Alberta Minute: Leadership Debate, Food Insecurity, and Another Church Burned

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

This Week In Alberta:

• The Legislature remains on break until October 31st. The Select Special Ombudsman and Public Interest Commissioner Search Committee (2022) meeting on September 7th at 1:00 pm is the next upcoming meeting, but no agenda has been released. We’re not going to lie; after a prolonged summer break, we’re running out of ways to tell you that nothing has changed at the legislature.
  
  
• A final debate is scheduled for the race to become the next UCP leader, and consequently Premier of Alberta. The debate will take place in Edmonton at the Citadel Theatre on Tuesday from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The UCP announced that interest in the race had effectively doubled the party's membership. Will you be tuning in? What questions do you think have yet to be put to the candidates?
  
  
• Alberta will provide a fiscal update this week. All signs point to a massive boom in royalty revenues. This makes the UCP leadership race even more important - we can't afford to blow the oil and gas windfall again this time!

Last Week In Alberta:

• The Province signed an agreement with the federal government regarding seniors living in long-term care. Alberta will receive $115 million, which will be used for wage top-ups for health care aides, hiring additional staff, PPE, and reducing occupancy levels within shared rooms.
  
  
• A University of Toronto report found that Albertans had the highest rate of food insecurity in the country. More than 20% of the province’s population are finding it difficult to put food on the table. The report noted that single mothers, renters, and Indigenous peoples are more likely to experience food insecurity.

• One of Alberta’s oldest churches was destroyed in a fire the RCMP deemed suspicious. The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Roman Catholic Church in Fort Chipewyan was constructed in 1909 and is roughly 280 kilometres north of Fort McMurray on the shores of Lake Athabasca. Many in the community were upset by the tragic event.

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