Alberta
Writ drops for Alberta provincial election on May 29
United Conservative Party Leader Danielle Smith, centre, speaks at a campaign launch rally in Calgary, on Saturday, April 29, 2023. Smith is expected to call a provincial election during an announcement later this morning in Calgary. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Calgary
Writs issued for the 2023 Provincial General Election
Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer, Glen Resler, confirms that Writs were issued today to administer elections across Alberta. The 31st Provincial General Election will be held on May 29, 2023.
Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer, Glen Resler, confirms that Writs were issued today to administer elections across Alberta. The 31st Provincial General Election will be held on May 29, 2023.
“We are excited to welcome Albertans back to the polls this month,” said Resler. “Returning Officers have been appointed, and we are in the process of recruiting and training nearly 20,000 Election Officers to conduct voting in the 87 electoral divisions across the province.”
Voter Eligibility
Canadian citizens who reside in Alberta and are at least 18 years of age or older on Election Day are eligible to vote in the Provincial General Election.
Voter Registration
Electors may register to vote online at www.voterlink.ab.ca until May 17, 2023, by contacting Elections Alberta or their local returning office before 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 20.
Electors can also register to vote at any advance voting location in Alberta or at their assigned voting place on Election Day.
Electors who are already registered to vote at their current address do not need to register again.
Voter Identification
To vote in the 2023 Provincial General Election, electors are required to prove their identity and current address. There are several ways to do this, including:
- Providing one piece of Government-issued photo ID, including the voter’s full name, current address, and a photo.
- Providing two pieces of ID, both containing the voter’s full name and one that lists their current physical address.
- Having another registered elector with identification that resides in their voting area vouch for them.
- Having an authorized signatory complete an attestation form.
More than 50 different types of identification have been authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer to be used as identification to vote.
Key Timelines
Electors have 28 days to vote by Special Ballot beginning today. Special Ballots may be completed in the returning office, picked up by a designate of the elector, or mailed to the elector anywhere in the world. Applications can be submitted online on the Elections Alberta website.
Candidate nominations are now open and end on May 11, 2023, at 2:00 p.m.
Advance voting begins on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, and ends on Saturday, May 27, 2023.
Election Day is Monday, May 29, 2023. All voting places will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Unofficial results will be available after voting closes on Election Day.
Official results will be announced on June 8, 2023, at 10:00 a.m.
Returning Offices
Returning offices in all electoral divisions open today across Alberta. Returning offices are open on weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and on Voting Days from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Returning Office addresses and contact information can be found at: https://elections.ab.ca/
New for 2023, Satellite Offices are also being opened in six geographically large electoral divisions to provide more service options for electors. These include:
- 54 – Cardston-Siksika
- 55 – Central Peace-Notley
- 59 – Drumheller-Stettler
- 60 – Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche
- 77 – Peace River
- 80 – Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre
Satellite Offices are open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and on Voting Days from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
For any questions or concerns regarding the provincial election, visit www.elections.ab.ca, call 1-877-422-VOTE, or email [email protected].
Information for media will be available throughout the election period at https://www.elections.ab.ca/
- Information sheets on topics such as Registering to Vote, Voter Identification, Accessible Voting and Tabulators and Voter Assist Terminals.
- Photo and video assets.
- Processes for accessing a voting place on voting days.
Elections Alberta is an independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections, and referenda.
Alberta
Alberta introduces bill banning sex reassignment surgery on minors
From LifeSiteNews
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.
About the proposed law, Smith said that her government believes it is “vitally important to preserve the time” kids have as a “youth.” She added that she believes this is so kids can “gain sufficient amount of knowledge, experience, and perspective so that you can fully understand who you are, who you want to be and what opportunities you may want to have as an adult before making permanent life-altering decisions related to your body.”
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.
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.
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