Alberta Minute: New Schools, Auto Theft, and a Drug Policy Ultimatum

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

This Week In Alberta:

• Alberta is anticipating a less challenging wildfire season in 2025, thanks to favourable weather conditions, including above-normal snowpack and precipitation. Following two tough wildfire seasons in 2023 and 2024, the province has seen fewer carry-over fires, with only six remaining from 2024. While preparations include hiring more firefighters and conducting hazard reduction burns, Alberta Wildfire is also exploring new technologies like AI and drones to improve fire prediction and investigation. However, officials caution that unpredictable weather could still lead to challenges during the peak wildfire season from May to July.
  
  
• The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) has a new top executive. Rob Morgan, a former CEO of Strathcona Resources Ltd., has been appointed to the role. Morgan, an engineer with over 40 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, takes the role amidst the Alberta government's push to increase oil and gas production and expand market access. Morgan acknowledged the AER's strained relationship with Indigenous communities and plans to address these concerns while balancing industry development and public interests.
  
  
• Alberta could lose up to 33,000 jobs if the US imposes proposed tariffs of 10% on energy and 25% on all other goods, according to ATB Financial economist Siddhartha Bhattacharya. Bhattacharya warned that prolonged tariffs would harm production and slow economic growth, which is already weak due to low business investment. Bhattacharya advised caution, recommending that interprovincial trade barriers be removed and that consumers delay major purchases.

Last Week In Alberta:

• Premier Danielle Smith has issued an ultimatum to Ottawa, demanding that the federal government either toughen its drug policies or allow the province to take over drug-related prosecutions. In an open letter to federal Justice Minister Arif Virani, Smith criticized two federal policies: the 2020 directive to divert drug cases from criminal courts and Bill C-5, which eliminated mandatory minimum sentences for drug convictions. Smith emphasized that Alberta would take action to prosecute drug offenders and keep them behind bars if Ottawa does not change course. Smith's stance follows her support for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s call for mandatory life sentences for fentanyl traffickers.
  
  
• The Alberta government announced the construction of 11 new schools in the Edmonton and the Calgary region. The plan includes five schools in Edmonton, three in Calgary, and one each in Airdrie, Chestermere, and Okotoks. To address surging enrolment, the Province aims to accelerate school construction, with elementary and junior high schools expected by 2028 and high schools by 2029. The initiative is part of a broader $2.1-billion investment in school infrastructure, with 30 new schools announced annually for three years.
  
  
• Auto thefts in Canada dropped nearly 19% in 2024, but Alberta now has the highest per capita vehicle theft rate. Thieves in the province are shifting from older trucks to newer, high-value vehicles, often stolen for export. A rise in fraudulent vehicle identification number (VIN) registrations has made it harder to recover stolen cars, with Alberta's recovery rate dropping to 77%. Law enforcement is tracking an increase in stolen Alberta vehicles being shipped out of eastern ports.

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