Connect with us

Alberta

Alberta Day Trips for the first long weekend of the summer

Published

4 minute read

1796 fur trade history at Fort George and Buckingham House, one of many Alberta history experiences at heritage facilities across the province.

From the Province of Alberta

Sites, museums and archives open for summer

Everyone can enjoy affordable adventures over the May long weekend and all summer at Albertaā€™s heritage facilities.

The summer season begins May 15 as provincial historic sites, museums and archives open the doors or start summer hours. From antique vehicles, Ukrainian dancing and vintage food, to dinosaurs and ancient bison-hunting culture, there is something for people of all ages.

ā€œWe are opening our doors and calling all Albertans to discover our beautiful province through our historic sites, museums and archives. I know you will be inspired and moved by the stories and people that have shaped Alberta.ā€

Leela Aheer, Minister of Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women

New and favourite experiences

There are many different things to do at Albertaā€™s 20 provincially owned and operated historic sites, museums and Provincial Archives. From special events and one-time exhibits to new programs and old favourites, here is a sample of what is happening:

  • The Vikings are here at the new Royal Alberta Museum

    Check out the museumā€™s first international travelling exhibition, Vikings: Beyond the Legend, and then relax at the outdoor cafĆ©, now open with the museumā€™s summer hours.

  • Vintage food at the Provincial Archives of Alberta

    Food and Community, the newest gallery exhibit, features historic images of how food brings people together. It opens May 22.

  • Tea time at Victoria Settlement

    On May 19, celebrate Queen Victoriaā€™s 200th birthday over tea and cake, and continue the tradition with Tea and Tales Tuesdays in July and August.

  • Hike an ancient trail at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

    Starting May 18, and every other Saturday throughout the summer, travel the ancient drive lanes and hear the stories of how the plains people hunted the mighty buffalo from Blackfoot guides.

  • Full week of fun at the Oil Sands Discovery Centre

    Still looking for summer activities for your children? Summer science camps are now weeklong.

  • Spotlight on the past at Historic Dunvegan

    Behind the Scenes exhibit includes an archeological dig experience. On May 18, you can join interpreters for a humorous and interactive outdoor show.

  • Feats with feet at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village

    Step into an authentic early 1900s pioneer experience when the village opens its doors on May 18 and enjoy Ukrainian dancing at the Celebration of Spring on May 20.

  • Fast and furious at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum

    Sports car enthusiasts will want to see the two new exhibits: Our Checkered Past: Racing in Alberta and Honda Motorcycles of the ā€™70s & ā€™80s.

Plan your summer in Alberta

Explore and discover our common heritage with the Experience Albertaā€™s History annual pass. Pay one fee and enjoy access to all the provincial historic sites and museums, and stay at a nearby Alberta Parksā€™ campground for an authentic Alberta experience.

Share your moments during #MuseumWeek

May 13-19 is #MuseumWeek, a worldwide celebration of culture on social networks, and International Museum Day is on May 18. Share your favourite moments at Albertaā€™s historic sites, museums and archives throughout the week using #ABhistory.

After 15 years as a TV reporter with Global and CBC and as news director of RDTV in Red Deer, Duane set out on his own 2008 as a visual storyteller. During this period, he became fascinated with a burgeoning online world and how it could better serve local communities. This fascination led to Todayville, launched in 2016.

Follow Author

Alberta

The beauty of economic corridors: Inside Albertaā€™s work to link products with new markets

Published on

From the Canadian Energy Centre

Q&A with Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transport and Economic Corridors

Devin Dreeshen, Albertaā€™s Minister of Transportation
and Economic Corridors.

CEC: How have recent developments impacted Albertaā€™s ability to expand trade routes and access new markets for energy and natural resources?

Dreeshen:Ā With the U.S. trade dispute going on right now, itā€™s great to see that other provinces and the federal government are taking an interest in our east, west and northern trade routes, something that we in Alberta have been advocating for a long time.

