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Alberta

Province Releases Blockbuster Review of COVID-19 Pandemic Response

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A blockbuster report headed up by Dr. Gary Davidson has been released. The review should rattle the foundations of Alberta Health and very likely have huge ramifications everywhere as it’s one of  only a very few reviews of this kind to be released anywhere in the world.

You can find the report here: open.alberta.ca/publications/a

Premier Danielle Smith tasked Dr. Davidson with this project over 2 years ago.  Former head of Emergency Medicine for the central zone and Chief of the Emergency Department at Red Deer Regional Hospital from 2016-2020, Dr. Davidson found himself on the outside looking in during the COVID-19 pandemic when he criticized the accepted treatments and refused to take the jab.  Shortly after Danielle Smith became Premier, she called on Dr. Davidson to lead a review.. and has he ever.

Released earlier today (Friday, January 24), the 250 page report is extremely critical of many aspects of the health system’s approach to the pandemic.

You can find the report here: open.alberta.ca/publications/a

The team assembled by Dr. Davidson includes some of the leading Albertans you would hope to be involved in a provincial COVID-19 review including Dr. Davison himself, Dr. Blaine Achen (who was fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine after having recovered from COVID and realizing he had immunity. He was soon reinstated.), Infectious Disease Epidemiologist Dr. David Vickers of the Centre for Health Informatics at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine, as well as Dr “Rashad” Justin Chin, Emergency Medicine Specialist at the University of Alberta Emergency Department.

The team called out and received support from some of the world’s leading experts on the COVID-19 pandemic including David Speicher, a PhD and molecular virologist and clinical epidemiologist with expertise in detection and surveillance of infectious diseases. Dr. Speicher’s work has been highlighted in the U.S. Senate as well as European Parliamentary hearings.

Dr Davidson also pulled in Dr. Byram Bridle. The PhD viral immunologist and Associate Professor of Viral Immunology in the Department of Pathobiology at the University of Guelph who became renowned for his early and accurate information on the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine response.

The review was also aided by US President Donald Trumps selection for Secretary of NIH (National Institutes of Health), Dr Jay Battacharya.  Dr. Battacharya catapulted to fame for his part in the Great Barrington Declaration released early in the pandemic, which suggested a completely different approach to various aspects of the pandemic response which have all proved to be far better in retrospect.

In the coming days and perhaps hours, various media and agencies will be offering summaries of the report’s findings (including the summaries you’ll find here at Todayville.com). Undoubtedly there are AI versions already.  However this is one small book you should seriously consider reading yourself from cover to cover.  After a quick scan I can guarantee you it would be very difficult to overstate just how important this review is to future pandemic responses and to our health care system in general.

More on this report in the coming days.. and undoubtedly weeks and months ahead!

Do take the time to read this for yourself.  It’s really too important to only know what others will tell you about this.  Undoubtedly there will be extremely differing opinions.  Perhaps the most important conclusion of all will be one of the recommendations made in this review… the absolute necessity for a full public inquiry into Alberta’s pandemic response.  

You can find the report here: open.alberta.ca/publications/a

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.

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Alberta

Low oil prices could have big consequences for Alberta’s finances

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From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill

Amid the tariff war, the price of West Texas Intermediate oil—a common benchmark—recently dropped below US$60 per barrel. Given every $1 drop in oil prices is an estimated $750 million hit to provincial revenues, if oil prices remain low for long, there could be big implications for Alberta’s budget.

The Smith government already projects a $5.2 billion budget deficit in 2025/26 with continued deficits over the following two years. This year’s deficit is based on oil prices averaging US$68.00 per barrel. While the budget does include a $4 billion “contingency” for unforeseen events, given the economic and fiscal impact of Trump’s tariffs, it could quickly be eaten up.

Budget deficits come with costs for Albertans, who will already pay a projected $600 each in provincial government debt interest in 2025/26. That’s money that could have gone towards health care and education, or even tax relief.

Unfortunately, this is all part of the resource revenue rollercoaster that’s are all too familiar to Albertans.

