Alberta This Week (Your Voice For Choice)
December 20 - December 26, 2025
This is YOUR resource - Share any links here on social media to educate others! - “Your Voice For Choice.” Welcome to your Non-Partisan Information Source of Alberta News - Mainly, we collect the news from around the province, Canada, and the world that affects Alberta!
(If you have a picture you would like to share for our newsletter, please send it to abresistance2027@gmail.com with your name. It helps differentiate it from the other newsletters.
Wishing all Albertans a safe and peaceful holiday season. This will be the last newsletter in 2025 - Wishing you a Happy and Peace-filled New Year, and may all good things happen for you and your people this year. If 2025 has taught us anything, it has taught us that “Ordinary People can do Extra-Ordinary things when they work together.” In Alberta, we can work To-Get-Her out of power and create an Alberta that works for everyone! Thank you for continuing to be part of the Resistance in all the ways you choose to participate.
If you are new to us or want to check on how the health system is doing, links to other News, Legislature links, videos, etc. they will be available after this segment.
Some Actions you can take:
Keeping Public health care public.
Tell the federal government to strengthen guidelines for public health care- Expires Jan. 1st, 2026
House of Commons Petition E-6818Health Care
Protect the CPP for seniors in Canada
Tell the federal government to take steps to protect the CPP in light of the Alberta government’s actions.
House of Commons e-6990 Protecting CPC
Keep Alberta schools secular
Tell Alberta’s Education Minister to retract the Christian holiday letter
https://win.newmode.net/abxmasletter
Stop Two-Tier Healthcare
Prime Minister Mark Carney Must ACT Now
https://notwotier.ca/canadahealthact
Trans Rights are Human Rights
A Petition asking the federal government to override the anti-trans legislation in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Let’s get to the News.
It’s been a week! Let’s get started!
There are articles about COVID-19 and its effects on people in this week’s articles, so you can see what researchers are reporting on from around the world. The links are in alphabetical order by day, so you can check out the areas you are interested in. (I combined the weekend, and boy was it a weekend!!!)
Saturday, December 20, and Sunday, December 21,
Alberta NEXT Panel: So, according to Danielle Smith’s government, these are the recommendations - referendums on immigration and leaving CPP - the Alberta Police Service - they are just going to do it.
Coutts: Smith finds that the Coutts border is not a problem for cross-border issues. In the year since Alberta’s border patrol launched, there have been four arrests. What’s next? (How many millions wasted that could have gone into health care and education?)
Christmas: The season of giving - let’s make it something we advocate for all year. Every Albertan/Canadian deserves a life of dignity and support. Let’s make a better Alberta for everyone - sign a recall petition, buy a party membership, talk to your family and neighbors, let them know that we can and must do better for people who live in Alberta!
Education: Will Indigenous Land rights work as a way to teach critical thinking?
Health care: Canada is being battered by an especially bad flu season. None of this should be shocking, since we had data from the southern hemisphere’s flu season to suggest that once winter reared its head here, we would be in for the same flu-induced misery as our cousins below the equator.
In a normal country, this kind of advance notice would mean that we would take the necessary precautions to shore up our defenses, like making sure we’ve got a robust PSA campaign informing people to get vaccinated and ensuring hospitals are well resourced and staffed to deal with any surge-capacity issues due to increased hospitalizations. Canada, however, is not a normal country anymore — and now several provincial healthcare systems are under strain. Alberta is one of those provinces, that has been systematically broken with no coordination between any of it.
Bell Ringing ceremony at the Stollery brought back, thanks to Albertans saying this was important - if we can do that, we can impact what the government is doing to other areas of health care - it takes you working with your community to do this, but the first step is “you.”
Alberta’s Syphilis rates have been dropping over the last 3 years. New technology like rapid testing is leading the way.
Edmonton-born doctor details the struggle with Canada’s closed-off training system. We could have more doctors; we have to train more.
International news: (There is a lot happening in the world today and not all of it is straightforward or in the best interest of the world-we thought you might find this interesting) Vladimir Putin was interested in meeting Witkoff—so interested that he might consider releasing an American prisoner to him. The invitation came from a Kremlin moneyman named Kirill Dmitriev, using the de facto Saudi ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, as an intermediary. There was just one thing: Witkoff would be expected to come alone, without any CIA handlers, diplomats, or even an interpreter, a person familiar with the outreach said.
