Janet French

Alberta ‘excessively vulnerable’ to foreign interference, experts warn | CBC News Alberta is not ready to deal with the threat of online disinformation coming from foreign actors in a possible referendum campaign on separation this fall, according to national security experts.

“If we're relying on the RCMP to save us from foreign interference during a provincial referendum, it’s not gonna happen. And I would say the same for CSIS and for any kind of regulatory body, frankly,” said security expert Patrick Lennox. Story by #ableg @iciemmanuel.bsky.social

Alberta Premier Smith breached Conflicts of Interest Act, says ethics commissioner | CBC News Alberta's ethics commissioner says Danielle Smith, in her capacity as premier, contravened the Conflicts of Interest Act in her interactions with the minister of justice and attorney general in relati...

Alberta’s ethics commissioner later ruled the premier had breached the Conflicts of Interest Act in that phone call www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Danielle Smith discussed COVID charges 'almost weekly' with justice officials, according to leaked call | CBC News Alberta Premier Danielle Smith spoke to a pastor just weeks before his criminal trial on pandemic-related charges, promising she would again discuss his case with justice officials, beyond the pleas s...

Modry also facilitated a now infamous phone call between Premier Danielle Smith and a pastor facing COVID charges www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Family seeking $1.3M owed by Alberta separatist leader Dennis Modry after court order | CBC News Relatives of a prominent Alberta separatist who met with U.S. officials are upset that he has failed to pay back more than $1.3 million that he owes from a court order issued almost a year ago. A B.C....

A BC court found an Alberta separatist movement leader misappropriated $1.3 million of his elderly aunt and uncle’s money. Their niece says Dennis Modry hasn’t paid it back.

Fact check: Danielle Smith’s comments on temporary residents Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is defending a plan to limit health and education support for temporary residents. We fact-checked some of Smith’s claims about temporary foreign workers and Alberta tax...

Premier Danielle Smith claimed Ontario doesn't offer health coverage to temporary foreign workers' families. But that province does, under several conditions. Watch this fact check. #AbLeg

www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

Oh wow I pasted badly there. Sorry. Ignore the first line 😅

Aside: Triage liaison physicians aren't new. The role has been funded or defunded in various ERs in Alberta at various points in time.

But we want to make sure that

(2/2) "... we can look at physicians' assistants. But we want to make sure that the AMA and their professionals have the first opportunity to help deliver this new, this new form of care for those in the emergency department," Premier Smith said.
#AbLeg

Alberta government won't say if promised new triage emergency doctors are on the job | CBC News Nearly a month after Alberta’s hospitals minister said emergency room doctors would “immediately” be working to triage patients in overcrowded waiting rooms, the province and its health agencies will ...

An update on this: Premier Danielle Smith just fielded a question about the missing promised TLP emerg. doctors at a press conference.

Smith: "If it turns out to be the case that doctors are not interested in filling those triage positions, we can look at nurse practitioners..." (1/2) #Ableg

Alberta looks to Saskatchewan's model for tackling classroom complexity in schools | CBC News Two Saskatchewan initiatives to assist classroom teachers with growing numbers of students with complex needs are a helpful start, but no panacea, say some education leaders in that province.

In the wake of the teachers' strike/lockout. Alberta's premier committed to creating "complexity classrooms" to ease pressure on Ts and students. We look at the Saskatchewan experiences where Danielle Smith took the idea from: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... #AbLeg #AbEd #SkPoli

Coincidentally, I happened to renew mine in the fall and it was impressively smooth. The application is online, and if you go to a participating photo shop, they submit your photo directly to the UK govt.
I got frequent text message updates about where my application/passport was. A++

Dual Canadian British citizens scrambling under new passport rules | CBC News Entry requirements for dual nationals are being updated as part of broader changes to entry requirements in the United Kingdom. The sudden change, announced quietly in the fall, has caught citizens of...

Are you a British-Canadian dual citizen? Or were your parents born in the UK? A quiet rule change means you may need a UK passport to travel there now: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I see what you did there

I agree, it’s a key part of the issue. And I’m also working on a related piece about that. But we do have word/time limits.

