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Alberta

Alberta going after entrepreneurs and immigrants working as health-care professionals

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Improving the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program

Changes to the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP) will make it easier for in-demand workers and entrepreneurs to become permanent residents.

Alberta’s economy has momentum, and Alberta’s government is committed to further growth and diversification so the province remains the economic engine of Canada. In 2022, nearly 50,000 people from around the world chose Alberta as the place to invest, work and raise their families.

AAIP is an economic immigration program that enables Alberta to nominate qualified workers in in-demand sectors for permanent residency. By improving the program, Alberta will be more competitive in attracting skilled newcomers from across the world.

“Alberta is a land of opportunity. In our province, you can find the career you want, take home a strong and regular paycheque, and still spend time with family and friends. Not only do people around the world want to come here, we want them to come here to be a part of our communities and our prosperity, and help Alberta continue to grow and succeed.”

Danielle Smith, Premier

Alberta’s government is making five improvements to the AAIP that will help both businesses and international skilled workers.

Changes to the Rural Entrepreneur and Rural Renewal streams will help Alberta’s rural communities remain vibrant and grow. A lowered investment threshold of $100,000 for the Rural Entrepreneur Stream will will open the door to additional qualified entrepreneurs who wish to establish or purchase an existing business in participating rural Alberta communities. Removing the requirement for a letter from a settlement agency under the Rural Renewal Stream will help rural communities attract, recruit and welcome newcomers based on local needs.

“Bringing more workers needed in the province will be key to continuing to grow Alberta’s economy and meeting our labour shortages. These changes to AAIP show our commitment to making Alberta one of the best places in the world to put down roots, contribute positively to your community and be prosperous.”

Rajan Sawhney, Minister of Trade, Immigration and Multiculturalism

Alberta has the best front-line health care workers in the world and the province will work to have the right supports in place to ensure Albertans get the care they need when and where they need it. A new, dedicated pathway to attract medical professionals to Alberta means that up to 30 per cent of Alberta’s Express Entry Stream allocation in 2023 will be reserved for health-care professionals with an Alberta job offer from a health-care sector employer and who meet the requirements to work in one of the eligible health occupations.

Two more changes will see a new phone line that directly connects AAIP staff members with clients and collaboration with the federal Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot. Participating in this pilot will help refugees with the skills and qualifications needed in Canada to immigrate through existing economic programs.

“These policy changes are aimed squarely at filling needed skills gaps, boosting vibrancy in rural communities, and creating more economic opportunity for refugees. We applaud these moves to enhance economic immigration in a way that is responsive to specific provincial needs.”

Adam Legge, president, Business Council of Alberta

“From HV Global Immigration, we would like to thank Minister Rajan Sawhney for listening and proactively implementing reasonable changes to the AAIP. Apart from the other improvements, change in minimum investment at AAIP’s Rural Entrepreneur Stream would definitely help new and prospective immigrants to qualify for this program. This change will generate more revenue and create jobs for Albertans. Last, but not least, the new information phone line is going to be a big relief. Thanks once again Minister Sawhney for your hard work and listening to our ideas and solutions.”

Vivek Mahajan, co-founder & CEO, HV Global Immigration Ltd.

Quick facts

  • Alberta currently has about 100,000 job openings across the province.
  • Alberta is forecasting a cumulative job shortage of 33,100 workers by 2025 across several occupations, skill levels and sectors (source: Alberta’s Occupational Outlook, 2021-2030).
  • Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada sets AAIP’s annual nomination limits.
    • Alberta recently received an increase in nominations:
      • 9,750 nominations in 2023
      • 10,140 nominations in 2024 (estimated)
      • 10,849 nominations in 2025 estimated)

Alberta

Alberta introduces bill banning sex reassignment surgery on minors

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Alberta Conservative Premier Danielle Smith followed through on a promised bill banning so-called ‘top and bottom’ surgeries for minors.

Alberta Conservative Premier Danielle Smith made good on her promise to protect kids from extreme transgender ideology after introducing a bill banning so-called “top and bottom” surgeries for minors.

“It is so important that all youth can enter adulthood equipped to make adult decisions. In order to do that, we need to preserve their ability to make those decisions, and that’s what we’re doing,” Smith said in a press release.

“The changes we’re introducing are founded on compassion and science, both of which are vital for the development of youth throughout a time that can be difficult and confusing.”

Bill 26, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2024 “reflects the government’s commitment to build a health care system that responds to the changing needs of Albertans,” the government says.

The bill will amend the Health Act to “prohibit regulated health professionals from performing sex reassignment surgeries on minors.”

It will also ban the “use of puberty blockers and hormone therapies for the treatment of gender dysphoria or gender incongruence” to kids 15 and under “except for those who have already commenced treatment and would allow for minors aged 16 and 17 to choose to commence puberty blockers and hormone therapies for gender reassignment and affirmation purposes with parental, physician and psychologist approval.”

Alberta Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange, the bill’s sponsor, said the province’s legislative priorities include “implementing policy changes to continue our refocusing work, position our health care system to respond to pressures and public health emergencies, and to preserve choice for minors. These amendments reflect our dedication to ensuring our health care system meets the needs of every Albertan.”

Earlier this year, the United Conservative Party (UCP) provincial government under Smith announced  she would introduce the strong pro-family legislation that strengthens parental rights, protecting kids from life-altering, so-called “top and bottom” surgeries as well as other extreme forms of transgender ideology.

With Smith’s UCP holding a majority in the provincial legislature, the passage of Bill 26 is almost certain.

While Smith has done far more than predecessor Jason Kenney to satisfy social conservatives, she has been mostly soft on social issues such as abortion and has publicly expressed pro-LGBT views, telling Jordan Peterson that conservatives must embrace homosexual “couples” as “nuclear families.”

This weekend, thousands of UCP members will gather for the party’s annual general meeting, where Smith’s leadership will be voted on along with many other pro-freedom and family policy proposals from members. Smith is expected to pass her leadership review vote with a large majority.

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Alberta

Alberta court upholds conviction of Pastor Artur Pawlowski for preaching at Freedom Convoy protest

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

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.”

“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.

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