Alberta Minute: Teck Frontier, Employment Numbers, and Health Reform

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

This Week In Alberta:

• The Teck Frontier Project is under threat, with the federal government considering rejecting it outright. If you haven't already, please sign our petition to approve the project immediately.  If you've already signed, thank you - now please share it with your friends and co-workers, asking them to sign too. Let's send a message to Ottawa: Approve Teck Now!
  
  
• On Tuesday the Standing Committee on Public Accounts will meet at the Legislature. In the morning, they will review the Auditor-Generals' recommendations for the Ministry of Health and Alberta Health Services. Then, in the afternoon, they will review the Auditor-Generals' recommendations for the Ministry of Education, Calgary Board of Education, and the Edmonton Public School Board.
  
  
• On Wednesday the Standing Committee on Public Accounts will meet again to review the Auditor-Generals' recommendations for Treasury Board and Finance; Alberta Treasury Branches; Alberta Investment Management Corporation; Alberta Gaming, Liquor, and Cannabis.

Last Week In Alberta:

• The media cycle was dominated by the news that the Teck Frontier Project has been taken political hostage over Alberta's legal challenge of the federal carbon tax. Along with our petition (see above), our President, Peter McCaffrey wrote about the prospect of further western alienation should the project not be approved.
  
  
• January's employment numbers were released and while across Canada 34,000 jobs were added, Alberta lost 18,900 jobs. More evidence that federal government policy is killing jobs and investment in Alberta.
  
  
• The Alberta government announced that some medical services in Alberta, including surgeries, will be farmed to private clinics, while non-medical services like hospital food, hospital laundry and others will be fully privatized. Some are claiming this is controversial, but what is more important - improving the quality of care, reducing wait-times, and excellent patient outcomes, or dogmatically committing to the socialist ideal that all health workers must be employed directly by the government?

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