Province says pond hockey or shinny is illegal

From the Province of Alberta

Any sporting activity bringing participants within 2 meters is not allowed.

Update 163: COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta (Dec. 21)

Early indicators suggest that Alberta is beginning to bend the curve. Continue to follow public health guidelines to reduce spread and protect our health-care system.

Latest updates

Over the last 24 hours, 1,240 new cases were identified.
There are 795 people in hospital due to COVID-19, including 151 in intensive care.
There are 19,165 active cases in the province.
To date, 71,434 Albertans have recovered from COVID-19.
There was an increase of 18,306 tests (2,656,852 total) for a total of 1,616,542 people tested.
The testing positivity rate is 6.8 per cent.
In the last 24 hours, there were nine additional COVID-related deaths reported: one on Nov. 26, two on Dec. 17, one on Dec. 18, two on Dec. 19, and three on Dec. 20.
The total number of COVID-19 related deaths is now 860.
All zones across the province have cases:
- Calgary Zone: 6,748 active cases and 28,626 recovered
- South Zone: 461 active cases and 4,275 recovered
- Edmonton Zone: 9,147 active cases and 29,666 recovered
- North Zone: 1,137 active cases and 4,838 recovered
- Central Zone: 1,551 active cases and 3,885 recovered
- 121 active cases and 144 recovered cases in zones to be confirmed
- Additional information, including case totals, is online.
R values from Dec. 14-20 (confidence interval)
- Alberta provincewide: 0.92 (0.90-0.93)
- Edmonton Zone: 0.89 (0.86-0.91)
- Calgary Zone: 0.97 (0.97-1.00)
- Rest of Alberta: 0.90 (0.85-0.95)
Currently, 448 schools, about 19 per cent, are on alert or have outbreaks, with 1,992 cases in total.
- Of those, 137 schools are on alert, with 233 total cases.
- Outbreaks are declared in 311 schools, including 129 on watch, with a total of 1,759 cases.
- So far, in-school transmission has likely occurred in 377 schools. Of these, 192 have had only one new case result.
- Based on data available to date, 346 schools have been removed from the alert list.
- An online map lists schools with two or more confirmed cases, updated every school day.
There are 1,225 active and 4,165 recovered cases at long-term care facilities and supportive/home living sites.
To date, 560 of the 860 reported deaths (65 per cent) have been in long-term care facilities or supportive/home living sites.
Alberta is reporting case numbers and information daily, including on weekends and holidays.

Testing for travellers from the U.K.

All travellers who have arrived from the United Kingdom within the past 14 days should immediately get a COVID-19 test, whether they have symptoms or not.
Travellers will be contacted directly by Alberta Health Services to book a test.
Also, travellers from the United Kingdom who are participating in the border pilot must immediately quarantine, whether they’ve had a negative test or not. All returning travellers currently in quarantine must remain in quarantine for the full 14 days.

Rapid testing

Rapid point-of-care testing has begun at long-term care and designated supportive living facilities in the Edmonton Zone using dedicated mobile testing centres. Mobile testing centres are expected to be ready to deploy in the Calgary Zone starting the week of Dec. 21.
Remote and rural hospitals in Alberta will receive rapid tests in late December and early January.
Rapid testing has already been expanded to homeless shelters and centres in Calgary and Edmonton.

Vaccine distribution

Priority health-care workers in Edmonton and Calgary are now receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
Alberta will receive 25,350 doses of Pfizer vaccine during the week of Dec. 21.
The Pfizer vaccine must be administered at its delivery site and is being offered to respiratory therapists, intensive care unit physicians and staff, and eligible long-term care and designated supportive living facility workers.
As more shipments arrive in the new year, immunization will focus on Phase 1 priority populations and will include residents of long-term care and designated supportive living facilities, followed by seniors aged 75 and over, and First Nations on reserve, Inuit and on-settlement Métis individuals aged 65 and over.

Expanding outreach supports

Alberta has launched a comprehensive outreach program to reach communities with high levels of COVID-19 spread in Edmonton and Calgary to provide information about how to access supports people need to keep themselves and their families safe.

