Alberta Minute: Carbon Taxes, Healthcare Choices, and no Spending Cuts

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

This Week In Alberta:

• The Legislature is not sitting this week, and there are no committee meetings either, as the Legislature has adjourned for the remainder of the year. There's no word yet on when the Legislature will return, but we'll keep you updated and let you know as soon as we hear.
  
  
• The Alberta Court of Appeal will hear arguments on the constitutionality of the federal carbon tax in a hearing that starts today and is expected to last three days. Albertans will be able to watch the proceedings live online after a rare, but welcome, decision by the court to permit video coverage of the case.
  
  
• Alberta's Fair Deal Panel is continuing its series of town hall meetings across the province with a meeting in Grande Prairie on Wednesday. For more information, sign up for Project Confederation's newsletter.

Last Week In Alberta:

• The province plans to provide more government-funded but privately-delivered surgeries to help reduce wait times. They are aiming to be the only province that meets the surgery wait-time guidelines suggested by medical experts. Of course, every other province is aiming to do that too, but not have succeeded yet. More choice and competition in healthcare can only be positive though.
  
  
• The provincial government's popularity ratings have dropped in the most recent round of polls, and the media are already attributing this to the cuts contained in the provincial budget update. The only problem is, there aren't any budget cuts. The Government of Alberta will spend more money in 2020 than in 2019.
  
  
• The Fair Deal Panel continued their province-wide tour with meetings in Red Deer on Monday, in Calgary on Tuesday, and in Lethbridge on Wednesday. We attended all three meetings and can report that the vast majority of attendees were looking for a serious and significant reform of Canada's Constitution.