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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Premier Danielle Smith hints Alberta may begin ‘path’ toward greater autonomy after Mark Carney’s win

Published on April 30, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Alberta’s premier said her government will be holding a special caucus meeting on Friday to discuss Alberta’s independence.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith hinted her province could soon consider taking serious steps toward greater autonomy from Canada in light of Mark Carney and the Liberal Party winning yesterday’s federal election.

In a statement posted to her social media channels today, Smith, who is head of Alberta’s governing United Conservative Party, warned that “In the weeks and months ahead, Albertans will have an opportunity to discuss our province’s future, assess various options for strengthening and protecting our province against future hostile acts from Ottawa, and to ultimately choose a path forward.”

“As Premier, I will facilitate and lead this discussion and process with the sincere hope of securing a prosperous future for our province within a united Canada that respects our province’s constitutional rights, facilitates rather than blocks the development and export of our abundant resources, and treats us as a valued and respected partner within confederation,” she noted.

While Smith stopped short of saying that Alberta would consider triggering a referendum on independence from Canada, she did say her government will be holding a “special caucus meeting this Friday to discuss this matter further.”

“I will have more to say after that meeting is concluded,” she noted.

Smith’s warning comes at the same time some pre-election polls have shown Alberta’s independence from Canada sentiment at just over 30 percent.

Monday’s election saw Liberal leader Mark Carney beat out Conservative rival Pierre Poilievre, who also lost his seat. The Conservatives managed to pick up over 20 new seats, however, and Poilievre has vowed to stay on as party leader, for now.

In Alberta, almost all of the seats save two at press time went to conservatives.

Carney, like former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before him, said he is opposed to new pipeline projects that would allow Alberta oil and gas to be unleashed. Also, his green agenda, like Trudeau’s, is at odds with Alberta’s main economic driver, its oil and gas industry.

The Carney government has also pledged to mandate that all new cars and trucks by 2035 be electric, effectively banning the sale of new gasoline- or diesel-only powered vehicles after that year.

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.

Smith: ‘I will not permit the status quo to continue’

In her statement, Smith noted that she invited Carney to “immediately commence working with our government to reset the relationship between Ottawa and Alberta with meaningful action rather than hollow rhetoric.”

She noted that a large majority of Albertans are “deeply frustrated that the same government that overtly attacked our provincial economy almost unabated for the past 10 years has been returned to government.”

Smith then promised that she would “not permit the status quo to continue.”

“Albertans are proud Canadians that want this nation to be strong, prosperous, and united, but we will no longer tolerate having our industries threatened and our resources landlocked by Ottawa,” she said.

Smith praised Poilievre for empowering “Albertans and our energy sector as a cornerstone of his campaign.”

Smith was against forced COVID jabs, and her United Conservative government has in recent months banned men from competing in women’s sports and passed a bill banning so-called “top and bottom” surgeries for minors as well as other extreme forms of transgender ideology.

Alberta

Hours after Liberal election win, Alberta Prosperity Project drumming up interest in referendum

Published on April 29, 2025

Todayville

News release from the Alberta Prosperity Project

Carney’s In. Now what?

You’ve been paying attention. You understand this is really bad. Worse than that, it’s dangerous. The country has somehow chosen several more years of a decade-long Trudeau Travesty…on steroids. Because this new Prime Minister has a three digit IQ, deep and questionable connections and a momentum to accelerate the further dis-integration of a nation we all once proudly belonged to. It’s untrue to say the country is dying. But it’s also not a stretch to say it’s on life support.

The era of Carney Carnage is here. While every province will experience it, there’s no secret he’s placed an extra big bulls-eye on Alberta.

It’s not personal, it’s financial.

His plan includes continuing to limit three of Alberta’s most prosperous sectors: energy, agriculture and, by extension, innovation. To acknowledge this requires we abandon our sense of romanticized national nostalgia. Nostalgia is a trap that prevents us from assessing the reality we exist in.

For instance, GDP is considered the financial heartbeat of a country. Over the past decade of Liberal Leadership, the national GDP has been an abysmal 1.1%. By relatable comparison, Mexico was 4%, the UK was 6%, Australia had 8% growth and the US was a whopping 19%.

That’s great information for an economist, but what does it mean to your pay cheque?

The everyday impact on the average Albertan —say, a teacher or mechanic— of 10 long years of 1% GDP means rent’s up at least 25%, a trip to the grocery store always stings, and driving an older car is the norm because an upgrade is out of reach. Does this sound like your reality?

We aren’t starving, but we’re not thriving, either.

Does this make sense for 4.5 million people living with the third most abundant energy deposits in the world? There’s an absurdity to the situation Albertans find themselves in. It’s akin to being chronically dehydrated while having a fresh water spring in the backyard.

The life you’ve invested for, the future you believed was ahead, isn’t happening.

If Alberta stays on this path.

So what can you, as an Albertan, do about it?

This Fall, we’ll be provided an opportunity. A life raft in the form of a referendum. It requires curiosity, imagination and courage to step into it, but the option will be there — a once in a lifetime shot at prosperity for you and your family: Alberta Sovereignty.

A successful bid means Albertans can finally paddle out of the perilous economic current that’s battered us for ten long years.

Alberta has the resources, talent and spirit of collaboration to create a prosperous future for our families and communities.
If you want your vote to finally mean something, if you feel you deserve more from your pay-cheque, grocery store visits and need greater control over your family’s future, register your intent to sign YES to sovereignty now.