Alberta Politics

As issues with Albertan classroom conditions continue to grow, hiring more staff is only going so far to reduce class sizes and improve learning environments. In the fall of 2022, the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) conducted a survey of roughly 800 teachers and school leaders about classroom conditions. …

Adult sentence lengths in correctional services have dropped to a five-year low according to newly released data from Statistics Canada, representing a nearly 81% decrease relative to 2016 incarceration rates. However as the largest drop in admissions is for sentences under three months, local communities have started to find a…

Edmonton has made steady progress on transit safety, but we need to do more. — More than a million times a week, Edmontonians get on the bus or the train and they expect to get safely to their destination, and nearly all of the time, they do. The vast, vast majority of trips on transit happen without incident. At the same time, that’s not good…

On March 7, 2023, I had my first official meeting with Premier Danielle Smith. Below, you can find the letter that I delivered to her at this meeting. Edmonton has a unique local context related to its role as a hub for social services for the Edmonton region, Northern Alberta…

“A new advisory panel will develop a long-term vision for Alberta’s energy future and recommend steps the province should take to ensure the industry [emphasis added] continues to thrive for decades to come.” Premier Danielle Smith appointed an advisory panel Thursday to draft a long-term plan for Albert’s energy future. All five panel members are oil and gas veterans. Chair Dave Yager is a prolific op-ed scribbling shill for the industry. Is it April 1? …

Danielle Smith and the United Conservative Party passed the Alberta Sovereignty Within A United Canada Act last December despite a storm of protests from critics. Some of those critics called on the federal Liberal government to disallow the act using the Constitution’s ‘disallowance’ power, which permits the federal government to…

A tale of acquiring political leverage — The ultra-conservatives now have their hands on the levers of political power in Alberta. It took about 10 years. Here’s how they did it. In 2012, the Progressive Conservative Party ruled Alberta for 40 years, winning all provincial elections quite handily. But some conservatives were not happy. They formed the…

Alberta’s next provincial election is set for May 2023, about six months from now. Recent polls have indicated that it’s anybody’s race…

The Loneliness of Centrism in Alberta — Dear Editor, It has become increasingly lonely to be a centrist in today’s polarizing world. This reality shows up in many ways, but perhaps none more stark than when trying to decide where to cast my vote in recent provincial and federal elections. Who am I? I’m a proud Canadian…