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Alberta

Alberta joins provincial opposition to federal Clean Fuel Regulations gas tax

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Alberta joins provinces opposing federal regulations: Minister Schulz

Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz sent a letter to federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault on the upcoming Clean Fuel Regulations:

“Today, I sent a letter to Minister Steven Guilbeault informing him that the Government of Alberta is joining the Government of Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces in calling on the federal government to immediately halt the implementation of the federal Clean Fuel Regulations on July 1.

“The federal Clean Fuel Regulations will harm provincial economies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Atlantic Canada. Combined with the federal government’s carbon tax increase, higher gasoline and diesel costs are expected, putting added cost pressures on other goods and services across the country.

“Now is not the time to drive up prices at the pump and increase expenses for vulnerable households, businesses and industries. Families and businesses cannot continue to afford reckless cost and tax increases imposed by the federal government.

“Alberta has released an Emissions Reduction and Energy Development Plan which is our best path to enhancing our position as a global leader in emissions reductions, clean technology and innovation, and sustainable resource development. It includes a realistic aspiration to have a carbon-neutral economy by 2050, without compromising the affordable, reliable and secure energy that we all rely on.

“What we need now is a concrete plan that will help move us forward in realistic and innovative ways. The federal government needs to stop moving ahead with their costly plans until a path forward can be found that supports all Canadians.”

—-

The letter

Dear Minister Guilbeault:

On behalf of the Government of Alberta, I am joining the Government of Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces in calling on the federal government to immediately halt the implementation of the upcoming Federal Clean Fuel Regulations.

Alberta is committed to reducing emissions while keeping energy reliable, secure, and affordable. Our Emissions Reduction and Energy Development Plan works towards a carbon neutral economy; commits to reviewing renewable fuel standards; increases minimum requirements for blending for ethanol and bio based diesel; includes fuel emission intensity reductions; and other major steps forward. We believe this is a path forward that will work for our unique circumstances.

The Federal Clean Fuel Regulations, however, will harm provincial economies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Atlantic Canada. A plan that unfairly increases costs on families and does not account for regional differences is no plan at all.

The Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) confirmed this in a May 2023 report that found that the Clean Fuel Regulations would hit Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Atlantic provinces the hardest. The PBO’s report estimated that the cost increase to the average Alberta households in 2030 would be $1,117.

Canadians are already struggling with high inflation. Adding fuel to the fire by hiking the cost of gasoline and diesel will be devastating.

This issue requires immediate attention. Given the pending implementation date of July 1, 2023, Alberta is requesting that the regulations be halted until a path forward can be found that supports all Canadians and addresses the concerns of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Atlantic provinces.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Schulz
Minister of Environment and Protected Areas

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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