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1 million Albertans to receive affordability payments 

More than one million Albertans are enrolled and scheduled to receive their first of six $100 affordability payments, representing $96 million in inflation relief. Find out more. 

Of the one million Albertans currently receiving payments, 300,000 were auto-enrolled and more than 700,000 applied through the portal. More than 650,000 who applied through the portal have received their first payment, with the rest to receive their first payment in the coming days.

Canada's health care system 

On February 7, 2023, the Government of Canada announced it will increase health funding to provinces and territories. This funding includes the following elements: 

  • An immediate, unconditional $2 billion Canada Health Transfer (CHT) top-up to address immediate pressures on the health care system, especially in pediatric hospitals and emergency rooms, and long wait times for surgeries. This builds on previous CHT top-ups that total $6.5 billion provided throughout the pandemic. 
  • A 5 per cent CHT guarantee for the next five years, which will be provided through annual top-up payments as required. This is projected to provide an additional $17.3 billion over 10 years in new support. The last top-up payment will be rolled into the CHT base at the end of the five years to ensure a permanent funding increase, providing certainty and sustainability to provinces and territories. With this guarantee, the CHT is projected to grow by 33 per cent over the next five years, and 61 per cent over the next 10 years. 
  • $25 billion over 10 years to advance shared health priorities through tailored bilateral agreements that will support the needs of people in each province and territory in four areas of shared priority: 
  • family health services
  • health workers and backlogs
  • mental health and substance use
  • a modernized health system

Associated Links 

Photo by Matheus Ferrero
Photo by Matheus Ferrero
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Capitalizing on value-added agriculture 

Budget 2023 will introduce the Alberta Agri-Processing Investment Tax Credit to provide a 12 percent non-refundable tax credit to support this growth and attract investment. To be eligible, corporations must make a minimum capital investment of $10 million in value-added agri-processing in Alberta. The food manufacturing sector was the largest manufacturing industry in Alberta, accounting for 23.8 percent of total provincial manufacturing sales in 2021. Learn more. 

Advocacy in Action

Labour Force Statistics January 2023

Alberta’s unemployment rate was up by 0.4 percentage points in January as the labour force grew by 33,200 persons while the number of employed rose by 20,700.The unemployment rate in the province at 6.0% exceeds the national rate of 5.0%. Read More.

Between January 2022 and January 2023, employment increased by 99,400. The number of unemployed Albertans decreased by 15,100 over the same period.

Labour Force

Next Level Events

Event Cover

The Conference

The Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce is bringing a large-scale professional development conference to Southern Alberta. Hosting a panel of speakers that present new concepts and ideas that Medicine Hat has never seen before. This event will not only be an amazing learning opportunity but also will attract business owners from all over the province. 'The Conference' is going to feature a wide variety of speakers including topics of interest such as economic development, operational strategies, marketing, leadership, and motivation. 'The Conference' is perfect for long-term business owners looking to grow on a wide scale.

This "new to" Medicine Hat Event looks to bridge the gap of learning opportunities within an ecosystem presented to professionals within and outside of the city. 'The Conference' will begin early on Thursday, May 25th, and extend into the afternoon of Friday, May 26th.

Get your event passport here

The Social Event of the Year is back!

Medicine Hat Chamber of Commerce is proud to present the 2023 Award Winning Alberta Food & Beverage Expo

The Alberta Food & Beverage Expo is excited to be working with the Chamber of Commerce this year to help support and grow the hospitality industry within Medicine Hat. This show brings positive economic impact to the community and creates awareness to the local businesses that we love to support.

Lastly, we are very excited to work with the Medicine Hat Firefighter Charity Association once again as our official charity sponsor.

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If you are interested in becoming an exhibitor Medicine Hat Chamber of Commerce has negotiated discount rates with the Alberta Food & Beverage Expo for their members. For more information call Brittany at 403-360-7734 or email info@eatdrinkalberta.com

If you would like to attend the social event of the year the event goes live Saturday February 25, 2023, at Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede Grounds, Doors open at 4:00pm.

Tickets on sale now: https://eatdrinkalberta.getfusiontickets.com/events/11260

IRCC-Virtual-Learning-Series-2023

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will be offering a free virtual learning series for employers. The goal of this 8-week series is to help employers learn more about Canada’s economic immigration programs. Each week will feature a new topic and provide employers with an opportunity to ask questions. Employers may choose to attend one or all of the sessions based on their interest and needs. Check out the series that starts February 22, 2023 here: https://canada.webex.com/webappng/sites/canada/webinar/webinarSeries/register/beee28890226405d9738c7abf4d653f2  

Resources for employers: Learn about the wide variety of resources for employers and how they can support you in hiring and retaining foreign talent.  

Recruiting of global talent: This session will provide clarity on how you can begin your search for global talent, including IRCCs recruitment services such as Destination Canada Mobility Forum and Job Bank. 

Work permits – Temporary Foreign Worker Program: This session will walk you through the process involved in hiring global talent through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program including labour market impact assessments and employer obligations. 

