Alberta Minute: Curriculum Review, Nuclear Study, and Pension Report Released

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

This Week In Alberta:

• Our Can't Stop Alberta Tour continues this week. Today, we’re headed to Rocky Mountain House, followed by stops in Drumheller, Stettler and Innisfail. We’ll be discussing K-12 education, Alberta’s relationship with Ottawa, energy policy, and more. Attendance is free, but if you’re so inclined, you can make a donation to help cover our venue hire costs and our travel expenses. We hope to see you at one or more of the events, and if you're not in the cities listed above, don't worry - just check the list online for an event near you.
  
  
• Nominations are open for the first Board of Directors of the newly formed Alberta Grains - the organization that resulted from the merger of Alberta Barley and the Alberta Wheat Commission. There are 12 spots on the board, two per region, and farmers are being encouraged to apply. The nomination deadline is October 31st and forms are available online. The Alberta Canola Producers Commission is also seeking nominations for its Board of Directors elections - more information and requirements are also available online.
  
  
• E. coli cases are trending in the right direction after an outbreak believed to be linked to a central kitchen at a Calgary daycare chain resulted in hundreds of sick children. The Province is now conducting an investigation, including testing food samples and interviewing daycare and kitchen staff. There is also an investigation underway to see how many shared kitchens serving daycares exist in the province.

Last Week In Alberta:

• The Province released an actuarial analysis regarding the possibility of moving forward with an Alberta Pension Plan (APP). The third-party report, compiled by LifeWorks, suggests that opting out of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) would bring significant benefits to both retirees and workers. Alberta's high employment rates, young population, and higher wages, mean that this province has been subsidizing the CPP for years. There will be many consultation sessions with Albertans - as well as a referendum - before any decision is made, and we will have plenty more to say on this issue ourselves in the coming months.
  
  
• Alberta Education announced a plan to redraft the K-6 social studies curriculum - again. The things children are learning in school have been a topic of heated debate lately, and the original draft curriculum was criticized for being age-inappropriate and not culturally inclusive enough. Consultations are taking place until October 16th - a relatively short window of time - we'll have more info for you on this soon too.
  
  
• The Alberta government announced a $7 million investment into a Cenovus study to explore the use of nuclear energy in supplying heat and power to the oil and gas sector, as well as the regulatory requirements for doing so. Potentially, a small modular reactor (SMR) could replace the natural gas used to generate steam generation used in the extraction process. The total cost of the multi-year study is $26.7 million, of which Cenovus is covering $19.7 million.

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