Alberta
Making the most of this time
These are strange, difficult times for us all. Many of us are temporarily out of work, hours are being cut back, jobs are being put on hold or altogether canceled, and we’re tightening our belts as we continue to prepare and react to this pandemic. Daily life has been profoundly disrupted for many of us, and it would be an understatement to say we’re in new, unprecedented territory here.
It’s easy to get caught up in the endless news cycles, but we’re encouraged by all of the individuals and companies stepping up to make this all just a little bit easier by pulling together, launching online classes, inspiring one another with new creative content, hosting giveaways and contests, and giving where they can.
To help you make the most of this time, we’ve compiled a list of resources, organizations and services that are either free, or offering reduced pricing, as well as some additional ideas to make the best of this situation (this is by no means an exhausted list).
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REMOTE WORKING/ COLLABORATION RESOURCES
Adobe is offering 2 months free of Creative:
https://www.adobe.com/covid-19-response/message-from-shantanu.html
Avid is offering a 90 day free license for Media Composer Ultimate, Pro Tools, Pro Tools Ultimate, or Sibelius Ultimate:
https://www.avid.com/covid-19
Writers Room – Free Screenwriting Add-On for Google Docs, use this quarantine time to create your next hit TV Show, Shortfilm or Feature Film.
http://writersrm.com
Comcast in USA offering 60 days free internet service, and public hot spots:
https://corporate.comcast.com/covid-19
Zoom online video conferencing has made substantial adjustments to their free account to accommodate for students through July 1st:
https://zoom.us/docs/en-us/covid19.html
Frame.io is offering a free 90-day enterprise account, as well as an additional 2TB of free space for 90 days:
https://blog.frame.io/2020/03/18/frameio-covid-19-response/
Sound Cloud
50% off SoundCloud Pro Unlimited subscriptions
Today through Monday, March 30th they are offering the biggest-ever discount on our premium creator subscription plan, Pro Unlimited.
http://soundcloud.com/pro/?ref=t738&utm_source=Braze&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=COVID-Comms-Note-from-CEO
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ONLINE EDUCATION RESOURCES
PRO EDU offering reduced pricing on all of their fantastic classes:
https://proedu.com/blogs/news/temporary-pricing-for-those-quarantined-inside-from-covid-19
Shane Hurlbut, ASC Illumination Experience Workshop offered free until June 16th:
https://www.hurlbutacademy.com/illumination-experience-workshop/
UPenn Free Film History Course— “Hollywood: History, Industry, Art”:
https://www.classcentral.com/course/edx-hollywood-history-industry-art-5643
450 Free Ivy League Online Courses:
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ivy-league-free-online-courses-a0d7ae675869/?fbclid=IwAR2W2MjT5XM6BHg4q6fl3GfFbETDHaNOIp5GGkLj7J4DIVhLaCkYXTbwhzU
The New York Public Library has nearly 300,000 eBooks and audiobooks available through their app:
https://www.nypl.org/books-music-movies/ebookcentral
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ENTERTAINMENT/INSPIRATION RESOURCES
Many movies currently/recently in theaters are going to be getting VOD/Streaming online release. Slashfilm.com has published an up-to-date list:
https://www.slashfilm.com/coronavirus-early-digital-releases-list/
Audible has just released a whole bunch of audiobooks (many of the literary classics) for free, without any sort of sign-up required:
https://stories.audible.com/start-listen
Metropolitan Opera has been doing nightly streams of several of their most famous shows:
https://www.fastcompany.com/90478031/you-can-stream-the-met-opera-for-free-during-the-coronavirus-crisis-heres-how
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OTHER IDEAS
A few other things you could occupy your time with:
Cut a new reel
Archive your projects
Check in with your clients
Write that screenplay you’ve been putting off
Teach yourself new software, or hardware— now’s the time to master your gear
Organize your gear
Revamp your website
Read some screenplays. There’s plenty of resources out there, but to get you started, here’s the 10 best original and adapter screenplays nominated for the 2019 Oscars: https://www.scriptreaderpro.com/best-original-screenplay/
Chip away at the AFI Top 100: https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-movies/
Give yourself a mental break. These are weird times, and I think many of us think if we’re not multi-tasking and being 100% productive every second of the day, we’re failing.
But unplugging, taking a breath, and reflecting is healthy and needed— especially NOW
Raoul Bhatt
https://instagram.com/raoul
Alberta
Province to stop municipalities overcharging on utility bills
Making utility bills more affordableAlberta’s government is taking action to protect Alberta’s ratepayers by introducing legislation to lower and stabilize local access fees. Affordability is a top priority for Alberta’s government, with the cost of utilities being a large focus. By introducing legislation to help reduce the cost of utility bills, the government is continuing to follow through on its commitment to make life more affordable for Albertans. This is in addition to the new short-term measures to prevent spikes in electricity prices and will help ensure long-term affordability for Albertans’ basic household expenses.