Work permits – International Mobility Program: This session will cover how employers can hire global talent through the International Mobility Program and will include topics on labour market impact assessment exemptions, the International Mobility Workers Unit, the Employer Portal and employer obligations. 

Global Skills Strategy: This session will cover the four pillars of this strategy including faster application processing times, work permit exemptions and Dedicated Service Channel. 

Francophone immigration: This session will provide information on Francophone Mobility and opportunities for additional points through Express Entry. 

Permanent residence pathways:  Learn how to support your temporary foreign workers in their application for permanent residence. In this session, you will learn about Express Entry, the Atlantic Immigration Program and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot Program. 

Read More.

Top Boarder-Web

Our Home & Leisure Tradeshow is back! March 3rd, 4th, & 5th of 2023

Booth registration is still open for our 2023 Home & Leisure Show! We will be running a FULL SHOW meaning we will be utilizing all 3 areas of the Cypress Centre as well as returning to our original date of the first weekend of March. Our tradeshow booths are always a high demand so please consider registering sooner rather than later to get the best spaces available as they fill quickly!

Chamber members receive -10% off their booth registration! Register Here. This year we have included amazing package add-ons for your booths like on site PSA Announcements, Social Media Packages, and even custom Drone videos of your booth to be used as promo for the weekend!

Looking to get involved in a different way? Perhaps sponsorship is the way to go!

In addition to exhibitors, we are looking for several sponsors. We have a lot of amazing sponsorship opportunities as it takes a big team to put on such a large-scale and well attended event. We would like to extend these offers out to our membership first, then to the public. By sponsoring you can receive amazing benefits such as, logo recognition on event marketing, at the event, ads in our show guides, complimentary show tickets, and the opportunity to hang your own banners in the show, and in our exclusive Exhibitor Lounge. View Sponsorship Opportunities!

Enriching Your Business

Lunch & Learn (1)

Chamber Group Insurance Plan Lunch and Learn

Don’t miss out…..Register Here

Chambers Plan Lunch and Learn Event will be held at Brightan Financial Strategies Inc - #3, 1335 Trans Canada Way SE, Wednesday, March 22, 2023, from 12:00-1:00 pm.

Is your small or medium-sized business currently looking into a Group Health & Dental Benefits program? Or perhaps you are already enrolled in one but would like to research all of your options?

Are you experiencing rate fluctuations with your current carrier?  If so, then this session is for you!

Come enjoy lunch with us and learn about the Chambers Employee Plan - the #1 Plan in Canada for Small Business.

We'll have you in and out in an hour! Limited seating so register early!

Hosted by: JoAnne Letkeman, Advisor, Brightan Financial Strategies Inc.

Fuelling the Business Community

Allstate Insurance

Allstate Canada has provided peace of mind and property and causalty insurance to Canadians since 1953. We are pleased to host Allstate in Booth #195 for this year's Tradeshow, be sure to visit them over the March 3-5 weekend, see you there!

Booth registration is still open for our 2023 Home & Leisure Show! We will be running a FULL SHOW meaning we will be utilizing all 3 areas of the Cypress Centre as well as returning to our original date of the first weekend of March. Our tradeshow booths are always a high demand so please consider registering sooner rather than later to get the best spaces available as they fill quickly!

Chamber members receive -10% off their booth registration! Register Here. This year we have included amazing package add-ons for your booths like on site PSA Announcements, Social Media Packages, and even custom Drone videos of your booth to be used as promo for the weekend!

Allstate
Career Expo 1
Career Expo 2

Alberta Business Awards of Distinction Nominations Open 

Do you know of a local business that deserves recognition, or are you a business that wants to celebrate your achievements? Nominate a deserving business or submit your application for the 2023 Alberta Business Awards of Distinction by March 6 or nominate for both the Alberta Business Awards and our local Business Awards that take place in October. 

Nominate a Local Business for the Alberta Business Awards 

Nominate a Local Business for the Medicine Hat & District Chamber Business Awards 

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Fill Up On Funding

Worker

Canada-Alberta Job Grant

Eligible employers can get government funding to help employees and unemployed Albertans access training opportunities. The Canada-Alberta Job Grant is a training program where an employer applies on behalf of their present or future employees for eligible training costs. Employers decide who gets training and what type of training may be needed for their employees. Eligible employers are required to contribute a minimum of one-third of the total training costs for existing employees. Government contributes two-thirds of the cost to a maximum of $10,000 per trainee per fiscal year. If hiring and training an unemployed Albertan, up to 100% of training costs could be covered, up to $15,000 per trainee.

Learn more here

Other Events

Pitch Your Business | Multi-session Training Feb 11 – 25 

Rural Investor Education Series | Training Sessions Feb 13 – 16   

Financial Feminism Investing Lab | Next Cohort Starts on March 27 

Applied Data Science Lab for SMEs | The Early Consideration Deadline is February 10 

Canadian Hydrogen Convention Edmonton | April 25 - 27, 2023 

Carbon Capture Canada Edmonton | September 12-14, 2023

Useful Links

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