EDMONTON — The Alberta International Airshow dazzled crowds estimated by event organizers to have more than 25,000 people Saturday.

“We expected around 13,000 people,” Richard Skermer, event organizer RWE Events president, told CTV News Edmonton in an interview.

“Nothing in our ticket pre-sales indicated this kind of attendance. It exceeded our plans,” Skermer added. “A lot of people decided today that they wanted to see an airshow.”

Organizers said the strong attendance more than doubled previous years attendance.

Skermer said that event staff and volunteers were caught off-guard by the crowds but worked their hardest to accommodate everyone. Anyone who was unable to make it to watch the show on Saturday will be able to visit Sunday using the same tickets.

“We didn’t know what the demand would be coming out of COVID,” he said. “A lot of folks were saying they’re still scared and didn’t want to do these things.

“Turned out there was a lot more pent-up demand than we ever expected.”

Thousands gathered to take in the Alberta Airshow on Aug. 21, 2021 (CTV News Edmonton/Dave Mitchell)

The organizer said he was thrilled with all the acts and heard positive feedback about the aerobatic action.

“It’s been a really great day overall. The flying has been spectacular,” he said. “It’s been a really great show.

“We lost a couple (performers) to Afghanistan but that’s what happens, they are business machines. That’s what they do.”

A United States Air Force A-10 flies as part of a demonstration at the Alberta Airshow on Aug. 21, 2021 (CTV News Edmonton/Dave Mitchell)

Some of the acts on Saturday included a demonstration from the United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt, the Red Devils British Army parachute display, and civilian performers like Yellow Thunder.

The airshow has one more day of action on Sunday. Organizers recommend that fans planning to attend the event arrive early, purchase tickets in advance online, and avoid the traffic circle on Highway 44 in Villeneuve. 

EDMONTON — Police in Edmonton seized more than $117,000 in illegal drugs and cash after a month-long drug trafficking investigation.

In a news release sent Saturday, the Edmonton Police Service said it initiated an investigation into two individuals after receiving tips from the public about suspicious activity involving potential drug deals occurring out of a vehicle in the Brewery District.

On Friday, officers executed a search at a residence in the area of 117 Street and 105 Avenue, as well as a nearby Honda Civic resulting in seizures of drugs and cash.

Police say approximately $40,000 in Canadian cash, 571.5 grams of methamphetamine, and 168.5 grams of cocaine were located.

The drugs are estimated by police to have a street value of about $78,000.

Anthony Deng-Truong, 24, and Alyssa Deng, 20, face charges of possession of proceeds of crime and two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

EDMONTON — Erin O’Toole pledged more financial supports for disabled Canadians and their families by doubling the disability supplement in the Canada Workers Benefit and reducing the number of hours needed to qualify for the disability tax credit.

O’Toole said a conservative government would increase the disability supplement in the Canada Workers Benefit from $713 to $1,500 and reduce the number of hours needed in order to qualify for the disability tax credit and Registered Disability Savings Plan from 14 to 10 hours per week.

“Too often when someone on disability benefits pursues work, it costs them in benefit cuts and higher taxes,” he said. “Our system of federal and provincial benefits should not punish work and make people poorer for choosing to work. We need to empower Canadians with disabilities to pursue their own meaningful participation in the workforce.”

The Conservative Party leader made the announcement at a campaign stop in Edmonton Saturday morning at the Winnifred Stewart Association, an organization focused on building supports for individuals with developmental disabilities.

O’Toole also promised an additional $80 million per year investment into the enabling accessibility fund to grant additional support for small business and community-led project improving accessibility and programs supporting Canadians with disabilities entrance into the workforce.

“The disability community has been advocating for these improvements for years, but their demands have too often been met with lip service from the Trudeau government rather than concrete action,” O’Toole added. “Conservatives are prepared to put our money where our mouth is and provide real, immediate funding to these programs to help Canadians with disabilities.”

While the Conservative platform is yet to be fully costed, O’Toole said the proposed changes would not only increase the amount of money sent to families or people with disabilities but also help more people qualify for federal programs.

“I want more families to qualify for the disability tax credit,” O’Toole added. “After COVID-19 we have to help some of the Canadians that are hurting the most.”

The Conservative leader said he would work collaboratively with provinces and territories to ensure disability benefits offered help support Canadians and their ability to enter the workforce.