Neurodivergent market: Sensory-friendly market aims to help those with neurospicy brains shop.
Oil and gas: Trump’s one huge mistake - Global Electrification - is Alberta making the same mistake?
Monday, December 22,
Agriculture: Alberta is a potato-growing powerhouse in the world. What will happen if we open more coal mines in the Rockies and they have selenium-laced water irrigating potato crops?
AI Chatbots: New study finds AI chatbots can change people’s minds about who to vote for.
Alberta is a hallmark movie destination: The Mayor invites Hallmark to film om Sylvan Lake.
Alberta Next Panel: Alberta’s Next Panel Report lands with a whimper.
Alberta population: Continues to grow despite a slowdown in the rest of Canada.
Canada Post: Canada Post and union representatives reach a tentative agreement.
Canada Post and union representing workers reach tentative agreement, agree not to strike | CBC News
Carbon capture: U.S. carbon capture firm says Alberta ticks all the boxes to get technology off the ground.
Christmas: National trends point to Canadians spending less this holiday season.
COVID-19: Study finds that despite broad COVID vaccine availability, COVID is still deadlier than the flu and causes more hospitalizations.
CRA: ‘This was totally preventable - CRA looking at shutting down scammers stealing money through GST/tax refunds etc.
Education: After 3 years of the new UCP curriculum, the introduced math scores are considerably down. Some of the problems were that the curriculum was introduced at all grade levels, all at once, so students did not have the prerequisite skills. It is age-inappropriate - Grade 6 is now learning Grade 8 material, and there were few to no resources.
Food recall: Four people hospitalized related to e coli contamination of pizza pops.
Health care: Privatization Disaster unfolding before our eyes.
Paramedics - long wait times, fewer staff - EMS is at the breaking point.
Measles at the Stollery Children’s Hospital and in Grand Prairie.
Red Deer hospital has 100 people crowded in its ER. This is Minister of Primary Care’s/Health Minister’s plan for Edmontonian’s who live on the South Side if they need Emergency Care to access the Red Deer Hospital. #BuildMoreHospitals.
Indigenous: Ottawa offers over $35.5B for child welfare reform.
St. Albert continues with land sale of residential school site despite Metis concerns.
Oil and Gas/Pipeline: The pipeline port will not work for ships to get to; another Barge runs into trouble.
Police: Edmonton City Council appoints five members to the Police Commission.
Progressive Tory Party of Alberta: The Alberta Party has a new name.
Shelter: Emergency shelters aren’t full, so why is Edmonton putting money into daytime spaces? Is there a difference in philosophy between the Provincial and Municipal governments? There is, but there is no reason not to work together.
Tourism: Canada is closing down remote border crossings, which means Americans have to go to manned checkpoints to get into Canada.
Transportation: Alberta looks to protect bridges from oversized loads.
US: Trump says U.S. ‘needs’ Greenland, names envoy. He’s stealing Venezuelan oil. How soon before he turns his eyes on Canada?
Vandalism: Cell phone tower SE of Edmonton had guide wires cut and collapsed - $800,000 dollars damage.
Tuesday, December 23,
Calgary transit: Shuttle buses taken out of service
Caribou: Can Jasper’s new breeding center save the caribou, at the same time, the Alberta Government is planning to develop the Little Smokey area, where two caribou herds migrate through, causing habitat destruction.
Economy: The Canadian economy shrank by 0.3% in October, but there is lots going right! Some videos that show how Canadians are impacting American businesses.
Canadian economy shrank by 0.3% in October, the biggest slump in almost 3 years | CBC News
Trump vs. Carney: The Feud That Just Tanked the Market | Robert Reich
1 Minute Ago: Trump Retreats Following Canada’s Tough Stance Under Carney | George Conway
Electricity: The Alberta grid alerts explained so you can understand what is happening.
Employment: Robots are being used in coffee shops, retail, and hotels. How will that impact Alberta employment?