Provincewide restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19

In response to increasing case numbers, enhanced public measures prohibiting social gatherings, requiring masking and restricting businesses and services are in effect.
These mandatory restrictions apply provincewide and will be in place for at least four weeks.
All existing guidance and legal orders remain in place.

Enforcement of public health measures

The government has granted certain Alberta peace officers and community peace officers temporary authority to enforce public health orders.
Not following mandatory restrictions will result in fines of $1,000 per ticketed offence and up to $100,000 through the courts.

Albertans downloading tracer app

All Albertans are encouraged to download the secure ABTraceTogether app, which is integrated with provincial contact tracing. The federal app is not a contact tracing app.
Secure contact tracing is an effective tool to stop the spread by notifying people who were exposed to a confirmed case so they can isolate and be tested.
As of Dec. 21, 287,251 Albertans were using the ABTraceTogether app, 66 per cent on iOS and 34 per cent on Android. On average, 22 new users were registering every hour.
Secure contact tracing is a cornerstone of Alberta’s Relaunch Strategy.

Influenza immunization

Everyone, especially seniors and those at risk, is encouraged to get immunized against influenza.
As of Dec. 12, 1,450,368 Albertans have received their flu shot. That means almost 33 per cent of Albertans are immunized against influenza so far this year.

MyHealth Records quick access

Parents and guardians can access the COVID-19 test results for children under the age of 18 through MyHealth Records (MHR) as soon as they are ready.
More than 473,873 Albertans have MHR accounts.

Access to justice

For the latest updates on court operations, please visit:

Alberta’s Recovery Plan

Alberta’s Recovery Plan will create jobs, economic diversification and a strong economic future.

Addiction and mental health supports

Confidential supports are available. The Mental Health Help Line at 1-877-303-2642 and the Addiction Help Line at 1-866-332-2322 operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Resources are also available online.
The Kids Help Phone is available 24-7 and offers professional counselling, information and referrals and volunteer-led, text-based support to young people by texting CONNECT to 686868.
Online resources provide advice on handling stressful situations and ways to talk with children.

Family violence prevention

A 24-hour Family Violence Information Line at 310-1818 provides anonymous help in more than 170 languages.
Alberta’s One Line for Sexual Violence is available at 1-866-403-8000, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
People fleeing family violence can call local police or the nearest RCMP detachment to apply for an Emergency Protection Order, or follow the steps in the Emergency Protection Orders Telephone Applications (COVID-19).
Information sheets and other resources on family violence prevention are at alberta.ca/COVID19.

Alberta’s government is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by protecting lives and livelihoods with precise measures to bend the curve, sustain small businesses and protect Alberta’s health-care system.

Quick facts

Legally, all Albertans must physically distance and isolate when sick or with symptoms.
Good hygiene is your best protection: wash your hands regularly for at least 20 seconds, avoid touching your face, cough or sneeze into an elbow or sleeve, and dispose of tissues appropriately.
Please share acts of kindness during this difficult time at #AlbertaCares.
Alberta Connects Contact Centre (310-4455) is open Monday to Friday, 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Related Topics:#AlbertaCOVID19UpdateDecember21 #PondHockey #Shinny feature

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Alberta

Calgary’s new city council votes to ban foreign flags at government buildings

Published on December 23, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

It is not yet clear if the flag motion applies to other flags, such as LGBT ones.

Western Canada’s largest city has put in place what amounts to a ban on politically charged flags from flying at city-owned buildings.

“Calgary’s Flag Policy means any country recognized by Canada may have their flag flown at City Hall on their national day,” said Calgary’s new mayor Jeromy Farkas on X last month.

“But national flag-raisings are now creating division. Next week, we’ll move to end national flag-raisings at City Hall to keep this a safe, welcoming space for all.”

The motion to ban foreign flags from flying at government buildings was introduced on December 15 by Calgary councilor Dan McLean and passed by a vote of 8 to 7. He had said the previous policy to allow non-Canadian flags to fly, under former woke mayor Jyoti Gondek, was “source of division within our community.”

“In recent months, this practice has been in use in ways that I’ve seen have inflamed tensions, including instances where flag raisings have been associated with anti-Semitic behavior and messaging,” McLean said during a recent council meeting.