Resource revenue (including oil and gas royalties) is inherently volatile. In the last 10 years alone, it has been as high as $25.2 billion in 2022/23 and as low as $2.8 billion in 2015/16. The provincial government typically enjoys budget surpluses—and increases government spending—when oil prices and resource revenue is relatively high, but is thrown into deficits when resource revenues inevitably fall.

Fortunately, the Smith government can mitigate this volatility.

The key is limiting the level of resource revenue included in the budget to a set stable amount. Any resource revenue above that stable amount is automatically saved in a rainy-day fund to be withdrawn to maintain that stable amount in the budget during years of relatively low resource revenue. The logic is simple: save during the good times so you can weather the storm during bad times.

Indeed, if the Smith government had created a rainy-day account in 2023, for example, it could have already built up a sizeable fund to help stabilize the budget when resource revenue declines. While the Smith government has deposited some money in the Heritage Fund in recent years, it has not created a dedicated rainy-day account or introduced a similar mechanism to help stabilize provincial finances.

Limiting the amount of resource revenue in the budget, particularly during times of relatively high resource revenue, also tempers demand for higher spending, which is only fiscally sustainable with permanently high resource revenues. In other words, if the government creates a rainy-day account, spending would become more closely align with stable ongoing levels of revenue.

And it’s not too late. To end the boom-bust cycle and finally help stabilize provincial finances, the Smith government should create a rainy-day account.

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Alberta

Governments in Alberta should spur homebuilding amid population explosion

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From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill and Austin Thompson

In 2024, construction started on 47,827 housing units—the most since 48,336 units in 2007 when population growth was less than half of what it was in 2024.

Alberta has long been viewed as an oasis in Canada’s overheated housing market—a refuge for Canadians priced out of high-cost centres such as Vancouver and Toronto. But the oasis is starting to dry up. House prices and rents in the province have spiked by about one-third since the start of the pandemic. According to a recent Maru poll, more than 70 per cent of Calgarians and Edmontonians doubt they will ever be able to afford a home in their city. Which raises the question: how much longer can this go on?

Alberta’s housing affordability problem reflects a simple reality—not enough homes have been built to accommodate the province’s growing population. The result? More Albertans competing for the same homes and rental units, pushing prices higher.

Population growth has always been volatile in Alberta, but the recent surge, fuelled by record levels of immigration, is unprecedented. Alberta has set new population growth records every year since 2022, culminating in the largest-ever increase of 186,704 new residents in 2024—nearly 70 per cent more than the largest pre-pandemic increase in 2013.

Homebuilding has increased, but not enough to keep pace with the rise in population. In 2024, construction started on 47,827 housing units—the most since 48,336 units in 2007 when population growth was less than half of what it was in 2024.

Moreover, from 1972 to 2019, Alberta added 2.1 new residents (on average) for every housing unit started compared to 3.9 new residents for every housing unit started in 2024. Put differently, today nearly twice as many new residents are potentially competing for each new home compared to historical norms.

While Alberta attracts more Canadians from other provinces than any other province, federal immigration and residency policies drive Alberta’s population growth. So while the provincial government has little control over its population growth, provincial and municipal governments can affect the pace of homebuilding.

For example, recent provincial amendments to the city charters in Calgary and Edmonton have helped standardize building codes, which should minimize cost and complexity for builders who operate across different jurisdictions. Municipal zoning reforms in CalgaryEdmonton and Red Deer have made it easier to build higher-density housing, and Lethbridge and Medicine Hat may soon follow suit. These changes should make it easier and faster to build homes, helping Alberta maintain some of the least restrictive building rules and quickest approval timelines in Canada.

There is, however, room for improvement. Policymakers at both the provincial and municipal level should streamline rules for building, reduce regulatory uncertainty and development costs, and shorten timelines for permit approvals. Calgary, for instance, imposes fees on developers to fund a wide array of public infrastructure—including roads, sewers, libraries, even buses—while Edmonton currently only imposes fees to fund the construction of new firehalls.

It’s difficult to say how long Alberta’s housing affordability woes will endure, but the situation is unlikely to improve unless homebuilding increases, spurred by government policies that facilitate more development.

Tegan Hill

Director, Alberta Policy, Fraser Institute

Austin Thompson

Senior Policy Analyst, Fraser Institute
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