Alberta Minute: Fire Restrictions, Utility Fees, and Nurse Practitioner Funding

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

This Week In Alberta:

• The Legislature is on break, and there are no Committee meetings. Sittings will resume on Monday, May 6th.
  
  
• Alberta is under a province-wide fire restriction due to extremely dry conditions. Outdoor fires are prohibited in public lands except for Calgary's forest protection zone. The early start to the wildfire season, coupled with drought conditions has heightened the risk of wildfires spreading quickly.
  
  
• The Alberta government is investing $8 million in the Alberta Media Fund to support the publishing and entertainment industries, including book and magazine publishers, sound recording agencies, and film producers. Should taxpayers really be forced to pay for this though, especially during an affordability crisis?

Last Week In Alberta:

• The Province introduced Bill 20, the Municipal Affairs Statutes Amendment Act, which would make changes to the Local Authorities Election Act (LAEA) and the Municipal Government Act (MGA). Among the changes are the banning of electronic tabulators, a pilot project in Calgary and Edmonton that would see municipal candidates able to include local political party affiliations on ballots, and increased transparency around campaign donations. We’ll have more to say on these changes soon!
  
  
• Alberta is also getting a new nurse practitioner funding model. The program allows nurse practitioners to practice comprehensive patient care autonomously and operate their own clinic or participate in existing primary care clinics. To be eligible, practitioners are required to be caring for at least 900 patients, and provide after-hours care on weekends, evenings, or holidays. Practitioners will get about 80% of the compensation provided to family doctors, and patients will not be required to pay out of pocket.
  
  
• The Alberta government introduced the Utilities Affordability Statutes Amendment Act, which aims to standardize how municipalities calculate franchise fees on electricity bills to prevent spikes in power prices, especially in Calgary. This bill proposes changes to existing legislation, mandating that local access fees not be tied to the default rate but rather to consumption or a percentage of transmission and distribution costs, as done in Edmonton and other municipalities. The Province aims to stop other municipalities from adopting Calgary's approach, which resulted in significantly higher fees for residents.

-----

Donate:

The Alberta Institute doesn't accept any government funding and never will. We think you should be free to choose, for yourself, which organizations to support. If you're in a position to contribute financially, you can make a donation here.

-----

Share:

If you're not in a position to donate, we understand, but if you appreciate our work, you can help by spreading our message. Please forward this email to your friends, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and help make sure every Albertan knows what's going on in our province.