Securing the Alberta-U.S. border

Alberta’s border security plan is advancing rapidly with more measures in place to stop illegal activity at the Alberta-U.S. border.

In December 2024, Alberta’s government announced a $29-million investment to create an Interdiction Patrol Team (IPT) within the Alberta Sheriffs to crack down on illegal cross-border activities threatening lives and livelihoods on both sides of the Alberta-Montana border. Alberta’s government recognizes the need for swift and decisive action that will curb drug trafficking and illegal border crossings to strengthen the province’s border security.

The team’s first cohort has been deployed and hiring will continue until all 51 positions are filled. The IPT is now operational, working closely with the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency to identify and apprehend individuals suspected of drug smuggling, human trafficking and other illegal activities involving movement across the Canada-U.S. border. To date, 20 members of the Alberta Sheriffs have been assigned to the IPT to patrol between entry points, and to vehicle inspection stations along Alberta’s side of the border.

Sheriffs Interdiction Patrol Team map

“We are committed to strengthening security along Alberta’s southern border to put an end to the dangerous criminal activities that are destroying lives on both sides of the border. In addition to launching our new Interdiction Patrol Team, we are building three new vehicle inspection stations and increasing highway monitoring for suspicious activity. Our plan will ensure that Alberta’s southern border is secure.”

Danielle Smith, Premier

“Alberta’s government is increasing border security and has zero tolerance for illegal activities that threaten the well-being of Albertans or Alberta’s economy. The Alberta Sheriffs Interdiction Patrol Team puts more boots on the ground to identify where and when these activities are taking place, boosting security along our southern border and disrupting dangerous cross-border human, drugs and weapons trafficking in both directions. Let this be a message to all potential traffickers, especially those who traffic deadly fentanyl, you will get caught and you will go to jail.”

Mike Ellis, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services

Alberta’s government continues to acquire equipment that will enable the IPT to detect and apprehend individuals committing illegal activity, including drones, night-vision optics and patrol canines. This team will patrol to detect and intercept illicit drugs, illegal firearms and unlawful attempts at illegal international border crossing. The IPT will be fully operational in coming months.

Through this process, Alberta has identified further significant concerns with the shared Canada-U.S. border. In response, Alberta’s government is advancing further measures to increase the security of the southern border.

In addition to the IPT, Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors is dedicating $15 million over two years for three new vehicle inspection stations near the border, if Budget 2025 passes. This will give Sheriffs dedicated facilities to inspect commercial vehicles, whether they’re crossing into the United States or coming into Canada. The stations will be located on Highway 1 at Dunmore, Highway 3 at Burmis and Highway 4 at Coutts. The stations will include enhanced parking lanes for inspections, and winter ready buildings for year-round inspections.

Another measure undertaken by Alberta’s government is to train highway maintenance workers to identify and report suspicious activity during highway maintenance operations. Volker Stevin has a contract to maintain about 600 kilometres of highways in southern Alberta and by empowering their workers to identify and report suspicious activity, Alberta’s government is layering further security measures without adding additional costs.

“Border security is a priority, and Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors is doing its part to enhance security and surveillance through three new vehicle inspection stations and with the help of our highway maintenance contractors, who will be trained to detect and report suspicious activity, providing an extra pair of eyes along the border.”

Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors

“The Interdiction Patrol Team will play a key role in eradicating crimes that seek to exploit the Alberta-Montana border in both directions. The Alberta Sheriffs are pleased to collaborate with the RCMP, Canada Border Services Agency and our counterparts in the United States as we work to keep our shared border safe and secure.”

Bob Andrews, chief, Alberta Sheriffs

Alberta’s government also amended the Critical Infrastructure Defence Regulation in January 2025 to add a two-kilometre-deep border zone north of the Alberta-United States border to the definition of essential infrastructure under the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act. The act gives peace officers the authority to arrest individuals caught trespassing on, interfering with or damaging essential infrastructure and who do not have a lawful right, to be on the essential infrastructure.

“Amending the Critical Infrastructure Defence Regulation is a key piece of our efforts to strengthen security in the area near the international border. We have quickly taken action that will support law enforcement in improving public safety, and tackle cross-border crime, drugs, illegal migrants and human-trafficking.”

Mickey Amery, Minister of Justice and Attorney General

Quick facts:

IPT will be supported by:

51 uniformed officers equipped with carbine rifles (weapons for tactical operations)
10 support staff, including dispatchers and analysts
four drug patrol dogs, critical to ensure reasonable suspicion to search vehicles
10 cold weather surveillance drones that can operate in high winds with dedicated pilots
four narcotics analyzers to test for illicit drugs

The IPT has already conducted more than 3,300 stops/contacts and has been successful in:

assisting with four Northbound unauthorized border crossings
executing 18 warrants and conducting two Judicial Interim Release hearings
conducting three arrests related to possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking

‘Weird and wonderful’ wells are boosting oil production in Alberta and Saskatchewan

Published on November 20, 2025

Todayville

From the Canadian Energy Centre

By Deborah Jaremko

Multilateral designs lift more energy with a smaller environmental footprint

A “weird and wonderful” drilling innovation in Alberta is helping producers tap more oil and gas at lower cost and with less environmental impact.

With names like fishbone, fan, comb-over and stingray, “multilateral” wells turn a single wellbore from the surface into multiple horizontal legs underground.

