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Alberta NDP Opposition says Albertans need help to pay utility bills

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From the Alberta NDP 

NDP CALLS FOR UTILITY BILL RELIEF IN RESPONSE TO SHOCKING BILLS DURING PANDEMIC, ECONOMIC DOWNTURN

Alberta’s NDP is calling for major relief for consumers following a sudden surge in constituents coming forward with massive cost increases on their monthly electricity and overall utility bills.

The Office of the Utilities Consumer Advocate (UCA) cites a number of contributing factors to the upswing in prices in Alberta, including increased consumption while people are staying home to observe COVID-19 public health orders, increased use during the winter, increased costs for natural gas and electricity and increased transmission and distribution charges.

“There’s a compounding effect here and it’s hammering household budgets,” said NDP Leader Rachel Notley. “Many Albertans have to use more natural gas and electricity if they work from home or spend more time at home to help protect their communities from the spread of COVID. Couple that with soaring prices for natural gas and electricity and you’re seeing massive bills and no relief for families.”

In 2016, the NDP Government capped electricity prices under the Regulated Rate Option at 6.8 cents per kilowatt hour; however, Jason Kenney and the UCP removed it in late 2019. According to the UCA, average electricity prices have exceeded that previous cap in January, February and March of this year — the highest price was reported in February by EPCOR, which charged an average of 8.95 cents per kilowatt hour.

As well, natural gas prices are at highs not seen in seven years, with prices in March exceeding four cents per gigajoule — the last time prices were this high was in June 2014. For context, rates were just 1.6 cents per gigajoule in March 2020.

In response, the NDP is calling for the following four actions to be taken by the UCP immediately:

  • Provide direct consumer relief to two-thirds of Albertans (those earning up to $55,000 annually as an individual or $102,500 per couple). Model the relief program after the COVID-19 Energy Assistance Program offered by the Government of Ontario, which provided customers with up to $750 in support both their electricity and natural gas bills. Consumers can apply for relief on both bills separately, providing total potential relief of $1,500.
  • Reinstate the Regulated Rate Option cap for electricity at 6.8 cents per kilowatt hour.
  • Reinstate the Utility Payment Deferral Program, which allowed consumers and businesses to defer payment of bills but which ended last June.
  • Ban all utility shutoffs for Alberta homes until the pandemic ends and public health orders are lifted.

Notley noted that Albertans are already struggling greatly during the pandemic and economic downturn, with tens of thousands of jobs lost in the province and currently the second-highest unemployment rate in Canada. In a recent Angus Reid poll, the percentage of Canadians reporting that they are worse off than they were a year ago is highest in Alberta.

“We need action to help Albertans in this time of great need,” Notley said. “People doing the right thing and staying closer to home during this pandemic should not be penalized for doing so. We need real consumer relief from these glaring utility bills and we need it to last for the duration of the pandemic, no matter when it might end.”

Thousands of Albertans have written or come forward to the NDP Caucus with complaints and concerns about their utility bills. Calgary father Hassan Ali Nakokara lost his job early in the pandemic and has been struggling to pay bills since. In February, his monthly utility bill jumped to $850 from $450 the month prior.

“It’s impossible for me to pay that,” Nakukara said. “I’m out of work, I’m trying to support my kids while I look for work. The last thing I can do is hand over hundreds to heat and power my home. I need help and I’m desperately hoping the government will step up to help me and so many others.”

Fellow Calgarian Carolyn Nystrom said she and her husband have lived in their home since 2012 and paid between $250-300 for utilities per month. Her bill has been increasing rapidly since December – for March, the total reached $576. Nystrom said it appears the greatest increases are being seen on electricity and transmission charges.

“We are in a pandemic,” Nystrom said. “People have lost their jobs. People have spent their savings. My husband and I have both been fortunate to keep our jobs through all of this.  Even though we still get a paycheque, a bill doubling in three months is absolutely unaffordable … if companies like Enmax and Direct Energy can charge whatever they want per kilowatt hour or gigajoule, what can stop them?  And what can we do?  We live in Canada.  Being able to turn lights on is not exactly an option here.  We have to pay, and companies without regulations and caps know that.”

Correspondence and calls regarding spiking utility bills have come in from all over the province.

Airdrie mother Lisa Gilling said her most recent electricity bill shows the price being charged per kilowatt hour jumped from 5 cents to 19 cents per kilowatt hour and her bill for electricity alone totaled over $400.

“A three hundred per cent increase for a product or service is drastic but when it is an essential service, like electricity, it can be catastrophic, especially for a single-income family,” Gilling said. “Do you cut back on groceries in order to have lights and hot water?”

Mickey Moore, a senior living alone in Vermillion said his bill has risen by hundreds of dollars since the beginning of the year to more than $550 in March.

“Without some kind of control on essential service, with no real competition, how can we seniors expect to keep up on our fixed incomes?” Moore said. “Does the government plan to index seniors’ incomes to the rising utility costs? When we had regulated utility oversight there was some control and fairness applied.”

