Tuesday, April 14: News circulates that political consultant Stephen Carter is looking to “take over” the Alberta Liberal Party and use it to fundraise for campaigns to oppose upcoming provincial referendum questions. A party has advantages over third-party advertisers, including higher spending limits and the ability to issue tax receipts.
Read more: Parties Over People
Wednesday, April 15: Imperial Oil announces that one of its pipelines spilled 843,000 litres of bitumen emulsion northwest of Cold Lake. The cause of the spill and environmental impacts are being investigated.
Read more: Dirty Cleanup Scheme
Thursday, April 16: The UCP government rejects new electoral boundaries recommended by an independent commission. It will strike a legislative committee, dominated by UCP MLAs, to consider recommendations (due November 2, 2026) from a new commission that will not hold public meetings. The government will ask the new commission to create four new ridings; the previous commission was directed to create two new ridings.
Read more: The Mapmakers
April 16: The Narwhal reports that the 4,031 oil and gas wells and other assets previously owned by Long Run Exploration Ltd. that became orphans last week (meaning they no longer have a legal or financial owner) have an estimated total liability cost of $476-million. Per The Narwhal: “Experts worry at least some of that bill could ultimately be passed on to taxpayers.”
Read more: Should we Bail Out the Oil and Gas Industry?
The Week in Alberta is updated weekdays by 4:30pm MT.