“They do look spectacular, and they are making quite a bit of money for small companies, so there’s a lot of interest from investors,” said Calin Dragoie, vice-president of geoscience with Calgary-based Chinook Consulting Services.

Dragoie, who has extensively studied the use of multilateral wells, said the technology takes horizontal drilling — which itself revolutionized oil and gas production — to the next level.

“It’s something that was not invented in Canada, but was perfected here. And it’s something that I think in the next few years will be exported as a technology to other parts of the world,” he said.

Dragoie’s research found that in 2015 less than 10 per cent of metres drilled in Western Canada came from multilateral wells. By last year, that share had climbed to nearly 60 per cent.

Royalty incentives in Alberta have accelerated the trend, and Saskatchewan has introduced similar policy.

Multilaterals first emerged alongside horizontal drilling in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Dragoie said. But today’s multilaterals are longer, more complex and more productive.

The main play is in Alberta’s Marten Hills region, where producers are using multilaterals to produce shallow heavy oil.

Today’s average multilateral has about 7.5 horizontal legs from a single surface location, up from four or six just a few years ago, Dragoie said.

One record-setting well in Alberta drilled by Tamarack Valley Energy in 2023 features 11 legs stretching two miles each, for a total subsurface reach of 33 kilometres — the longest well in Canada.

By accessing large volumes of oil and gas from a single surface pad, multilaterals reduce land impact by a factor of five to ten compared to conventional wells, he said.

The designs save money by skipping casing strings and cement in each leg, and production is amplified as a result of increased reservoir contact.

Here are examples of multilateral well design. Images courtesy Chinook Consulting Services.

Parallel

Fishbone

Fan

Waffle

Stingray

Frankenwells

Alberta

Alberta to protect three pro-family laws by invoking notwithstanding clause

Published on November 19, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Premier Danielle Smith said her government will use a constitutional tool to defend a ban on transgender surgery for minors and stopping men from competing in women’s sports.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her government will use a rare constitutional tool, the notwithstanding clause, to ensure three bills passed this year — a ban on transgender surgery for minors, stopping men from competing in women’s sports, and protecting kids from extreme aspects of the LGBT agenda — stand and remain law after legal attacks from extremist activists.

Smith’s United Conservative Party (UCP) government stated that it will utilize a new law, Bill 9, to ensure that laws passed last year remain in effect.

“Children deserve the opportunity to grow into adulthood before making life-altering decisions about their gender and fertility,” Smith said in a press release sent to LifeSiteNews and other media outlets yesterday.

“By invoking the notwithstanding clause, we’re ensuring that laws safeguarding children’s health, education and safety cannot be undone – and that parents are fully involved in the major decisions affecting their children’s lives. That is what Albertans expect, and that is what this government will unapologetically defend.”

Alberta Justice Minister and Attorney General Mickey Amery said that the laws passed last year are what Albertans voted for in the last election.

“These laws reflect an overwhelming majority of Albertans, and it is our responsibility to ensure that they will not be overturned or further delayed by activists in the courts,” he noted.

“The notwithstanding clause reinforces democratic accountability by keeping decisions in the hands of those elected by Albertans. By invoking it, we are providing certainty that these protections will remain in place and that families can move forward with clarity and confidence.”

The Smith government said the notwithstanding clause will apply to the following pieces of legislation:

Bill 26, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2024, prohibits both gender reassignment surgery for children under 18 and the provision of puberty blockers and hormone treatments for the purpose of gender reassignment to children under 16.
Bill 27, the Education Amendment Act, 2024, requires schools to obtain parental consent when a student under 16 years of age wishes to change his or her name or pronouns for reasons related to the student’s gender identity, and requires parental opt-in consent to teaching on gender identity, sexual orientation or human sexuality.
Bill 29, the Fairness and Safety in Sport Act, requires the governing bodies of amateur competitive sports in Alberta to implement policies that limit participation in women’s and girls’ sports to those who were born female.”

Bill 26 was passed in December of 2024, and it amends the Health Act to “prohibit regulated health professionals from performing sex reassignment surgeries on minors.”

Last year, Smith’s government also passed Bill 27, a law banning schools from hiding a child’s pronoun changes at school that will help protect kids from the extreme aspects of the LGBT agenda.

Bill 27 will also empower the education minister to, in effect, stop the spread of extreme forms of pro-LGBT ideology or anything else to be allowed to be taught in schools via third parties.

Bill 29, which became law last December, bans gender-confused men from competing in women’s sports, the first legislation of its kind in Canada.  The law applies to all school boards, universities, and provincial sports organizations. 

Alberta’s notwithstanding clause is like all other provinces’ clauses and was a condition Alberta agreed to before it signed onto the nation’s 1982 constitution.

It is meant as a check to balance power between the court system and the government elected by the people. Once it is used, as passed in the legislature, a court cannot rule that the “legislation which the notwithstanding clause applies to be struck down based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Alberta Bill of Rights, or the Alberta Human Rights Act,” the Alberta government noted.

While Smith has done well on some points, she has still been relatively soft on social issues of importance to conservatives , such as abortion, and has publicly expressed pro-LGBT views, telling Jordan Peterson earlier this year that conservatives must embrace homosexual “couples” as “nuclear families.”