Alberta
Province pumping millions into mental health supports for post-secondary students

Representatives from the Student Counseling Office and Mental Health at NAIT, Kids Help Phone, United Way and members of Alberta Students’ Executive Council stood with Associate Minister Luan and Minister Nicolaides
From the Province of Alberta
More mental health supports for students
Government is investing $22 million to deliver more mental health supports for post-secondary students.
Students at the 26 post-secondary institutions across Alberta will have more access to mental health and addiction crisis supports through text and chat, and professional counselling by phone. Those services will be supported by a new digital navigation and crisis hub that will link service providers, including United Way’s 211 service, helplines such as Kids Help Phone, HealthLink/811 and other distress lines.
“Our government is committed to eliminating barriers to mental health and addiction services for post-secondary students. Working together, we’ll make it easier for students to talk openly about mental health and ensure they have access to supports when they need them.”
In addition, Budget 2019 continues to support a range of on-campus mental health services, including:
- increased access to counsellors
- early alert systems
- peer support programs
- awareness campaigns and mental health literacy
- training for faculty, staff and students in suicide-prevention
- helping others in distress
- personal coping strategies
“One of the common themes I have heard from our students, from Day 1, is the need to strengthen mental health supports on campus. This initiative will improve access to mental health services and will make sure our students can find help when they need it. I am always listening to students, and this announcement demonstrates their advocacy pays off.”
On-campus services are supported by the Post-secondary Mental Health Grant of $7.6 million this year.
In addition, government is funding expansion of digital services by providing $6.75 million to Kids Help Phone to expand its 24-7, free, confidential and professional online and telephone counselling and volunteer-led text-based crisis support. Another $7.5 million will fund a new digital navigation and crisis hub that will link United Way’s 211 service to other helplines such as Kids Help Phone, HealthLink/811 and other distress lines.
“Kids Help Phone is pleased to be a part of this initiative that will help Albertans, particularly post-secondary students, connect to the services they need in a timely fashion. Navigating the mental health system is complex and we are proud to work with partners to ensure all Albertans get the help they need, when they need it most.”
“More than 500,000 Albertans access at least one mental health service each year, with many others unable to get help when they need it. With this partnership, Albertans will have access to information and help at any time no matter where they live in the province, allowing anyone to connect when they need to most.”
“Mental health is critical to the success and well-being of everyone. In order to thrive inside the classroom and beyond, mental health needs to be supported.”
Alberta
Central Alberta MP resigns to give Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre a chance to regain a seat in Parliament

From LifeSiteNews
Conservative MP Damien Kurek stepped aside in the Battle River-Crowfoot riding to allow Pierre Poilievre to enter a by-election in his native Alberta.
Conservative MP Damien Kurek officially resigned as an MP in the Alberta federal riding of Battle River-Crowfoot in a move that will allow Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre to run in a by-election in that riding to reclaim his seat in Parliament.
June 17 was Kurek’s last day as an MP after he notified the House Speaker of his resignation.
“I will continue to work with our incredible local team to do everything I can to remain the strong voice for you as I support Pierre in this process and then run again here in Battle River-Crowfoot in the next general election,” he said in a statement to media.
“Pierre Poilievre is a man of principle, character, and is the hardest working MP I have ever met,” he added. “His energy, passion, and drive will have a huge benefit in East Central Alberta.”
Kurek won his riding in the April 28 election, defeating the Liberals by 46,020 votes with 81.8 percent of the votes, a huge number.
Poilievre had lost his Ottawa seat to his Liberal rival, a seat that he held for decades, that many saw as putting his role as leader of the party in jeopardy. He stayed on as leader of the Conservative Party.
Poilievre is originally from Calgary, Alberta, so should he win the by-election, it would be a homecoming of sorts.
It is now up to Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney to call a by-election in the riding.
Carney had promised that he would “trigger” a by-election at once, saying there would be “no games” trying to prohibit Poilievre from running and win a seat in a safe Conservative riding.
Despite Kurek’s old seat being considered a “safe” seat, a group called the “Longest Ballot Committee” is looking to run hundreds of protest candidates against Poilievre in the by-election in the Alberta Battle River–Crowfoot riding, just like they did in his former Ottawa-area Carleton riding in April’s election.
Alberta
Alberta pro-life group says health officials admit many babies are left to die after failed abortions

