In the Leg
Bill 31: Red Tape Reduction Amendments Act, or; Cleaning up Our Messes
Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act (pg. 18) is amended re: hazardous waste ; Recycling Council of Alberta seems pleased.
Gaming Liquor and Cannabis Act (pg. 26) is amended re: selling Albertan’s personal information. The amendment appears to fly in the face of a November 2024 bill (Bill 33) to literally not allow government do that. Eye roll.
The Alberta government is making changes to strengthen privacy rules, including a ban on public bodies such as schools and municipalities selling private information.
Technology Minister Nate Glubish says while the province and other public bodies in Alberta are not believed to be selling such information, the bill would make clear that it is prohibited.
“It was important to me to codify that into law so that Albertans knew for sure that no government ever could,” Glubish told reporters Wednesday before introducing one of two bills that, if passed, would replace the existing Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
The Canadian Press, Posted Nov 6, 2024Gas Resources Preservation Act (pg. 31) is amended re: suspension of permits.
Infrastructure Accountability Act (pg. 32) is amended re: 20 year plans to be prepared and published every 7 years instead of every 4 years
Irrigation Districts Act (pg. 33) is amended to remove two districts and turn the remaining districts into corporations. Four districts increase in size.
Land Titles Act (pg. 39) is amended re: digitizing signatures, forms, registration, and filing (construction/liens/prompt payment act).
Natural Gas Marketing Act (pg. 97) is amended re: permanent daylight savings time, aka: “Alberta Time”.
Oil and Gas Conservation Act (pg. 98) is amended to remove the Regulator’s ability to call an inquiry into suspected contraventions. They can still shut down/suspend work if suspected contraventions but the inquiry portion is removed.
Oil Sands Conservation Act (pg. 100) is amended to the same.
Pipeline Act (pg. 101) is amended to the same.
Professional Governance Act (pg. 103) limits Ministerial appointments of public members to governing bodies to less than 50 per cent of total members, and returning some authority to professional regulatory bodies (fixing what they broke last time for likes on the socials?)
Provincial Parks Act (pg. 119) to give Ministerial appointees more authority over employees, differentiating between Park’s officials and conservation officers, and affording them more authority within parks generally.
Public Works Act (pg. 131) is amended re: language.
Residential Tenancies Act (pg. 132) is amended to change notice of termination from 180 days to 365 days.
Women’s Institute Act (pg. 133) is amended to confer authority on Women’s Institutes’ approved forms for incorporation. The link to “open” Alberta leads to a 404 but are still available on CanLII.
Bill 32: Electoral Boundaries Commission Amendment Act, or Removing Neutrality When It Suits Us
It might be one of the shortest amendments ever, announcing only a single one— changing “89 proposed electoral divisions” to “91 proposed electoral divisions”.
One would think they’d need to tackle other areas more urgently; like 2(a), (b), and (c).
2(1) From time to time as required by this Act, an Electoral Boundaries Commission is to be appointed consisting of
(a) a chair appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, who must be one of the following:
(i) the Ethics Commissioner;
(ii) the Auditor General;
(iii) the president of a post‑secondary educational institution in Alberta;
(iv) a judge or retired judge of any court in Alberta;
(v) a person whose stature and qualifications are, in the opinion of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, similar to those of the persons referred to in subclauses (i) to (iv),
(b) 2 persons, who are not members of the Legislative Assembly, appointed by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly on the nomination of the Leader of His Majesty’s loyal opposition in consultation with the leaders of the other opposition parties represented in the Legislative Assembly, and
(c) 2 persons, who are not members of the Legislative Assembly, appointed by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly on the nomination of the President of the Executive Council.
Electoral Boundaries Commission Act, RSA 2000, c E-3, <https://canlii.ca/t/56fcc> retrieved on 2026-04-28
You know… since they’ve formed an entirely new commission made up only of members of the Legislative Assembly.
They will also probably need to bulldoze Section 5 3 and 3(a).
