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Your Weekly Tune Up

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Fall Government of Alberta sessions reconvened October 25

In this fall sitting, the government has already proposed the following notable pieces of legislation:

Updated workplace safety laws

Changes to the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act and revised regulations take effect on Dec. 1. Key changes include:

  • Radiation equipment laws have been transferred from the Radiation Protection Act to the OHS Act and its regulations.
  • The new OHS Act is shorter than the existing act. This is due to eliminating repetition, duplication, simplifying language and moving detailed requirements into regulation.
  • Workers retain their three fundamental rights, which include the right to know of workplace hazards, the right to participate in health and safety matters and the right to refuse dangerous work.
  • “Discriminatory action complaints” are renamed “disciplinary action complaints” to avoid confusion with human rights legislation. Workers may file a complaint with government if they believe they have been disciplined for exercising their rights or responsibilities under OHS laws. Employers still need to prove disciplinary action is not related to compliance with OHS laws.
  • Rules for joint health and safety committees and health and safety representatives have been streamlined and are more flexible.
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Electronic Tax Filing for Businesses | Changes Are Coming!

Beginning January 1, 2022, businesses filing more than five tax slips will be required to file electronically. The My Business Account service offered by the CRA allows businesses to file electronically with instructions. In order to have your EFILE account ready in time for filing season, you should submit your renewal request before December 8, 2021.

Federal cabinet announced

This week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the members of Cabinet following this fall’s election. The new Cabinet consists of the Prime Minister and 38 ministers. In keeping with the precedent set in 2015, there is an equal number of women and men.

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Quick Check Up

Fuelling Our Business Community

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Canadian Chamber launches 2025 Strategic Plan

The Canadian Chamber recently adopted a transformational new strategic plan to help us fuel our business community, not only locally, but across Canada with a vision to become the undisputed champion and catalyst for business success. The Canadian Chamber will be:

  • Expanding our scope, influence and impact to give our members more of what they need to succeed.
  • Launching whole new divisions and offerings that deliver elevated support and value to businesses of all sizes, including best-in-class data and insights, enhanced membership benefits, B2B networking opportunities, international growth boosters and tailor-made solutions for small business.

Stay tuned in and stay informed as we partner at the national level to bring enhanced services to a local level.

The Power of Community

Medicine Hat & District Chamber Launches 2021 Downtown Midnight Madness with Downtown Collective Stakeholders

The Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with a downtown collective group of stakeholders, is pleased to launch Midnight Madness for 2021, taking place November 19 from 4:00 pm to 12:00 midnight. Midnight Madness is a yearly event that usually takes place a week before Black Friday to encourage people to shop early and support the local shops and owners within the downtown core.  Read Full Press Release

Enriching Your Business

Random Acts of Kindness Week November 14

The Community Foundation of Southeastern Alberta (CFSEA) is honored to partner with FCSS and the City of Medicine Hat to facilitate Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Week in the community. As division within the community increases, compassion fatigue continues, and the COVID-19 pandemic prolongs the affects, we are proposing the following: To encourage Random Acts of Kindness within the community and to help make kindness the norm. Our goal with this week-long, city-wide initiative is to enhance the social well-being of others and engage residents to become active members of the community.

CFSEA will be facilitating, promoting and providing resources in partnership with various charities, schools, and businesses. We would love to see every business in the city spread some extra kindness this week and help make kindness the norm in Medicine Hat.

If you have an idea of how your business can be a part of this event or want to be involved but don’t know how please connect with Sydney Ratzlaff at sydney@cfsea.ca or call 403.527.9038.  

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Helping Alberta businesses go digital

Business Link and Digital Main Street™ are delivering the Digital Economy Program on behalf of the government. The ShopHERE powered by Google program allows eligible small businesses to create and operate an online store. Businesses can access help through Digital Main Street to establish an online store and receive training and support to manage it.

Eligible businesses can now apply to the program. To be eligible, businesses must be registered in Alberta and have fewer than 50 employees. More information on the program, including full eligibility details and how to apply, can be found on the Digital Main Street Alberta website.

Labour Market Partnership Program

2021-22 grant funding is now available through the Labour Market Partnership Program to identify, develop and support projects with industry, organizations and community groups with common labour market needs. Objectives are to encourage, support and facilitate workforce planning and labour market adjustments, promote industry/community involvement and community capacity building in order to address labour market needs, develop and promote labour market intelligence and its use in labour market development.

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Alberta Jobs Now Program

The Alberta Jobs Now Program is currently undergoing updates to improve the program for employers. Due to this maintenance, the second application intake period will launch in the coming weeks. Please note, employers who have hired between the first and second application intake periods are able to apply for those new hires in the upcoming application intake period. Check back HERE for information on the next intake.

Now Open For 2021-2022: CAREERS - Youth Internship Incentive Program

Apply now for $1000, $1800, or $3600 cover part-time or fill-time youth internships in trades & technologies. For more information, call Kristi Liboiron at 403-793-5390 or KLiboiron@nextgen.org.

