Red Deer Minute: Valentine’s Day, Business Returns, and Vaccine Passport Dead

Red Deer Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Red Deer politics

This Week In Red Deer:

• We’d like to wish all of our readers, including those down at City Hall, a wonderful Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately for us, Council is once again breaking our hearts with another slow week. There is just one single meeting this week.
  
  
• There will be a regular City Council Meeting today at 10:00 am. At this meeting, Council will discuss a Free Parking Meter Bag Program, the E-Scooter pilot program, and several bylaw amendments. These amendments include one that will see the 'Rezoning of 6798 52 Avenue from I1 Industrial (Business Service) District to IC Industrial/Commercial (Mixed Use) District'.
  
  
• Rules requiring students ages 12 and younger to wear masks are set to expire today. The news follows the Province's announcement last week that we are entering into the first phase of their reopening strategy. Do you plan on sending your children to school with or without a mask?

Last Week In Red Deer:

• The Restrictions Exemption Program officially ended last week as part one of the Province’s greater plan to return to normal. Premier Jason Kenney said his “careful” and “prudent” plan lays out a path to “move on from a widespread pandemic response, to get our lives back to normal”.
  
  
• The Executive Director of the Red Deer Dream Centre says its grand opening will be delayed by a couple of months but expects the Centre to officially open its doors before June. The Centre occupies what was formerly Lotus nightclub, and is a Christian-based addictions treatment facility.
  
  
• Many Red Deer restaurants can breathe a sigh of relief after a significant uptick in business has been noticed thanks to the lifting of proof of vaccination requirements. The news is most certainly welcomed by many local businesses who have felt the pressure of COVID-19 restrictions over the last couple of years.

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