The size, number, and environmental impact of oilsands tailings spills have been significantly underreported, according to new research. A study published in the Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Assessment compares information on reported bitumen tailings spills from the Alberta Energy Regulator’s (AER) public database with documents from the AER released through freedom of information requests. […]

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the province has heard back from Canada’s chief actuary on its bid to leave the Canada Pension Plan but says there’s no estimate on how much the province should get. The province has been waiting for months for the review and a figure. Smith said Thursday her government will follow […]

Thousands of patients and health care workers were infected during COVID-19 outbreaks in acute care facilities in Alberta in the last year, raising questions about why more isn’t being done to prevent in-hospital transmission. Between Sept. 1, 2023, and Aug. 31, 2024, more than 300 COVID-19 outbreaks were declared at Alberta Health Services and Covenant […]

Alberta’s information and privacy commissioner says she is worried — but not surprised — the province voted this week to pass legislation she says will reduce public access to government information. “I am concerned,” commissioner Diane McLeod said in an interview. “All of those things I think are going to impact the right of access […]

An Alberta government bill proposing changes to freedom of information rules has passed third and final reading in the legislature despite the province’s information and privacy watchdog warning they will “significantly degrade” transparency. The bill, now awaiting royal assent, creates a number of new exemptions for what documents can be provided to members of the […]

Alberta’s information and privacy commissioner says she has significant concerns about two bills tabled by the government earlier this month. The bills amend existing access to information and privacy rules, and were touted by ministers as being the strictest privacy regulations in Canada. But Diane McLeod, Alberta’s independent privacy and information commissioner, says the government […]

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 it is prohibited. “It […]

Legislation around property rights, gun ownership, tourism and parental involvement in education should spark the interest of rural Albertans, the UCP’s government house leader speculated in announcing plans for this week’s reconvened session of the legislature. But pleasing people who live beyond the province’s cities is not driving his party’s fall agenda, Joseph Schow said […]

An officer in Lethbridge, Alta., has received a reprimand for improperly accessing information in a police database about former NDP legislature member Shannon Phillips. Phillips was environment minister when she was surveilled and photographed at a diner in 2017 by officers concerned she was making off-highway changes at a nearby wilderness area. Her information was […]

Since becoming available in 2017, Mifegymiso, commonly called the abortion pill, has transformed reproductive health care in Canada. Before the drug’s legalization, medical abortion was a relatively rare procedure, and surgical abortion services were often only available through hospitals and specialized clinics in major urban centres. Because any physician or nurse practitioner in Alberta can […]

On March 26, the Owen Sound city council meeting was packed with residents as elected officials discussed whether to support one of TC Energy’s biggest clean energy projects. The Calgary-based energy giant has proposed a pumped storage project in Meaford, Ont., on the shores of Georgian Bay — a man-made reservoir built on the Niagara […]

Stettler county council wants to do more to help property owners understand their tax bills and will try some new strategies next year. Resolutions related to this issue were passed at the July 10 regular meeting of council. Reeve Larry Clarke asked that under the “council request for information” part of the agenda that councillors […]