Alberta’s political parties are in full-on campaign mode as Election Day approaches on April 16th. Each day the parties release information about their policies and platforms, candidate information and reactions to the day’s news. It can be difficult to try and keep up with it all, so from now until the election we’ll regularly compile information released by the parties and present the main points here.
For more information, click on party names to visit campaign websites.
Alberta Party announces plans to invest in new technology material sciences and bitumen pucks and create jobs from Alberta’s oil and gas resources.
“As Wayne Gretzky once said, you have to skate to where the puck is going. Passively sitting around and hoping the market works is yesterday’s approach. We need to aggressively get in the game and make big moves to generate more refining and petrochemical processing here in Alberta.”
Stephen Mandel – Leader of the Alberta Party
An Alberta Party government will energize the development of refining and petrochemical processing, creating more value within the province and thousands of good jobs for Albertans.
Supporting the Development of CanaPux
● Commonly referred to as bitumen pucks, CanaPux are developed by CN and Wapahki Energy, owned by Heart Lake First Nation (approximately 300 km northeast of Edmonton).
● The technology converts bitumen into a solid puck product that is capable of being exported by rail or other methods (rather than pipeline).
● This is a potential revolution for Alberta’s oil sands industry — one that enables Albertans to realize the full value of their resources by avoiding pipeline politics.
● An Alberta Party government will expedite approvals for the pilot facility and contribute financial support for one-third of the pilot ($16.7 million).
Increasing the Alberta Innovates budget with a focus on material sciences.
● Alberta Innovates contributes to the creation of new industries in Alberta and strengthens existing ones. It diversifies the economy and creates jobs and increases exports.
● Alberta Innovates currently funds research that focuses on turning bitumen into products other than gas, diesel and other fuels such as asphalt, vanadium batteries, plastics and carbon fibre.
● The development of these alternatives is a long term approach that will help to increase demand for our resources, create jobs, lower our exposure to global oil prices, and help diversify our economy.
● The NDP have reduced the Alberta Innovates budget going from $288M in 2018-19 to $244M in 2020-21.
● An Alberta Party government will not only reverse those cuts but increase the total Alberta Innovates budget by 30% to $375M by 2020-21 and direct the additional funds to a rapid expansion of research into new uses for our resources.
Expanding Refining in Alberta
● Once Phase 1 is proven out, an Alberta Party government will support construction of Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the Sturgeon Refinery.
● This helps Alberta expand its refining capacity, creating more value here in the province and creating thousands of skilled jobs for Albertans.
● An Alberta Party government will expedite the review of necessary approvals and expand its Bitumen Royalty in Kind (BRIK) program.
● Construction of both Phase 2 and 3 have a combined total construction expenditure of an estimated $18.0 billion which will result in an increase in GDP of $16.0 billion, and create 140,000 person-years of employment.
● Once construction is complete, the additional the two phases will increase GDP by an average of $5 billion per year, and result in an estimated 13,000 additional jobs per year.
Energizing Petrochemical Processing
● To stimulate petrochemical processing in the province, an Alberta Party government will establish a Gas Royalty in Kind program that takes a similar approach to the Bitumen Royalty in Kind program.
● This will have the Government of Alberta take a portion of its natural gas royalties “in kind” rather than in cash. This will enable the government to market the natural gas in ways that stimulate gas processing and petrochemical plant expansions in the province.
● An Alberta Party government will also establish Alberta’s petrochemical diversification program as a 10 year program, rather than the NDP’s unpredictable annual program. This would provide stability and certainty to the market, helping attract more investment.
● The petrochemical diversification program will also be adjusted to move from a royaltycredit to a more efficient subsidy program.
Rachel Notley pledges to expand heavy-load roads and build new access highway to Fort McMurray, creating 7,500 jobs.
“We will never forget the sight of families fleeing out of the city on Highway 63 while flames licked at the trucks and cars. It was one of the scariest moments of people’s lives,” said Notley. “Fort McMurray needs a second route out and we will get it done. We will keep families safe and help people sleep a little easier a night.”
