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Alberta

Team sports and group dance not yet approved. Restaurants open with restrictions. – Details on health measures easing February 8

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From the Province of Alberta

More health measures will ease on Feb. 8

Additional health measures will be eased for restaurants, indoor fitness and some children’s activities, effective Feb. 8.

Step 1 of Alberta’s four-step framework to ease restrictions is based on a COVID-19 hospitalization benchmark of 600, including intensive care patients. This benchmark was reached on Jan. 28.

The full, four-step framework for easing restrictions can be viewed here.

“Albertans have done a great job of bringing our numbers down from our peak in December. We aren’t out of the woods yet, but there are opportunities where we can safely ease restrictions while also protecting our health-care system. This first step is a cautious one, and it will bring relief to many Albertans and Alberta businesses.”

Jason Kenney, Premier

“We are able to ease restrictions on Feb. 8 thanks to the efforts of Albertans. We need to stick to a stepped approach so we don’t risk the steady improvements we’ve made. Although restrictions will remain in place, the path forward gives us all more options in our daily lives.”

Tyler Shandro, Minister of Health

Indoor and outdoor children’s sport and performance

  • Children’s sport and performance activities are permitted if they are related to school activities, such as physical education classes.
  • This will allow K-12 schools and post-secondary institutions to use off-site facilities to support curriculum-related educational activities.

Indoor fitness

  • Only one-on-one training is permitted for indoor fitness activities (e.g. fitness in dance studios, training figure skating on ice, one-on-one lessons).
  • One-on-one sessions cannot interact with others and there must be a minimum of three metres distance between sessions in the same facility.
  • Sessions have to be scheduled or by appointment.
  • No drop-in for individuals or groups is allowed.
  • No sports games, competitions, team practice, league play or group exercise of any kind.
  • Trainers must be professional, certified and/or paid trainers who are providing active instruction and correction. Passive supervision of a physical activity is not considered training.
  • Trainers should remain masked during the session; clients are not required to wear a mask while exercising.
  • More than one trainer and client ‘pair’ are allowed into the facility, studio, rink, court, pool, ice surface, etc., as long as:
    • Each trainer and client stays three metres away from all other trainers and clients at all times, including in entryways and exits.
    • Each trainer only interacts with their assigned client, and each client only interacts with their assigned trainer.
    • No interaction between clients or between trainers is allowed.
    • No ‘cycling through’ multiple trainers, as in circuit training.

Restaurants, cafes and pubs

  • Restaurants, cafes and pubs must collect the contact information of one person from the dining party.
  • Up to a maximum of six people per table; individuals must be from same household or the two close contacts for people living alone.
  • Liquor service ends at 10 p.m.
  • In-person dining must close by 11 p.m.
  • No entertainment allowed (e.g., no VLTs, pool tables, live music, etc.)

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.

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Alberta

Saskatchewan entrepreneur says government thwarted his ag-plastics recycling business

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Dallon Leger thought he was part of the solution. 

The entrepreneur from Yorkton, Sask., about 190 kilometres northeast of Regina, says he collected more than 1.8 million kilograms of used grain bags over the past few years, helping his neighbours deal with their mounting plastic problem.

Leger’s business, EcoGenX, transported the grain bags to a company in the United States that would recycle them. The company would turn the bags into various agricultural plastic products, including new grain bags. EcoGenX would then sell the recycled product in Saskatchewan.

But he says the Saskatchewan government has stifled his business through rules he believes are unfair.

The province recently took Leger to court and won, fining him for not following the province’s grain bag regulations. It effectively forced him to close his business.

“I’m not perfect, no entrepreneur is, but my government was my biggest hurdle,” said Leger, a farm worker, in an interview earlier this month. “That should never have happened, not when climate change and environment as a whole is the hot topic right now.”

Leger pleaded guilty in late April for failing to comply with the government’s Agricultural Packaging Waste Stewardship Regulations, therefore violating a section of Saskatchewan’s Environment and Management Protection Act. 

Court determined he did not operate a product stewardship program that was approved by the environment minister. He was fined $580 and must pay $10,604 to Cleanfarms, a regulated non-profit that also collects grain bags in the province.

Leger explained his lawyer advised him to plead guilty because it wouldn’t have been a winning fight. 

However, he said the province’s position is still not right.

“How can you charge me under the environmental act, find me guilty of anything, when I did no harm to the environment? That says a lot,” he said. “I felt I did something good.”

The Saskatchewan government regulates the industry, requiring grain bag sellers to participate in an approved product stewardship program.

EcoGenX didn’t operate under an approved program.

Environment Minister Dana Skoropad said the legislation is meant to ensure agricultural plastics recycling is sustainable in Saskatchewan. 

“The community of sellers of these products is quite small in Saskatchewan, so it’s certainly important that all first sellers be compliant with the regulations and a level playing field be existent,” Skoropad said. “And that ensures the financial stability and sustainability of the program.” 

Cleanfarms is the only approved product stewardship program in Saskatchewan, which means grain bag sellers must work with Cleanfarms or get their own program rubber-stamped if they want to participate. 

Under the Cleanfarms program, farmers can deliver bags to more than 40 collection points set up by the organization.

Sellers collect an environment handling fee when they sell the bags. The sellers then remit those fees to Cleanfarms so the organization can operate its collection sites.

Leger didn’t remit environmental handling fees to Cleanfarms when he sold bags, arguing he didn’t need to because his company did all the work in partnership with the American recycler. 

“I would travel anywhere in the province, roll up their bags. I would do all the work,” he said. “I had the best answer for this fairly large problem —  like it’s a significant amount of plastic.”

The $10,604 Leger is required to pay to Cleanfarms represents the environmental handling fees he was supposed to pay to the organization. 

Skoropad said he’s open to working with anyone who would meet the requirements in the legislation. 

He said Leger did not submit a proposal.

However, Leger said he tried to work with the provincial government but was told the province was not interested in another operator. 

“I’m told, ‘We have to focus on the sustainability of the current approved program,'” he said. “Well, I’m sorry I’m a threat to this non-profit organization. That’s kind of what a business is meant to do, is grow and succeed.”

Leger accused the government of siding with Cleanfarms, pointing to past lobbying by CropLife Canada, a sister organization of Cleanfarms. 

In 2016, CropLife representatives lobbied Saskatchewan ministers about “promoting the benefits of industry stewardship programs.” It noted Cleanfarms had been active in the province. 

CropLife, which is based in Ontario, lobbied former environment minister Scott Moe, who’s now premier, and former agriculture minister Lyle Stewart. Ted Menzies, CropLife’s former president, was among those lobbying. Menzies had previously served as a Conservative MP and cabinet minister before moving to CropLife. 

In 2018, the province’s Agricultural Packaging Waste Stewardship Regulations came into effect. 

“I believe this created a monopoly and gives an out-of-province organization 100 per cent of the money that Saskatchewan farmers pay,” Leger said.

Skorpopad denied the accusations.  

“Cleanfarms submitted an application to be a product stewardship operator and that would be the extent of my knowledge of that,” he said. “As I said before, we’re open to working with anyone who would meet the requirements of the regulations on this program.”

Skoropad said he doesn’t know if there have been previous applications to become an operator. He said there are 14 regulated grain bag sellers in Saskatchewan. 

Leger said he has plans to continue fighting his case. 

“I was demonized, so to me that’s worth continuing to fight for and why I didn’t give up.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2023. 

Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press

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Alberta

Drying conditions return in Alberta, crews see more intense fire activity

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