EDMONTON – While some businesses are relieved the federal government is continuing critical assistance programs, others are disappointed and confused by the new subsidies.

The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy expired Saturday, but Ottawa announced a new set of relief measures to continue supporting small businesses.

The new Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program targets the tourism industry, restaurants and bars. They are eligible to receive a subsidy rate of up to 75 per cent.

Another funding stream is available for any business that can prove it lost at least 40 per cent of its regular revenue due to COVID-19.

Different types of businesses fit within funding brackets, ranging from a subsidy of up to 50 per cent down to just 10 per cent.

It’s left Shara Vigeant, owner of SVPT Fitness and Athletics, and other business operators wondering where they fit in and why their losses aren’t covered to the same extent as others.

Gyms currently fit into the 10 per cent funding bracket, Vigeant told CTV News Edmonton.

But the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) says arts, culture, events-based and fitness sectors were only closed in Alberta 50 days less than restaurants.

“I don’t understand how they make the decisions on which industry is more deserving than the other,” Vigeant said. “We all deserve and need the help.

“It kinda leaves us in the dark and out in the cold,” she added. “We don’t qualify for the industries that are still being covered at 50 per cent.”

Vigeant said the federal programs were one of the only certainty she had during the pandemic as restrictions changed and waves of cases came and went.

“(The pandemic) has been an emotional rollercoaster,” she added. “Recovery is on our mind as we are trying to dig out of the fourth wave.

“Every bit helps.”

She described how the turf floor of her gym needs replacing because of all the sanitizing. Now she doesn’t know if she should replace it or save her money in case more restrictions come.

“There are so many what-ifs, what if, what if, what’s going to happen next. You can’t plan for anything,” Vigeant said.

Annie Dormuth, CFIB director of provincial affairs, told CTV News that many businesses think the threshold of money lost during the pandemic is too high or that the programs are unclear.

“It’s quite unclear about the definitions or what they will be using to define these businesses to fit into either of these funding streams,” Dormuth said. “(All of them) face just the same great uphill battle as hospitality and tourism to get back to economic recovery.”

The CFIB launched a petition to push the government to change the funding supports so that more small businesses qualify, saying “it is way too soon to end critical business supports” and that “small businesses are still at risk.”

Until Vigeant gets more answers she hopes to stay open as long as possible.

“We’ve been locked down three times with a lot of ups and a lot of downs,” she said. “Now, we just are trying to figure out if we’ll ever recover.”

EDMONTON – Residents of a central Edmonton apartment building were evacuated Saturday after a massive fire damaged the complex and sent one person to hospital.

Edmonton Fire Rescue Services (EFRS) told CTV News that the initial call reporting the blaze at a four-storey complex at 106 Avenue and 86 Street came in shortly after 2 a.m.

Eight crews arrived minutes later and found a fire involving the building and a vehicle parked below it.

Flames were brought under control at 2:50 a.m., firefighters said. The fire was declared out at 6:06 a.m.

One person was taken to hospital. Their condition is not known at this time.

According to EFRS, the building was evacuated and displaced residents were helped by the emergency support response team.

LAS VEGAS – Zack Kassian scored a tiebreaking goal in the third period and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Vegas Golden Knights 5-3 on Friday night.

Edmonton stretched its season-opening win streak to five games. Vegas (1-3-0) lost its third straight.

Zach Hyman scored twice and Leon Draisaitl added a goal for the Oilers. Mikko Koskinen made 36 saves.

Nic Roy, Nolan Patrick, and Nic Hague scored for the Golden Knights. Robin Lehner made 28 saves.

Shortly after Vegas tied the game early in the third period, Kassian answered by taking advantage of a turnover in the neutral zone. He froze Lehner in the crease and slipped the puck through the goalie’s pads to put Edmonton ahead to stay.

Edmonton, which was playing the second of back-to-back games and for the third time in four nights, has outscored its opponents, 24-13. The Oilers’ plus-11 goal differential is tied with Florida for best in the league.

Meanwhile, the Golden Knights were 0 for 3 on the power play and are 0 for 9 this season. Vegas is in an 0-for-26 drought with a man advantage, dating to June 6, which was Game 4 of the second round of last year’s playoffs.

