Today ​​Energy Minister Sonya Savage will lead a roundtable event in Washington D.C. bringing key U.S. state officials, industry associations and companies from the U.S. and Canada together to advance energy security alongside the global transition to net zero.

Today has been named a provincial day of mourning in recognition of Queen Elizabeth II, whose funeral was held earlier in the day in London. An outdoor ceremony in honour of Her late Majesty at the Alberta legislature at 10 a.m. and will include a 96 gun salute.

Queen Elizabeth II died September 8 at the age of 96. Prince Charles is now King Charles III and has been officially proclaimed as Head of State in Canada. Statements were issued by Alberta’s Lieutenant Governor, Premier and Speaker and books of condolence are available at provincial buildings and government centres across the province. Queen Elizabeth II will be laid to rest on Monday September 19, and it remains to be seen whether the day will be declared a statutory holiday in Canada.

Alberta’s first quarter fiscal update was presented last week and showed the incredible impact that high resource prices can have on the province’s bottom line. While the UCP government announced that they will be making a significant debt repayment, investing in the Heritage Fund and reindexing personal income taxes to inflation due to the $13.2 billion surplus, there was no mention of reindexing other supports for seniors or AISH.

Alberta garnered national attention in the worst possible way late last week when Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland faced harassment when leaving Grande Prairie City Hall. Rhetoric and distrust in the federal Liberal government has been ratcheted up to unprecedented levels following the COVID-19 pandemic, so-called freedom convoy and both federal CPC candidates and provincial UCP candidates fanning the flames of discontent.

A new survey from the Alberta Chamber of Commerce found that one in four business operators and almost the same number of Albertans list inflation as their top issue, beating out the previous top item of the economy, according to a new column from Chris Varcoe. Health care has risen to the second most important issue for business owners and the public at large alike in the survey.

Out of the 4 million-plus Albertans in the province, the Alberta Liberal Party was unable to find a single person willing to put their name forward to lead their party. The deadline to apply came and went on Friday, leaving the future of the party uncertain.

Between service delivery, fundraising, and marketing the day-to-day management of a non-profit can appear to leave little room for government relations (GR). Oftentimes, GR is an afterthought, something sought out in moments of change or during a crisis.

The latest fundraising numbers are in, and they show a very strong Official Opposition in the NDP, having raised nearly $2.5 million to date in 2022 with $1.4 million coming in the second quarter. So far in 2022 the central UCP has raised $1.4 million with a little over $520,000 coming in Q2. The UCP’s numbers don’t reflect their full fundraising capacity as it doesn’t include money raised by constituency associations.

The first United Conservative Party 2022 Leadership Debate took place last night in Medicine Hat. Conventional wisdom says that debates in politics seldom matter, but this debate was revealing. It was also consequential in a race that will be decided by preferential ballot. Candidates who are unfamiliar to voters can only help themselves on a preferential ballot if they perform well in debates.