The Pulse: Sept. 14, 2021

Innovate Edmonton has launched two new divisions, Scaleup Edmonton and Accelerate Edmonton, to support early and mid-stage entrepreneurs in the city. Chloe Chalmers, head of Scaleup Edmonton, and Dawn Newton, head of Accelerate Edmonton, will work alongside the already established Startup Edmonton team, led by Christian Tokarski.

"Under Innovate Edmonton's umbrella, startups will continue to receive an array of time-tested programs that deliver early entrepreneur support, from business basics to refined product-market fit training, through Startup Edmonton," CEO Catherine Warren explained.

"With the launch of Scaleup Edmonton, we are committed to Edmonton's successful coach program for high-growth companies, where we match growing companies with appropriate expertise to reach new company milestones. Accelerate Edmonton will support local and global accelerators with an Edmonton footprint, deploying the new $5 million in city funding announced back in spring 2021."

Warren added that with the organization's new hires, it now has the strength to deliver a "harmonized suite of programs, create economies of scale, and support one-stop shopping for Edmonton's entrepreneurs and business leaders."

• Approximately 150 people gathered near the front steps of the Royal Alexandra Hospital on Monday to protest COVID-19 health restrictions. Premier Jason Kenney and Mayor Don Iveson both condemned the protests. Alberta Health Services enacted measures to protect staff and patients, including erecting fences.
• Up to 70% of surgeries in the Edmonton zone, including all day surgeries, have been postponed this week. In a statement on Monday, Alberta Health Services said it would only be providing priority cancer, urgent and emergent surgeries. The Edmonton zone has a total of 126 critical care beds — on Sunday 111 of those were filled.
• The University of Alberta, MacEwan University, NAIT and Norquest College will require all students, staff and visitors to be fully vaccinated to attend campus. In a joint statement with five other Alberta post-secondaries, the schools said proof of vaccination status will be required and rapid testing will no longer be accepted.
• The majority of residents and businesses in Edmonton and Calgary support vaccine passports, according to a new survey by Leger. The results showed 74% of residents were in favour and 70% of businesses that participated were also supportive.
• The city is partnering with 20 business and community organizations to help spread the word about drug poisonings and how people can help. The new public awareness campaign will encourage residents to get Naloxone kits, which are available for free at more than 2,000 sites provincially.
• Former Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington's 1985 Stanley Cup Championship ring is up for auction until Sept. 25, with a starting bid of $5,000.
• Spectators attending FC Edmonton games will have to be fully vaccinated or have a negative COVID-19 test as of Sept. 29.
• Three Edmonton ridings will be close races during the federal election — Edmonton Centre, Edmonton Griesbach, and Edmonton Mill Woods — reports CTV News.

Taproot asked candidates to complete a 30-question survey based on what we heard when we asked what key issues people wanted the candidates to be talking about as they compete for votes in the 2021 municipal election.

Here are the answers we've received so far from the candidates in Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi:

• Jason Carter
• Rhiannon Hoyle
• Scott Johnston
• Glynnis Andrea Lieb
• Jon Morgan
• Jennifer Rice

Want to see which candidates line up best with your own stances? Take the survey and find out.

For more coverage of the 2021 municipal election in Edmonton, visit edmonton.taproot.vote. And for more on the origins of this project, visit our People's Agenda page.

Arcadia Brewing Co. is the third Edmonton hospitality business to require proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enter. Fleisch started requiring proof from guests seeking to dine indoors back in August, and bar EvoWonderLounge mandated proof of vaccination last week.

Arcadia announced that as of Sept. 20, it will start requiring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result within 48 hours prior to entering. "This decision was not made easily and we ask you to please be kind to our staff and please respect our decision," Arcadia said in a tweet.

Since sharing the policy, Arcadia has received some negative feedback online but noted that the majority of feedback has been positive.

"Generally, the support has been incredible from people either coming in or messaging me," co-owner Darren McGeown told CTV News. "The past few days people have come in – especially front line workers – have reached out and showed their appreciation, which means a lot to me."

Edmonton city council held its final meeting last week before breaking for the upcoming municipal election. Edmonton's Open Data Catalogue provides a look back at how councillors voted over the past four years, which sheds some light on council's direction and the structure of its voting process.

Council's latest term was a busy one — in total, councillors voted on roughly 7,700 motions spread across council meetings, public hearings and the city budget. And that is just taking into account motions that were considered by the full council — there were thousands of other motions presented at the various committees that councillors sit on.

Many motions considered by city council are related to bylaws. For a bylaw to pass, it must pass three readings. Most of the time, even councillors who voted against a motion to approve first reading will vote in favour on the second and third readings, making many of the votes on the chart little more than prefunctory, although that's not always the case.

Over council's latest term, only 116 motions were either voted down or failed for one reason or another. The vast majority, 7,666, were carried by council. Close votes were rare, with only 57 motions being decided by a single vote. The majority of decisions were made by unanimous vote or large margins for the prevailing side.

When Edmonton elects its new city council in October, most of the current councillors hope to hold onto their seats. Nine of them are running to represent one of the newly-drawn wards in the city. Of the three not seeking re-election as councillors, two are involved in other races: Mike Nickel is running for mayor, while Ben Henderson has jumped over to federal politics as a Liberal candidate. The third, Michael Walters, has said he plans to remain involved in politics but has not revealed any specifics.

Whether next year's council will be made up of familiar or fresh faces will be up to voters to decide. Taproot Edmonton has been tracking what issues Edmontonians want to hear candidates talk about and will be reporting on the ward and mayoral races in the lead up to the vote on October 18.