Vegas, missing top-line forwards Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty, struck first when Roy got his stick on defenseman Zach Whitecloud’s shot from the point, redirecting it past Koskinen.

Edmonton tied it five minutes later on a power play when Connor McDavid took a pass, skated through the slot and drew Lehner out of the crease to his right. After McDavid tried shuffling the puck through heavy traffic, it deflected off Hyman’s right skate and just over the goal line to make it 1-1.

Patrick got his first goal as a Golden Knight when he redirected Dylan Coghlan’s shot from the blue line, putting Vegas back on top.

Hyman picked up his second goal of the game, and fifth of the season, when he one-timed a pass from McDavid, who gathered the puck from the end board and fed his linemate from behind the net.

Moments later, Draisaitl notched his third goal of the season when he sent a pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins past Lehner, giving Edmonton its first lead of the game.

Hague tied the game for Vegas when his blast from the blue line got through traffic and past Koskinen into the lower corner.

OTTAWA — For Blake Desjarlais, becoming an MP wasn’t something he thought he’d pursue. But now, after connecting with the NDP ahead of the 2021 federal election, he’s made history as Canada’s first openly two-spirit member of Parliament.

The 27-year-old won his riding of Edmonton Griesbach, Alta. with 40.5 per cent of the vote, unseating Conservative incumbent Kerry Diotte after a tight race to the finish line. Now, he’s got high hopes and aspirations for what he can bring to Ottawa as a young Metis person.

“I want to leave a mark,” he said in a recent interview with CTVNews.ca.

Desjarlais is one of 50 rookie MPs elected in the 2021 federal election. CTVNews.ca is profiling five—one from each party with a seat in the Commons— in the lead-up to the first sitting day of the 44th Parliament.

Fluent in Cree, Desjarlais grew up at the Fishing Lake Metis Settlement in Alberta, one of eight remaining Metis settlements left in Canada.

He lived there with his aunt Grace, who adopted Blake after his biological mother Brenda— a survivor of the ’60s Scoop supporting herself as a sex worker in Edmonton—surrendered him.

“She saved my life,” Desjarlais said.

He moved back to Edmonton after high school, to study architecture at MacEwan University. While there, Desjarlais said he faced racism and discrimination for who he was.

It was a decade ago, he said.

“People weren’t talking about residential schools like they are today. They weren’t talking about some of the issues like systemic racism that are so prevalent in our experience in this world, then,” he said.

So he left, enrolling then at the University of Victoria, where he completed his studies, focusing on Indigenous and political affairs. In 2016, he was appointed the national director for the Metis Settlements General Council, a role in which he was engaged in negotiations with the federal government over the last five years.

“I never really thought I’d see myself running in federal politics,” he said, adding that he had considered maybe running for an Indigenous leadership role, because in past interactions with other parties, he got the impression there was always a feeling of politicians reaching out to Indigenous or queer people in order to help them fulfill their mandates.

“They would often come to us with what they wanted to see us do,” Desjarlais said.

But then he met with the federal NDP and their approach was different, he said.

“They didn’t ask the questions of how we could serve their purpose… They just said: ‘We’re interested in helping people, we’re interested in making sure people who are champions in the community have the tools they need to make sure that they feel represented’… They recognized me as a whole person with expertise in a vast variety of sectors,” said Desjarlais.

During the campaign, he had help from someone who knew well what it was like to run in that riding, and against Diotte: Janis Irwin, an Alberta MLA and federal candidate for the NDP in 2015.

“When I heard that Blake was first interested, I was just really excited,” she told CTVNews.ca

During the 36-day campaign, the appetite for change was strong at the doors, Irwin said. Between weak support for the Liberals, anger at the Conservatives both federally and provincially, and enough of an interest in the People’s Party of Canada to siphon off votes, the New Democrats liked their chances.

That Diotte was one of the 62 Conservative MPs who voted against the proposed conversion therapy ban in the last Parliament may have also been a factor, with Irwin noting there is a “strong, growing queer and trans community,” in the region.

“I don’t know if I saw the day where, you know, me, the sole openly queer MLA, would be represented by my MP who’s the sole two-spirit federal member… That alone is pretty, pretty incredible,” Irwin said. “Just think about that young, two-spirit kid who sees Blake in a position like that, and how meaningful it is.”

