • Restaurants
    • Retail

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

Central Alberta MP resigns to give Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre a chance to regain a seat in Parliament

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Conservative MP Damien Kurek stepped aside in the Battle River-Crowfoot riding to allow Pierre Poilievre to enter a by-election in his native Alberta.

Conservative MP Damien Kurek officially resigned as an MP in the Alberta federal riding of Battle River-Crowfoot in a move that will allow Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre to run in a by-election in that riding to reclaim his seat in Parliament.

June 17 was Kurek’s last day as an MP after he notified the House Speaker of his resignation.

“I will continue to work with our incredible local team to do everything I can to remain the strong voice for you as I support Pierre in this process and then run again here in Battle River-Crowfoot in the next general election,” he said in a statement to media.

“Pierre Poilievre is a man of principle, character, and is the hardest working MP I have ever met,” he added. “His energy, passion, and drive will have a huge benefit in East Central Alberta.”

Kurek won his riding in the April 28 election, defeating the Liberals by 46,020 votes with 81.8 percent of the votes, a huge number.

Poilievre had lost his Ottawa seat to his Liberal rival, a seat that he held for decades, that many saw as putting his role as leader of the party in jeopardy. He stayed on as leader of the Conservative Party.

Poilievre is originally from Calgary, Alberta, so should he win the by-election, it would be a homecoming of sorts.

It is now up to Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney to call a by-election in the riding.

Despite Kurek’s old seat being considered a “safe” seat, a group called the “Longest Ballot Committee” is looking to run hundreds of protest candidates against Poilievre in the by-election in the Alberta Battle River–Crowfoot riding, just like they did in his former Ottawa-area Carleton riding in April’s election.

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Alberta

Alberta pro-life group says health officials admit many babies are left to die after failed abortions

Published on

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Alberta’s abortion policy allows babies to be killed with an ‘induced cardiac arrest’ before a late-term abortion and left to die without medical care if they survive.

A Canadian provincial pro-life advocacy group says health officials have admitted that many babies in the province of Alberta are indeed born alive after abortions and then left to die, and because of this are they are calling upon the province’s health minister to put an end to the practice.

Official data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), which is the federal agency in charge of reporting the nation’s health data, shows that in Alberta in 2023-2024, there were 133 late-term abortions. Of these, 28 babies were born alive after the abortion and left to die.

As noted by Prolife Alberta’s President Murray Ruhl in a recent email, this means the reality in the province is that “some of these babies are born alive… and left to die.”

“Babies born alive after failed late-term abortions are quietly abandoned—left without medical help, comfort, or even a chance to survive,” noted Ruhl.

This fact was brought to light in a recent opinion piece published in the Western Standard by Richard Dur, who serves as the executive director of Prolife Alberta.

Ruhl observed that Dur’s opinion piece has “got the attention of both Alberta Health Services (AHS) and Acute Care Alberta (ACA),” whom he said “confirmed many of the practices we exposed.”

Alberta’s policy when it comes to an abortion committed on a baby older than 21 weeks allows that all babies are killed before being born, however this does not always happen.

“In some circumstances… the patient and health practitioner may consider the option of induced fetal cardiac arrest prior to initiating the termination procedures,” notes Alberta Health Services’ Termination of Pregnancy, PS-92 (PS-92, Section 6.4).

Ruhl noted that, in Alberta, before an “abortion begins, they stop the baby’s heart. On purpose. Why? Because they don’t want a live birth. But sometimes—the child survives. And what then?”

Ruhl observed that the reality is, “They plan in advance not to save her—even if she’s born alive.”

If the baby is born alive, the policy states, “Comfort measures and palliative care should be provided.” (PS-92, Section 6.4).

This means, however, that there is no oxygen given, no NICU, “no medical care,” noted Ruhl.

“Their policies call this ‘palliative care.’ We call it what it is: abandonment. Newborns deserve care—not a death sentence,” he noted.

As reported by LifeSiteNews recently, a total of 150 babies were born after botched abortions in 2023-2024 in Canada. However, it’s not known how many survived.

Only two federal parties in Canada, the People’s Party of Canada, and the Christian Heritage Party, have openly called for a ban on late abortions in the nation.

Policy now under ‘revision’ says Alberta Health Services

Ruhl said that the province’s policies are now “under revision,” according to AHS.

Because of this, Ruhl noted that now is the time to act and let the province’s Health Minister, Adriana LaGrange, who happens to be pro-life, act and “demand” from her real “action to protect babies born alive after failed abortions.”

The group is asking the province to do as follows below:

  1. Amend the AHS Termination of Pregnancy policy to require resuscitative care for any baby born with signs of life, regardless of how the birth occurred.
  2. Require that these newborns receive the same level of care as any other premature baby. Newborns deserve care—not a death sentence.
  3. Recognize that these babies have a future—there is a literal waiting list of hundreds of families ready to adopt them. There is a home for every one of them.

While many in the cabinet and caucus of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative government are pro-life, she has still been relatively soft on social issues of importance to conservatives, such as abortion.

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