Alberta
Alberta Budget 2024 – Communities, Resource Development, Natural disasters, and Policing,
Budget 2024: Investing in safe, welcoming communities
Budget 2024 is a responsible plan that keeps Alberta communities safe and secure.
Budget 2024 protects the environment and safeguards communities and the economy from challenges like wildfires, floods and drought.
“We have a responsible plan that will help protect Albertans and their communities from situations like natural disasters. Ensuring Alberta can continue on its path of growth and prosperity was at top of mind developing Budget 2024.”
Budget 2024 highlights – responsible resource management
Last summer’s wildfires, floods and drought conditions affected many parts of Alberta. Budget 2024 protects Albertans and their communities through major investments in wildfire prevention and firefighting services, flood and drought mitigation projects. This includes:
- $251 million in capital funding over three years for flood and drought mitigation projects to protect Albertans, properties and businesses.
- $539 million in capital funding over three years for municipal and regional water and wastewater projects, including the Water for Life strategy.
- $151 million in additional operating dollars over the next three years to improve Alberta’s wildfire response readiness, enhance night operations, support volunteer and community wildfire response programs, provide additional airtanker support and provide additional resources to fight wildfires.
- $55 million in capital funding over three years to upgrade or purchase new wildfire fighting equipment and facilities.
- $19 million to create a modern, 21st century water strategy to increase water availability through water storage projects, conservation, data systems and stronger water policies.
- $418 million in capital funding over three years for infrastructure projects to manage water, including:
- $262 million for irrigation projects to support farmers and agriculture producers.
- $147 million for water infrastructure projects to ensure necessary irrigation water supply throughout the province.
- $10 million for feasibility studies to explore options for water storage in the Waterton, Belly and St. Mary basins, and Ardley.
“We are preparing for the 2024 wildfire season by investing in prevention, response and mitigation programming. These investments will directly equip Alberta’s wildland firefighters with the tools they need to help keep Albertans and their communities safe.”
“We are making critical investments to protect, conserve and maximize water in Alberta. These measures will help keep communities safe during emergencies while keeping families in their homes and businesses open during droughts and floods.”
“As we face what may be another tough year for Alberta’s agriculture industry, Budget 2024 is looking to the future to see where new water projects are possible while ensuring our existing infrastructure continues to be well-maintained to provide water security for Albertans.”
Budget 2024 highlights – community safety
Albertans deserve to feel safe in their communities, whether they are at their homes, studying at school or commuting to work. Budget 2024 helps promote a safe environment so Albertans feel secure, welcomed and valued through:
- $49 million in capital funding over three years to better support first responders and sheriffs by providing them with the equipment and facilities they need to protect Albertans.
- $10 million in 2024-25 to support 100 police officers deployed to high-crime areas in Calgary and Edmonton through the Safe Streets Action Plan.
- $8 million in community-based grants to continue addressing crime prevention, community safety and hate crimes.
- $85 million in operating expense to the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence program, an increase of $5 million from the 2023-24 budget, to support victims and women at risk of assault.
Alberta’s government is also working closely with municipalities, Indigenous leaders and first responders so vulnerable people have access to shelter and housing, health care and recovery-oriented services.
“Albertans have a right to feel safe working and living in their communities, and this budget makes sure we can put the right resources in place to ensure public safety across this province. Additional investments to improve public safety – including supports for police and investments to strengthen Alberta’s response during a disaster – will help meet urgent needs while we lay the groundwork to deliver other public safety priorities over the next three years.”
Budget 2024 is a responsible plan to strengthen health care and education, build safe and supportive communities, manage the province’s resources wisely and promote job creation to continue to build Alberta’s competitive advantage.
Alberta
Alberta court upholds conviction of Pastor Artur Pawlowski for preaching at Freedom Convoy protest
From LifeSiteNews
Lawyers argued that Pastor Artur Pawlowski’s sermon was intended to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, but the statement was characterized as a call for mischief.
An Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that Calgary Pastor Artur Pawlowski is guilty of mischief for his sermon at the Freedom Convoy-related border protest blockade in February 2022 in Coutts, Alberta.
On October 29, Alberta Court of Appeal Justice Gordon Krinke sentenced the pro-freedom pastor to 60 days in jail for “counselling mischief” by encouraging protesters to continue blocking Highway 4 to protest COVID mandates.
“A reasonable person would understand the appellant’s speech to be an active inducement of the illegal activity that was ongoing and that the appellant intended for his speech to be so understood,” the decision reads.
Pawlowski addressed a group of truckers and protesters blocking entrance into the U.S. state of Montana on February 3, the fifth day of the Freedom Convoy-styled protest. He encouraged the protesters to “hold the line” after they had reportedly made a deal with Royal Canadian Mounted Police to leave the border crossing and travel to Edmonton.
“The eyes of the world are fixed right here on you guys. You are the heroes,” Pawlowski said. “Don’t you dare go breaking the line.”
After Pawlowski’s sermon, the protesters remained at the border crossing for two additional weeks. While his lawyers argued that his speech was made to encourage protesters to find a peaceful solution to the blockade, the statement is being characterized as a call for mischief.
