EDMONTON — One day after Premier Jason Kenney announced Albertans would have the opportunity to answer two referendum questions in the upcoming municipal elections – the move is drawing criticism from political pundits in the province.

Kenney announced the issue of daylight saving time (DST) would join his government’s previously announced question of the fairness of equalization payments in October.

“It is clear that Albertans are passionate about this and a change on this matter should not be taken lightly,” he said during the Thursday news conference. “How Albertans calculate time affects nearly every one of us including those outside our border.”

But, one political scientist from Calgary’s Mount Royal University told CTV News Edmonton the question on DST seems “out of place.”

“I think they’re throwing it into the mix on a deliberate basis,” said Duane Bratt. “They’re hoping it will draw more people to the polls, which will give a higher turnout, in that they hope that equalization referendum passes and now passes with a higher voter turnout.”  

According to Service Alberta, in 2019, 141,000 Albertans were surveyed on the question of DST. Ninety-one per cent of them said the practice of changing Alberta’s clocks twice a year should end.

One public engagement specialist told CTV News Edmonton that data should make the referendum question obsolete.

“The government has already done due diligence on this issue,” Chris Henderson said. “We elect a representative government to make these decisions for us. They have ample information about it, not only about the impacts of it but also our opinion on it.

“We don’t need to go to a non-binding provincial referendum. It’s a waste of everyone’s time and it’s a waste of money.”

‘THE POTENTIAL TO DISTRACT FROM MUNICIPAL ISSUES’

The president of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) and mayor of the City of Brooks Barry Morishita told CTV News Edmonton the added decisions Albertans are being asked to make are too much.

“I think the conversation around them has the potential to distract from municipal issues,” the AUMA president said. 

“We have a lot of big decisions to make and choosing your leadership, from councillors to mayors, is an important job and we should be taking the time to explore those as fully as we can.”

“Rather than having a conversation about municipal budgets and service levels we’re going to talk about daylight saving time and equalization payments.”

The other issue, according to Morishita, is the burden of running the referendums in conjunction with the municipal elections.

The province has committed $10 million to help fund that burden, but Morishita said that won’t be enough.

“The 52 summer villages who are holding their elections right now, or have held them just recently, all of those ballots are going to have to be dealt with by other communities.”

Morishita said AUMA asked the province not to link referendum questions to the municipal election.   

“We asked them to consider running them in conjunction with the (provincial election), or some other way, and they refused to do that.”

In a written statement to CTV News Edmonton, press secretary for Alberta Municipal Affairs Charlotte Taillon said: “The number of referenda questions does not impact the grant funding allocated to municipalities and does not impact the municipal costs of conducting the votes.

“Holding the provincial referendum vote in conjunction with municipal votes is not only convenient for Albertans, it saves on the cost of running a separate voting process.” 

‘IT’S ESSENTIAL WE KEEP LOCAL ELECTIONS FOCUSED ON LOCAL ISSUES’

Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson released a statement on Thursday that stressed the importance of staying focused on economic recovery and jobs when voting for municipal leaders in October.

“This election is about rebuilding post-pandemic Edmonton,” the statement read in part. 

“Edmontonians are savvy voters. When they go to the polls in October, I believe they will not be distracted; they will instead thoughtfully consider the votes that matter — votes that have actual meaningful consequences for their daily lives.” 

Albertans will head to the polls to vote for their preferred councillors, mayors, and now senators as well as equalization and DST opinions on Oct. 18. 

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Dan Grummett 

EDMONTON — Alberta reported 41 new cases of COVID-19 Friday as the province nears 75 per cent of its eligible population having had a first shot of vaccine. 

Alberta administered 3,400 first doses yesterday and about 28,200 second doses. About 74.5 per cent of eligible Albertans have now had a first shot and 57.9 per cent have had a second.

At least 35 per cent of each age group has now had a second shot. 

Active cases rose slightly for a second straight day, up 12 to 579, but future data updates may lower both of those figures.

Two more Albertans were reported to have died due to COVID-19, bringing the province’s death toll up to 2,314.

There are 110 COVID-19 patients in hospital including 28 in intensive care units. 

The province recorded a 0.82 per cent test positivity based on 6,400 tests. It’s the 12th straight day the test positivity value has been under 1 per cent. 

The next data update is scheduled for Monday.

EDMONTON — A man is facing multiple charges after police say he threw a mother to the ground outside an Edmonton daycare before repeatedly smashing her head against the sidewalk and choking her to the point of unconsciousness. 

Police say the 39-year-old woman was picking up three of her children from the Seven Stones Daycare near 111 Street and 105 Avenue on Wednesday afternoon.

