Alberta Minute: Population Growth, Legislature Adjourned, and Adoptive Parent Subsidies

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

This Week In Alberta:

• The Legislature stands adjourned until after the next provincial election. There is a final committee meeting this morning at 9:00 am. The Standing Committee on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund will meet to discuss the Fund’s 3rd Quarter Report and its 2022-2023 Annual Report.
  
  
• The Province will be rolling out over $1 million in funding for regional economic development alliances (REDAs) across rural Alberta. REDAs are independent, non-profit organizations made up of member communities and regional stakeholders in rural areas. The money will be used to increase networking and community relationship building events, create business plans, and advocate for necessary infrastructure upgrades.
  
  
• Albertans will soon be able to identify food products made in the province thanks to a new voluntary labeling program. The Alberta Food Processors Association will administer the program until May 27th, 2027.

Last Week In Alberta:

• The Province announced expanded powers and more funding for the Alberta Sheriffs Branch. The $27.3 million in funding will be used to support rural crime initiatives, including two plain clothes teams that will assist the RCMP, the addition of 20 investigators to the Safer Communities and Neighbourhood unit, and for the Sheriff Highway Patrol to train members to help RCMP with emergencies.
  
  
• The Province has proposed a $4 million investment into subsidies, tax breaks and benefits for adoptive parents. The proposal includes a $6,000 payment to parents earning less than $180,000 to subsidize the cost of private adoption as well as coverage for dental, vision and other supplementary health benefits for all children adopted in Alberta. Currently, the number of approved adoptive families in the province is the lowest in decades.
  
  
• The Province has touted the return of the “Alberta Advantage” as new Statistics Canada data showed that Alberta led the country both in population growth and interprovincial migration in the last quarter of 2022. The province saw a net growth of nearly 29,680 international migrants and 11,534 interprovincial migrants. Last year in total, Alberta’s population grew by just over 160,000 people, mostly driven by international migration.

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