“Together, we will secure the future for Canadians with disabilities and their families,” he said.

The Liberals promised to extend disability supports under the federal student loans program in their April budget. 

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh campaigned in Toronto on Saturday. He has previously made general commitments to give Canadians living with a disability a guaranteed livable income.

CALGARY — Canada’s first women’s world hockey championship game in over two years was a hard-fought 5-3 win over Finland, and the battle felt like sweet relief for Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin.

Rookie forward Sarah Fillier scored the third-period game-winner and veteran Brianne Jenner sealed the win with an empty-net goal Friday in Calgary.

“To be honest, it’s hard to put into words, just watching the video before the game on the blue-line and when they said the world championship was finally open, to be honest, it gave me shivers,” Poulin said.

Poulin, Erin Ambrose and Jamie Lee Rattray also scored for the host Canadians, who trailed by two goals after the opening period.

Natalie Spooner and Claire Thompson each had two assists. Ann-Renee Desbiens stopped eight shots for the win.

Minnamari Tuominen, Nelli Laitinen and Elisa Holopainen replied for Finland, with Anni Keisala turning away 39 shots in the loss.

OTHER SCORES

The Czech Republic downed Denmark 6-1 in Pool B earlier Friday as the 10-country women’s championship got underway 859 days after the last one in Espoo, Finland.

The 2020 and 2021 tournaments scheduled for Halifax and Truro, N.S., were both cancelled because of COVID-19 concerns.

When Nova Scotia pulled the plug on the tournament in May, Hockey Canada rescheduled and relocated the tournament to Calgary in summer less than six months out from Beijing’s Winter Olympics in February.

Poulin barely played in Espoo because of a knee injury, so the gap felt even longer for the 30-year-old from Beauceville, Que.

“Bringing back that jersey for an international game was very special today,” Poulin said. “We’ve been waiting for that moment for a long time.”

When Holopainen drew the Finns even at 7:13 of the third period, Fillier scored a go-ahead goal 25 seconds later.

The 21-year-old from Georgetown, Ont., is one of eight players making their world championship debut for Canada in Calgary.

“They’re the types of shifts that we have to win momentum or gain momentum back and usually good players and goal scorers find ways to contribute in those times,” Canadian head coach Troy Ryan said.

“Not only was it a confidence boost builder for her, I thought it was awesome for our team to regain momentum after that tying goal.”

(Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin (29) celebrates her goal with teammates during second period IIHF Women’s World Championship hockey action against Finland in Calgary, Friday, Aug. 20, 2021.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)

Canada didn’t play in a world championship final for the first time in the history of the tournament in 2019 after a 4-2 loss to Finland in the semifinal.

Canada took the bronze medal, while the host Finns fell 2-1 in a shootout to the United States in the gold-medal game in Espoo.

Canada’s 4-1 pre-tournament win Wednesday over Finland was the first meeting between the two countries since that semifinal.

Down 2-0 in Friday’s opener, Canada swarmed the offensive zone for a second-period 25-2 edge in shots, and scored twice in a 20-second span to pull even.

“I don’t think we entered the offensive zone, not even once in the second period,” Tuominen said.

“We just need to focus on getting out of our zone and getting the puck deep and getting changes. Then we get fresh legs on the ice and maybe create something other than just playing d-zone.”

Holopainen pulled the Finns even with a backhand tip between the pads of Desbiens, but Fillier quickly responded when Spooner fed her in the slot from behind the net.

Canada led for the first time in the game early in the third period when Jenner’s redirection deflected off Ambrose and by Keisala.

Poulin wired a wrist shot past Keisala right after Rattray scored at 14:41 during a goal-mouth scramble in the second period.

Finland’s power-play went 0-for-11 in the tune-up, but converted its first chance Friday to spot the visitors a two-goal lead by 6:05 of the opening period.

Tuominen scored five-on-three. Laitinen’s off-speed deflection of a Sofianna Sundelin shot spun by the glove of Desbiens at 2:25.

Finland coach Pasi Mustonen also has eight rookies in his lineup.

“We were better in the first period actually and played a wonderful period,” Mustonen said. “I’m actually quite satisfied with the way we played when you look at the whole game.

“Knowing this wasn’t our best game we will play here in worlds, we will try to play better and better, so it will be interesting to see what happens.”

Canada meets Russia in Pool A on Sunday, followed by Switzerland on Tuesday and the U.S. on Thursday.