Rachel Notley – Leader of the New Democratic Party of Alberta
Under Notley’s plan, the government would expand the Alberta High Load Corridor, a 6,500 kilometre network of designated routes across Alberta that can accommodate heavy loads with heights of up to 12.8 meters and weights of up 800 tonnes.
The High Load Corridor is considered among the very best in North America, giving Alberta industry a distinct competitive advantage. The six-year, $1.35-billion expansion would:
• Add 3,500 kilometres, for a new total of 10,000 kilometres.
• Create 7,500 construction jobs.
• Support northern industrial development, with specific benefits for oil and gas.
• Extend and improve the network in southern Alberta, with specific benefits for the renewable energy industry as more, larger wind turbines are transported.
• Maintain roughly 150,000 oversized/overweight permits issued annually.
Notley’s plan to expand the High Load Corridor builds on previous announcements such as the Highway 40, Highway 43X bypass and the Vinca Bridge. The Vinca Bridge will shorten trips from the Industrial Heartland to Fort McMurray by 200 kilometres, saving industry $10,000 per trip. Industrial stakeholders including heavy haul carriers, oil sands developers, pre-fabricated home builders, and municipalities have been consulted by the Government of Alberta.
A New Way Out. For a Safer Fort McMurray.
Rachel Notley is committed to building a secondary access highway in Fort McMurray, which would ease congestion, improve access, and boost safety throughout the region. The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo formally endorsed the East Clearwater Highway project in 2016 as the preferred option to respond to recommendations from the Fort McMurray fire and build a new evacuation route for all communities between Anzac and Fort McKay. The Government of Alberta has invested $5 million into pre-design and planning.
Consultations will be held with Indigenous peoples, municipalities, industry, and area residents.
More processing, upgrading and refining. Made-In-Alberta.
The International Energy Agency forecasts that global demand growth for petroleum products in the coming decades will be strongest in the petrochemical and aviation fuel sectors. Alberta has the potential to seize tens of billions in global petrochemical, upgrading and refining investment over the next decade, but it will not happen on its own. Rachel Notley’s Made-in-Alberta plan to significantly increase the volume of oil and gas that is processed, upgraded or refined in Alberta before it’s exported. Notley’s plan has already attracted $12.6 billion in private investment and created over 11,700 direct jobs.
2030 target and strategic goals:
• Secure $75 billion in mid-to-downstream private capital investment and 70,000 jobs.
• Double Alberta’s current petrochemical production within established methane and ethane value chains.
• Leverage the emerging propane value chain currently under development to attract tertiary manufacturing facilities.
• Capture more value from liquid rich natural gas produced in Alberta and B.C. by incenting new infrastructure connections between Alberta’s four value-added industrial clusters (Heartland, Red Deer, Grande Prairie and Medicine Hat), and emerging coastal Liquefied Natural Gas export terminals in B.C.
• Leverage the commercialization of new partial upgrading technologies to unlock more refining markets in the U.S. and globally to meet growing demand for aviation fuel and low-sulphur marine fuel. Export up to 30 per cent more bitumen on available pipeline space.
“We will do everything within our power to stop the revolving door in our justice system, and to keep Albertans safe.”
The UCP has promised more judges, more prosecutors and stronger laws part of a plan to tackle Alberta’s growing crime wave.
Kenney cited statistics that reveal a growing crime problem in Alberta:
Auto theft is way up and Alberta leads the country in auto-theft—at three times the national average with 62 stolen vehicles per day, on average.1 The Alberta Motor Association says there has been a 32% increase in vehicle thefts since 20142. 29% percent of all vehicle thefts in Canada happen in Alberta, according to Statistics Canada3
By 2018, the rural crime rate in some communities rose by 250% compared with 2011.4They included communities such as Innisfail and Bonnyville where property break-ins were up 94% and up by 133% respectively between 2016 and 2017.5
In 2018, Edmonton Police Service reported6)that since 2015, assaults were up 11%; property crimes were up 13%, and sexual assault incidents were up 17%.