Procurement Scandal: Allegedly, someone has been paying two podcasters to gather information and smear journalist Carrie Tait, former AHS CEO Athana Mentzalopoulus, and now a former AHS Board Member - there is someone behind this and they are afraid of what’s going to get out - We can’t wait for Athana to testify and start following the money to see where it leads -
Recalls: Three more Recalls Approved - Two UCP, Justin Wright and Ron Weibe, and one NDP, Peggy Wright.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11589368/three-more-alberta-recall-petitions/
Braid: A decision on the blizzard of recall petitions will plague Smith into 2026
A look at the 26 Alberta politicians facing recalls.
UCP: Opinion - Danielle Smith’s government is a mockery of direct democracy.
Vaccines: Research shows COVID vaccines keep children out of ERs
Wednesday, December 24,
AI: O’Leary’s Data Center could wipe out Alberta’s Coal phase-out gains.
Federal: Sir John A. Macdonald was erased. Is he going to make a comeback?
Health: Flu Strain adds pressure to Emergency Rooms
A 44-year-old father of three dies in the Grey Nun’s Hospital Emergency Room from a heart attack after waiting 8 hours to be seen
We need a total rethink of how we treat homelessness and drug addiction.
Notwithstanding Clause: Alberta’s Smith says the notwithstanding clause is increasingly likely amid unpopular court rulings. ‘Do we have confidence that our judiciary is reflective of the values that we have in our province?’
Thursday, December 25, Christmas
Christmas Day: Premier Danielle Smith issued the following statement on Christmas Day:
Friday, December 26, Boxing Day
Parks: Alberta is planning to create 900 more campsites in Provincial Parks.
Canada US relations: A look back at 2025.
Covid: Some more research on COVID-19. Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) present increased risk for ischemic cardiovascular complications up to 1 year after infection.
Health Care: What are we doing in Alberta?
Elon Musk weighs in on the Canadian healthcare system - what a pathetic human being to turn tragedy into an ad for his robots.
‘I want justice’: Wife demands answers and accountability after 44-year-old Edmonton man dies waiting in ER. Acute Care Alberta says Covenant Health has initiated a review of the case and will participate with the operator to ensure any recommendations are implemented
Safe consumption sites - opinion Calgary can’t close its only safe consumption site without alternatives.
Local ER doctor appointed Chair of the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction.
Renewables: This year, renewables surpassed coal as a source of electricity worldwide, and solar and wind energy grew fast enough to cover the entire increase in global electricity use from January to June, according to energy think tank Ember. Clean technology is where the world is going.
Separatists: After visiting the US for support, they are off to Latin America to see what support they can find there.
Transgender: Alberta’s new rules sink one woman’s participation in swim club.
Transportation: Alberta Government’s new rules to protect bridges from oversized loads.
Alberta plans legislation to stop bike lanes
Travel to the USA: Canadians will be photographed entering and leaving the US, and may also be fingerprinted.
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EXTRAS: This is where you will find all of our information that appeared first in our previous newsletters. New video and article links that we have found, etc.
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WE have heard there is some confusion about our purpose. We are here to help Albertans recall their MLAs if they are not acting in your best interests. Here is a slide show that outlines how recalls work. ABResistance.ca Recalls As part of our process, we started sharing information through our newsletters and research articles, as well as building community.
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Upcoming Events: See our short three-page ABR Resistor for Updates about upcoming events:
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Links for Health Information:
Measles Tracker - We now have the highest number of Measles Cases in the world, and to think it was almost eradicated 50 years ago. Thanks in part to Alberta, Canada has lost its Measles Eradication Status. https://www.alberta.ca/measles We are up to 2004 cases last week, they reported 1925 cases (up 79 from last week) so far in Alberta. This is the highest per capita measles count in all of North America (possibly the world). Unfortunately, we have more measles cases. There were questions in the legislature about 2500 measles cases in Alberta in 2025… Apparently, some cases were not officially reported??
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Drug stores are administering COVID vaccines for an Alberta government administrative fee of $100 + a dispensing fee.
Here is a map you can check for availability.
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Tracking illness in Alberta
Respiratory Dashboard - Here is a link to Alberta’s respiratory virus dashboard - including RSV, Flu, and COVID-19 cases. (Last updated December 6, 2025) 1 flu and 2 COVID, and 0 RSV patients in the ICU.