Local access fees are functioning as a regressive municipal tax that consumers pay on their utility bills. It is unacceptable for municipalities to be raking in hundreds of millions in surplus revenue off the backs of Alberta’s ratepayers and cause their utility bills to be unpredictable costs by tying their fees to a variable rate. Calgarians paid $240 in local access fees on average in 2023, compared to the $75 on average in Edmonton, thanks to Calgary’s formula relying on a variable rate. This led to $186 million more in fees being collected by the City of Calgary than expected.
To protect Alberta’s ratepayers, the Government of Alberta is introducing the Utilities Affordability Statutes Amendment Act, 2024. If passed, this legislation would promote long-term affordability and predictability for utility bills by prohibiting the use of variable rates when calculating municipalities’ local access fees. Variable rates are highly volatile, which results in wildly fluctuating electricity bills. When municipalities use this rate to calculate their local access fees, it results in higher bills for Albertans and less certainty in families’ budgets. These proposed changes would standardize how municipal fees are calculated across the province, and align with most municipalities’ current formulas.
If passed, the Utilities Affordability Statutes Amendment Act, 2024 would prevent municipalities from attempting to take advantage of Alberta’s ratepayers in the future. It would amend sections of the Electric Utilities Act and Gas Utilities Act to ensure that the Alberta Utilities Commission has stronger regulatory oversight on how these municipal fees are calculated and applied, ensuring Alberta ratepayer’s best interests are protected.
If passed, this legislation would also amend sections of the Alberta Utilities Commission Act, the Electric Utilities Act, Government Organizations Act and the Regulated Rate Option Stability Act to replace the terms “Regulated Rate Option”, “RRO”, and “Regulated Rate Provider” with “Rate of Last Resort” and “Rate of Last Resort Provider” as applicable. Quick facts
Related information |
Alberta
Alberta moves to protect Edmonton park from Trudeau government’s ‘diversity’ plan
From LifeSiteNews
If Trudeau’s National Urban Park Initiative is implemented, Alberta could see its parks, including Edmonton’s River Valley, hijacked by the federal government in the name of ‘sustainability, conservation, equity, diversity, inclusion, and reconciliation.’
Edmonton is working to protect its River Valley from the Trudeau government’s “diversity” park plan.
On April 15, Alberta Legislature passed MLA Brandon Lunty’s private members’ Bill 204 to protect the Edmonton River Valley from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s National Urban Park Initiative which would give the federal government power over provincial parks to enforce a variety of quotas related to the “climate” and “diversity.”
“Albertans elected our United Conservative government with a majority mandate to, among other things, protect families and communities from federal overreach and intrusion. That’s exactly what this bill accomplishes,” Lunty said in a press release.
Bill 204, titled the Municipal Government (National Urban Parks) Amendment Act, is a response to the National Urban Park Initiative which would give the Trudeau government jurisdiction over Alberta’s provincial parks.
The Trudeau government’s plan promises to “provide long-lasting benefits to the urban area” by using “sustainability, conservation, equity, diversity, inclusion, and reconciliation.”
If the program is approved, the Edmonton River Valley could be “fully owned by the Federal Government,” which will use the space to advance their values, including addressing the impacts of “climate change” and creating spaces where “diversity is welcomed.”
The plan also promises that equity will be “intentionally advanced” while “respecting indigenous rights” through “reconciliation.”
However, many Edmonton citizens were concerned with the Urban Park Initiative and met with their MLAs to discuss the issue.
Edmonton citizen Sheila Phimester worked with MLA Jackie Lovely to create a petition to prevent the River Valley from becoming federally owned. The petition has received over 5,000 signatures.
“Instead of Edmontonians making decisions about what happens in the park, Ottawa would be making the decisions,” the petition warned.
“Oh, and because it’s the federal government, their ‘priorities’ for these parks are ‘healthier communities’, ‘climate resilience’, ‘reconciliation’, ‘equity’, ‘diversity’, and ‘inclusion,’” it continued.
Already, Trudeau has attempted to assert power over Alberta’s industry by placing “climate” restrictions on their oil and gas production in an attempt to force net-zero regulations on all Canadian provinces, including on electricity generation, by as early as 2035.
However, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has repeatedly vowed to protect the province from Trudeau’s radical “net zero” push.
In December, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith blasted Trudeau’s Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s plan to slash oil and gas emissions by 35 percent to 38 percent below 2019 levels as “unrealistic” and “unconstitutional.”
Trudeau’s current environmental goals are in lockstep with the United Nations’ “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” and include phasing out coal-fired power plants, reducing fertilizer usage, and curbing natural gas use over the coming decades.
The reduction and eventual elimination of the use of so-called “fossil fuels” and a transition to unreliable “green” energy has also been pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) – the globalist group behind the socialist “Great Reset” agenda – an organization in which Trudeau and some of his cabinet are involved.
In November, after announcing she had “enough” of Trudeau’s extreme environmental rules, Smith said her province had no choice but to assert control over its electricity grid to combat federal overreach by enacting its Sovereignty Act. The Sovereignty Act serves to shield Albertans from future power blackouts due to federal government overreach.
Unlike most provinces in Canada, Alberta’s electricity industry is nearly fully deregulated. However, the government still has the ability to take control of it at a moment’s notice.
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