Alberta's health minister says a new agency responsible for primary health care should be up and running by next month. Adriana LaGrange says Primary Care Alberta will work to improve Albertans' access to primary care providers like family doctors or nurse practitioners, create new models of primary care and increase access to after-hours care through virtual means. Her announcement comes as the provincial government continues to divide Alberta Health Services into four new agencies. LaGrange says Alberta Health Services hasn't been able to focus on primary health care, and has b

The operator of a pulp mill in northwestern Alberta has been fined $1 million for letting almost 31 million litres of toxic wastewater flow into the Peace River. Environment and Climate Change Canada says the effluent released in April 2021 was ``acutely lethal'' to fish. Mercer Peace River Pulp Ltd. pleaded guilty last month to asection of the Fisheries Act. The conviction means the company's name will be added to the Environmental Offenders Registry. The federal government says the pulp mill was shut down for maintenance and waste was directed to a spill pond, where it was to

A Calgary official says a water main break has closed a road and left some homes and businesses dry, but says it is not related to a feeder main rupture earlier this year in the same area of the city that resulted in months of water restrictions. Ryan Kidd, the city's deputy director of water services, says the recent break happened in a smaller, 250-millimetre cast-iron distribution line that serves the immediate area, which is near Bowness Road and 51 Street Northwest. Kidd says water began bubbling up at street level on Sunday night and crews immediately shut down the line for repairs, ad

The Alberta government says it has revoked the licence of an Edmonton daycare for risking the health and safety of children. The province didn't provide specific details of how children attending Waverley Day Care were being put at risk, but says the risk was great enough to close the daycare immediately. Waverley Day Care was operating on a probationary licence that was set to expire on Oct. 31, but the facility was shut down this week. The province says the closure affects 56 child care spaces. Waverley Day Care was the second Edmonton child care centre to be shut down by the

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