Days later, on February 8, Pawlowski was arrested – for the fifth time – by an undercover SWAT team just before he was slated to speak again to the Coutts protesters.
He was subsequently jailed for nearly three months for what he said was for speaking out against COVID mandates, the subject of all the Freedom Convoy-related protests.
In Krinke’s decision, he argued that Pawlowski’s sermon incited the continuation of the protest, saying, “The Charter does not provide justification to anybody who incites a third party to commit such crimes.”
However, defence lawyer Sarah Miller pointed out that that Pawlowski’s sermon was protected under freedom of speech, an argument that Krinke quickly dismissed.
“While the appellant is correct that peaceful, lawful and nonviolent communication is entitled to protection, blockading a highway is an inherently aggressive and potentially violent form of conduct, designed to intimidate and impede the movement of third parties,” he wrote.
Pawlowski was released after the verdict. He has already spent 78 days in jail before the trial.
Pawlowski is the first Albertan to be charged for violating the province’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act (CIDA), which was put in place in 2020 under then-Premier Jason Kenney.
The CIDA, however, was not put in place due to COVID mandates but rather after anti-pipeline protesters blockaded key infrastructure points such as railway lines in Alberta a few years ago.
Alberta
Heavy-duty truckers welcome new ‘natural gas highway’ in Alberta
Clean Energy Fuels CEO Andrew Littlefair, Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose, and Mullen Group chairman Murray Mullen attend the opening of a new Clean Energy/Tourmaline compressed natural gas (CNG) fuelling station in Calgary on Oct. 22, 2024. Photo courtesy Tourmaline
From the Canadian Energy Centre
New compressed natural gas fueling stations in Grande Prairie and Calgary join new stop in Edmonton
Heavy-duty truckers hauling everything from restaurant supplies to specialized oilfield services along one of Western Canada’s busiest corridors now have more access to a fuel that can help reduce emissions and save costs.
Two new fuelling stations serving compressed natural gas (CNG) rather than diesel in Grande Prairie and Calgary, along with a stop that opened in Edmonton last year, create the first phase of what proponents call a “natural gas highway”.
“Compressed natural gas is viable, it’s competitive and it’s good for the environment,” said Murray Mullen, chair of Mullen Group, which operates more than 4,300 trucks and thousands of pieces of equipment supporting Western Canada’s energy industry.
Right now, the company is running 19 CNG units and plans to deploy another 15 as they become available.
“They’re running the highways right now and they’re performing exceptionally well,” Mullen said on Oct. 22 during the ribbon-cutting ceremony opening the new station on the northern edge of Calgary along Highway 2.
“Our people love them, our customers love them and I think it’s going to be the way for the future to be honest,” he said.
Heavy-duty trucks at Tourmaline and Clean Energy’s new Calgary compressed natural gas fuelling station. Photo courtesy Tourmaline
According to Natural Resources Canada, natural gas burns more cleanly than gasoline or diesel fuel, producing fewer toxic pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
The two new CNG stops are part of a $70 million partnership announced last year between major Canadian natural gas producer Tourmaline and California-based Clean Energy Fuels.
Their deal would see up to 20 new CNG stations built in Western Canada over the next five years, daily filling up to 3,000 natural gas-fueled trucks.
One of North America’s biggest trucking suppliers to businesses including McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Subway and Popeye’s says the new stations will help as it expands its fleet of CNG-powered vehicles across Canada.
Amy Senter, global vice-president of sustainability with Illinois-based Martin Brower, said in a statement that using more CNG is critical to the company achieving its emissions reduction targets.
For Tourmaline, delivering CNG to heavy-duty truckers builds on its multi-year program to displace diesel in its operations, primarily by switching drilling equipment to run on natural gas.
Between 2018 and 2022, the company displaced the equivalent of 36 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of diesel that didn’t get used, or the equivalent emissions of about 58,000 passenger vehicles.
Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose speaks to reporters during the opening of a new Tourmaline/Clean Energy compressed natural gas fuelling station in Calgary on Oct. 22, 2024. Photo courtesy Tourmaline
Tourmaline CEO Mike Rose noted that the trucking sector switching fuel from diesel to natural gas is gaining momentum, notably in Asia.
A “small but growing” share of China’s trucking fleet moving to natural gas helped drive an 11 percent reduction in overall diesel consumption this June compared to the previous year, according to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“China’s talking about 30 percent of the trucks sold going forward are to be CNG trucks, and it’s all about reducing emissions,” Rose said.
“It’s one global atmosphere. We’re going to reduce them here; they’re going to reduce them there and everybody’s a net winner.”
Switching from diesel to CNG is “extremely cost competitive” for trucking fleets, said Clean Energy CEO Andrew Littlefair.
“It will really move the big rigs that we need in Western Canada for the long distance and heavy loads,” he said.
Tourmaline and Clean Energy aim to have seven CNG fuelling stations operating by the end of 2025. Construction is set to begin in Kamloops, B.C., followed by Fort McMurray and Fort St. John.
“You’ll have that Western Canadian corridor, and then we’ll grow it from there,” Littlefair said.
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