The Week in Alberta Archives - Alberta Views

August 3-7, 2026

Alberta Views — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 21:35:08 +0000

Tuesday, August 4: In response to an Edmonton Police Service social media post asking citizens to report hate crimes, premier Danielle Smith tweets that Alberta’s policing priorities “should focus on violent crimes, illegal drugs, theft and vandalism… not peoples’ free speech.”

Wednesday, August 5: The Globe and Mail reports that premier Danielle Smith expects construction of three provincially funded addiction recovery centres in Indigenous communities to be completed this year without additional government funding. The projects have missed deadlines and spurred numerous lawsuits over allegations of millions in unpaid bills.

July 27-31, 2026

Alberta Views — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 22:15:27 +0000

Monday, July 27: Elk Island National Park announces temporary closures due to flooding from a severe storm over the weekend. Edmonton and surrounding areas have been hit with more than a year’s worth of rain in two months.

Tuesday, July 28: Lawyers for former Alberta Health Services CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos and lawyers for AHS and the provincial government meet in court. Mentzelopoulos’s wrongful dismissal lawsuit contains allegations that she was fired for investigating questionable contracts and AHS procurement processes. AHS says it fired Mentzelopoulos because she wasn’t fulfilling her duties. Both parties deny the allegations.

Wednesday, July 29: Corb Lund files an application for judicial review in the Court of King’s Bench after Elections Alberta rejected his Water Not Coal petition. Lund is arguing that Elections Alberta’s decision was unreasonable and procedurally unfair.

July 20-24, 2026

Alberta Views — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 21:55:04 +0000

Monday, July 20: Elections Alberta announces that, effective today, Albertans can apply to vote by mail in the October 19 referendum. Mail-in ballots can be ordered using a form at specialballot.elections.ab.ca or by emailing info@elections.ab.ca.

Tuesday, July 21: Premier Danielle Smith joins eight other premiers in signing an agreement to implement direct-to-consumer alcohol sales, allowing Canadians (excluding retailers and resellers) to order directly from producers.

July 13-17, 2026

Alberta Views — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 21:53:08 +0000

Monday, July 13: A letter urging Alberta legislators to adopt anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) legislation, signed by dozens of Canadian journalists, writers, academics and legal professionals, is posted to antislappalberta.ca.

July 4-10, 2026

Alberta Views — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 21:00:49 +0000

Monday, July 6: Elections Alberta announces it will begin verifying the signatures collected for “A Referendum Relating to Alberta Independence.” The separatists’ petition was initially quashed by the Court of King’s Bench, but a subsequent Court of Appeal partial stay decision means counting can begin.

July 6: The province announces that, through the use of AI tools from companies such as Anthropic and Google, it has reviewed 466 million lines of government code. It will use AI “to replace 185 aging systems with 16 modern applications” in order to “support and protect critical government services, from social programs and registries to wildfire response and public safety.”

June 29-July 3, 2026

Alberta Views — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 21:12:44 +0000

Monday, June 29: Court of Appeal Justice Alice Woolley rules the process of verifying signatures on Stay Free Alberta’s referendum petition can resume and results can be reported to the public. The decision follows a lower court ruling last month that had quashed the petition.

June 29: The Alberta government announces that the province’s annual fiscal reports are delayed until the fall. According to the statement, “more time is needed” to finalize the numbers due to “complexities” related to the restructuring of the province’s healthcare system.

June 22-26, 2026

Alberta Views — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 20:56:56 +0000

Monday, June 22: Hospital and Surgical Health Services minister Adriana LaGrange announces the province is pausing proposed changes to integrated fire and ambulance services. The changes would have required seven municipalities to choose between receiving less provincial funding or letting the province take over services.

June 15-19, 2026

Alberta Views — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 21:44:58 +0000

Tuesday, June 16: The Globe and Mail reports that Alberta Health Services has been ordered to hand over documents to the RCMP as part of the police investigation into allegations of procurement irregularities at AHS.

June 16: The Alberta Teachers’ Association says it “opposes any ballot questions in the Alberta referendum that refer to restricting access to provincially funded public education based on a child’s immigration status… every child in Alberta deserves access to publicly funded education. Period.”

June 8-12, 2026

Alberta Views — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 22:02:31 +0000

Monday, June 8: The Water Not Coal petition campaign to protect the Eastern Slopes from coal development, led by musician Corb Lund, announces it has reached the minimum number of signatures required under Alberta’s Citizen Initiative Act.

Tuesday, June 9: The Select Special Committee on Electoral Boundaries announces that Gerard Kennedy, Brent Robinson, Monte Solberg and Darwin Durnie have been appointed to the advisory panel that will review Alberta’s electoral boundaries. Two of these panelists were appointed by the UCP, two by the opposition NDP. The NDP says the UCP nominees, Solberg and Durnie, are in conflicts of interests.

June 1-5, 2026

Alberta Views — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 22:04:34 +0000

Monday, June 1: The Alberta government announces it is rolling out a “patient-focused funding” (PFF) model at a dozen hospitals across the province, tying funding to the number and types of surgeries performed. Interim Acute Care Alberta CEO David Diamond says this first phase will focus on public facilities, later incorporating procedures in private facilities, calling this a “learning year.”

Tuesday, June 2: Premier Danielle Smith estimates that the startup cost for the province to separate from Canada would be $400-billion, including Alberta’s share of the national debt, border controls, tariffs and NATO costs, with an additional $25-billion–$50-billion in annual costs. Alberta Prosperity Project lawyer Jeffrey Rath called Smith’s estimate “completely false,” adding, “It’s obviously a lot less than that, but who cares Let’s just get out. We’ll be so much better off.”