Alberta Minute: Meeting Invitation, Photo Radar, and a Giving Tuesday Fundraiser

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

This Week In Alberta:

• We don't usually ask for a favour in these emails, but right now, we're running our Black Friday / Giving Tuesday fundraiser, and if we can raise $30,000 by the end of the month, a very generous donor has offered to double every single donation. So, if you like the research and advocacy work we do, and the information we bring you in this and other emails, and would like to make a donation to support the cause of freedom, now is the perfect time! Info on how to donate online, or by cheque is available here.
  
  
• There will be afternoon sessions of the Legislature today through Thursday. Bill 2 (The Alberta Pension Protection Act) and Bill 6 (The Public Health Amendment Act) will be given Second Reading, while Bill 7 (The Engineering and Geoscience Professions Amendment Act) will be debated at Committee of the Whole. There will also be three committee meetings this week. The Standing Committee on Private Bills will meet on Wednesday at 10:00 am, the Standing Committee on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund will meet on Thursday at 6:00 pm (see below for more info), and the Standing Committee on Legislative Offices will meet on Friday at 8:30 am.
  
  
• The Standing Committee on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund is inviting the public to tune in to Thursday’s meeting addressing Alberta's main long-term savings fund. The meeting begins at 6:00 pm and will include an update on the Fund's performance by experts from Alberta Treasury Board and Finance and the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo). A live question-and-answer session will provide participants the opportunity to pose questions in person, on social media, or via email.

Last Week In Alberta:

• The Province announced a new compensation model for nurse practitioners, aiming to enhance access to primary care for Albertans. Nurse practitioners (registered nurses with advanced training and at least 4,500 hours of clinical practice) will be allowed to open their own clinics and take on patients under the new model. The payment model won't follow a fee-for-service structure, but will include compensation for specified clinical hours and patient care commitments. The Province is providing the Nurse Practitioner Association of Alberta with a $2 million grant to implement the new model.
  
  
• The Alberta government announced a plan to ban photo radar on ring roads in Calgary and Edmonton starting December 1st. Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen identified certain locations, like Ray Gibbon Drive and Anthony Henday Drive in northwest Edmonton, as "fishing holes" where about 6,000 tickets are issued annually, generating $800,000 in revenue. The Province aims to eliminate such locations by engaging with municipalities and law enforcement over the next year. While the ban initially focuses on ring roads, the government will assess existing traffic data to determine where photo radar enforcement should remain on regular roads. We’d like to see photo radar banned entirely!
  
  
• The Province has asked Albertans to participate in its “Shape The Way” survey to gather input on restructuring the public health-care system. The survey, which takes about 10 minutes to complete, asks for opinions on recent announcements about health-care reforms and asks respondents to identify key issues in provincial health care, express concerns, and rate the quality of care they have received in the system in the past. The survey is available until December 8th and can be accessed online.

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