Alberta’s government said Friday it has picked the University of Calgary to study potential costs of the province leaving Canada. It has also formed what it calls an expert advisory panel to review the university’s report and provide a separate assessment. The panel is led by economist Jack Mintz, a go-to expert for Alberta governments […]

Transparency is a major topic for all tiers of government and the public is ever the more curious about how officials uphold openness to scrutiny in their civil service. With the provincial government’s recent changes to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), local officials are also keeping the subject open to […]

Ohioans soon will be required to provide a photo ID when voting by mail – a major change to a voting method that previously had been exempted from the strict voter ID requirement Republican lawmakers passed following the 2020 presidential election. Republican lawmakers unveiled the new photo ID requirement for mail voting on Tuesday, before […]

To Michael Solberg, being an Albertan and Canadian are inextricably and extraordinarily linked. “Alberta is more than just a province. It’s a place in Confederation that I think makes it great,” he said. It’s part of why Solberg is a key member of the Vote To Stay campaign, an organization comprised of various people from […]

A 13-year-old boy was charged with uttering threats last week after allegedly “threatening firearm-related violence towards students” at Sexsmith Secondary School. Clairmont RCMP said they received a complaint the night of June 4 and started their investigation by speaking with students at the school June 5, which led them to the youth who was interviewed […]

Sexual deepfakes created by Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot and shared on his X platform violated Canada’s privacy law — and while the company has made some changes, they don’t go far enough, the privacy commissioner said Thursday. Commissioner Philippe Dufresne said Grok’s AI image generation tool was launched without adequate safeguards and didn’t properly […]

The Conservatives and the NDP aren’t offering opinions yet on the online harms bill introduced by the federal Liberal government Wednesday. The bill includes a high-profile plan to force social media companies to ban kids under 16 from their platforms. A spokesperson for the Conservatives said the party is looking at the bill. “Protecting children […]

The vast majority of crime guns traced by the RCMP to identifiable sources in 2023 and 2024 came from within Canada and were not smuggled from abroad, say internal reports prepared by the national police force. The analyses found almost all of the long guns traced — and a substantial number of the handguns — […]

The Liberal government’s new online safety legislation would force social media to block access for kids under 16, though platforms will be able to obtain an exemption if they put sufficient safeguards in place. Bill C-34, introduced Wednesday in the House of Commons, would also regulate the companies behind AI chatbots by imposing on them […]

— When Dartmouth resident Judy Baroni filed a freedom-of-information request with the Halifax Regional Municipality seeking records about the Portland Street-Cole Harbour Road Functional Planning Study, she expected to receive documents explaining what was being proposed for her neighbourhood. Instead, she received a fee estimate of nearly $14,000. Baroni said she was shocked. “If you’ve […]

— MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A Somali soccer referee who was due to become the first from his country to officiate the World Cup but was denied entry to the United States was named Africa’s best referee and is considered a hero to many in his country. Omar Artan, 34, was due to be the […]

This week the Doug Ford government announced it was heading into an almost five-month summer recess after a 30-day legislative session; the same day a coalition requested the province’s financial watchdog to launch an independent investigation into the costs associated with building the controversial Highway 413. Government House Leader Steve Clark said the Legislature will […]