The Progress Report

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🇨🇦Here we are. After five months of Alberta politics feeling like a weird fever dream, Albertans have cast their ballots and we have the results of Alberta’s non-binding separation referendum. Well, some results. daveberta.substack.com/p/albertans-...

The oilsands are at the centre of the separatist conversation, but the people who live and work there say they are on the periphery of Alberta's politics. @zoemas0n.bsky.social travelled to Fort McMurray to gauge the appeal of separatism in Alberta’s oilpatch.

We can thank the same constituency that has caused this referendum for paper ballots and late election nights.

Of interest to us out west, as well, given the governing United Conservative Party's signals that they intend to start intervening against cycling infrastructure in our cities.

BEYOND LOCAL: A how-to guide for voting without a fixed address

I have spent a lot of time speaking with Alberta separatist leaders, more than most Alberta separatists, I'd wager. My latest. pressprogress.ca/who-are-the-...

Premier Danielle Smith will not be sharing the stage with Mark Carney or Jeromy Farkas at the big Calgary rally for Alberta to remain in Canada tonight. Instead, Smith will be across town tonight speaking at a $500-per ticket United Conservative Party fundraiser at the trendy Alvin’s Jazz Club.

“Community pushback forces governments to pay attention to this.” I spoke to @ericwickham.ca about the data centre buildout, why people are pushing back, and what their opposition can achieve.

NEW EP: Is voting on doing racism and xenophobia a good idea? Could it maybe be a bad idea? @readtheorchard.org weighs in: albertaadvantagepod.com/2026/10/13/r...

Edmonton could be taking province to court over infill decree edmontonjournal.com/news/local-n...

Sunny, windy Alberta is a leader when it comes to renewable energy in Canada. But new provincial policies are trying to rein in that growth. The Narwhal’s senior Prairies reporter, @drewanderson.bsky.social, explains.

In 2024 it took the U of C president less than 24 hours to call in police to remove peaceful pro-Palestinian protestors in 2024. The police attacked the protestors with clubs, shields and pepper balls. So let’s be clear: only some free speech is allowed on that campus.

Ottawa designates Alberta’s latest bitumen pipeline to the Salish Sea a project of national interest. Rest easy in the knowledge God’s in His fossil-fuelled Heaven and all’s right with the Petrosphere! albertapolitics.ca/2026/10/otta... #cdnpoli #ableg #abpoli

In the Globe today: an argument you're unlikely to see in any Albertan newspaper.

Chris Carbert and Anthony Olienick, who were convicted for weapons offences they committed during the Coutts blockade, have lost a court appeal that sought to reduce their six-and-a-half year sentences.

New piece in the University of Alberta paper on the administration’s recklessly cruel decision to slash 100% of funding to affiliated child care centres on campus The effects continue. They refuse to budge despite the harm. “Have you dropped out, yet?” thegatewayonline.ca/2026/10/the-...

New from me: Trans rights advocate seeks review after tribunal dismisses complaint over discriminatory Edmonton police call edmontonjournal.com/news/crime/m...

Albertans deserve a different vision of the province and country's energy future than the one-sided one their government is trying to feed them. Instead, we get this:

While it's unclear who was piloting this skin-suit, or even if they were acting from within Canada, 'Daniel Robson' is a bit of a home-grown thing for Albertans in particular: his most prolific bylines were at The Western Standard.

The Alberta chapter of the Canadian Bar Association has published an analysis of Premier Smith's nine referendum questions. They find that most of these proposals would invite immediate court challenges, and several of them are not legally clear at all.

Derek Fildebrandt's The Western Standard (we will not be linking) is reporting that a second UCP constituency association has passed a motion calling for a leadership review of Danielle Smith. That makes two—20 more of these would be required to trigger the process.

The lie that privatization will reduce wait times is already being exposed, but that won’t stop political leaders from continuing to try to destroy our public healthcare system.

Recent bursts of community opposition to proposed AI data centre projects in Grande Prairie, Olds, Rocky View County, and Sturgeon County suggest that skepticism of these projects spans the partisan divide, something that feels increasingly rare in today’s politics. This is an issue to watch.

Why are Calgary voters growing disaffected with the UCP? Is it Danielle Smith, or just her referendum? albertapolitics.ca/2026/09/why-...