While she waiting for the building’s door to be unlocked, a man tried to pull a backpack off of her shoulders and reach inside, according to police. 

He then threw her to the ground, slammed her head on the pavement and began choking her, according to police.

“Another two minutes and we may have been talking about a homicide today,” said Insp. Erik Johnson. 

“The incident in itself is extremely disturbing and was exacerbated by the fact two of her young children watched the entire incident through the front door of the daycare.”

The suspect was arrested while sitting on top of the woman and attempting to strangle her, according to police.

Officers say they were in the area attending a different call regarding the same suspect after reports of a man trying to break into a truck about a block away from the daycare.

Police say the man told officers he was high on methamphetamine at the time.

“It was a crime of opportunity,” Johnson said.

Rockie Rabbit, 30, is charged with aggravated assault, choking to overcome resistance, robbery and breach of conditions.

The mother was taken to hospital and has since been released.

EDMONTON — As COVID-19 cases continue to remain low and the days of public health restrictions fade away, more events in Edmonton are being locked in.

From international sporting events, a new comedy festival, and other time-honoured local staples like Taste of Edmonton, The Fringe, and Heritage Days, the lack of restrictions in Alberta are attracting events back to the city.

The world’s best rugby players from 12 of the top rugby nations will come to Edmonton this September.

Edmonton will replace London, England on the World Rugby Sevens Series world tour, joining other cities like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Vancouver, the tour’s other Canadian stop.

Alberta’s reopening plan and lack of current restrictions helped attract the event, as other cities around the world were unable to commit, Garth Rees from Rugby Canada told CTV News Edmonton.

“With COVID there was a lot of uncertainty around some other cities around the world,” Rees said. “Edmonton was ready to receive us.”

Rees said the event organizers are excited to come back to Commonwealth Stadium. The Women’s Rugby World Cup was hosted at the stadium in 2006.

“I do know we can fit a lot of people in this stadium and we’re looking forward to it,” Rees said.

Another international sporting event was attracted to the city as well.

On Wednesday, it was announced that a Tour de France sponsored cycling event – L’Etape – is coming to the city in August 2022.

Janelle Janis, Edmonton Events director, told CTV News that two international sporting events being announced in one week is a good trend for Edmonton, one she hopes continues to grow.

“Sport tourism is a $6.8 billion industry and the fastest growing segment within the tourism industry,” Janis said. “We want a bigger slice of that pie in Edmonton.

“We’re putting more resources behind event attraction so we can help recover our visitor economy, but also give Edmontonians more of those remarkable events they’ve been missing out on the last year and a half.”

Explore Edmonton reported 6.3 million visitors to Edmonton in 2019, with over $1.7 billion spent. The pandemic dropped the number of visitors to 300 million and the group projects it could take up to five years to match pre-pandemic levels of tourism income again.

For Janis, there is hope on the horizon.

“It’s busier than ever,” she said. “It’s everything we’ve been waiting for.”

EDMONTON — The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) says general support services workers were presented with a four per cent wage cut by Alberta Health Services (AHS) at the bargaining table.

In a statement, the union said the four per cent wage cut was presented to the bargaining team Thursday. According to AUPE, the wage cut would be applied immediately once the agreement is ratified and that general support services staff would have three years of zero per cent wage increases.

General support services staff work in cleaning and environmental services, food services, laundry, lab work, supply chain and purchasing, long-term care, and protective services.

“It is indecent and obscene,” said Susan Slade, AUPE vice president for the south region, in a statement.

“Everyone knows Premier Kenney and Health Minister Shandro have no respect for front-line health care workers, even after everything they’ve done for us during the pandemic, and here we see AHS following their orders to add insult to injury,” Slade added.

Slade told CTV News Edmonton in an interview that general support services workers are often the lowest paid AHS employees and usually work multiple jobs since they frequently are scheduled for part-time or casual shifts.

“Asking the lowest-paid employees of the health care system to take a rollback is shameful, to begin with,” she shared. “These are the people who run the hospitals.

“Myself as an LPN, I can’t do my job without general support services. It’s impossible. That is the backbone of the health care system.” 

Negotiations for general support services workers were suspended twice by AHS due to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite AUPE wanting to go ahead with the bargaining process.

AHS initially proposed a one per cent wage cut in February last year. Their collective agreement expired on March 31, 2020.

CTV News Edmonton reached out to both AHS and Treasury Board and Finance.

The province proposed a three per cent wage reduction for Alberta nurses last week when it resumed collective agreement negotiations.