After 15 years as a TV reporter with Global and CBC and as news director of RDTV in Red Deer, Duane set out on his own 2008 as a visual storyteller. During this period, he became fascinated with a burgeoning online world and how it could better serve local communities. This fascination led to Todayville, launched in 2016.

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Alberta

Alberta Cabinet shuffle reflects new ministries. Adriana LaGrange in charge of “health care refocusing”

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Premier Danielle Smith has made changes to cabinet to address key priorities of Albertans.

Following the conclusion of the spring sitting of the legislature, and the resignation of the Honourable Ric McIver from his cabinet position to serve as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Premier Smith has made changes to her cabinet and caucus leadership.

The new cabinet comprises both seasoned and newly appointed ministers, reflecting Alberta’s diverse population. Together, they are committed to serving all Albertans and striving to unlock the province’s full potential. Those members taking on new roles include:

  • Minister of Advanced Education, Myles McDougall
  • Minister of Hospital and Surgical Health Services, Matt Jones
  • Minister of Indigenous Relations, Rajan Sawhney
  • Minister of Jobs, Economy, Trade, and Immigration, Joseph Schow
  • Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, Rick Wilson
  • Minister of Municipal Affairs, Dan Williams
  • Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services, Adriana LaGrange
  • Minister of Tourism and Sport, Andrew Boitchenko
  • Associate Minister of Multiculturalism, Mohammed Yaseen
  • Associate Minister of Water, Grant Hunter

Additionally, Grant Hunter will be serving as the Chief Government Whip.

The Honourable Demetrios Nicolaides will be adding childcare to his portfolio and become the Minister of Education and Childcare. The Honourable Jason Nixon will also see his title changed to the Minister of Assisted Living and Social Services to reflect his oversight of Assisted Living Alberta.

“I’m eager to collaborate with this dedicated team to fulfill the commitments we made to Albertans during the last election. Our government has already addressed many key priorities of Albertans, but we know there is more work to do, and I’m excited to continue working alongside each of my cabinet colleagues as we move forward an ambitious agenda for Albertans.”

Danielle Smith, Premier

This new cabinet also serves as the critical next step in the journey to refocus Alberta’s health care system. Each of the four health care agencies – Primary Care Alberta, Acute Care Alberta, Assisted Living Alberta, and Recovery Alberta – are now established, and will now each have a corresponding minister responsible. Minister LaGrange will continue to oversee the health care re-focusing efforts.

“I’m pleased to continue the important work of re-focusing our health care system with the support of my colleagues. Moving forward, we will work together to ensure that patients in our health care system have an integrated seamless experience and get the care they need when and where they need it.”

Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services

Cabinet members will be tasked with working collaboratively to complete the important work that Albertans voted for, including continuing to grow the economy, keep life affordable, reform the health care system, fight crime, and defend Alberta from punitive federal government policies.

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Alberta

Alberta group releases referendum question on leaving Canada, becoming ‘sovereign country’

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

‘Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a Sovereign Country and cease to be a province of Canada?’ reads the proposed question from Alberta Prosperity Project, which says it has over 240,000 pledges to vote ‘yes’ on the referendum.

A group behind a citizen-led movement for Alberta’s independence from Canada in light of increasing frustration with the Liberal federal government made public the question it will put to a future referendum that could come in 2026.

The Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), which bills itself as a sovereignty advocacy group, released Monday the question it wants on a referendum.

“Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a Sovereign Country and cease to be a province of Canada?” the question reads.

Thus far, the group says it has over 240,000 pledges from people who say they will vote “yes” to the referendum question. The group wants to have at least 1 million signatures, which is more than the 600,000 needed before a citizen-led petition would be allowed to be brought before Alberta’s legislature.

The APP says its mission is to “empower the Alberta government to restructure Alberta’s relationship with Canada by educating and mobilizing public support for Alberta Sovereignty.”

As reported by LifeSiteNews, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her conservative government will allow but not support a citizen-led referendum on independence.

Smith’s comments came after she said recently that she would consider taking serious steps for Alberta to have greater autonomy from Canada after the Liberals were re-elected to a fourth consecutive term.

Asked about the APP’s statement, Smith said, “I’ve made my position clear.”

“I support a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada, and it’s my job to see if we can get a new deal with Ottawa, so that I can convince more Albertans to feel the same,” she said to the press.

As it stands, Albertans can call a referendum under the Referendum Act and the Citizen Initiative Act, but in order to trigger such a vote, citizens would first have to collect signatures from 20 percent of eligible voters (about 600,000 citizens) within just 90 days and do so on an official government-approved petition.

Some pre-election polls have shown independence sentiment on the rise among Albertans, with over 30 percent favoring a move toward sovereignty.

The calls for independence have grown since Liberal leader Mark Carney defeated Conservative rival Pierre Poilievre, who also lost his seat in the 2025 federal election. In Alberta, almost all of the seats except two went to conservatives.

Carney, like former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before him, said he is opposed to new pipeline projects that would allow Alberta oil and gas to be unleashed. Also, his green agenda, like Trudeau’s, is at odds with Alberta’s main economic driver, its oil and gas industry.

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