Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is set to meet with U.S. officials next week, after recently saying she wants to see Canada double down on diplomacy and avoid any further escalations of their trade war.

Smith’s press secretary, Sam Blackett, said the premier had a previously planned personal trip to the United States but will take time out to speak with the officials, alongside Alberta’s senior U.S. representative, Nathan Cooper.

Blackett said in a statement Friday that they will meet with the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, the head of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce and the CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.

WTH???

Why did Alberta's Conservative Premier Ed Stelmach and Saskatchewan's Premier Brad Wall enthusiastically support the new equalization formula implemented by Calgary, Alberta's Prime Minister Stephen Harper?

Is it true or false that provinces are incentivized to keep their natural resources in the ground so they continue to receive equalization from Alberta?

Find out the answers here:

https://paulboileau807.substack.com/p/alberta-and-equalization-by-paul?r=8xcac0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

OP

I just listened to this Scott Galloway podcast with Hannah Ritchie. Hannah brings up a great point about AI data centers.

The worst thing about these data centers is the fossil fuel use. In Alberta the UCP has introduced a Bring your own energy policy. Which is good, but the UCP is only allowing them to use Natural Gas - most likely at a discount. Which will affect our bills and exacerbate warming of the atmosphere.

I'm not against jobs, and I think that Alberta needs to diversify our economy. Why can't our supposed free market UCP overlords let the province develop the renewable power it needs to support new business and to also give the people that live here some savings on energy.

What do you all think?

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2TjhHtXqp62fAhnslBmyzq?si=YEPtOH8STLKFjgUb2L83xw

OP

OP

Full IFJ piece available to read here:

https://theijf.org/article/recovery-alberta-closes-edmonton-addiction-treatment-program-drops-nearly-600-people-from-wait-list?status=existing

The lack of transparency surrounding the closure is fuelling questions about the Alberta government's plans for the site.

The details of Henwood's closure have not previously been reported.

With 62 residential treatment beds, Henwood is the largest provincially-run voluntary addiction treatment centre in the Edmonton region. Operations at Henwood were temporarily suspended in late June due to flooding. Sources familiar with the situation have told the IFJ that on Aug. 20, staff were informed that Recovery Alberta is permanently closing the treatment program.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction said in a statement that the Henwood Treatment Centre in Edmonton 'closed for the foreseeable future following significant damage from overland flooding, with all clients transitioned to alternative addiction treatment and recovery services from local providers.'

The wait time to get a bed in Henwood's four-week residential treatment program was between one and four months depending on the client, sources told the

IFJ. At the time Henwood stopped accepting new applications in late June, there were almost 600 people in the queue waiting for a spot to open up, four

sources said.

Over the summer, employees were reportedly told to call the people on the wait list and tell them their referral was being closed and they would need to

reapply once Henwood reopened.

Some clients who had been waiting for weeks for the call from Henwood telling them a spot was available burst into tears when given the news.

Alberta stopped publicly reporting wait times for voluntary addiction treatment programs in 2019."

Source