Alberta Minute: Heritage Day, COVID Rules, and a Snap Senate Appointment

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

This Week In Alberta:

• Today, of course, is Heritage Day in Alberta, so if you're lucky enough to have the day off, we hope you get the chance to get out and enjoy one of the many festivities happening around the province. Heritage Day was first declared in 1974 to celebrate the varied cultural heritage of Albertans.
  
  
• Meanwhile, the Legislature and its committees are on summer break, and the Legislature is not set to resume until October 25th.
  
  
• The provincial government its statement of defence as the Métis Settlements General Council asks the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench to toss out changes to the Metis Settlement Amendment Act. Several changes in the act are alleged to have breached a 1989 accord between the provincial government and the settlements.

Last Week In Alberta:

• The Provincial government announced that many of their remaining COVID isolation and testing requirements will be lifted August 16th. As of this upcoming Thursday, August 5th, close contacts of COVID-19 cases won’t be required to isolate, and as of August 16th anyone with COVID-19 won’t be required to isolate either. Provincial mask mandates for public transit will also expire. Alberta is the first province in Canada to end such requirements.
  
  
• Karen Sorenson has resigned as Mayor of Banff to take up a seat in Canada's Senate, following her appointment by Prime Minister Trudeau. Premier Kenney asked the Prime Minister in July to wait until Alberta Senate elections were completed this October before appointing Senators to Alberta's two vacancies, and said the appointment showed "contempt for democracy in Alberta". Sorenson is a noted left-wing activist and proponent of the carbon tax.
  
  
• The Alberta government told the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary that their proposed tuition hikes are not approved and they will need to come up with a better proposal. In the University of Calgary's case, tuition hike was to be 15.7% for the medical doctor program and in some programs as much as 51%. In the University of Alberta's case, the increases ranged from 17% to 104% for some programs. Both universities have until October 29th to submit new proposals.

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