Alberta Minute: COVID Reopening, Tap Turning, and a Pandemic Misery Report

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

This Week In Alberta:

• The big news this week is the Province moving to Stage 1 of last week's reopening plan effective tomorrow! This long-overdue step will put us roughly back where we were about a month ago including outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people, and the reopening of personal and wellness services.
  
  
• The Legislature is back in action this week too, kicking off this afternoon with Question Period, followed by the Second reading of Bill 62 (the Red Tape Reduction Implementation Act, 2021). The Legislature will also sit on Monday night, all day on Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Thursday morning and afternoon.
  
  
• In Committee news, today, from 9:00 am to 11:00 am there will be a meeting of the Select Special Committee on Real Property Rights to discuss internal committee business. The Standing Committee on Private Bills and Private Members' Public Bills will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday from 6:15 pm to 7:15 pm.

Last Week In Alberta:

• The province sent a letter early last week to the University of Calgary, University of Alberta, University of Lethbridge and Athabasca University demanding that the universities suspend all new partnerships with China and with entities that have links to the Communist Party of China. The Universities also have 90 days to review and report to the government on existing partnerships. The provincial government indicated that this was brought on in part by concerns that property rights were being stolen by China.
  
  
• The Macdonald Laurier Institute released a study that compares provinces' performance during the pandemic on three indicators, “Disease Misery”, “Response Misery” and “Economic Misery”. Overall, MLI concluded that “By our metrics, no province has experienced more misery during the pandemic than Alberta.”
  
  
• Lastly, the provincial government reintroduced the NDP’s “turn off the taps” legislation with some revisions that focus on asserting Alberta’s authority over its natural resources rather than on blocking refined fuels. We expect to see another court challenge to this law, but the Province will be hoping that their changes will ensure its constitutionality.

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