The Pulse: Jan. 27, 2021

City council's code of conduct sub-committee has directed administration to draft a policy to provide guidance on when councillors can block people on social media. The decision was made when the committee met on Jan. 26 to discuss proposed social media guidelines, drafted by integrity commissioner Jamie Pytel.

The proposed guidelines suggested addressing a number of issues including misinformation and disrespectful behaviour, but the discussion focused specifically on councillors blocking other users on social media platforms. Pytel said that is the main complaint she has heard from Edmontonians.

"Constituents are saying their freedom of expression and their democratic rights are being limited," Pytel explained, since being blocked prevents people from interacting with elected officials.

Pytel’s recommendation is for a new policy to define the situations where it is acceptable for a councillor to block a constituent.

• City council has approved a nearly $1.7 million loan to Fort Edmonton Park so that it can reopen on schedule this spring. "Fort Edmonton Park, the southwest Edmonton historical attraction, has been undergoing renovations for two years. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated financial issues, prompting the park to ask for a cash injection," writes CBC News.
• Some Edmonton-area restaurants have said they won't open for dine-in service, even if the government allows it. “It’s really important for us to think about the long term, not just the short term. Do the restrictions suck? For sure. Would it be better if there was no COVID and we could open it as is? Definitely, but rushing it and putting the safety of our guests and our team at risk is not worth it," said Sylvia Cheverie, the owner of Beaumont's Chartier.
• The city plans to "work on a strategy to establish a First Nations reserve within city boundaries," reports CBC News following a council meeting on Jan. 25.
• University of Alberta PhD student Mark Powers is part of a team that has discovered a baby tyrannosaurus fossil.
• Four Safeway grocery stores in the Edmonton area are re-branding as part of the discount FreshCo chain.

The surge of digital technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic brought together more than 2,000 world-class leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators at Alberta's Digital Health Summit on Jan. 26. The virtual event was part of Inventures Unbound and Alberta Innovates Digital Health Strategy.

Virtual care, artificial intelligence-based health technologies, and computation-assisted drug discoveries were among the key topics that speakers discussed during the half-day summit. The purpose was to explore what's possible in the digital health industry and the tools needed to get there.

Alberta Innovates CEO Laura Kilcrease said that scientists, health-care professionals and innovators around the world are more connected and finding solutions faster than ever.

"We've seen the acceleration towards virtual care offering patients convenient and timely access to health-care providers," she said. "At Alberta Innovates, we've already been heading in that direction, shifting from the traditional method of providing health to new models of care enabled by innovation."

Kilcrease spoke about the role Alberta Innovates plays in supporting research, helping the startup community build new technology, and creating a vibrant digital health-care sector in Alberta.

Leduc County has written off $313,099.31 in tax and penalties with accounts falling under orphan wells or uncollectable, reports The Leduc Rep.

“A trend we’ve seen in the last couple years with the downturn in oil and gas are some of these smaller companies having difficulties making ends meet but it is an increase to what we had over last year,” Mayor Tanni Doblanko said.

One account deemed uncollectable makes up nearly two-thirds of the amount. Thirteen of the listed numbers are listed as orphan wells.

“We will try to collect the money through collections and hopefully have some luck there … that certainly is a lot of money, not as much as some other municipalities would be facing, we’re fairly diversified but it is $300,000, which is almost a 1% tax increase," Doblanko said.

This week's word is "cêskwa" which means "wait" in Cree. Here's how to pronounce it.

The Cree word of the week was featured by local strategic communications agency Naheyawin in 2018. Republished with permission!

Interested in learning more? The Centre for Race and Culture is offering online ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐤ (nêhiyaw or Plains Cree) language lessons for beginners from Feb. 8 to April 19.