COVID-19, RSV, and Flu wastewater testing: Check out the major population areas in Alberta here: COVID TRACKER
Canada COVID Tracker: Wastewater monitoring dashboard – Respiratory virus activity
If you live in the country, you may want to check this out if you need to go to an Emergency Room. Alberta AHS Facilities Temporary Service Disruption website AHS Facilities Temporary Bed / Space Reductions - Map | Alberta Health Services.
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UCP Travels: They are done for 2025 - We will reset the count in 2026~
The UCP MLAs have taken 73 trips and have been out of Canada for a total of 329 days.
This year, Dani has been gone for 44 days and has taken 9 trips out of Canada.
The Legislature sits for 13 out of 52 weeks in 2025. 13 weeks x 4 days (because they have Fridays off) = 52 days they are working for you at the legislature! They have not yet released the 2026 calendar. Here is a link to the 2025 calendar, Legislative Assembly of Alberta *Days in yellow are the days they were at the Legislature.
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* There are 26 Recalls - 24 are against UCP MLAs, one of which may be sketchy, and 2 against NDP MLAs - So half of the UCP constituencies are being canvassed for recalls.
The UCP Caucus has 46 members. There are 38 NDP MLAs and 1 Alberta Tory Party MLA, and 1 Independent MLA.
The Alberta Party has a new name: The Alberta Progressive Tory Party. Peter Guthrie is the party leader.
Alberta Progressive Tory Party Memberships: Membership - Alberta Party
NDP Memberships: Membership EN | Canada’s NDP
The UCP is having its annual general meeting in Edmonton this year.
UCP Memberships: Membership - United Conservative Party of Alberta
Liberal Party memberships: https://www.albertaliberal.com/membership
Republican Party of Alberta: https://albertarepublicans.com/actionhub/membership/
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Miscellaneous facts and information for you:
Here is our list of money wasted to August 2025: HOW THE UCP IS COSTING ALBERTANS BILLIONS OF $$$.docx
Throwback: From our archives - Alberta Health
The Procurement/Corrupt Care Scandal
Here are the headlines and links behind the story:
AHS: AHS CEO was let go because she was going to take her findings to the RCMP re: medical contracts.
Alberta Surgical Group
Medline Canada
MHCare
Jitendra Prasad - he is the AHS procurement person who simultaneously had an AHS and MHCare email address.
How does Dale McFee know Sam Mraiche? Is this important to know, knowing that on February 24th, McFee is going to be Danielle Smith’s right-hand man as Deputy Minister of the Executive Council?
AHS Scandal: How Tight Is Dale McFee with Sam Mraiche? | The Tyee
Edmonton police Chief Dale McFee hired as Alberta premier’s top bureaucrat | CBC News
Infrastructure Minister Peter Guthrie urges Adriana LeGrange, Health Minister, to be removed from her Ministerial position.
Seven major allegations in the wrongful dismissal lawsuit
In Athena Mentzelopoulos’ final weeks as Alberta Health Services CEO, her corporate services VP and CFO wrote to MHCare Medical to request a full accounting of work and spending on its troubled acetaminophen deal.
Smith admits she knew about AHS concerns
Mraiche Business partner Federal incorporation documents show Edmonton cardiac surgeon Dr. Jayan Nagendran was a co-director with wealthy Edmonton businessman Sam Mraiche of a numbered company established on March 9, 2021, and dissolved on March 12, 2024.
Ellis appointed Nagendran to the police commission on May 1, 2023, but his appointment was not announced by the police commission until months after the May 29, 2023, provincial election.
The opposition grills Smith over the Corrupt Care allegations.
‘CorruptCare Scandal’: Smith Thumped in Legislature | The Tyee
Ousted Alberta Health Services boss warned of private surgery prices, documents show | CBC News
So the government is planning on transferring ownership of healthcare properties to AHS on April 1, 2025.
At Town Hall in Drayton Valley, Smith reveals the next step in the plan to privatize hospitals.
The Way Back Machine
How did Dani get elected? Here are some answers…
UCP and Healthcare
May 23, 2021, Smith suggests privatizing hospitals.
