Council approved changes to the Riverside Area Structure Plan last Monday.
The new ASP sees the school site relocated to the north of McKenney Avenue on a portion of land measuring 4.18 hectares. During a presentation to council in March, the developer, Genstar, indicated that the school site would be safer and bigger than the 3.44-hectare site originally slated to be built next to the arterial road.
Phasing for the school site will happen later than anticipated. The full build out is estimated to take 12 to 15 years.
A new commercial development is expected to bring a grocery store and other small retailers to the community.
Last year the total number of Canadians receiving EI increased by 7.1 per cent, or 35,900 people, according to the latest Statistics Canada data released Thursday. The total number of Canadians claiming EI in January of 2016 was 543,100.
The largest year-over-year increase was seen in Alberta. The number of beneficiaries was up by 91 per cent, when comparing January statistics. The province counted 63,800 people claiming EI in January 2016.
In Edmonton, where unemployed workers were snubbed by the Liberal budget, 21,240 claimants received benefits in January, up 81.7 per cent from January 2015.
In Calgary, where workers do qualify for an additional five weeks of benefits or 20 weeks for long-tenured workers, numbers are comparable. There were 21,100 Calgarians claiming EI in January, up 97.8 per cent year-over-year.
The federal budget, released last Tuesday, brought about many changes to the government’s EI program.
Claimants will receive benefits faster, through proposed legislative changes that would see the wait period reduced from two weeks to one, starting next January.
Beginning in July, new entrants and re-entrants will no longer have to meet higher eligibility requirements. Instead of accumulating at least 910 hours of insurable employment before being eligible to claim EI, claimants in the Edmonton region will be eligible at 665 hours over the past 52 weeks.
The Liberals have proposed an extension to the maximum duration of Work-Sharing agreements from 38 weeks to 76 weeks. Work sharing allows employers to avoid layoffs when there is a temporary reduction in business that is beyond the employer’s control, by providing income support to employees who work a temporarily reduced work schedule.
The budget extends EI benefits by five weeks or 20 weeks for long-tenured workers in 12 of the country’s hardest hit regions. The Edmonton area did not meet the criteria for these extensions.
