A major rival to Premier Jason Kenney says he plans to send a complaint to Elections Alberta after the United Conservative Party moved to a mail-in vote on Kenney's leadership. Brian Jean says he will also file an arbitration request with the party because he fears voting my mail instead of in-person will be rampant with cheating and fraud. The MLA elect in Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche says he's having a sense of deja vu after losing the UCP leadership to Kenney in 2017 in a race marred by allegations of collusion and voting irregularities. Jean says he's heard again of possible membership mini

Several constituency association presidents with Alberta's United Conservative Party say they're not content with changes to voting rules for an upcoming meeting to review Premier Jason Kenney's leadership. They are planning a news conference on the steps outside the legislature at noon. The leadership vote was to take place in person in Red Deer on April 9th. Yesterday, the party changed it to a mail-in vote.

Alberta's chief medical officer of health says the Omicron subvariant has become the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the province. Doctor Deena Hinshaw says about 60 per cent of positive cases are now the B-A-2 strain. She says the subvariant is more transmissible than Omicron, but doesn't appear to be causing more severe infections or outcomes. But she adds a surge in cases, even if not life-threatening, can still have a big effect on the public and health care. Dr. Hinshaw says she expects to see transmissions trending upwards in the coming weeks.

Criticizing the agreement reached between the Canadian federal government and the NDP, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said the agreement is "unfortunate" for Alberta. He said that this agreement goes against Alberta's plans. It’s worth mentioning that the Liberals and the NDP, among others, have reached an agreement on dental programs and Pharmacare. Following this agreement, the NDP has promised to support the Liberal minority government during this tenure till 2025. According to Trudeau, his government will now run the office until 2025.

It appears the United Conservative Party government will slam the brakes on its plan to move traffic ticket challenges online and away from court while charging people a fee to fight them. Transportation Minister Rajan Sawhney says she is recommending the plan be scrapped. She says her recommendation is based on feedback from Albertans who don't like the idea. Sawhney says her recommendation must still be approved by Premier Jason Kenney's cabinet.

Police in Calgary say they are investigating thefts at yoga studios around the city. Police say thieves are stealing keys and wallets from lockers or jacket pockets while people are in class. Staff Sergeant Darwin Pearce says the keys are used to steal cars and credit cards from the stole wallets are used to make fraudulent purchases. Pearce says the first theft was reported in January and there have been more than five reported since then.

An Alberta-based app is offering mental-health support to people affected by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Resilience and Hope for Ukraine program sends messages in four languages, Ukrainian, English, French and Russian. Anyone with a cellphone can text ``Hope-4-Ukraine'' at 3-9-3-9-3-9 to get a supportive message daily. The idea was first developed after the Fort McMurray wildfires in 2016, and was rolled out again to help with anxiety over COVID-19 two years ago.

An Alberta legislature member under RCMP investigation for hacking into a government website says he had a professional responsibility to do it. And Thomas Dang says while he used some of Premier Jason Kenney's personal information to commit the breach, it wasn't identity theft because the information was already public. Dang is the Independent member for Edmonton-South. He has released a report he wrote titled ``How I Did It,'' which explains his cyber-breach last fall on the government's COVID-19 vaccine passport verification website. Dang says he does not believe he did anything wrong and

One of two men accused in the killing of a popular Calgary chef has testified he remembers being in a scuffle with the cook but has no memory of stabbing him. Anthony Dodgson and Tommie Holloway have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Christophe Herblin on March 14, 2020. Dodgson, who is accused of stabbing Herblin nine times, told court he had been drinking heavily and using methamphetamine with Holloway and two other people. He said he and Holloway broke into Herblin's soon-to-be opened restaurant to get into an adjacent cannabis shop, but fled when an alarm went off