Feds, Alta. team up on beef packing

Provincial meat inspectors will work with federal counterparts as part of a new agreement between Alberta Agriculture and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, it was announced late Wednesday.

The move will allow for increased production and help smooth out manpower issues, say both sides.

Federal Ag Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the partnership comprises a contingency plan for inspection services to continue amid COVID-19 restrictions.

“It is critical for Alberta families, our food supply and to our economy that the meat industry operates at its maximum capacity,” said Devin Dreeshen, Alberta Ag minister.

There are 74 federally licensed slaughter, production and storage facilities in Alberta.

Local daycares

Four childcare centres in Medicine Hat are among hundreds across the province which have reopened to provide care for essential public and private sector workers who must remain on the job during the call for restricted access to non-essential businesses.

The centres are restricted to 30 persons at any time, including staff, and will adhere to standards for sanitation.

The province also changed the maximum number of children of clients in day homes to six.

The services should only be accessed for workers in core services, and not at all if other arrangements can be made, or if children of family members are presenting symptoms, according to a government release.

Among an initial list of centres released this week are Nature’s Way, Building Blocks Childcare, Crayon Academy, and Dragons and Butterflies Creative Preschool in Medicine Hat.

Energy regulator

Seven new members have been appointed to the board of the Alberta Energy Regulator, the province announced late Wednesday.

The new chair will be David Goldie, a current interim member of the board that was dismissed en masse last September by the government. Goldie is a former vice-president with Census, Encana and Pan-Canadian Petroleum.

The five-year-terms begin on April 15. Other new members include Georgette Habib, former member of the National Energy Board; Jude Daniels, lawyer; Gary Leach, formerly of the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada; Tracey McCrimmon, an industry association executive; Corrina Bryson, a current board member with Emissions Reduction Alberta and the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission; and Beverly Yee, a deputy minister of Environment and Parks.

Sask. cases rise

Health officials in Saskatchewan confirmed that 13 new cases of COVID-19 were added on Thursday, bringing the province’s total to 206, of which 36 have recovered.

Half the cases are in the Saskatoon Health Region (103), followed by Regina (44), Central (nine), South (nine) and far North (three). The province had conducted 11,935 tests. Three people have died in that province of the disease.