The Alberta NDP have launched a petition to allow Albertans to register their unhappiness with UCP Red Deer-South MLA Jason Stephan, who skipped out on being sworn in. While 84 MLA were sworn in on June 19 and 20, Stephan was on vacation. Alberta NDP Edmonton-Mill Woods MLA Christina Gray said Red Deer needs representation. “Since he’s clearly not interested in listening to his constituents, we will be giving the people of Red Deer-South — and all Albertans for that matter — a chance to sign our petition and send a message to Stephan for failing to show up for work,” said Gray, in a statement ..read more

Danielle Smith’s electoral victory in Alberta could spell the beginnings of a renewed confrontation between her province and Ottawa over climate policy — and create fodder for future attacks against the federal Tories, political observers say. The United Conservative Party leader’s majority win over Rachel Notley’s NDP in Monday’s provincial vote put an unsurprising spring in the step of Conservative MPs from Alberta, long known as the country’s conservative heartland. That assumption was tested during the campaign, which was voters’ first chance to weigh in on Smith’s government since she too ..read more

By Matteo Cimellaro, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer From his home office, Pierre Poilievre spoke to the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) through a video address about economic reconciliation and how Indigenous Peoples ought to benefit from natural resource projects. But chiefs who took to the microphone after the Conservative leader’s speech lambasted Poilievre. Randy Ermineskin, chief of Ermineskin Cree Nation on Treaty 6 territory, blamed conservatives for developing the Alberta and Saskatchewan sovereignty acts, known as the Saskatchewan First Act and the Al ..read more

EDMONTON — Alberta’s Opposition NDP tried and failed Thursday to censure the deputy speaker for evicting one of their members from the house in a day that saw both sides accuse each other of belittling and marginalizing women in politics. The governing United Conservatives voted down an NDP motion to discuss whether deputy Speaker Nicholas Milliken should still have his job after he ordered NDP member Marie Renaud out of the chamber during debate the evening prior. Milliken ejected Renaud after she accused UCP members of trying to intimidate her through gestures while she was standing to speak ..read more

EDMONTON — A legislature meeting on budget numbers got personal Thursday, when Premier Jason Kenney accused NDP Leader Rachel Notley of being ignorant to Alberta’s plight and Notley questioned his loyalty to Canada. The angry cross-talk erupted when Notley asked Kenney why he is threatening to hold a referendum on equalization, even though Alberta has no direct power to change the constitutionally protected federal funding program. Kenney has said he will hold a referendum on equalization payments if there is not progress on initiatives, such as pipelines, to get more of Alberta’s oil and gas ..read more

EDMONTON — Premier Jason Kenney’s government is changing voting rules at the Alberta legislature about one year after a bruising debate regarding abstentions on a bill about abortion clinics. Right now, Alberta legislators can say yes or no to proposed legislation, but must physically leave the chamber if they don’t want to vote at all. Government house leader Jason Nixon said Friday that procedural changes to be introduced and voted on by all members next week will include allowing politicians to remain in their seats and abstain. The abstentions would not be noted in the official record. Nix ..read more

Brian Jean, the new member of Premier Jason Kenney’s United Conservative caucus, is expected to return to the Alberta legislature this week and escalate his campaign to get Kenney ousted from the top job. “I’m going to be speaking truth to power. I’m not going to be hiding from it,” Jean said in an interview after winning Tuesday’s byelection to represent the UCP in his hometown riding. “What I expect to do is to speak the voice that has been given to me by the people of Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche. “I have a clear mandate from them, and I believe an overwhelming mandate from the people of Albe ..read more

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has filed his defence in a defamation lawsuit brought against him over his remarks on the release of the Inquiry into supposed misinformation about the province’s energy industry. The lawsuit was filed against Kenney last month by five environmental groups, which allege the premier twisted Steve Allan’s findings into whether the groups were using foreign funding to try and landlock Alberta oil by spreading misinformation. Allan found no wrongdoing or misleading information, but Kenney is accused of saying otherwise on both social media and government websites. Kenn ..read more

EDMONTON — The Alberta government wrapped up its fall sitting Wednesday after Premier Jason Kenney’s United Conservatives debated long into the early morningto pass a controversial election financing bill. The bill makes multiple changes, including capping contributions to party nominees and setting a fixed election date in late May. Critics, including the Opposition NDP and some government backbenchers, say the legislation opens the door to wealthy donors tipping the scales in internal party contests. “At about 3 a.m. this morning, the UCP rammed through a bill to undermine democracy in Alber ..read more

Alberta’s Opposition New Democratic Party is calling for a public inquiry into Premier Jason Kenney and his government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis. Sarah Hoffman, who is deputy leader for the NDP, says an independent review is necessary to look into the United Conservative government’s decision to end isolation requirements, contact tracing and asymptomatic testing. She says it’s also needed after reports the government won’t release a report into the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Minister Tyler Shandro says on Twitter that the interim report will now be released later this ..read more