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· The Pulse
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  • Mayor Amarjeet Sohi has defended the decision to meet with the police commission in private — which council voted 10-2 in favour of. One anonymous attendee told Postmedia that the meeting on Feb. 23 was just a meet-and-greet event and substantial matters weren't discussed. Following the meeting, council voted to keep the discussion confidential in another 8-4 vote, with councillors Michael Janz, Andrew Knack, Ashley Salvador, and Anne Stevenson opposed. "I believe that good governance is governance that happens in public," said Coun. Stevenson.
  • St. Albert city council has voted 6-1 against contributing additional funds to the regional air services opportunities fund managed by Edmonton Global. "St. Albert's a major player in the region, and if St. Albert pulls the plug on this we're saying something," said Coun. Wes Brodhead, the only councillor opposed.
  • Alberta will announce on Saturday whether it is removing the provincial mask mandate, but the fate of Edmonton's mask bylaw is yet to be determined. Currently, the bylaw applies to public spaces and vehicles but not to schools. Coun. Andrew Knack said the city may review the bylaw before one of two triggers that require a review are met. "Council has the ability to revisit that earlier, and we may do so, based off a variety of factors," he told Global News.
  • Some Edmontonians are turning to dollar stores to save money and make ends meet as the pandemic drags on and many products become more expensive, reports CBC News. Some note, however, that the package sizes of foods and other products are often smaller than they were before, and that dollar stores are, themselves, also raising prices.
  • A whopping 90% of Concordia University of Edmonton Faculty Association members voted that they have no confidence in the current president's leadership. The faculty association, which ratified a tentative agreement with university administration after striking in January, said issues remain. "The workplace was still a very toxic, a very unstable workplace culture which is incredibly difficult when we're looking at a workplace characterized by disfunction, by fear, threats and reprisal," Glynis Price, the group's acting president, told Postmedia.
  • MacEwan University political scientist Chaldeans Mensah said that the province may need to make some tough calls in its budget — to be announced today — and that it may need to choose between using increased oil royalties for paying down debt or putting it into the heritage savings fund. The province's debt has exceeded $100 billion since the last fiscal update.
  • Pharmacies, doctors' offices and AHS clinics will begin to offer COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged five to 11 — from March 2 to 16, they will also be available on a walk-in basis. "We are constantly looking for ways to make vaccination easier for Albertans of all ages," Health Minister Jason Copping said in a release. "That is why we are increasing options for families who have made the choice to get their children protected."
  • The Alberta Teachers' Association is cautiously optimistic after COVID-19 cases have decreased in classrooms roughly a week after the province axed its mask mandate.
  • Alberta's historic heatwave last summer resulted in 66 deaths, according to a new report.