Alberta
Alberta NDP urges Provincial Government to crack down on covid restriction violations
Press release from the Alberta NDP
NDP CALL FOR FULL ENFORCEMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH ORDERS AFTER UCP DIRECT POLICE TO GO EASY ON OFFENDERS
Alberta’s NDP are calling on the UCP government to enforce existing public health restrictions after it was revealed that police agencies across the province had been instructed not to charge or ticket offenders.
“The time for education has passed. We need enforcement of the rules,” said NDP Justice Critic Irfan Sabir. “We’re now in a dangerous third wave of the pandemic and those who are intentionally flouting the rules are threatening public health and safety. It’s time for Jason Kenney and his UCP government to finally grow a spine.”
Under questioning from the NDP on April 6 during a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee, Bill Sweeney, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Public Security said the provincial government encouraged police chiefs to take a “measured approach to enforcement” of the public health restrictions.
“Given that the pandemic is a rather unique situation for all of us, including police officers, the intent was to inform, to educate, to warn, and, only as a last resort, to charge. That was an approach that we encouraged and that police chiefs and authorized employers for the most part have adopted,” said Sweeney.
In an emergency council meeting on Monday evening, Calgary police chief Mark Neufeld told committee members that “Our partners at the province have asked us not to fill the courts with $100 mask bylaw tickets and to be more strategic in the enforcement.”
“The vast majority of Albertans are already following the rules – we can’t let this lawbreaking minority ruin it for everyone else. It risks the health and safety of Albertans and will only prolong the pandemic,” said Sabir. “The UCP needs to immediately reverse their order to go soft on these offenders and give direction to police agencies that now is the time to fully enforce the public health orders.”
On Tuesday, the NDP put forward several proposals to step up enforcement of public health restrictions, including the issuance of a new guideline from the Solicitor General to police services to consistently and vigorously enforce the terms of the Public Health Act.
In addition, the NDP called for the following measures:
- Triple the current fines for individuals to $3,600 per offence.
- Create a specific fine for any individual that obstructs the enforcement of public health orders. This fine will also specifically include harassment of frontline workers when they are enforcing mask mandates, physical distancing requirements and household rules for patio dining.
- Transition all fines issued under the Public Health Act during the pandemic to the new administrative penalty process introduced through Bill 21 The Administrative Penalties Act 2020.
Alberta
Alberta Cabinet shuffle reflects new ministries. Adriana LaGrange in charge of “health care refocusing”
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.”
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.”
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.
From LifeSiteNews
‘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.
Her announcement also comes just days after her United Conservative Party government announced Bill 54, which sets the groundwork for possible independence referendums by making such votes easier to trigger. If passed, the bill would lower the signature threshold from 600,000 to 177,000. It is now in third reading.
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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