In 2018, Calgary Police services reported7 that over the last five years there was a 6% increase in property crimes, a 25%increase in financial robberies, a 26.3% increase in sex offences, a 27.6% increase in robberies, and a 35.9% total increase in assault crimes.8
Maclean’s reported last November that 7 of the top 10 cities in their Canada’s Most Dangerous Places 2019 ranking (based on 5-year change in crime severity index) are from Alberta.9
Kenney stated a United Conservative Party government will hire 50 new prosecutors and support staff, a $10 million investment.
Kenney also announced that a UCP government will boost funding by $20 million over four years (69 percent) to the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT), who deal with children’s exploitation, domestic violence, stalking, and gang issues, among others. The $20 million funding increase will:
Double ALERT’s funding for its sub-unit, the Integrated Child Exploitation (ICE) unit that tracks, arrests and prosecutes child pornographers
Double the funding for its sub-unit, the Integrated Threat and Risk Assessment (I-TRAC) unit, the police unit that helps combat domestic violence and stalking
Create a new Opioid Enforcement Team
A UCP government will also work with ALERT to obtain a charitable foundation (akin to the Calgary and Edmonton Police foundations) which can then attract additional funds from the private donors.
Kenney also promised that under a UCP government Albertans would know the truth about crime in their province.
“We will pass the Public’s Right to Know Act. This bill will require an annual report to the legislature containing detailed provincial crime statistics.”
A UCP government would also replace the Parole Board of Canada with an Alberta Parole Board for offenders serving sentences of under two years.
And because crime victims can often fall through the cracks, a UCP government will also conduct an immediate review of the current model of victim service delivery, victim assistance funding, and victim compensation to ensure optimal assistance to victims of crime.
A UCP government would also invest $5 million to increase access to Drug Treatment Courts as an effective way of helping drug addicts to leave the cycle of crime and addiction through treatment, testing, incentives, sanctions and social support.
The responsibility for law enforcement is shared with the federal government. A UCP government will therefore also negotiate with the federal government (and with other provinces as necessary) to:
Secure additional Queen’s Bench justice appointments to reduce the backlog in superior courts.
Ensure that Grande Prairie be given its own Queen’s Bench.
Develop and put in place a specific Repeat Offender Policy.
Ensure the return of criminals who have fled to other provinces, to face justice in Alberta. (According to Alberta police forces, flight-across-borders has become a critical problem given the number of jurisdictions involved, especially in western Canada.)
Review current Criminal Code sentencing principles to ensure that in rural crime offences, specific facts be considered by a sentencing court as aggravating factors, and that the principles of deterrence and denunciation be prioritized.”
In 2018, the UCP released its Alberta Rural Crime Strategy, calling for a provincially regulated police response system linking all enforcement agencies to pursue the relatively small number of organized, repeat offenders who are responsible for most rural crime.
CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss is reportedly planning to dramatically change the network’s coverage to eliminate left-wing bias and make the newsroom more efficient.
Weiss has been handed a mandate for change by Paramount SkyDance’s David Ellison, the CEO of CBS News’ parent company, which bought her company, The Free Press, for $150 million, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Ellison wants Weiss to bring “news that reflects reality” and journalism that “doesn’t seek to demonize, but seeks to understand.”
“I wanna blow things up,” Weiss has reportedly told her colleagues during meetings.
During the hiring process, Weiss has reached out to outside talent directly rather than speaking to their agents, which is considered the traditional method of communication, according to the WSJ. She has also reportedly been highly involved in booking guests in an attempt to fix the network’s ratings and make a lasting change.