A couple of significant departures from the ANDP here—an experienced and easily-electable three-term MLA (Sweet), and a newer MLA who seemed to be doing quite well in the role (Al-Guneid.)

This apparently-fictional Daniel Robson character was a prolific contributor to the Western Standard, which published at least twenty articles attributed to the name. 'Robson' advocated for less immigration, a harsher justice system, and crackdowns on anti-Zionism.

Via Ashleigh Stewart - Rath commingled trust money and lost $3.25M of alleged First Nations money in bullion trading. $11.5M from Sturgeon Lake trust helped fund Rath firm’s Tallcree payment: receiver | Globalnews.ca globalnews.ca/news/1207056...

UCP members are currently voting to rank policy proposals to be debated at the party’s AGM in November. This policy supporting Alberta’s independence from Canada is one of the proposals currently in the ranking process and could be debated at the AGM regardless of the Oct 19 referendum results.

In return for months of collaboration in the fight against Trump's trade war, the federal Liberals are giving Canada's unions a knife in the back. Incoming bill is “worse than what Danielle Smith did to the teachers,” says AFL president Gil McGowan.

“For far too long a patchwork of policies have impeded both our shared public safety, the public interest of taxpayers, and economic attractiveness in the Capital region.” Edmonton City Councillor Michael Janz shares his thoughts on pooling resources and policing in a today’s guest column.

Real estate reporter Howard Chai has an interesting scoop over on his blog: the previously-undisclosed details of Meta's data centre land deal in Sturgeon County.

This "significant labour legislation" could very likely end the right to strike for thousands of workers through expanding whose work is "essential," lengthening bargaining timelines or introducing US style laws. pressprogress.ca/mark-carneys...

#ableg trivia: Calgary-Shaw tonight was only the second time ever that the Alberta NDP picked up a seat in a by-election. The first was Pincher Creek-Crowsnest(!) in 1966.

An incredible tilt in the advance vote shoots Kyle Campbell way ahead in Calgary-Shaw for a surprising win! 7461 Alberta NDP votes to 6879 with all polls reported.

For the Alberta NDP, Calgary-Shaw is an important test of their election readiness. For the UCP, a test of how much Smith's affiliation with separatists and Trumpists is hurting them among the general electorate.

Elections Alberta is acknowledging a.) a "handful" of referendum voting packages were mailed out with ballots missing b.) that a declaration threatening $50k fines and 2 years in jail if you can't vote in person was essentially a misprint edmontonjournal.com/news/politic...

INVESTIGATION: Canada’s National Observer has discovered a network of deceptive, AI-generated websites promoting Albertan separatism. The websites, rather than targeting human readers, are targeting chatbots — trying to influence the answers they provide.

In a July letter recently obtained by Canada's National Observer, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) said Suncor's plan "is not a mandatory activity for the purposes of environmental assessment," and won't require a report on its impact.

As our planet heats up, are Canadian cities doing enough to armour themselves against the impacts of flooding? “There’s always a bigger storm,” one expert told me. “And we cannot outbuild the sky." My first piece in @thewalrus.ca is a timely one.

The public has been banned from police commission meetings. EPS costs over half a billion dollars every year, and the commission is supposed to keep them accountable. Instead of answering questions about the chief flying to Israel, they've decided the public is the problem.

NEW A months after incorporating, ROSC Solutions Group had over $70,000,000 in funding from Alberta's UCP government – despite senior officials knowing that the politically connected company was ineligible. Now, the UCP is stonewalling access to contract records. drugdatadecoded.ca/alberta-gove...

🟦 MLA Nolan Dyck defeated Robin Coward to secure the UCP nomination in Grande Prairie.

An update on this from @alexboyd.bsky.social and me: Further ties have emerged between the separatist Republican Party of Alberta and the top levels of the B.C. Conservative Party, deepening a political relationship that has raised eyebrows in the west. Story: www.thestar.com/news/canada/...

Edmonton AM interviewed these two for this morning's episode and similarly did not provide any context about their programming.

This week, columnist Courtney Walcott writes that Edmonton's city administration caved to provincial political pressure, instead of carrying out its council's direction. Will Calgary be next? #yyc #yyccc #yegcc #calgary buff.ly/rPnKhje