Alberta
Alberta government should rely on dividends—not ‘political will’—to grow Heritage Fund

From the Fraser Institute
By Tegan Hill
The Smith government on Wednesday released its plan to grow Alberta’s Heritage Fund to at least $250 billion over the next 25 years, mainly by reinvesting all investment returns back into the fund. But even Smith recognizes her plan will “take political will over a long period of time.” Of course, political will is subjective and can change from government to government. If Smith wants to establish a sustainable plan to grow the Heritage Fund, it should pay dividends to Albertans.
First, some quick history. When the Alberta government created the Heritage Fund in 1976, it established a rule that the government must deposit 30 per cent of resource revenue (including oil and gas royalties) into the fund annually. That quickly fell to 15 per cent by 1982/83, and after an oil price collapse the government eliminated the requirement in 1986/87. Since then, governments have routinely failed to make deposits into the fund, the fund’s value (after accounting for inflation) has eroded over time, and governments have spent nearly all of the fund’s earnings. Consequently, this fiscal year the fund will be worth less than $26 billion.
In other words, political will hasn’t been a successful strategy in growing the Heritage Fund.
Which brings us back to dividends. Here’s where Alberta can learn from Alaska. Alaska’s resource revenue savings fund (the Permanent Fund) was also created in 1976, but is now worth about US$80 billion (roughly CA$115 billion). What does the Alaska government do differently?
While various rules contribute to the fund’s success, the dividend rule is arguably the most critical. The Alaskan government pays a share of the fund’s earnings to Alaskan citizens via a dividend each year. Crucially, this gives citizens an ownership share in the fund. And therein lies the political will for governments to responsibly grow and maintain the fund. Any government that tried to use the fund for irresponsible purposes (e.g. raid the fund to spend money elsewhere) would likely face the wrath of Alaskan voters, given their understandable attachment to the dividend cheques.
Indeed, while the Alaskan government can reduce or eliminate the annual dividend, it has consistently allocated funds to the dividend for more than 40 years, even though this reduces the amount of money available for government spending. Overall, the fund has paid out more than US$30 billion to Alaskan citizens via dividends. Last year, each Alaskan received US$1,702.
According to its plan released on Wednesday, the Smith government will rely on “political will” to grow the Heritage Fund. But that’s not a recipe for success. Instead, the Smith government should learn from Alaska’s success and start paying dividends to Albertans who will provide the political pressure necessary to grow the fund over the long term.
Alberta
Alberta judge sides with LGBT activists, allows ‘gender transitions’ for kids to continue

From LifeSiteNews
‘I think the court was in error,’ Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said. ‘There will be irreparable harm to children who get sterilized.’
LGBT activists have won an injunction that prevents the Alberta government from restricting “gender transitions” for children.
On June 27, Alberta King’s Court Justice Allison Kuntz granted a temporary injunction against legislation that prohibited minors under the age of 16 from undergoing irreversible sex-change surgeries or taking puberty blockers.
“The evidence shows that singling out health care for gender diverse youth and making it subject to government control will cause irreparable harm to gender diverse youth by reinforcing the discrimination and prejudice that they are already subjected to,” Kuntz claimed in her judgment.
Kuntz further said that the legislation poses serious Charter issues which need to be worked through in court before the legislation could be enforced. Court dates for the arguments have yet to be set.
READ: Support for traditional family values surges in Alberta
Alberta’s new legislation, which was passed in December, amends the Health Act to “prohibit regulated health professionals from performing sex reassignment surgeries on minors.”
The legislation would also ban the “use of puberty blockers and hormone therapies for the treatment of gender dysphoria or gender incongruence” to kids 15 years of age and under “except for those who have already commenced treatment and would allow for minors aged 16 and 17 to choose to commence puberty blockers and hormone therapies for gender reassignment and affirmation purposes with parental, physician and psychologist approval.”
Just days after the legislation was passed, an LGBT activist group called Egale Canada, along with many other LGBT organizations, filed an injunction to block the bill.
In her ruling, Kuntz argued that Alberta’s legislation “will signal that there is something wrong with or suspect about having a gender identity that is different than the sex you were assigned at birth.”
She further claimed that preventing minors from making life-altering decisions could inflict emotional damage.
However, the province of Alberta argued that these damages are speculative and the process of gender-transitioning children is not supported by scientific evidence.
“I think the court was in error,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said on her Saturday radio show. “That’s part of the reason why we’re taking it to court. The court had said there will be irreparable harm if the law goes ahead. I feel the reverse. I feel there will be irreparable harm to children who get sterilized at the age of 10 years old – and so we want those kids to have their day in court.”
READ: Canadian doctors claim ‘Charter right’ to mutilate gender-confused children in Alberta
Overwhelming evidence shows that persons who undergo so-called “gender transitioning” procedures are more likely to commit suicide than those who are not given such irreversible surgeries. In addition to catering to a false reality that one’s sex can be changed, trans surgeries and drugs have been linked to permanent physical and psychological damage, including cardiovascular diseases, loss of bone density, cancer, strokes and blood clots, and infertility.
Meanwhile, a recent study on the side effects of “sex change” surgeries discovered that 81 percent of those who have undergone them in the past five years reported experiencing pain simply from normal movements in the weeks and months that followed, among many other negative side effects.
Alberta
Alberta Independence Seekers Take First Step: Citizen Initiative Application Approved, Notice of Initiative Petition Issued

Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer, Gordon McClure, has issued a Notice of Initiative Petition.
This confirms a Citizen Initiative application has been received and the Chief Electoral Officer has determined the requirements of section 2(3) of the Citizen Initiative Act have been met.
Approved Initiative Petition Information
The approved citizen initiative application is for a policy proposal with the following proposed question:
Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?
The Notice of Initiative Petition, application, and statement provided by the proponent are available on Elections Alberta’s website on the Current Initiatives Petition page.
As the application was received and approved prior to coming into force of Bill 54: Election Statutes Amendment Act, the Citizen Initiative process will follow requirements set out in the Citizen Initiative Act as of June 30, 2025.
Next Steps
- The proponent must appoint a chief financial officer within 30 days (by July 30, 2025).
- Once the 30-day publication period is complete and a chief financial officer has been appointed, Elections Alberta will:
- issue the citizen initiative petition,
- publish a notice on the Current Initiatives Petition page of our website indicating the petition has been issued, specifying the signing period dates, and the number of signatures required for a successful petition, and
- issue the citizen initiative petition signature sheets and witness affidavits. Signatures collected on other forms will not be accepted.
More information on the process, the status of the citizen initiative petition, financing rules, third party advertising rules, and frequently asked questions may be found on the Elections Alberta website.
Elections Alberta is an independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections, and referendums.
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