Alberta Minute: Arson Investigations, Electricity Grid, and New Cabinet Appointed

Alberta Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Alberta politics.

This Week In Alberta:

• The Legislature remains adjourned. The Legislative Assembly of Alberta’s website is being updated with contact information for new MLAs and new Cabinet Ministers (see below).
  
  
• Crops are showing early signs of moisture stress, according to the provincial Agricultural Moisture Situation Update. Ongoing hot and dry conditions may harm this year’s yield. Fortunately for farmers, commodity prices are high, so profit is still possible.
  
  
• The Province is bringing in outside arson investigators to trace the cause of Alberta’s wildfires. This year, Alberta is facing an unprecedented wildfire situation, and arson is suspected in at least some of the fires. In more positive outside assistance, 200 South African firefighters are now in the province and are ready to help Alberta battle the blazes.

Last Week In Alberta:

• Official election results have been released. Alberta saw a record number of people voting in advance polls. Voter turnout was almost 60% - a total of 1,777,321 Albertans cast ballots. There were two close results in Calgary that triggered automatic recounts - both of those races have now been officially called for the NDP. Tyler Shandro lost his race in Calgary-Acadia by 25 votes to Diana Batten and Whitney Issik was defeated by Nagwan Al-Guneid by 42 votes in Calgary-Glenmore.
  
  
• Premier Danielle Smith appointed her new cabinet, and 25 Ministers were sworn in. Calgary has the greatest representation in the cabinet, with 9 Ministers coming from ridings in the city. Rural Alberta will also have strong representation. Notable appointments include Adriana LaGrange as the Minister of Health, Brian Jean as the Minister of Energy and Minerals, and Mike Ellis as Deputy Premier and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services.
  
  
• A heat dome brought hot weather to Alberta as temperatures reached the high 20s. The Alberta Electric System Operator declared an electricity grid alert due to the weather and an unplanned generator outage. Consumers were asked to limit their use for a short period on Wednesday to avoid more intrusive measures like rotating power outages.

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