From LifeSiteNews
Alberta’s abortion policy allows babies to be killed with an ‘induced cardiac arrest’ before a late-term abortion and left to die without medical care if they survive.
A Canadian provincial pro-life advocacy group says health officials have admitted that many babies in the province of Alberta are indeed born alive after abortions and then left to die, and because of this are they are calling upon the province’s health minister to put an end to the practice.
Official data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), which is the federal agency in charge of reporting the nation’s health data, shows that in Alberta in 2023-2024, there were 133 late-term abortions. Of these, 28 babies were born alive after the abortion and left to die.
As noted by Prolife Alberta’s President Murray Ruhl in a recent email, this means the reality in the province is that “some of these babies are born alive… and left to die.”
“Babies born alive after failed late-term abortions are quietly abandoned—left without medical help, comfort, or even a chance to survive,” noted Ruhl.
This fact was brought to light in a recent opinion piece published in the Western Standard by Richard Dur, who serves as the executive director of Prolife Alberta.
Ruhl observed that Dur’s opinion piece has “got the attention of both Alberta Health Services (AHS) and Acute Care Alberta (ACA),” whom he said “confirmed many of the practices we exposed.”
Alberta’s policy when it comes to an abortion committed on a baby older than 21 weeks allows that all babies are killed before being born, however this does not always happen.
“In some circumstances… the patient and health practitioner may consider the option of induced fetal cardiac arrest prior to initiating the termination procedures,” notes Alberta Health Services’ Termination of Pregnancy, PS-92 (PS-92, Section 6.4).
Ruhl noted that, in Alberta, before an “abortion begins, they stop the baby’s heart. On purpose. Why? Because they don’t want a live birth. But sometimes—the child survives. And what then?”
When it comes to the same policy for babies older that 21 weeks, the policy states, “For terminations after 21 weeks and zero (0) days there must be careful consideration and documentation concerning a Do Not Resuscitate order in anticipation of a possible live birth.” (PS-92, Section 6.4).”
Ruhl observed that the reality is, “They plan in advance not to save her—even if she’s born alive.”
If the baby is born alive, the policy states, “Comfort measures and palliative care should be provided.” (PS-92, Section 6.4).
This means, however, that there is no oxygen given, no NICU, “no medical care,” noted Ruhl.
“Their policies call this ‘palliative care.’ We call it what it is: abandonment. Newborns deserve care—not a death sentence,” he noted.
As reported by LifeSiteNews recently, a total of 150 babies were born after botched abortions in 2023-2024 in Canada. However, it’s not known how many survived.
Only two federal parties in Canada, the People’s Party of Canada, and the Christian Heritage Party, have openly called for a ban on late abortions in the nation.
Policy now under ‘revision’ says Alberta Health Services
Ruhl said that the province’s policies are now “under revision,” according to AHS.
Because of this, Ruhl noted that now is the time to act and let the province’s Health Minister, Adriana LaGrange, who happens to be pro-life, act and “demand” from her real “action to protect babies born alive after failed abortions.”
The group is asking the province to do as follows below:
- Amend the AHS Termination of Pregnancy policy to require resuscitative care for any baby born with signs of life, regardless of how the birth occurred.
- Require that these newborns receive the same level of care as any other premature baby. Newborns deserve care—not a death sentence.
- Recognize that these babies have a future—there is a literal waiting list of hundreds of families ready to adopt them. There is a home for every one of them.
While many in the cabinet and caucus of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative government are pro-life, she has still been relatively soft on social issues of importance to conservatives, such as abortion.
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