Alberta Minute: Online Gambling, Legal Aid, and New Collegiate Schools

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

This Week In Alberta:

• Alberta high school students will have more elective options this school year, with seven new collegiate programs being introduced across the province. Three programs in Calgary will be managed by the Calgary Board of Education, Calgary Catholic School District, and Fusion Collegiate, in partnership with local post-secondary institutions like the University of Calgary and SAIT. These programs offer dual credit courses in areas such as science, aviation, and technology, giving students a head start on post-secondary education. Over 190 Calgary students are already enrolled in the new Digital Future Pathways program, which focuses on careers like robotics and animation. Additional collegiate programs will open in other areas, including Calmar, Peace River, Coleman, and Dunmore.
  
  
• This fall, the Alberta government plans to introduce legislation requiring parents to actively sign up their children for sex education, shifting from the current opt-out system. Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides confirmed that consultations with various stakeholders, including school boards and parents, are ongoing. Premier Danielle Smith has indicated that this new approach will involve parental consent for each sexual health lesson and pre-approval for external resources.
  
  
• Alberta is preparing to expand its online gambling market by allowing multiple operators, following the model used in Ontario. This shift aims to capture revenue from the grey market and provide a regulated environment for online betting. Although a timeline for the market launch is not yet set, Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally emphasized the need for safe and responsible practices, including potential provincewide self-exclusion tools. Current consultations are focused on establishing safeguards and determining revenue splits with operators.

Last Week In Alberta:

• A Legal Aid Alberta lawyer has decided to challenge the agency’s new monitoring program, which started in August and allows managers to observe conversations between lawyers and clients for quality control. The lawyer argues that this program breaches solicitor-client confidentiality, a fundamental legal principle protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He has filed for a judicial review, seeking to have the program declared invalid. Concerns include the potential risk to client privacy and the vulnerability of Legal Aid clients in understanding consent. The case is set to be heard in Calgary this week.
  
  
• The Town of Taber has started to explore the possibility of transitioning from a town to a city, coinciding with its 120th anniversary next year. No formal decision has been made yet, but the town Council has instructed Administrative staff to gather community feedback over the next few months. Mayor Andrew Prokop suggested that becoming a City could foster economic growth, attract businesses, and improve public services. Despite the recent removal of the population threshold for City status, Taber’s current population is 8,862, potentially making it the smallest city in Alberta.
  
  
• Alberta's unemployment rate rose to 7.7% in August 2024, marking an increase from the previous month, placing the province third highest in Canada behind Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. Edmonton's jobless rate spiked to 8.6%, the second-highest among Canadian cities, following Windsor, Ontario. Meanwhile, Calgary's unemployment rate saw little change, settling at 7.5%, while Lethbridge remained relatively stable at 4.9%. Nationally, Canada's unemployment rate increased to 6.6% in August, up from 6.4% in July. Despite rising unemployment, Alberta saw employment grow by 13,000 jobs in August.

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