Alberta
Red Deer South MLA Jason Stephan strongly urges Central Albertans to participate in the upcoming Leadership Review

Leadership Review of Jason Kenney in Red Deer
On Saturday, April 9, Alberta conservatives, of which there are many in Central Alberta, will have the opportunity to decide whether it is time to change the leader of the United Conservative Party. The vote will occur at the Cambridge Hotel in Red Deer.
What is the purpose of the leadership review?
Jason Kenney has been leader of the party for over 4 years, and to date, members have not yet had an opportunity to review his performance.
Several months ago, 22 local UCP constituency associations, passed resolutions requiring a review of the leader. Members have been waiting for a leadership review; it aligns with conservative principles of governance and accountability.
The United Conservative Party belongs to all Alberta conservatives, and it is the grassroots members who determine whether it is time to change our leader.
We have seen too much contention. It is not right to label men or women as “mainstream” or “extreme” depending on whether or not they want a change in leader. Our party has seen too much dividing, too much labelling, sometimes change is required to heal, to unite and move forward.
We will have a provincial election in the spring of 2023. Alberta is a conservative province, yet our party is not doing as well as it should in the polls.
We should always seek to put our best foot forward. This review will provide members of the party with the option to change the leader before the upcoming 2023 provincial election.
This is Your Time. You decide, not the leader, not the party.
Have you sometimes felt voiceless over the past two years? I understand that feeling. I have sometimes felt it myself. But this is your time. You can have a voice and it will be important. This is an opportunity for you to decide, not the leader, not the party.
Alberta conservatives will agree with many of policies of a conservative government. That is no surprise, conservative policies are very different from NDP policies. Conservative policies, regardless of the leader, increase economic prosperity and it is exciting to see this occurring.
But a leadership review is not about a comparison to the NDP. That will be the purpose of the election. Leadership reviews are about conservatives putting our best foot forward with the right leader for the right time.
All of us have strengths and weaknesses – some leaders are better suited for some times but not others. Sometimes a change in leader is simply a positive recognition of this truth.
How do I vote?
This is what you must do to vote. There are three steps.
First, if you need to, buy or renew your party membership by March 19. The cost of a membership is $10 for one year. If you have any doubts whether your membership is current, you may want to pay $10 to make sure.
If you need to, but do not buy or renew your party membership by March 19 you do not get to vote!
Party memberships can be purchased online at – www.unitedconservative.ca/take-action/membership
Second, register on-line to vote. If you do this prior to March 19, the cost is $99 if you are over 25. If you less than 26, the cost is $49 – so let’s involve our families and many young conservatives, giving them a unique opportunity to have a voice!
After March 19, unless the party extends early bird prices, on-line registration costs increase to $149.
Online registration is at – www.unitedconservative.ca/sgm-2022
Last step, come to our Cambridge Hotel on April 9, between noon and 6 PM and vote!
What happens if Alberta conservatives want to change in their leader?
If Alberta conservatives say it is time to change the leader, there will be a leadership race for a new leader.
To assume that any one person is the only person who would be a good leader for our party is a false assumption, disregarding the many wonderful men and women in our province.
Politics should not be a career. It is a special opportunity to serve and having contributed one’s unique experiences and talents for the public good, stepping aside and allowing others to do the same.
Great leaders lead in love and inspire the best in those they serve.
There are many honest and principled men and women with their own unique strengths and experiences to offer for this time, who could be great leaders of our party.
A massive vote that is a true representation of Alberta grassroots conservatives is the right outcome.
Your voice matters! This is an important opportunity, let your friends and family know, invite them to come and join you, to have fun together, to take action together, to have your say, and to be heard! Let’s do it! See you there!
Alberta
Low oil prices could have big consequences for Alberta’s finances

