Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and three of her ministers got an earful from southern Alberta locals at a rowdy, hours-long town hall to discuss the province's coal policy. About 500 people, dressed in cowboy hats, belt buckles, and jeans, packed a community hall in Fort Macleod, Alta., for an event marked by heckling, competing applause, and placards. The premier and her ministers of energy, environment and agriculture took questions and were shouted down on several occasions by attendees as they defended changes to the province's coal policy. The town hall came weeks after the

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government is working to entice a private-sector player to build a crude pipeline to coastal waters. She urged attendees at the Global Energy Show to keep up the pressure on Ottawa to help speed along such a nation-building project. Smith has been enthusiastic about reviving a plan to ship oilsands crude to Prince Rupert on the northern B.C. coast for export to Asia. But she says that's never going to happen as long as there's a tanker ban in place on the West Coast. Smith is also keen on accessing global markets via a pipeline to the Port of Churchill i

Alberta is buying American alcohol and gambling machines again, three months after restrictions were announced to combat U-S tariffs. Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally says the province's decision signals ``sets the stage for more constructive negotiations'' ahead of the renewal of the Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement. After U-S President Donald Trump placed heavy tariffs on Canadian goods and energy, the Alberta government responded in March by saying it would no longer buy American alcohol, gambling machines, or sign contracts with U-S companies. Other premiers at

Alberta Health Services has issued a new public alert for measles exposure in Edmonton as confirmed cases across the province climb to 710. AHS says a person with the measles from outside the Edmonton area travelled to the city's University of Alberta Hospital last Wednesday evening while infectious. Of the total cases counted this year, 21 are known to be communicable, and four people were in hospital as of last week. The provincial health agency has issued a standing exposure advisory for the hardest-hit south zone, where 520 cases have been confirmed so far this year. The Ed

Winning the lottery has become almost routine for an Alberta man after his third major prize in less than nine months. David Serkin of Lethbridge, Alta., won $500,000 last August in a Lotto Max draw. Serkin then won $1 million in a Lotto 6/49 draw in November. He's now won again, a $1-million prize in a Lotto 6/49 Classic draw in May that brings his total to $2.5 million. Serkin says in a statement that he's retired and a cancer survivor, and that he's been playing since Lotto 6/49 launched in 1982. He says he went to Hawaii with his wife after his previous lottery win and now

Crews battling a fire in northern Alberta are now safe after losing radio contact and took shelter from a runaway wildfire that's inching closer to the community. A spokesman for Forestry Minister Todd Loewen says two teams of firefighters are heading to Slave Lake after losing contact while they worked to battle a blaze west of Fort McMurray. The ministry says access to the area has been restored and it is relieved that the firefighters were unharmed. An earlier social media post from Loewen says one group took shelter at the local fire station near Chipewyan Lake, while another h

Alberta's government says it's extending the deadline for a former judge to investigate allegations of high-level conflict of interest and arm-twisting in health care contracts. Former Manitoba provincial court chief judge Raymond Wyant was expected to submit an interim report to the government today, followed by a full report next month. The government employee facilitating the investigation says the number of documents provided and interviews requested by the former judge means that initial time frame is no longer feasible. Deputy minister of jobs Chris McPherson says Wyant wil

An Alberta woman who Crown prosecutors say was wrongfully released from an Edmonton area jail with allegedly fake release papers has been arrested in B.C. RCMP say Mackenzie Dawn Hardy was taken into custody this week by officers in Revelstoke, along with a 27-year-old man accused of being an accomplice in her release. David Joseph Wood has been charged with assisting in the escape of a prisoner, identity fraud and uttering a forged document. Both Hardy and Wood will be brought back to Alberta, where they are to appear in court at later dates. Crown prosecutors have said Hardy wa

RCMP say they have arrested an Alberta teen because investigators believe the youth will commit terrorism offences. Mounties allege a 15-year-old from Edmonton was planning to commit offences related to the COM/764. They say it is a violent online network that lures youth and encourages them to commit sexual acts, self-harm and animal torture. Investigators say they have commenced proceedings against the youth by way of a terrorism peace bond. A peace bond allows investigators to monitor people who appear likely to commit a crime when there's no evidence of an actual offence.