We signed agreements with Saskatchewan and Manitoba to have an economic corridor to stretch across the prairies, as well as a recent agreement with the Northwest Territories to go north. With the leadership of Premier Danielle Smith, sheā€™s been working on a BC, prairie and three northern territories economic corridor agreement with pretty much the entire western and northern block of Canada.

There has been a tremendous amount of work trying to get Alberta products to market and to make sure we can build big projects in Canada again.

CEC: Which infrastructure projects, whether pipeline, rail or port expansions, do you see as the most viable for improving Albertaā€™s global market access?

Dreeshen:Ā We look at everything. Obviously, pipelines are the safest way to transport oil and gas, but also rail is part of the mix of getting over four million barrels per day to markets around the world.

The beauty of economic corridors is that itā€™s a swath of land that can have any type of utility in it, whether it be a roadway, railway, pipeline or a utility line. When you have all the environmental permits that are approved in a timely manner, and you have that designated swath of land, it politically de-risks any type of project.

CEC: A key focus of your ministry has been expanding trade corridors, including an agreement with Saskatchewan and Manitoba to explore access to Hudsonā€™s Bay. Is there any interest from industry in developing this corridor further?

Dreeshen:Ā Thereā€™s been lots of talk [about] Hudson Bay, a trade corridor with rail and port access. Weā€™ve seen some improvements to go to Churchill, but also an interest in the Nelson River.

Weā€™re starting to see more confidence in the private sector and industry wanting to build these projects. Itā€™s great that governments can get together and work on a common goal to build things here in Canada.

CEC: What is your vision for Albertaā€™s future as a leader in global trade, and how do economic corridors fit into that strategy?

Dreeshen:Ā Premier Smith has talked about C-69 being repealed by the federal government [and] the reversal of the West Coast tanker ban, which targets Alberta energy going west out of the Pacific.

Thereā€™s a lot of work that needs to be done on the federal side. Alberta has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to economic corridors.

Weā€™ve asked the federal government if they could develop an economic corridor agency. We want to make sure that the federal government can come to the table, work with provinces [and] work with First Nations across this country to make sure that we can see these projects being built again here in Canada.

Continue Reading

2025 Federal Election

The High Cost Of Continued Western Canadian Alienation

Published on

From EnergyNow.Ca

By Jim Warren

Energy Issues Carney Must Commit to if He Truly Cares About National Cohesion and be Different From Trudeau

If the stars fail to align in the majority of Western Canadaā€™s favour and voters from Central Canada and the Maritimes re-elect a Liberal government on April 28, it will stand as a tragic rejection of the aspirations of the oil producing provinces and a threat to national cohesion.

As of today Mark Carney has not clearly and unequivocally promised to tear down the Liberal policy wall blocking growth in oil and gas exports. Yes, he recently claimed to favour energy corridors, but just two weeks earlier he backtracked on a similar commitment.

There are some promises Carney hopefully wonā€™t honour. He has pledged to impose punitive emissions taxes on Canadian industry. But thatā€™s supposedly alright because Carney has liberally sprinkled that promise with pixie dust. This will magically ensure any associated increases in the cost of living will disappear. Liberal wizardry will similarly vaporize any harm Carbon Tax 2.0 might do to the competitive capacity of Canadian exporters.

Carney has as also promised to impose border taxes on imports from countries that lack the Liberalsā€™ zeal for saving the planet. These are not supposed to raise Canadiansā€™ cost of living by much, but if they do we can take pride in doing our part to save the planet. We can feel good about ourselves while shopping for groceries we canā€™t afford to buy.

There is ample bad news in what Carney has promised to do. No less disturbing is what he has not agreed to do. Oil and gas sector leaders have been telling Carney what needs to be done, but that doesnā€™t mean heā€™s been listening.

The Build Canada Now action plan announced last week by western energy industry leaders lays out a concise five-point plan for growing the oil and gas sector. If Mark Carney wants to convince his more skeptical detractors that he is truly concerned about Canadian prosperity, he should consider getting a tattoo that celebrates the five points.

