- The City of Edmonton will activate its extreme weather response on Jan. 31 to help protect vulnerable people during the cold snap, which is forecast to last until mid-February. The response includes expanded overnight shelter space at Al Rashid Mosque, additional shelter shuttle routes, and day services at various shelter locations. Residents are encouraged to call 211 and ask for the Crisis Diversion Team if they see someone sheltering outside who needs assistance.
- The Alberta government will introduce $15-a-day child care for children in kindergarten or younger beginning April 1, replacing the existing child care subsidy program. The $326.25 monthly flat rate, which is roughly $15 per day, will be available to parents or guardians with children in full-time licensed daycare facilities and family day home programs. About 85% of licensed daycare providers will get a funding increase to support the change, which is the latest step in the federal-provincial plan to reduce child care to $10 per day by 2026.
- Al Rashid Mosque is asking the City of Edmonton to rezone 34 acres of industrial land in the city's northwest for the purpose of building a mosque, a high school, a recreation centre, and a business complex. Al Rashid signed a sales agreement in 2021 and is now trying to fully acquire the land, located off Campbell Road and 142 Street. During public hearings, councillors were divided over the rezoning, with some concerned about how it would affect industrial investment plans and others wanting to make the most of the land.
- Former Alberta NDP leader and MLA Raj Pannu has died, the party announced on Jan. 30. Pannu was elected in Edmonton-Strathcona in 1997 as one of only two NDP MLAs in the legislature. He was the party's leader from 2000 to 2004 and retired from politics in 2006.
- Edmonton remains an attractive destination for people seeking luxury homes at lower prices than in other Canadian markets, especially around the $1 million range. Over the past year, the greater Edmonton area saw 414 sales of single-detached family homes priced $1 million to $1.5 million, 136 sales of homes exceeding $1.5 million, and six sales of homes exceeding $3.5 million, according to the REALTORS Association of Edmonton.
- Best Buy Canada announced the winners of its Teen Tech for Tomorrow program, awarding more than $110,000 in grants to 15 secondary schools and robotics teams across Canada. Edmonton's McNally High School was among the winners, receiving a grant of up to $10,000 to purchase new technology.
- Edmonton Global highlighted the biggest economic developments in the Edmonton region in 2024, including Varme Energy getting $1.6 million for a waste-to-energy project, API and the Li Ka Shing Institute starting construction on the Critical Medicines Production Centre, and Raven Indigenous Capital Partners' investment of $3.5 million in RUNWITHIT Synthetics.
- The Edmonton Oilers released two "quarter century teams" as part of an NHL campaign to honour the best players from the past 25 years. The teams were selected by broadcasters, writers, and former players. Meanwhile, Oilers forward Connor McDavid and defenceman Mattias Ekholm were named alternate captains for Team Canada and Team Sweden, respectively, for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off tournament in February.
- Alberta Technology Minister Nate Glubish says DeepSeek, a Chinese tech startup that unveiled an AI chatbot that caused U.S. tech stocks to plummet, will have no effect on Alberta's AI data centre strategy. Randy Goebel, co-founder of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, said the DeepSeek news suggests AI requires fewer massive centralized data centres than previously believed, which may lead to a sector where there are "many more players, not just a few big players." Calgary-based TransAlta, which wants to build "multiple hyperscalers" to create data centres in Alberta, was among the Canadian companies that saw shares fall in the wake of the DeepSeek release.
Headlines: Jan. 31, 2025
By Kevin Holowack