Alberta Minute: Issue 389

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

📅 This Week In Alberta: 📅

• Justice Minister Mickey Amery has tabled Bill 33, the Justice Statutes Amendment Act, 2026 (No. 2), which would amend the Alberta Human Rights Act to bar public bodies from using diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in hiring and promotion. The ban would cover the public service, public agencies, Crown corporations, post-secondary institutions, school boards, municipalities, health agencies, and police services, and could extend to organizations that receive provincial funding to deliver public services, while First Nations and Métis settlements are excluded and further exemptions would be set by regulation. Hiring and promotion would remain subject to existing human rights protections, including the duty to accommodate. The bill would also ban mandatory diversity, equity, and inclusion training and require other mandatory training to be ideologically neutral and job-related, with the changes taking effect on proclamation. Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi accused the government of looking for a scapegoat for a problem that does not exist.
  
  
• The Government of Alberta has reported a $2.2-billion surplus for the 2025-26 fiscal year, its fifth consecutive surplus, and a $7.4-billion improvement compared with Budget 2025's projected deficit. Total revenue reached $79.8 billion, $5.6 billion more than forecast, driven by $2.1 billion in additional investment income, an $867-million increase in non-renewable resource revenue, and a $932-million increase in corporate tax revenue, while spending was also lower than expected. Net debt was $33.6 billion, down $747 million from March 31st, 2025, and the Heritage Trust Fund earned $2.4 billion in net income, all of which will be retained, with the fund reaching a record value of more than $32 billion at the 2025 fiscal year-end. Finance Minister Jason Nixon said the temporary oil windfall will go to infrastructure, debt repayment, and the Heritage Trust Fund, and that the department will not build high oil prices permanently into the budget. A sixth consecutive surplus is projected for 2026-27, with the second-quarter fiscal update expected by the end of November. The Opposition NDP argued the surplus should fund an affordability plan, a minimum wage increase, and health-care recruitment.
  
  
• Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides has tabled Bill 35, the Education and Childcare (Securing Parental Involvement) Statutes Amendment Act, 2026, which would let the minister set provincial standards for report cards in public, separate, and Francophone schools. Nicolaides cited parents' confusion over the one-to-four grading scales many elementary schools use and said standardized letter grades are possible but not decided, while the Government says it would not require a single report card format or platform. The bill would also require school authorities to publicly disclose, within 60 days, what happens on professional development and other non-instructional days, set up a process for parents' unresolved concerns, and require public school boards to get ministerial permission before starting to name or rename a school. Separately from the bill, the Government is developing an online portal for parents' concerns, which Nicolaides described as a data collection exercise. The Alberta Teachers' Association has questioned what problem the bill is meant to solve and why it does not apply to independent schools, calling the portal redundant and arguing that the reporting rules for professional development days imply teachers are not using that time responsibly. The changes are expected to take effect for the 2027-28 school year.
  
  
• Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally has introduced Bill 34, the Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Statutes Amendment Act, an omnibus bill that would create a "lemon law" for defective vehicles and a right-to-repair framework for consumer goods. Under the lemon law, owners could ask a court to declare a vehicle unrepairable if repairs to the same warranty defect failed three times, or repairs to multiple defects failed 12 times, within three years or 60,000 kilometers of purchase, with possible remedies including refunds or replacements. The right-to-repair rules would require manufacturers to make repair manuals, tools, and parts available to owners and third-party repairers, though which products are covered would be set later in regulation. The bill would also let Albertans freeze access to their credit reports, require ticket resellers to disclose the full price including fees, and allow the Government to cap resale prices in future, which Nally said would follow consultation with industry. It would also re-establish the Surface Rights Board, which was merged into the Land and Property Rights Tribunal in 2021, and enable a one-year pilot selling lottery tickets in up to 30 liquor stores.
  
  
• The Government of Alberta says it will press ahead with opting out of the federal dental care plan and national pharmacare program in favour of its own programs, even though 57% of voters rejected a related question in the October 19th referendum. That question, however, asked whether Alberta should lead a push for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing all provinces the right to opt out of any federal program, not whether Alberta should opt out of this specific program. Maddison McKee, press secretary for the Ministry of Hospital and Surgical Health Services, said the Province will keep advocating for its fair share of federal funding to strengthen its own dental and drug programs. Chris Gallaway, Executive Director of Friends of Medicare, called the plan to withdraw absurd and urged the Prime Minister and the federal health minister to refuse any opt-out request from Alberta.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

The Legislature is back in session, and there are plenty of issues for MLAs to tackle. What would you most like to see your elected representatives focus on this session?

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