AHS receives accolades
2018 AHS ranked among the best in the world
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Videos - this week we have two!
EnergiMedia Markham Hislop interviews Elizabeth Mays
Your Brain can do hard things:
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Information that may be interesting and/or helpful
Read the Line: an interview with Peter Guthrie - the Alberta Tory Party Leader.
Global Catastrophic Risks 2026
Global Catastrophic Risks 2026
Downtown Calgary may be in for more problems
Social agency’s impending eviction means more downtown Calgary disruption, CEO says
COVID-19: Some information from around the world about COVID research. There is more and more information coming out, and if you are interested, here it is.
How vaccines work: the history
Chilean Study
Clear explanation of long Covid
Why vaccinations are helpful…and good to get
Oil and gas: Canada builds on oil and gas - if you check out the renewables news this week, China is leading the way in electrification using the sun and wind.
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Throwback - How we got where we are and why we need to pay attention to their actions - they told us what they were going to do…
APP: Alberta rejects amendments to CPP exit legislation Dec 6, 2023
A summary of Ezra Levant’s interview with Danielle Smith, Brian Jean, and Todd Loewen before the 2023 election. This is a Facebook share - and it is interesting.
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A Message from ABR (Alberta Resistance)
Recalls: We are up to 24 approved recalls, collecting signatures.. OperationTotalRecall.ca has all the details on their page for you to check out who is recalled, what the recall websites are (to register as canvassers and to find out where to sign petitions) WE are doing it, Alberta - Together.
Which area that the Alberta government is working on concerns you the most?
Health Care ( hospitals- being able to transfer hospitals to other organizations to run, siloing health care, health care staff, vaccine accessibility, paying private facilities to do public surgeries, other.) They are now talking about allowing Doctors to have private/public practices where there is a pay-to-access service. It has not worked well in other countries, but Marlaina/Danielle wants to break public health care, so that’s where Alberta is heading. What about the Procurement Scandal? Do you think it’s appropriate for the government to give sole source contracts to certain organizations - like ROSC for mental health or MHCare for procurement?
Education (building charter and providing funding to support building, funding charter and private schools while public schools are struggling, firing Support staff during COVID lockdowns and not hiring them all back, not funding complex classrooms, the funding formula, not negotiating with teachers). News Flash - Webber Academy Calgary received over $5 million last year, and they donated $3.8 million to West Aspen Holdings. Since 2018, they have donated $73 million to this entity. Webber Academy’s $70m Slush Fund - by the ATA rank and file
Oil and Gas (not capping abandoned wells, Mature Asset Strategy, Fracking, Pipelines. Taxpayers cover Oil and Gas companies’ taxes to municipalities and rent to farmers for their land with abandoned wells.
Eco Justice films 3 landowners’ stories
Alberta landowners react to well cleanup crisis - Ecojustice
Environment - Coal mining in the Rockies, Water conservation, developing the Little Smoky area, hunting, Oil and Gas well shutdowns, pipelines, others? Corb Lund has filed a Citizen Initiative to stop coal mining in the Rockies. The Alberta Government just changed the Citizen Initiative Act to make it harder for people to file. The cost has gone up from $500 to $25,000. It came into force after the Separatists filed their Separation Citizen Initiative.
AISH/ADAP - Clawing back $200 from the federal government’s Canadian Disability Benefit for people on AISH and ADAP. Charging those in subsidized housing more - $200/month. or that they are moving all AISH recipients to ADAP, which will lower their monthly payment, and allow them to claw back more money if they are working. Currently, AISH recipients can earn over $1000 without money being deducted from their AISH payment. If they go on ADAP, they can only make $350 more. Here is a link to the information Understanding the proposed changes to AISH, the new Alberta Disability Assistance Program (ADAP), There is a petition out that you can sign letting the government know you are against the transitioning of AISH recipients onto ADAP, which results in less money to live on.
Wildlife - the bills that the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife has introduced that allow using dogs to hunt cougars and bears, trapping of endangered animals, and nine trips out of Canada to promote/sell his Ministerial licenses to come hunt in Alberta, when his family owns an outfitting/hunting company, “Red Willow Outfitters.” They are now being sued by wildlife organizations.