Nicolaides said he will also conduct a provincial audit of Alberta school board security measures to ensure there are minimum standards for all (provincially run) schools. #AbLeg #AbEd

Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides says (at an unrelated news conference) he has asked all Alberta school boards to conduct an audit of school security measures as a result of the school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. That means looking at lock systems, intercoms, etc.

#AbLeg #AbEd

More on this soon …

A fight between Alberta's premier and its doctors was inevitable. The path to peace is less clear | CBC News In less than 12 months, the relationship between Alberta physicians and the United Conservative Party government has more than soured; it has imploded. It shouldn't come as a surprise.

If you need a reminder of the tense history between UCP governments and the AMA, here’s some background www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... #AbLeg

As part of the last master agreement, govt and AMA came up with a plan for how these alternative relationship plans were supposed to be negotiated. And the AMA says the government is not following that plan. Meanwhile, the 4 year master agreement with docs expires March 31. #AbLeg

Happening in the background here is what could be an increasingly tense relationship between the Alberta Medical Association and government. AMA says govt will not meet with ER doc leaders to negotiate the terms of the TLP role. #AbLeg

Alberta government won't say if promised new triage emergency doctors are on the job | CBC News Nearly a month after Alberta’s hospitals minister said emergency room doctors would “immediately” be working to triage patients in overcrowded waiting rooms, the province and its health agencies will ...

Where are the triage liaison physicians the government announced would help overtaxed ERs starting Feb. 1? The AB govt and health authorities won’t say if any are working. I asked 7 times in two weeks.

#AbLeg #AbHealth

Alberta reconsiders cutting health coverage for some temporary foreign workers after concerns raised | CBC News Alberta is reviewing a health coverage change that left some temporary foreign workers without provincial care earlier this year. Meanwhile, the government confirms Type 58 visa holders can apply once...

The latest chapter in the unclear situation where temporary foreign workers in Alberta may or may not be eligible for public health coverage www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... #AbLeg #AbHealth

U of A looks to remove EDI from hiring policy | CBC News The University of Alberta is proposing to eliminate Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) from its hiring policy, a year after the school initially said it was moving away from the term.

“Emails obtained by CBC through an access to information request show that Flanagan’s newspaper letter was sent by the university’s government relations department to staff at the Ministry of Advanced Education before it was published.” By @emilyawilliams52.bsky.social #AbPSE #AbLeg

Alberta cuts access to health care for some temporary workers, raising concerns in the Bow Valley | CBC News Alberta has stopped offering provincial health coverage to some people on working holiday and young professional visas, a change that came into effect earlier this year without a public announcement. ...

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has mused about cutting or limiting public services for temporary residents. It turns out that already happened last month with public health insurance www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... #AbLeg #AbHealth

Missing the mark: when an 89.5% average is not enough to get into engineering at the University of Calgary | CBC News When Evan Wray applied to the University of Calgary engineering program last year, he felt confident his average of 89.5 per cent would be good enough to earn him admission. It wasn't — and Alberta's ...

And Jennifer Keiller looked at the issue last year in Calgary #AbEd

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Are teachers inflating grades? Critics say yes, school boards say no Pushing through a fourth year of high school to improve her grades is not where Laaryssa Nicols saw herself a year ago.

Paywalled, unfortunately (open an incognito tab!)
edmontonjournal.com/news/local-n...
This first came to my attention in 2017.

Ontario high schoolers need higher grades to get into university than ever before, data shows | CBC News The numbers paint a stark picture of what it’s like to be a graduating student in the province right now, as university admissions ramp up and education experts call for an overhaul of both the high s...

Is grade inflation - with teachers under pressure to show good transition rates to post-secondary - driving up entry qualifications in Ontario? #AbEd

If you can point me toward them, or point them toward me, I would appreciate that.

Alberta vetting process limits sexual education materials for students, some experts say | CBC News Some sexual health education experts, advocacy groups and teachers say new provincial approval requirements have left educators with inadequate options to teach Alberta’s health curriculum.

I'll be talking about this story on the radio later this afternoon (5:05 p.m. in Edmonton, 5:20 pm in Calgary on CBC Radio 1) about the Alberta government's new approval process for sexual health education resources and outside presenters. #AbEd #AbLeg

Alberta Education.
There is a document online listing all the parameters for presenters and resources but we don’t specifically know the qualifications of the vetters