Yet, if he got onside with the five points and could be trusted, would it not be a step in the right direction? Sure, but it would also be great if unicorns were real.

The purpose of the Build Canada Now action plan couldnā€™t be much more clearly and concisely stated. ā€œFor the oil and natural gas sector to expand and energy infrastructure to be built, Canadaā€™s federal political leaders can create an environment that will:

1. Simplify regulation. The federal governmentā€™s Impact Assessment Act and West Coast tanker ban are impeding development and need to be overhauled and simplified. Regulatory processes need to be streamlined, and decisions need to withstand judicial challenges.

2. Commit to firm deadlines for project approvals. The federal government needs to reduce regulatory timelines so that major projects are approved within 6 months of application.

3. Grow production. The federal governmentā€™s unlegislated cap on emissions must be eliminated to allow the sector to reach its full potential.

4. Attract investment. The federal carbon levy on large emitters is not globally cost competitive and should be repealed to allow provincial governments to set more suitable carbon regulations.

5. Incent Indigenous co-investment opportunities. The federal government needs to provide Indigenous loan guarantees at scale so industry may create infrastructure ownership opportunities to increase prosperity for communities and to ensure that Indigenous communities benefit from development.ā€

As they say the devil is often in the details. But it would be an error to complicate the message with too much detail in the context of an election campaign. We want to avoid sacrificing the good on behalf of the perfect. The plan needs to be readily understandable to voters and the media. We live in the age of the ten second sound bite so the plan has to be something that can be communicated succinctly.

Nevertheless, there is much more to be done. If Carney hopes to feel welcome in large sections of the west he needs to back away from many of promises heā€™s already made. And there are many Liberal policies besides Bill C-69 and C-48 that need to be rescinded or significantly modified.

Liberal imposed limitations on free speech have to go. In a free society publicizing the improvements oil and gas companies are making on behalf of environmental protection should not be a crime.

There is a morass of emissions reduction regulations, mandates, targets and deadlines that need to be rethought and/or rescinded. These include measures like the emissions cap, the clean electricity standard, EV mandates and carbon taxes. Similarly, plans for imposing restrictions on industries besides oil and gas, such as agriculture, need to be dropped. These include mandatory reductions in the use of nitrogen fertilizer and attacks (thus far only rhetorical) on cattle ranching.

A good starting point for addressing these issues would be meaningful federal-provincial negotiations. But that wonā€™t work if the Liberals allow Quebec to veto energy projects that are in the national interest. If Quebec insists on being obstructive, the producing provinces in the west will insist that its equalization welfare be reduced or cancelled.

Virtually all of the Liberal policy measures noted above are inflationary and reduce the profitability and competitive capacity of our exporters. Adding to Canadaā€™s already high cost of living on behalf of overly zealous, unachievable emissions reduction goals is unnecessary as well as socially unacceptable.

We probably all have our own policy change preferences. One of my personal favourites would require the federal government to cease funding environmental organizations that disrupt energy projects with unlawful protests and file frivolous slap suits to block pipelines.

Admittedly, it is a rare thing to have all of oneā€™s policy preferences satisfied in a democracy. And it is wise to stick to a short wish list during a federal election campaign. Putting some of the foregoing issues on the back burner is okay provided we donā€™t forget them there.

But what if few or any of the oil and gas producing provincesā€™ demands are accepted by Carney and he still manages to become prime minister?

We are currently confronted by a dangerous level of geopolitical uncertainty. The prospects of a global trade war and its effects on an export-reliant country like Canada are daunting to say the least.

Dividing the country further by once again stifling the legitimate aspirations of the majority of people in Alberta and Saskatchewan will not be helpful. (I could add voters from the northeast and interior of B.C., and southwestern Manitoba to the club of the seriously disgruntled.)

Continue Reading

Trending

X