Alberta Minute: Federal Election, Vaccine Passports, and Closed For Fall

Alberta Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Alberta politics.

This Week In Alberta:

• Today is election day in Canada’s 44th federal election, though many have already voted as advanced voting was up across the country. Whether this indicates an overall increase in turnout remains to be seen. If you’re unsure where to vote today, Elections Canada can help.
  
  
• Also happening today, the first day of Alberta’s new vaccine passport, despite the provincial government's multiple previous statements that there would be no vaccine passport. We remain opposed, and if you haven’t signed our petition against this system yet, you can do so here.
  
  
• Finally, today is also the deadline for nominations for municipal elections, school boards, and Senate across the province. Election day is October 18th across the province, so make sure to look into the candidates in your area for all their positions, and we'll have more news for you on this in the coming weeks.

Last Week In Alberta:

• On top of the vaccine passport (see above), the provincial government also announced a long, confusing, list of new restrictions for businesses. It did also announce a Restriction Exemption Program under which only the provincial mask mandate would apply to businesses that require proof of vaccination, a negative test, or a medical exemption in order to enter. The province also announced that there will be more restrictions in K-12 schools, including mandatory masking for those in grade 4 and up.
  
  
• A grace period was also announced along with the new health restrictions. Between today and October 25th a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine will be sufficient to enter a business participating in the “Restriction Exemption Program”, though both doses will be required after October 25th.

• In non-COVID-related news, we at the Alberta Institute released a new, in-depth report on the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board. Despite almost no one having heard of this Board, it's about to become a fourth level of government, controlling what your local Council can and can't do on development and planning issues. Check out the report here.

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