Tag: Alberta

Alberta Ups Ante in Mandate Fight With Athabasca University, Threatens Funding Cut

The Alberta government has upped the ante in its fight with Athabasca University, directing the online-oriented school to get busy making sure more staff work in the small northern town or risk losing millions of dollars in funding. “The university must end its pursuit of the near-virtual strategy and must deliver a new strategic plan…


Michael Taube: What Danielle Smith’s Support of the Alberta Sovereignty Act Really Entails

Commentary The United Conservative Party of Alberta is holding a leadership race to replace outgoing Premier Jason Kenney. Two former Wildrose Party leaders, Brian Jean and Danielle Smith, are neck-and-neck in opinion polls. While the GOTV (get out the vote) strategy of both candidates will obviously determine who wins on Oct. 6, other intangibles such…


‘Very Early’: Scientists Date When Humans First Came to Alberta’s Oilsands Region

New research may have answered a long-standing mystery by pinning a rough date on the earliest known humans in Canada’s oilsands region. In a recently published paper, professor Robin Woywitka of Edmonton’s MacEwan University says a combination of archeology and geology has revealed that people were living around Fort McMurray, Alta., at least 11,000 years…


Danielle Smith Challenged on Sovereignty Act, Cancer Comments at First UCP Leadership Debate

United Conservative Party (UCP) of Alberta leadership candidate Danielle Smith defended her prospective sovereignty act and past comments she made about cancer during the first UCP leadership debate on July 27. All seven candidates participated in the debate, which was live-streamed from a helicopter hangar in Medicine Hat. The debate covered such issues as protecting the…


Alberta UCP Leadership Candidates Discuss Unity, Alberta-Ottawa Relations in First Debate

United Conservative Party (UCP) of Alberta leadership candidate Danielle Smith defended her prospective sovereignty act and past comments she made about cancer during the first UCP leadership debate on July 27. All seven candidates participated in the debate, which was live-streamed from a helicopter hangar in Medicine Hat. The debate covered such issues as protecting the…


Air Quality Advisories Issued for Several BC Regions Amid Heatwave

Air quality warnings have been issued for Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley, and Fraser Canyon, and are expected to last until Sunday amid a heatwave covering most of B.C. and Alberta. A July 27 statement from Environment Canada said the warnings were issued due to “high concentrations of ground-level ozone” expected to persist through the week. “A plume of wildfire smoke…


New Applicants Wait for Approval to Run in UCP Leadership Race as Deadline Passes

Alberta’s United Conservative Party (UCP) has confirmed five candidates for its leadership race following the July 20 application deadline. Travis Toews, Danielle Smith, Brian Jean, Rebecca Schulz, and Rajan Sawhney are all official contenders to replace outgoing leader Jason Kenney. The leadership race began on May 19 and will run until Oct. 19, when the UCP…


Alberta Government Says Federal Firearms Program Failing Albertans

Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro says the federal government has failed to prepare the RCMP for administering firearms transfers and licence applications following their “radical change” in handgun legislation in recent months. In a press release on July 21, the Alberta government criticized the Liberal government for doing nothing to ensure that the RCMP has…


‘Imminent Threat’: Woman Charged After Female Hostage Stabbed in Alberta Law Office

Police say they had no choice but to send a tactical team Thursday to rescue a hostage from a law office because her life was in imminent danger. They said Friday that a woman entered the Lethbridge Legal Guidance office demanding to speak with a specific lawyer who wasn’t there and, after using the washroom,…


Alberta Reports Surge in Deaths Due to ‘Unknown Causes’ in 2021

Recent data on the leading causes of death in Alberta show a spike in the 2021 mortality rate due to “ill-defined and unknown causes.” The data, published on June 30 by Service Alberta, ranks the 30 most common causes of death in the province last year. For the first time in the past twenty years,…