5(1) A Commission is to be appointed on or before October 31, 2016.
(2) Subsequent Commissions are to be appointed during the first session of the Legislature following every 2nd general election after the appointment of the last Commission.
(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), if less than 8 years has elapsed since the appointment of the last Commission, the Commission is to be appointed
(a) no sooner than 8 years, and
(b) no later than 10 years
after the appointment of the last Commission.
It’s fine. I’m sure the Committee of the Whole will correct the glaring oversight since the new commission has already been appointed.
Other News
Alberta Referendum
The province launched a website, AlbertaReferendum2026, which goes through similar biased and loaded talking points as they used for the Alberta Next Panel. It’s highly misleading and gross, just like it was at the Alberta Next Panels, where attendees cheered for “mass deportations”. If you can’t win the hearts and minds of voters with hope, racism seems to perk some of them right up.
I recommend instead that interested Albertans look up AlbertaReferendumb2026, which was the brainchild of a friend of mine. It fills in some of the blanks from the government’s propaganda site like “can we really deny public services to everyone who moves to Alberta for work?” Spoiler— the answer is “no”.
If I didn’t write it recently, even the government doesn’t want to deny public services to absolutely every temporary worker— they just want businesses to have to lobby for exemptions.
It puts the term “business friendly” in an entirely new light, doesn’t it?
Separatists aren’t happy with Smith (wink wink)
To believe or not to believe, that is the question.
When asked why her government doesn’t put up a separation question on their own, the Premier responded “because my position is that we should remain in Canada.”
Janet Brown Opinion Polling oversaw a recent poll on separation to gauge whether or not the dial had moved much since the Premier relaxed the requirements to get citizen-led petitions the day after the Liberals were re-elected a fourth time last April.
From last year to this, it appears few, if any, have been persuaded to change their minds.
The separatists are still mostly concentrated in the governing United Conservative Party’s base of support, even though former Wildrose/UCP supporter Cam Davies created his own knee-high Republican party. In the camp of separatism, there is a fine line between those who want to get annexed by Donald Trump and those who think separating from Canada would still provide benefits of being part of Canada if the Trump Administration decided they’d just send in the military and take over.
One United Conservative Party constituency association president, Mitch Sylvestre, who has been a bigger name in support for separation responded to the Premier’s frank statement saying that (separatists) now understand that she’s not working for (them) and they would have to make decisions about how to move forward.
Looking at that division of support within the UCP, I’d say he and his band of spectacularly un-merry men might be able to gather enough support to take Ms. Smith out of her role as leader, which would force her to resign her position as Premier.
When the proposal to hold a regular leadership review passed at the UCP convention in 2020, it was supposed to be held every three years. There was no requirement for Ms. Smith to have her own review in 2023, being that they’d had one as recently as 2022— followed by her winning the leadership and a general election— so it will be interesting to see what the board does with that because, if one must be held at least every three years, she should face another review at convention this fall.
Unlike Jason Kenney, however, I feel relatively confident in saying that Danielle Smith would actually stay on as leader, so she could remain Premier, with anything over 50 per cent support. At least, I feel relatively confident in saying that today.
Final thoughts
Special shoutout to Carrie Tait who received the Journalist of the Year award! Her work on the Alberta Health Services procurement scandal was instrumental to shedding light on where our tax dollars have been going.
Speaking of that procurement scandal, it’s the 2.0 version where we learn about what the other crooks have been up to.
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Not sure why this video/recording hasn't gained more traction? In it Sylvestre states that the Premier is fully on the separatist side along with all 30 members of the Cold Lake-Bonnyville UCP constituency association board.
https://substack.com/redirect/97019dcb-7124-4b04-885b-d53e86e6cf0d?j=eyJ1IjoiMjRhdzluIn0.BVBS24BiRCBAXQAanPEj-boACbhIU43BlTNwWDUuU84
Great graphic and thanks to your friend for the referenDUMB.
Here’s a supplement to this Fact and Fiction questionnaire
https://nextstepsalberta.ca