Canada-Alberta Job Grant

Apply for the Canada-Alberta Job Grant and receive funding for third-party training (21 hours to 52 weeks) for new or future employees. You may be able to receive 2/3 of eligible training costs for employees (up to max of $10K) or 100% for unemployed Albertans (up to max of $15K).

Canada Recovery Hiring Program

The Canada Recovery Hiring Program (CRHP) replaced the previous CEWS program which expired on October 23. With CRHP a revenue loss of only 10% is required. Businesses can receive a 50% subsidy of incremental wages compared to the spring of 2021. The government announced an extension to May 7, 2022.

Sickness & Caregiving Benefit

For your employees, the government announced the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit and Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit extensions until May 7, 2022 with the maximum duration of each benefit extended by 2 additional weeks.

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Advocacy in Action

Business Roundtable with Jobs, Economy and Innovation

We were pleased to meet with Minister Schweitzer in a business association roundtable held on October 21. We sent some of our questions to the Ministry to obtain clarification and this is what we heard so far:

  • One tool available to help businesses verify proof of vaccine documents from other provinces is a document that shows samples of proof of vaccination documents developed by other provinces and territories.
  • At this point in time, another round of SMERG is not being considered.  The Government of Alberta is working on a one-time non-refundable taxable benefit of $2,000 to Alberta small and medium-sized discretionary businesses that choose to implement the Restrictions Exemption Program. Application intake is anticipated to open in mid-November, with more details being made publicly available in the coming weeks
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  • Hotels and shopping malls are both out of scope for REP but hotel amenities and food courts are in-scope for REP and are currently treated similarly under REP. Hotels can implement the REP for fitness rooms, pools, game rooms, movie rooms, restaurants and other similar amenities, conference/meeting spaces/halls and rented space.
  • Once the REP is implemented, it must be operated consistently for daily operations and throughout the facility.
    • It is not permitted to have the program operate some days and not others, for certain times during a business day and not others, or in some areas and not others.
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Supporting Farms of the Future

We were pleased to have our policy "Supporting Farms of the Future" adopted by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce at our recent national conference held October 27 and 28. What does this mean for us? It means we now have the strength and leverage of the Canadian Chamber national network behind our policy and recommendations and they will be able to assist us in moving these recommendations forward to the Federal Government. If you are interested in finding out more about our policy priorities visit us online: https://www.medicinehatchamber.com/our-voice/. You can also check out our updated Agribusiness resource page here: https://www.medicinehatchamber.com/agribusiness-resources/

Next Level Events

2021 Leadership Lunch-In (Virtual)

Join us for our annual Leadership Lunch-In bringing together representatives from all levels of government in our region. Connect with us, and our elected leaders, in an open dialogue and capitalize on the chance to influence the conversation. Evolving from the annual Mayor’s Breakfast, we will bring together our MP, MLA’s, Mayors from Medicine Hat, Redcliff and the CAO of Cypress County and Base Commander from CFB Suffield for a town hall style event that will offer our members an opportunity to connect with their elected representatives and gain insight into their activities. In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions on issues that are of importance to them. This event provides an avenue to have an open dialogue with those that are in decision making positions.

Tuesday, November 9th 2021
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

Register Here

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2021 Presidents' Reception, Membership Appreciation and AGM - Virtual

Our Annual General Meeting takes a look back through the past year and learn how the Chamber of Commerce has played a pivotal role in our business community through our advocacy efforts, business engagement and member benefits programs.

Virtual Presidents' Reception, Membership Appreciation and Annual General Meeting
Thursday, November 25th
5:30pm - 8:30pm.

REGISTER HERE

For immediate release!

"Blues at the Bow is incredibly excited to announce that tickets for the COLIN JAMES BLUES TRIO will be on sale starting at 8am on MONDAY,
NOVEMBER 1st!!! We are encouraging everyone to get onto EVENTBRITE then and get tickets before they're gone! Tickets sold out in less than 45
minutes when the original show was announced, and we’re expecting the same again."

"We have been unbelievably fortunate to book the Colin James Blues Trio for a TWO NIGHT event at Blues at the Bow for Tuesday, November
23 AND Wednesday, November 24th!! So, you will now have two dates to choose from to attend this incredible event with the Colin James Blues
Trio!! Refunds will not be provided, unless this show is canceled due to COVID regulation changes made by the Government of Alberta, or a
cancellation by the Colin James Trio."

Blues at the Bow - COLIN JAMES BLUES TRIO
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
AND
Wednesday, November 24, 2021
Doors open 7:00pm, shows start 8:00pm

Get Tickets Here

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Other Resources

Digital self-care: Stay safe online with the ultimate cyber security checkup

MNP Playbook: Everything you need to know to reduce your risk of a cyber breach

Check out the Guided Pathways resource database! This collection of resources has tools and self-study materials for language learning, skills development, career planning, and various other topics.

Diversity and Inclusion YouTube video series

Worried that the Canada Revenue Agency got it wrong? How to dispute a tax decision

Labour Force Survey Highlights – Highlights of the current state of the Alberta labour market (Oct 8/21)

Alberta Labour Market Notes Momentum continues in Alberta’s labour market (Oct 8/21)

Weekly Economic Review

Alberta Economy - Indicators at a Glance

Useful Links

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