O'Reilly Oilfield Services Ltd. has been fined $90,000 after pleading guilty to one count of failing to protect the health and safety of workers under its supervision. The sentence comes after one worker was severely burned by a fire in July 2021 at an oil and gas site near Valleyview, in northwest Alberta. The Alberta government says it happened when liquid from a decommissioned pipeline ignited and overflowed from a portable flare stack. Crown prosecutors withdrew five other charges against the company. The Crown also withdrew 15 occupational health and safety charges against Canadian Natu

The Alberta politician who was removed from the United Conservative Party caucus after comparing transgender children to feces has been voted back in. Jennifer Johnson, the MLA for Lacombe-Ponoka, says she grew “personally and professionally” in the 17 months since being removed from caucus. “Now, I am eager to apply what I have learned to benefit everyone who calls this province home,” Johnson said in a news release. The MLA was kicked out last year after a 2022 recording surfaced of her comparing transgender youth to a batch of cookies laced with “a little bit of poop.” She has b

Alberta’s Health Minister Adriana LaGrange has announced a tentative four-year deal with resident physicians. The agreement could mean wage increases of three per cent in each of the first two years, and two per cent in each of the last two years. It comes amid as negotiations with the United Nurses of Alberta have reached an apparent impasse that could lead to a strike vote. Family doctors are also waiting on a delayed pay deal they say is needed to keep their clinics afloat.

One of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's key advisers and the driving force behind the province's recovery-focused addiction treatment push is leaving the job. Premier Smith says her chief-of-staff, Marshall Smith, will retire from public service by the end of October. Marshall Smith has been held up as the architect of the government's approach to the drug-overdose crisis, prioritizing recovery over harm-reduction. Rob Anderson, executive director of the premier's office, is set to take over the chief-of-staff role. Marshall Smith has also been at the centre of a controversial poli

Despite recent renovations to the Alberta's Lethbridge Airport, its sole airline provider is dropping its services to a single flight per day. WestJet intended to reduce the number of flights in Lethbridge to one on Oct 3. “We’ve got a schedule change that’s kind of started a little bit early, as of Oct. 1,” said Jared Mikoch-Gerke, director of alliances and airport affairs with WestJet. Blaine Hyggen, the mayor of Lethbridge, says the renovations in recent years were designed to bring business to the airport. This situation, according to WestJet, is not exclusive to the southern Albe

Alberta's nurses could soon find themselves on the picket line as recent talks with the provincial government failed to secure a new agreement. David Harrigan, with the United Nurses of Alberta, says last month's informal mediation meetings were productive, but says the gap between the two sides seems too big to bridge. The union is seeking 30 per cent pay raises spread over two years while the Alberta government's offer is 7.5 per cent over four years. Harrigan says the two sides also find themselves far apart on operational issues. He says while both sides accept that there ar

Health Minister Adriana LaGrange says there's more work to be done before a new compensation contract for Alberta's doctors is finalized. LaGrange says she has to make sure the new deal, which was agreed to in part this past April, is sustainable. She says doctor compensation under the existing contract over the past few years has risen quicker than inflation and population growth and is currently over budget this year. The group representing Alberta's doctors have said the government is dragging its feet in implementing the new deal and putting patients' lives at risk in the pro

An Alberta doctors' group says even though a new pay deal with the province is ready to be implemented, the government isn't putting its money where its mouth is. Dr. Shelley Duggan, the Alberta Medical Association's new president, says doctors are worried the province's health-care system is on the verge of collapse, and the pay deal is still waiting on approval from the province's Treasury Board. Former association president Dr. Paul Parks says Premier Danielle Smith promised the deal by September and the delay is hurting the struggling health-care system. Parks says the government's work to

Calgary lifts water restrictions that lasted much of the summer following successful repairs to a major feeder main. Mayor Jyoti Gondek told in a news conference Sunday morning that the Bearspaw South feeder main is now open and back in service for the Calgary region. Since late August, there has been a ban on any outdoor water use with potable supplies, and Calgarians have been urged to take shorter showers, skip toilet flushes and hold off on laundry and dishes. It was the second round of water rationing since the feeder main in northwest Calgary burst in early June. Most restrictions had b