Are there any we have missed? Let us know.
Build Community: Albertans need to work together to educate and build community. Finding your people is important. We are starting to host Zoom meetings and setting up to connect people in communities across Alberta.
Town halls like the Accidental Advocate and Friends of Medicare are hosting Dr. Paul Parks. The Separatists and the Far right, like TBA (Take Back Alberta), are well-organized and have lots of money. We need to counter that with information and community. Be a part of the change. See our ABR Resistor Update.
Join our Facebook page or a group in your area that shares events, information, and ideas on how to spread the word.
The Public Funds for Public Education campaign is off and running. At the Legislature on Thursday, there were canvassers with petitions and smiles! Each one of us can make a difference. Sign up to canvass here:
https://abfundspublicschools.ca/
or sign the petition; every signature counts.
If you haven’t joined our webpage yet, please do. We are sending out newsletters specifically for different areas of Alberta to get support for recalls. There are many jobs you can do. If you join our volunteer list, I will invite you to our “Recall Connect” group so you can connect directly with recalls that are looking for assistance.
Knowledge:
Talk to your friends and share what you know. Watching the Socials, we see more outrage and anger about what is happening to Health Care, Education, Social Services, and the Environment in this province. These areas affect everyone! It’s time to speak up.
(They only win if we give up!)
Wins this week -
We are continuing to work with other groups to show up at peaceful demonstrations around the province. For details, see our ABR Resistor Update.
AB Resistance is a small group of volunteers that pays for expenses solely through donations. Hosting town halls, printing, paying for websites, and social media software all cost money. If you would like to donate to our cause, please etransfer to abrdonate@gmail.com. We are a third-party advertiser, which means we report to Alberta Elections. When you donate, please include your name, address, and postal code in the message. The question is “What province do we live in? = Alberta, even if you don’t live here. It makes it easier for our CFO to accept your money. Thanks to everyone who has already donated. You can now sign up for our Substack. We will be publishing extra articles that uncover what the government is doing. By joining, you help us to fund townhalls, print materials, and get the word out to the public.
ABResistance has a “Speaker Series” - They are coming! January Speaker Series Line up is: Dr. Jared Wesley, Nigel Banks, and Corb Lund with Laura Lang. We are not sure of the exact dates, so stay posted.
There are more being posted as we get them ready, so keep checking our YouTube channel, and we will post them in the newsletter as well (See the video section)
We have a merch store! Check out our t-shirts and hoodies.
AB Resistance Merch @ odd-i-tees
At the end of the Newsletter are some links to other news organizations.
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Other Alberta News you can check out:
Alberta News - Keeping Albertans Informed
Alberta Views puts out a weekly synopsis of happenings in Alberta: This week’s version. (The Week in Alberta archives)
None this week
The Tyee puts out a weekly round-up of happenings in Alberta - Check it out.
A round-up of this week’s Tyee Alberta stories. They are a non-profit; if you can afford to donate to this amazing news source,
None this week.
Calgary’s The Sprawl - Slow News for curious Calgarians
Alberta Municipalities News
News from the Municipalities - has an update on bills being passed.
Alberta Conservative News
Alberta Government Links
The Legislature’s sitting has been extended two weeks: They will be on break from December 11, 2025, until February. They have not released the 2026 calendar yet.
The Government is making its news announcements user-friendly. Here is the non-government branded version.
Here is the government version.
Hansard - The Alberta Government
Hansard Transcription
Legislative Assembly
Here is the sunshine list document for Alberta.
Here are the MLA payouts for wages/expenses for 2024 - March 31, 2025
If you have events coming up in your area or have a group you would like to promote, email us at abresistance2027@gmail.com
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Solving the healthcare problems while keeping it universal with the same amount of staff (until we CAN hire more):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12z2cgWs7y9gQHpyNCKLLcL6gjCaxtFxbwCjrIUSZpXA/edit?usp=drivesdk
How the Alberta Heritage Fund could/should be used to support Alberta teachers:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MmGR0HpmYL6qJJh9C-tbVjmKh_eU0Jfbt4X2y3NSQX4/edit?usp=drivesdk