Weiss is focused on trying to reshape “CBS Evening News,” which has consistently ranked third place in comparison to the evening programs on ABC News and NBC News. “CBS Evening News” typically averages around 4 million total viewers. On the week of November 3, the program garnered 4.2 million total viewers and 564,000 viewers in the 25 to 54 key demographic, while “NBC Nightly News” and “ABC World News Tonight” averaged 7.2 million and 6.6 million total viewers, as well as 929,000 and 883,000 in the 25-54 demo, according to AdWeek.
John Dickerson, who currently hosts “CBS Evening News,” announced on Oct. 27 that he will be departing the network in January. Weiss has reportedly considered poaching CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Fox News’ Bret Baier, though Baier said he will remain at Fox News in the short-term since his contract goes through the end of 2028, according to the WSJ.
A source close to Cooper told the WSJ that the CNN host is not interested in hosting “CBS Evening News.”
“CBS Mornings” host Gayle King’s contract is up in early 2026, prompting Weiss to reportedly consider finding a cheaper alternative to her $15 million salary, according to WSJ.
The median age of viewers who watch CBS News is 58 years old, according to a Pew Research survey.
When she stepped into her role, Weiss sent emails to staff asking them to outline their jobs and provide feedback on “how we can make CBS News the most trusted news organization in America and the world.” Weiss said she would have had to “throw in the towel a very, very long time ago” if she were concerned about the negative press her decisions will receive.
Approximately 100 staffers were laid off once Weiss took over in October, which were part of Paramount’s layoffs of about 1,000 employees. The CBS News Race and Culture Unit, founded in July 2020, was completely wiped out as part of the layoffs.
Who knew? Plus! Online smartassery by reporters continues to curse the industry, Vancouver loves Harry Potter (shhhh!), layoffs continue and newspaper revenue now in uncontrolled descent
Journalists just love sensational political accusations and way too many of them are more than happy to spread them far and wide while shrugging aside their first obligation, the truth.
Why they put so much faith in the honesty of politicians, who have a history of being a bit, shall we say, truthy, is quite beyond me, but reporters often seem more interested in it being true something salacious was said than they are whether the scandalous thing that was said is true.
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A fine example of this behaviour, which continues to undermine public trust in journalism, unfolded a week ago. That was when freshly-minted Liberal MP and Tory turncoat Chris d’Entremont told the CBC’s Catherine Cullen that, after publicly musing about crossing the floor, “Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer and party whip Chris Warkentin “barged” into his office, pushed open the door — almost knocking down his assistant — and yelled at him about “how much of a snake” he was.”
The Conservatives, in response, issued a statement accusing d’Entremont of telling barefaced lies and described a much calmer scenario. CBC then issued a correction after d’Entremont “clarified” an embellishment but some journalists were happy to ignore that and stick with repeating the original, more salacious version.
Stu Benson of The Hill Times enthusiastically Tweeted that ““[D’Entremont] says Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer and party whip Chris Warkentin ‘barged’ into his office, pushed his assistant aside and yelled at him about ‘how much of a snake’ he was.”
National Newswatch, despite CBC’s correction still had a Tweet up days later stating “Pushing, yelling from Conservative leadership ‘sealed the deal’ on defection: d’Entremont. MP says Conservatives felt like ‘part of a frat house rather than a serious political party.”
Frame grab of CBC correction
Ignoring the correction and “clarification,” CBC’s Power & Politics used the clip of d’Entremont’s self-confessed embellishment and repeated what both he and the CBC knew not to be true. To be fair, the segment that can be found here fully details the Conservatives’ response but, according to one of the CBC’s most diligent critics, no on air correction has been made. Instead, host David Cochrane went out of his way to point out that while his editors had used the term “correction,” the CBC was blameless for reporting d’Entremont’s admittedly false representation of the event.
The pattern of behaviour indicates to the public that news organizations do not take their obligation to the truth seriously. The public actually expects journalists to seek to establish the truth of statements they are reporting before they report them.
Edmonton City News reporter Sean Amato meanwhile managed to take foolish online smartassery to a new level when, repeating the Liberals’ Trump = Tories theme, he posted:
“Quite the press conference from (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre in Calgary today. Basically…the Liberals suck, the media sucks and a lot of other stuff in Canada sucks. Hey, it worked for Trump.”