From the Fraser Institute
By Tegan Hill
Amid the tariff war, the price of West Texas Intermediate oil—a common benchmark—recently dropped below US$60 per barrel. Given every $1 drop in oil prices is an estimated $750 million hit to provincial revenues, if oil prices remain low for long, there could be big implications for Alberta’s budget.
The Smith government already projects a $5.2 billion budget deficit in 2025/26 with continued deficits over the following two years. This year’s deficit is based on oil prices averaging US$68.00 per barrel. While the budget does include a $4 billion “contingency” for unforeseen events, given the economic and fiscal impact of Trump’s tariffs, it could quickly be eaten up.
Budget deficits come with costs for Albertans, who will already pay a projected $600 each in provincial government debt interest in 2025/26. That’s money that could have gone towards health care and education, or even tax relief.
Unfortunately, this is all part of the resource revenue rollercoaster that’s are all too familiar to Albertans.
Resource revenue (including oil and gas royalties) is inherently volatile. In the last 10 years alone, it has been as high as $25.2 billion in 2022/23 and as low as $2.8 billion in 2015/16. The provincial government typically enjoys budget surpluses—and increases government spending—when oil prices and resource revenue is relatively high, but is thrown into deficits when resource revenues inevitably fall.
Fortunately, the Smith government can mitigate this volatility.
The key is limiting the level of resource revenue included in the budget to a set stable amount. Any resource revenue above that stable amount is automatically saved in a rainy-day fund to be withdrawn to maintain that stable amount in the budget during years of relatively low resource revenue. The logic is simple: save during the good times so you can weather the storm during bad times.
Indeed, if the Smith government had created a rainy-day account in 2023, for example, it could have already built up a sizeable fund to help stabilize the budget when resource revenue declines. While the Smith government has deposited some money in the Heritage Fund in recent years, it has not created a dedicated rainy-day account or introduced a similar mechanism to help stabilize provincial finances.
Limiting the amount of resource revenue in the budget, particularly during times of relatively high resource revenue, also tempers demand for higher spending, which is only fiscally sustainable with permanently high resource revenues. In other words, if the government creates a rainy-day account, spending would become more closely align with stable ongoing levels of revenue.
And it’s not too late. To end the boom-bust cycle and finally help stabilize provincial finances, the Smith government should create a rainy-day account.
Alberta
Governments in Alberta should spur homebuilding amid population explosion

From the Fraser Institute
By Tegan Hill and Austin Thompson
In 2024, construction started on 47,827 housing units—the most since 48,336 units in 2007 when population growth was less than half of what it was in 2024.
Alberta has long been viewed as an oasis in Canada’s overheated housing market—a refuge for Canadians priced out of high-cost centres such as Vancouver and Toronto. But the oasis is starting to dry up. House prices and rents in the province have spiked by about one-third since the start of the pandemic. According to a recent Maru poll, more than 70 per cent of Calgarians and Edmontonians doubt they will ever be able to afford a home in their city. Which raises the question: how much longer can this go on?
Alberta’s housing affordability problem reflects a simple reality—not enough homes have been built to accommodate the province’s growing population. The result? More Albertans competing for the same homes and rental units, pushing prices higher.
Population growth has always been volatile in Alberta, but the recent surge, fuelled by record levels of immigration, is unprecedented. Alberta has set new population growth records every year since 2022, culminating in the largest-ever increase of 186,704 new residents in 2024—nearly 70 per cent more than the largest pre-pandemic increase in 2013.
Homebuilding has increased, but not enough to keep pace with the rise in population. In 2024, construction started on 47,827 housing units—the most since 48,336 units in 2007 when population growth was less than half of what it was in 2024.
Moreover, from 1972 to 2019, Alberta added 2.1 new residents (on average) for every housing unit started compared to 3.9 new residents for every housing unit started in 2024. Put differently, today nearly twice as many new residents are potentially competing for each new home compared to historical norms.
While Alberta attracts more Canadians from other provinces than any other province, federal immigration and residency policies drive Alberta’s population growth. So while the provincial government has little control over its population growth, provincial and municipal governments can affect the pace of homebuilding.
For example, recent provincial amendments to the city charters in Calgary and Edmonton have helped standardize building codes, which should minimize cost and complexity for builders who operate across different jurisdictions. Municipal zoning reforms in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer have made it easier to build higher-density housing, and Lethbridge and Medicine Hat may soon follow suit. These changes should make it easier and faster to build homes, helping Alberta maintain some of the least restrictive building rules and quickest approval timelines in Canada.
There is, however, room for improvement. Policymakers at both the provincial and municipal level should streamline rules for building, reduce regulatory uncertainty and development costs, and shorten timelines for permit approvals. Calgary, for instance, imposes fees on developers to fund a wide array of public infrastructure—including roads, sewers, libraries, even buses—while Edmonton currently only imposes fees to fund the construction of new firehalls.
It’s difficult to say how long Alberta’s housing affordability woes will endure, but the situation is unlikely to improve unless homebuilding increases, spurred by government policies that facilitate more development.
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