The ban on flag raising came after the Palestinian flag was allowed to be raised at City Hall for the first time.

Farkas, shortly after being elected mayor in the fall of 2025, had promised that he wanted a new flag policy introduced in the city.

It is not yet clear if the flag motion applies to other flags, such as LGBT ones.

Despite Farkas putting forth the motion, as reported by LifeSiteNews he is very much in the pro-LGBT camp. However, he has promised to focus only on non-ideological issues during his term.

“When City Hall becomes a venue for geopolitical expressions, it places the city in the middle of conflicts that are well beyond our municipal mandates,” he said.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, other jurisdictions in Canada are considering banning non-Canadian flags from flying over public buildings.

Recently a political party in British Columbia, OneBC, introduced legislation to ban non-domestic government flags at public buildings in British Columbia.

Across Canada there has also been an ongoing issue with so-called “Pride” flags being raised at schools and city buildings.

Alberta

What are the odds of a pipeline through the American Pacific Northwest?

Published on December 23, 2025

Todayville

From Resource Works

By Geoff Russ

Can we please just get on with building one through British Columbia instead?

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is signalling she will look south if Canada cannot move quickly on a new pipeline, saying she is open to shipping oil to the Pacific via the U.S. Pacific Northwest. In a year-end interview, Smith said her “first preference” is still a new West Coast pipeline through northern British Columbia, but she is willing to look across the border if progress stalls.

“Anytime you can get to the West Coast it opens up markets to get to Asia,” she said. Smith also said her focus is building along “existing rights of way,” pointing to the shelved Northern Gateway corridor, and she said she would like a proposal submitted by May 2026.

Deadlines and strings attached

The timing matters because Ottawa and Edmonton have already signed a memorandum of understanding that backs a privately financed bitumen pipeline to a British Columbia port and sends it to the new Major Projects Office. The agreement envisages at least one million barrels a day and sets out a plan for Alberta to file an application by July 1, 2026, while governments aim to finish approvals within two years.

The bargain comes with strings. The MOU links the pipeline to the Pathways carbon capture network, and commits Alberta to strengthen its TIER system so the effective carbon credit price rises to at least 130 dollars a tonne, with details to be settled by April 1, 2026.

Shifting logistics

If Smith is floating an American outlet, it is partly because Pacific Northwest ports are already drawing Canadian exporters. Nutrien’s plan for a $1-billion terminal at Washington State’s Port of Longview highlighted how trade logistics can shift when proponents find receptive permitting lanes.

But the political terrain in Washington and Oregon is unforgiving for fossil fuel projects, even for natural gas. In 2023, federal regulators approved TC Energy’s GTN Xpress expansion over protests from environmental groups and senior officials in West Coast states, with opponents warning about safety and wildfire risk. The project would add about 150 million cubic feet per day of capacity.

A record of resistance

That decision sits inside a longer record of resistance. The anti-development activist website “DeSmog” eagerly estimated that more than 70 percent of proposed coal, oil, and gas projects in the Pacific Northwest since 2012 were defeated, often after sustained local organizing and legal challenges.

Even when a project clears regulators, economics can still kill it. Gas Outlook reported that GTN later said the expansion was “financially not viable” unless it could obtain rolled-in rates to spread costs onto other utilities, a request regulators rejected when they approved construction.

Policy direction is tightening too. Washington’s climate framework targets cutting climate pollution 95 percent by 2050, alongside “clean” transport, buildings, and power measures that push electrification. Recent state actions described by MRSC summaries and NRDC notes reinforce that direction, including moves to help utilities plan a transition away from gas.

Oregon is moving in the same direction. Gov. Tina Kotek issued an executive order directing agencies to move faster on clean energy permitting and grid connections, tied to targets of cutting emissions 50 percent by 2035 and 90 percent by 2050, the Capital Chronicle reported.

For Smith, the U.S. corridor talk may be leverage, but it also underscores a risk, the alternative could be tougher than the Canadian fight she is already waging. The surest way to snuff out speculation is to make it unnecessary by advancing a Canadian project now that the political deal is signed. As Resource Works argued after the MOU, the remaining uncertainty sits with private industry and whether it will finally build, rather than keep testing hypothetical routes.

Resource Works News