Tens of thousands of views and (at time of writing) more than 500 comments later, he replied with renewed smug smartassery:
“Never thought a tweet that says “the Liberals suck, the media sucks” would anger so many Conservatives. But here we are .”
Here we are, indeed. Amato appears to have set a new personal best for comments in response to one of his Tweets while simultaneously embedding the impression that not only he but all journalists are biased against Conservatives. And, I ask, for what? And why?
Maybe think before you Tweet or, better yet, just shut up. Many good journalists find that works just fine.
Amato, though, seems determined to prioritize personal commentary over journalism. When he recently got some pushback on lack of objectivity, his response was unrepentant.
“Bonnie…mute me, follow people you like, no hard feelings. But let me be free too. Cheers!”
Liberation awaits.
The “controversial” Harry Potter Forbidden Forest experience opened 10 days ago in Vancouver, weeks after the parks board, cowed by trans activists, vowed such an event would never happen again.
The distress of the “Qmunity” over the connection to J.K. Rowling and her vocal insistence on a traditional definition of women was well documented in the weeks leading up to the event. But there was nary a peep from CTV, CBC or Global News when organizers announced on media day that the pre-sales were the largest they had experienced anywhere in the world.
I found coverage in The Daily Hive and in Black Press papers in British Columbia. But it wasn’t until Remembrance Day that one of the city’s legacy media, the Vancouver Sun,delivered a review of any kind. CBC, CTV and Global News appear to be boycotting.
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Operating revenue for Canada’s publishers continues to plummet – an indication the nation’s newspapers are increasingly unable to deliver the readers needed to provide results to advertisers.
Statscan reported a decline of a whopping 17.9 per cent since 2022, which compares with a drop of 7.3 percent from 2020-2022.
News Media Canada lobbyist Paul Deegan, meanwhile, confessed to a House of Commons committee that operators “cannot make a buck as a digital-only publisher,” have failed to transition their business models and still need revenue from print.
Profit margins, according to Statscan, are down to 3.2 per cent.
Postmedia, meanwhile, is later than usual in posting its annual report but has a little under another two weeks to do so.
Last week, The Rewrite noted how an extra $150 million from the government for the CBC would be bad news for everyone else in the business. This week, Groupe TVA announced it was eliminating 87 positions and laid the blame squarely at Prime Minister Mark Carney’s door.
“Repeated appeals to government authorities to support the private television industry, at a time when it faces fierce competition from the web giants and CBC/Radio-Canada, have been ignored,” a company statement explained.
Poilievre, who has been the focus lately of much of the press inclined to favour the Liberals, tried to shame media into paying some attention to dissent from the likes of Beaches-East York MP Nate Erskine-Smith within Liberal ranks.
It was left to the Toronto Star’s Althia Raj to gently explain to his Deputy Leader, Melissa Lantsman, why dissent within Liberal ranks is not a story because, unlike dissent with Conservative ranks, it’s in the best interests of the country.
“Nate has normalized independent thought so it isn’t new/s,” she wrote. “IMO it would be nice to see this from other MPs. Those outside of cabinet, their job is to hold the govt to account. More independent thought means better reports, better debate, better policy. Better social cohesion too.”
Take that, you silly Tories! The narrative is entrenched.
Some of you will remember how last fall, CTV Newsterminated two employees following the doctoring of Poilievre’s quotes in a fashion not too dissimilar to that used by the producers of a Panorama documentary at the BBC. Two of the BBC’s senior executives walked the plank there when it was revealed its team had intentionally misrepresented a speech by US President Donald Trump, who then threatened to sue the organization for $1 billion.
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(Peter Menzies is a commentator and consultant on media, Macdonald-Laurier Institute Senior Fellow, a past publisher of the Calgary Herald, a former vice chair of the CRTC and a National Newspaper Award winner.)
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The narrative is entrenched.
