The Pulse: Sept. 24, 2021

Innovate Edmonton is partnering with the provincial and federal governments to fund three new world-class accelerators: Alberta Accelerator by 500, Plug and Play Alberta, and the Community Safety & Wellness (CSW) Accelerator powered by Alchemist.

"Innovation is a team game and accelerators bring people together to create global opportunities, open international sales channels, boost significant investment, and position Edmonton's entrepreneurs on the world stage," Catherine Warren, CEO of Innovate Edmonton, said in a news release.

The newly announced global accelerators for startup and scaleup businesses will aim to help Edmonton entrepreneurs create jobs and contribute to a more vibrant downtown by drawing businesses and innovators back to the city's core.

At the same time, Innovate Edmonton is also launching the Alberta Pre-accelerator in partnership with Platform Calgary, with a new suite of programs for early-stage founders.

The City of Edmonton is contributing $5 million. In total, funding for the initiatives from the three levels of government is $35 million.

The accelerators are expected to create 270 new emerging technology firms, 6,000 new jobs, and $1.5 billion in technology revenue by 2030.

"Accelerators are key to nurturing and expediating business growth. Our investment in these accelerators will create jobs, attract investment and strengthen Edmonton's economy," said Mayor Don Iveson.

Here's your chance to find out how you align with the candidates running for mayor and council in Edmonton's 2021 election.

Take this survey to discover how your stances line up with the candidates who have answered our multiple-choice questionnaire inspired by what we heard during our People's Agenda project.

Our matching engine will show you which candidates you agree with most; it will also let you dig into the questions that matter most to you.

Some things to keep in mind:

• We have heard from most but not all of the candidates who are running. Our invitation to them to answer the survey remains open, and we will continue to update the matching engine until every candidate responds or the election comes.
• We have only asked 30 questions, but there are of course many more issues that city council faces and many more reasons that may lead you to prefer one candidate over another. You can find links to each candidate's website and social media channels on their pages, which are linked to their names on our list of the 85 who are running.
• Some candidates skipped questions because they didn't feel any of the answers reflected their position. You can see which questions they didn't answer on their pages. If a candidate hasn't answered a question that you care about deeply, there's an opportunity to follow up with them to find out where they stand.
• Candidates for the Edmonton public and Catholic school boards are not included in the matching engine, but we will point to information about them as we continue to build our election site. That's also where you will find a detailed dashboard with election results once the polls close on Oct. 18.

If you have any questions, get in touch at hello@taprootedmonton.ca.

A growing number of Edmonton employers are warning workers they must get vaccinated against COVID-19 to remain on the payroll, while other businesses are struggling with how to deal with unvaccinated staff.

Edmonton-based industry giant PCL Construction has set a Nov. 1 deadline for employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The company, which does $8 billion in projects annually, does not plan to offer testing as an alternative to full immunization.

"Being fully vaccinated is the most effective way to reduce the spread of COVID-19," said PCL CEO Dave Filipchuk.

EllisDon, whose projects include the Valley Line LRT, joined PCL in announcing the new vaccination mandate. Chandos Construction, which has an Edmonton office and worked on the Blatchford District Energy System, will require vaccination by Nov. 15 and urged other contractors to also "do the right thing."

Other major employers in Edmonton are also moving ahead with vaccine mandates. CN Rail's policy also applies to contractors and suppliers accessing the company's Canadian properties. Telus employees must be fully vaccinated to enter administrative buildings starting Oct. 1. On Oct. 15, all employees working outside of their homes in a customer-facing role must be vaccinated or submit to twice-weekly rapid antigen testing.

Edmonton federal government workers must also get vaccinated, along with employees of federally regulated air, rail, and marine transportation sectors.

City of Edmonton staff have until Oct. 31 to get a second dose or starting Nov. 15 pay for twice-weekly tests or go on unpaid leave.

• Mayor Don Iveson said the city has reached out to businesses to see if a proof-of-vaccination bylaw, like the one recently passed in Calgary, would be useful. On Wednesday, Calgary passed a bylaw mandating businesses and facilities to opt-in to the province's restrictions exemption program. Iveson said there hasn't been the same level of backlash against businesses in Edmonton.
• The city announced it will permanently remove the mural at Government Centre LRT Station later this fall. In June, council voted unanimously to cover the mural, which glorifies the residential school system, with orange and remove the name of Bishop Grandin from the station.
• Westglen School in central Edmonton is temporarily shifting to online learning as of Friday, amid a surge of COVID-19 cases. Students are expected to return to in-person learning on Oct. 8. Meanwhile, Alberta Health is recommending that unvaccinated children with a close COVID-19 contact in their household stay home from school for two weeks.
• Eight faculty associations, including NAIT and NorQuest's, are calling for better protections against COVID-19 for faculty and students at post-secondary institutions. They want to see the reinstatement of contact tracing and mandatory quarantine, as well as better compliance measures.
• Lorelei Mullings and Andrea Jenkins are closing out 75 days of healing at Enoch Cree Nation. The two Indigenous women have been grieving the discovery of unmarked graves near former residential school sites and bringing awareness to potential gravesites in Edmonton. They will be in Enoch Cree Nation on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Sept. 30, for one last gathering.
• The city and the Indigenous Knowledge and Wisdom Centre (IKWC) hosted a ground blessing event on Tuesday at kihciy askiy, which means "Sacred Earth" in Cree. The ceremony marked the beginning of construction on the first permanent, urban Indigenous ceremonial site in Canada.
• Alberta's hospitals are nearing the 90% threshold of their surge capacity — meaning they will soon need to start triaging patients for critical care. Meanwhile, Alberta Health Services has temporarily paused mental illness and addiction programs to direct staff and resources to dealing with the influx of COVID-19 patients.

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 for mayor:

• Abdul Malik Chukwudi
• Rick Comrie
• Brian (Breezy) Gregg
• Michael Oshry
• Kim Krushell
• Amarjeet Sohi
• Diana Steele
• Cheryll Watson

We have not yet received finalized surveys from Vanessa Denman, Augustine Marah, or Mike Nickel. We will update the links above when we receive them.

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.

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 from the candidates in Sspomitapi:

• Moe Banga
• Jasbir Singh Gill
• Harman Singh Kandola
• Mukesh Makwana
• Sanjay Malhotra
• Rashpal Sehmby
• Jo-Anne Wright

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.

Have you ever seen a film that left you thinking: "I could have written that, but way better?" That's what Liam Creswick, Gregg Beever, and Scott C. Bourgeois do every two weeks on I Have Some Notes. The podcast examines and endeavours to fix Hollywood's most mediocre movies. Season 7 debuted earlier this month with the added bonus that listeners will now choose all featured blockbusters.

The first episode of the new season reimagined Solo: A Star Wars Story. Returning guest and Quantum Kickflip co-host Robin Slack participated in the rewrite that cut back some "unneeded back story," merged two characters into one, and beefed up Lando Calrissian's love of robots (or droids, to be technical).

I Have Some Notes began in 2016 with a rewrite and recasting of Zack Snyder's Man of Steel. The film, which the show called "flawed, but salvageable," received a 56% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Listeners can vote on a list of movies posted on Twitter ahead of recording. Listen to episodes on the show's website, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

You can listen to podcast picks from Taproot on Listen Notes or Spotify.