Alberta
Back To Work! – Restaurants to open, kids “school” sports, and one on one indoor personal fitness will be allowed beginning February 8
From the Province of Alberta
Alberta is introducing a path forward for easing COVID-19 health restrictions, with clear benchmarks for hospitalizations. This will begin with step 1, with some restrictions easing on February 8
Easing of provincewide health measures will occur in steps based on COVID-19 hospitalization benchmarks.
These steps and benchmarks will provide a transparent approach to easing restrictions for businesses and individuals while protecting the health-care system.
Each step has an associated benchmark of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, including intensive care patients. Changes to restrictions will be considered once a benchmark is reached.
The hospitalization benchmarks are:
- Step 1 – 600 and declining
- Step 2 – 450 and declining
- Step 3 – 300 and declining
- Step 4 – 150 and declining
With hospitalizations dipping below 600, Alberta will move to Step 1 on Feb. 8.
If after three weeks the hospitalization numbers are in the range of the next benchmark, decisions will be considered for moving to Step 2. The same three-week re-evaluation period will be used for all subsequent steps.
“This roadmap sets out a clear path for when and how Albertans will see some easing of heath measures. By outlining the benchmarks we must achieve to see more reopenings, we are offering hope and a path forward. But we have to proceed with caution. This stepped approach will only work if Albertans continue to follow existing health measures and make good choices to keep our numbers trending down. It’s up to each one of us to maintain our vigilance.”
“Throughout the pandemic, we’ve emphasized the importance of maintaining our health-care capacity. These hospitalization benchmarks will help us chart a path forward to carefully restart businesses and activities that people depend on. We’re laying out a series of steps to ease selected measures starting with those that have the lowest risk, all subject to the need to protect our health system.”
“By outlining a roadmap with clear targets, we want Albertans to see themselves as part of the solution. We must all continue to follow public health measures and reduce the spread of COVID-19 to see our downward trend continue. Only as we see hospitalizations fall low enough can we consider additional easing of restrictions.”
Indoor masking and distancing requirements will remain in place throughout the entire stepped approach, and some degree of restrictions will still apply to all activities within each step.
The grouping and sequencing of steps is based on relative risk for COVID-19 transmission. Actions with the lowest relative risk will be those first considered for easing.
Early steps: In effect Jan. 18
- Outdoor social gatherings allowed up to 10 people.
- Personal and wellness services opened for appointments only.
- Funeral service attendance was raised to 20 people.
- In-person classes resumed for K-12 students (Jan. 11).
Step 1: Hospitalization benchmark – 600
- Potential easing of some restrictions related to:
- Indoor and outdoor children’s sport and performance (school-related only)
- Indoor personal fitness, one-on-one and by appointment only
- Restaurants, cafes, and pubs
Step 2: Hospitalization benchmark – 450
- Potential easing of some restrictions related to:
- Retail
- Community halls, hotels, banquet halls and conference centres
- Further easing of some restrictions eased in Step 1
Step 3: Hospitalization benchmark – 300
- Potential easing of some restrictions related to:
- Places of worship
- Adult team sports
- Museums, art galleries, zoos and interpretive centres
- Indoor seated events, including movie theatres and auditoriums
- Casinos, racing centres and bingo halls
- Libraries
- Further easing of some restrictions eased in Steps 1 and 2
Step 4: Hospitalization benchmark – 150
- Potential easing of some restrictions related to:
- Indoor entertainment centres and play centres
- Tradeshows, conferences and exhibiting events
- Performance activities (e.g., singing, dancing, wind instruments)
- Outdoor sporting events (e.g., rodeo)
- Wedding ceremonies and receptions
- Funeral receptions
- Workplaces – lifting work-from-home measures
- Amusement parks
- Indoor concerts and sporting events
- Festivals, including arts and cultural festivals (indoor and outdoor)
- Day camps and overnight camps
- Further easing of some restrictions eased in Steps 1-3
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.
From the Fraser Institute
By Spencer Gudewill and Tegan Hill
Last November, Premier Danielle Smith announced that her government will give up to $1.8 billion in subsidies to Dow Chemicals, which plans to expand a petrochemical project northeast of Edmonton. In other words, $1.8 billion in corporate welfare.
And this is just one example of corporate welfare paid for by Albertans.
According to a recent study published by the Fraser Institute, from 2007 to 2021, the latest year of available data, the Alberta government spent $31.0 billion (inflation-adjusted) on subsidies (a.k.a. corporate welfare) to select firms and businesses, purportedly to help Albertans. And this number excludes other forms of government handouts such as loan guarantees, direct investment and regulatory or tax privileges for particular firms and industries. So the total cost of corporate welfare in Alberta is likely much higher.
Why should Albertans care?
First off, there’s little evidence that corporate welfare generates widespread economic growth or jobs. In fact, evidence suggests the contrary—that subsidies result in a net loss to the economy by shifting resources to less productive sectors or locations (what economists call the “substitution effect”) and/or by keeping businesses alive that are otherwise economically unviable (i.e. “zombie companies”). This misallocation of resources leads to a less efficient, less productive and less prosperous Alberta.
And there are other costs to corporate welfare.
For example, between 2007 and 2019 (the latest year of pre-COVID data), every year on average the Alberta government spent 35 cents (out of every dollar of business income tax revenue it collected) on corporate welfare. Given that workers bear the burden of more than half of any business income tax indirectly through lower wages, if the government reduced business income taxes rather than spend money on corporate welfare, workers could benefit.
Moreover, Premier Smith failed in last month’s provincial budget to provide promised personal income tax relief and create a lower tax bracket for incomes below $60,000 to provide $760 in annual savings for Albertans (on average). But in 2019, after adjusting for inflation, the Alberta government spent $2.4 billion on corporate welfare—equivalent to $1,034 per tax filer. Clearly, instead of subsidizing select businesses, the Smith government could have kept its promise to lower personal income taxes.
Finally, there’s the Heritage Fund, which the Alberta government created almost 50 years ago to save a share of the province’s resource wealth for the future.
In her 2024 budget, Premier Smith earmarked $2.0 billion for the Heritage Fund this fiscal year—almost the exact amount spent on corporate welfare each year (on average) between 2007 and 2019. Put another way, the Alberta government could save twice as much in the Heritage Fund in 2024/25 if it ended corporate welfare, which would help Premier Smith keep her promise to build up the Heritage Fund to between $250 billion and $400 billion by 2050.
By eliminating corporate welfare, the Smith government can create fiscal room to reduce personal and business income taxes, or save more in the Heritage Fund. Any of these options will benefit Albertans far more than wasteful billion-dollar subsidies to favoured firms.
Authors:
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