Heading into the new Parliament, Desjarlais is aware of the pressures that may be put on him as a voice for several underrepresented groups, including progressives in Alberta.

“This often blue blanket that Alberta has been covered in has a few holes, and I really hope to try to funnel as much of that other perspective out that hole as I can,” he said.

“I want to play the best role I can do for helping people, and the boundaries of Edmonton-Griesbach aren’t exclusive to that help… Even if you’re an Indigenous person or person of color, or queer, you can come to us and I’m going to make sure that we help advocate for you too,” he said.

Following the party’s first post-election caucus meeting, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced that Desjarlais will be a part of his House leadership team, taking on the role of deputy caucus chair. He said it’s his goal in that position to make his caucus feels their voices, and the voices of their constituents are heard.

EDMONTON – The Alberta government plans a busy fall legislature sitting aimed at adding jobs and diversifying the economy while focusing on tamping down the renewed surge of COVID-19.

Government house leader Jason Nixon says this will include proposed legislation on recognizing professional credentials to address labour shortages. The bill will be introduced by Premier Jason Kenney.

“Our focus will be on Alberta’s workforce, a couple of bills around diversifying the economy, a big focus on building infrastructure for our future, (and) growing our resources, particularly on the energy side,” Nixon said in an interview Friday.

There will also be new initiatives on environmental protection and conservation.

Nixon said there will be 18 to 20 bills for the sitting, which begins Monday and is scheduled to run to the first week of December.

“It’s a very robust fall agenda,” he said.

Nixon said the government will continue to take steps to reduce COVID-19 cases, which have severely stressed the health system.

No COVID-19-specific bills are planned, he said, noting they were passed in previous sittings.

“There’s certainly other stuff to be done to manage the pandemic … but we’ll stand ready if Alberta Health needs us to pass any legislation to deal with the pandemic.”

He said debate in the chamber is expected to return to some semblance of normalcy.

In the spring sitting, both the United Conservative government and the Opposition NDP reduced their numbers in the chamber to prevent the spread of the virus.

This time, with all NDP members and all but one on the UCP side vaccinated, all will be allowed back in for debate.

The lone UCP member has a medical exemption and will be tested regularly, said Nixon.

He said there are still masking rules and members will try to maintain distancing where possible.

The NDP said it plans to hold the government accountable for what went disastrously wrong on COVID-19.

“This fall sitting of the legislature will be laser-focused on getting answers from the UCP on why they’ve failed Albertans so miserably in managing the devastating fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Christina Gray, the NDP house leader.

“Since July 15, more than 85,000 additional Albertans have been infected with the virus and 700 have died.”

Gray said the NDP will call for an all-party inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic with the power to compel documents and testimony.

Nixon said the government will not agree to such a motion. He said it would be wrong to redeploy vital health resources right now and that Kenney has promised an eventual review of how the province handled the pandemic.

Kenney has also promised to bring forward a motion to ratify and act on the results of Monday’s provincewide referendum on Canada’s equalization program.

Final results aren’t in from Edmonton, but figures from Calgary and other cities suggest the referendum will pass with about 60 per cent in support of urging the federal government to remove the principle of equalization from the Constitution.

Kenney has said the issue is not about removing equalization, something no province can do unilaterally, but about getting leverage to negotiate other issues surrounding federal transfers to attain a better deal with Ottawa.

Political scientist Jared Wesley said Kenney will likely continue to focus on initiatives such as the equalization referendum, if only to change the narrative on his low popularity ratings.

“The premier will be spending most of his time, if he has anything to say about it, outside the province, stumping for this fair deal,” said Wesley, with the University of Alberta.

COVID-19 numbers have been trending down in recent weeks. But Kenney and Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health, say the situation remains precarious.

On Friday, there were just over 10,000 active COVID-19 cases in Alberta. And there were 191 COVID-19 patients in intensive care.

Alberta’s fourth wave troubles began after Kenney lifted almost all COVID-19 related health restrictions as of July 1, boasting that the pandemic had moved to the “endemic” phase and there was no need to plan for a renewed case surge.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2021.