The Pulse: March 30, 2023

Sheldon Zhang had never given much thought to the pet-product industry. On the face of it, it seems pretty different from Yardly, the home services company he co-founded in 2015 and sold last summer.

But then he was approached by Eddie Li, the founder and former CEO of Injoya, a Michigan company that creates enrichment toys like snuffle mats for dogs. Li pitched the idea of a business-to-business marketplace for pet products, and that piqued Zhang's interest.

"We decided with his pet-industry experience and my experience in the marketplace, we can build a pet-product marketplace," Zhang told Taproot.

And so the two men founded Preet, an online wholesaler that allows independent brands selling pet supplies to list their products in hopes of grabbing the attention of store owners and groomers across North America.

Li had spent years working in the industry, "witnessing firsthand how inefficient it is" to get products into stores through a combination of trade shows, sales reps, and distributors, Zhang said.

"This is an industry that could benefit from a marketplace in the middle that connects all the pieces," he observed.

There's definitely a need, said Hillary Sweet, co-founder and CEO of Kidney-Chek, an Edmonton-area company that helps pet owners monitor the health of their cats and dogs.

"I think that there's a unique opportunity in this space to really provide a pet-focused, high-end experience for both the manufacturers like myself and then also the retailers," she told Taproot, noting that it's important for it to be user-friendly for the businesses involved.

• The City of Edmonton spent $70,000 in 2022 to make and promote a five-episode podcast about zoning called Making Space to coincide with the Zoning Bylaw Renewal Initiative and the District Planning project. According to Postmedia, each episode was downloaded an average of 1,000 times, but the city did not provide information about how many people listened. Brian Gorman, a MacEwan University journalism professor, said podcasts are "trendy" but questioned the cost, suggesting a CBC Radio segment could reach more people.
• A group called Scona Concerned Citizens has been attracting media attention for gathering 1,000 signatures on a petition against a proposed community health hub at 10119 81 Avenue NW in the Ritchie neighbourhood that would include an overdose prevention site. Elliot Tanti, a spokesperson for Boyle Street Community Services, suggested lots of people in the area "see the situation is getting untenable" or have responded to overdoses themselves, and the facility's goal is to "alleviate the concerns and ultimately lead to outcomes for a community that is really struggling right now." The city informed residents on March 21 that it approved the development permit for the hub. The province still needs to approve Boyle Street's application, but the organization hopes to open the facility by this fall.
• kihcihkaw askî, a multi-use site just south of Fox Drive that was designed for Indigenous community events, ceremonies, sweat lodges, and intergenerational learning, has begun accepting its first visitors. The city's website says landscaping updates at the site will be completed through the spring, with an official grand opening set for summer 2023. Project manager Lewis Cardinal said Edmonton has led the way for five other Canadian cities, including Toronto and Winnipeg, to pursue similar projects.
• A taxi collided with a Valley Line LRT train on March 28 while making an illegal right turn east on 90 Avenue, north of Bonnie Doon Shopping Centre where the track crosses Connors Road. A TransEd spokesperson said right turns have been illegal there since they removed the traffic circle a few years ago, adding the location has a large electronic message board indicating no right turns. In total, the company says there have been six collisions between vehicles and Valley Line trains, all of which involved illegal right turns.
• Kellie Morgan, acting deputy chief of the Edmonton Police Service, said at a news conference the agency has seen an increase in people interested in applying to become police officers since two constables were killed in a March 16 shooting. Morgan suggested the increase "speaks to the people who are now stepping up, who perhaps have had the calling to be a police officer and to have a life of service to the community." Cheryl Voordenhout, an EPS media advisor, said in an email the police service received a marginal rise in interest but that it's impossible to pinpoint the cause.
• The city is looking to partner with an Indigenous-led organization or government to create a culturally appropriate Indigenous-led emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness. Interested parties from across Alberta can express their interest until April 19. Based on the number of applicants, the city may form a design committee of representatives from various organizations or governments.
• The province's cap on electricity bills for Regulated Rate Option (RRO) electricity consumers, which was automatically applied in January as part of the province's Affordability Action Plan, is entering its next phase starting in April. As a result, the 40% of Albertans currently on the RRO will need to pay full price for power in April and begin making deferral payments to cover the difference paid by the province for January, February, and March. The deferral payments, which one EPCOR director said could amount to a total of $200 for an average family, will be repaid over a 21-month period. Joel MacDonald, founder of energyrates.ca, estimates about half of Edmonton residents are on the RRO and recommends switching to a competitive fixed-rate contract to avoid paying deferral fees.
• The Opposition NDP released a video of a roughly 11-minute conversation between Premier Danielle Smith and controversial Calgary street preacher Artur Pawlowski that took place weeks before his trial on Feb. 2 for criminal charges in connection with the 2022 Coutts border blockade over COVID-19 health regulations. In the call, the premier promised to intervene in the situation and said she was reminding prosecutors "almost weekly" about her concerns over pandemic-related prosecutions. NDP justice critic Irfan Sabir reiterated calls for an independent investigation into allegations of judicial interference by Smith and her staff.