The quarterfinals Aug. 28 are followed by the Aug. 30 semifinals and medal games Aug. 31.

Hockey Canada didn’t sell tickets for the preliminary round, but allows a maximum of 120 family members into a dedicated section of WinSport’s Markin MacPhail Centre if they wear masks and don’t have COVID-19 symptoms.

No player, official or team staff member had tested positive for the virus since the 10 teams entered the tournament bubble Aug. 10, the International Ice Hockey Federation said Friday in statement.

Finland is minus star goaltender Noora Raty, whose combined 93 saves in the 2019 semifinal and final earned her the award for the tournament’s top goaltender.

Raty didn’t join the Finnish team this summer because she couldn’t financially afford to leave her Minnesota goaltending school this summer, she told the Finnish media outlet Ilta-Sanomat earlier this month.

Keisala proved able to fill the void with save after save to make Canada work for the victory.

“She’s been the best goalie in Finland the last year,” Mustonen said.

Notes: Rosters were expanded to 25 players from 23 for this world championship for extra personnel in the event of injury . . . Canadian forwards Laura Stacey and Kristin O’Neill and goaltender Kristin Campbell were scratches Friday . . . Finnish defender Jenni Hiirikoski joined Canada’s Hayley Wickenheiser and countrywoman Karoliina Rantamaki for participation in the most world championships at 13. At 69 career games, Hiirikoski is one off the record for the most games played.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2021.

EDMONTON — Alberta’s nurses have been informed they could soon be forced to work mandatory overtime and have holiday time cancelled in response to increasing demand by COVID-19 hospitalizations and staffing shortages.

In an email sent Friday, Alberta Health Services (AHS) told the United Nurses of Alberta that emergency system demand was high across the province, especially in Edmonton and South health zones. The email said pressures in the health care system are being felt due to “increasing occupancy, acuity, and staff absences.”

“Further to our previous notifications that we would be using the emergency provisions of the collective agreements, we want to let you know that the situation has progressed and created additional pressures throughout the healthcare system,” the AHS email read.

David Harrigan, UNA director of labour relations, told CTV News Edmonton that nurses have emergency provisions in their collective agreement that the normal union rules do not apply in extreme situations.

“Basically what they (the emergency provisions) say, is that in an emergency, the normal rules do not apply,” Harrigan explained. “The employer gets to say to a nurse, ‘I know you normally work at this site but starting tomorrow you have to go over there.’”

Those provisions also allow employers to mandate overtime or cancel approved vacation time.

Harrigan said that the emergency provisions were used at the start of the pandemic to move employees from sites with lower admissions to areas needing support.

He added that the nurses union and AHS were in talks earlier this week to end some of the emergency provisions and move staff back to their normal worksites.

“That seems to have changed now,” Harrigan said.

Harrigan said he does not believe the current situation meets the definition of emergency under the collective agreement.

“An emergency is an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action,” the collective agreement reads.

“A situation is not an emergency if it results from a reasonably foreseeable combination of circumstances or if reasonable remedial steps could have been or can still be taken to deal with the circumstances.”

For Harrigan, the demand hospitals are seeing now was foreseen by most health professionals in Alberta, especially as the province dropped public health restrictions and Canada entered the fourth wave of COVID-19.

“What we are saying is this (staffing situation) could’ve been avoided, it was foreseen,” Harrigan said. “We understand why AHS has to do this because there are patients in the hospitals and the system is under stress.”

The union leader said nurses are exhausted and increasingly frustrated.

“The government has been pretending for the last month that everything is fine saying, ‘Don’t worry about it, it’ll be fine. It’ll be the best summer ever,’” Harrigan said.

“It’s not the best summer ever,” he added. “The premier is on vacation but nurses are having their vacations cancelled and this was foreseeable.”

Harrigan said this situation is unprecedented and that despite the government saying staff are taking vacations, one of the top complaints the union has received from members is their inability to take time off.

“It is frustrating when the people in charge don’t admit that there is a problem,” he said.

AHS told CTV News Edmonton in a statement that it is doing all it can to avoid cancelling vacations for employees and implementing the use of mandatory overtime while ensuring safe and quality care is delivered to Alberta patients.

In a blog post on its website, the UNA said it expects to file a grievance and seek damages from AHS for the continued use of emergency provisions.