Tag: Naheed Nenshi

Largest privacy breach of personal information in Alberta’s history

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 4, 2026

Alberta’s Legislature Building through the view of a broken glass panel in summer 2025 (credit: Dave Cournoyer)

Separatist Centurion Project somehow got access to the 2.9 million names on the official voters list and uploaded it to a public, searchable database

It has been a while since my phone buzzed with so many questions from political contacts and non-political friends than it did this past weekend.

“Did the voters list get leaked!?” “What does it mean?” “Who has my personal contact information”?” “Did the separatists cheat?” “Does this mean Trump and the Russians have the Alberta voters list?” “How did this happen?” “What’s going to happen now?”

Those are all legitimate questions that will be asked again and again as we start learn more about how a separatist group calling itself the Centurion Project got access to Elections Alberta’s official voters list and uploaded the full names, home addresses and phone numbers of 2.9 million Alberta voters to a public, searchable database. The group is led by well-known right-wing organizer David Parker of Take Back Alberta fame.

Though it remains unclear how exactly Parker’s group got the list, Elections Alberta identified the voters list as one that was provided to the separatist Republican Party last year. The Republican Party is led by well-known right-wing political organizer Cameron Davies of Kamikaze campaign fame.

Policy proposal from St. Albert Liberal aims to block private health care and Alberta Pension Plan

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 1, 2026

Lucia Stachurski was the Liberal Party candidate in the St. Albert-Sturgeon River in the 2025 Canadian federal election (source: David J. Climenhaga)

Delegates to the Liberal Party’s national convention in Montreal earlier this month voted unanimously in favour of two policies that take direct aim at key pieces of Premier Smith’s political agenda.

Introduced by past St. Albert-Sturgeon River candidate Lucia Stachurski, the policy proposals call for the Liberal Party to oppose the implementation of Bill 11 and a big item on Smith’s sovereignty agenda: the creation of an Alberta Pension Plan.

“Our universal healthcare system is under coordinated across the country. There is a shift towards for-profit clinics that divert federal transfers away from public care and in many cases bill Canadians out-of-pocket for assured services,” Stachurski said when she took the floor to introduce the motion. “We cannot allow a two tier healthcare system to become the Canadian norm.”

“I’m the guardian of the Canada Health Act,” says federal health minister Marjorie Michel

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 30, 2026

Federal Minister of Health Marjorie Michel (source: Marjorie Michel / Facebook)

The National Post’s Rahim Mohamed reports that federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel admitted to speaking with Alberta’s Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services Adriana LaGrange about Bill 11 earlier this month.

LaGrange is the senior of Alberta’s four health ministers who were named following the province’s dismembering of the Alberta Health Services province-wide health authority in 2024. She introduced Bill 11 into the Legislature last year.

Will Mark Carney push back against Alberta’s health care privatization agenda?

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 29, 2026

Prime Minister Mark Carney (source: Mark Carney / Facebook)

Alberta separatism, referendums, library book bans, and gerrymandering are catching a lot of the headlines these days but a law passed by Alberta’s United Conservative Party government that allows for more private-for-profit health care is becoming harder for the federal government in Ottawa to ignore.

Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (No. 2), known as Bill 11 when it was passed through the Legislature last December, would allow physicians working in Alberta to practice medicine in both the public system and in private-for-profit businesses, something that isn’t allowed anywhere else in Canada.

Premier Danielle Smith’s push toward privatization of the public health care system, which UCP defends as “European style” health care, is almost certainly more American-inspired. But wherever the inspiration comes from, it will almost certainly mean more out of pocket expenses for Albertans — something Smith has long advocated for — and more public funds subsidizing private companies.

Alberta NDP’s path to victory still goes through Calgary

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 25, 2026

Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley and former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi (source: Rachel Notley / Twitter)

Alberta NDP supporters are fond of saying their party would have won enough seats to form government if a few thousand votes had shifted their way in Calgary on May 29, 2023.

Putting aside that’s basically the same as saying “we would have won if more people voted for us,” it does reinforce just how big of a role that city’s voters played in the last provincial election — and how much they will matter again when Albertans go to the polls in 2027.

Alberta is on a collision course with a dangerous political storm

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 25, 2026

We are now 18 months away from the next scheduled provincial election in October 2027 and we don’t know what the electoral map is going to look like (we’ll find out by November 2026). We don’t even know what our political environment might resemble by that time.

Albertans are being forced on a collision course with a political storm unlike anything anyone who’s involved in provincial politics has seen in their lifetimes.

A referendum on Alberta’s separation from Canada is expected to happen in October 2026 along with at least 9 questions proposed by Premier Smith ranging from abolishing the Senate to limiting access immigrants have to health care and education (Smith is expected to make an announcement about these on April 23). And there might even be a question about banning coal mining in the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains.

Some of these incredibly divisive referendum questions have the potential to dramatically reshape and divide communities and politics in Alberta in ways we haven’t seen in generations — especially with the threat of foreign interference and misinformation promoting Alberta becoming the 51st State.

The last Alberta election was pretty darn close

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 24, 2026

UCP leader Danielle Smith on election night in Calgary (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

Alberta has a well-earned reputation as the land of historically large majority governments because every election since 1905 has resulted in a majority government — some of them huge. But the results of the last provincial election were pretty darn close in comparison.

The province-wide vote put Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party ahead of Rachel Notley’s NDP by 8 points, but that margin is deceiving. The UCP’s province-wide lead was largely a result of the party’s huge margins of victory in rural and small city ridings outside of Calgary and Edmonton. The vote results in that election’s twenty closest races — fifteen which were located in Calgary — were much, much closer.

Worried about gerrymandering? Pay attention to the closest races from Alberta’s 2023 election

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 23, 2026

A map of the ridings with the closest races won by the UCP (blue) and NDP (orange) in the 2023 Alberta provincial election (map tool: CanadianPolling.ca)

The United Conservative Party government has moved to take greater control of how the electoral boundaries for Alberta’s next provincial election will be drawn. Premier Danielle Smith’s UCP government voted to toss out of majority report of the bipartisan Electoral Boundaries Commission this week and create a new process where an advisory panel reporting to an MLA committee will redraw Alberta’s new electoral map.

Alberta Politics

Five questions about the MLA committee drawing Alberta’s new electoral boundaries

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 19, 2026

1. Why is the government doing this?

The only reason for the UCP government to introduce this is that UCP MLAs didn’t like what the majority of the commissioners, including the government-appointed chairperson, recommended in the final report.

Premier Danielle Smith’s UCP caucus is dominated by rural MLAs and sweeping the ridings outside of Calgary and Edmonton is key to the UCP winning re-election in 2027. It’s very likely that UCP MLAs did not like the prospect of having to challenge each other for their party’s nominations in newly redrawn rural ridings ahead of the next election — a situation that would cause tension in any caucus. The addition of competitive urban seats in cities where the population has grown the fastest also risks slimming the UCP’s majority.

I’m willing to bet that’s the main reason why the UCP government has intervened to send the map back to the drawing board.

Back to the drawing board! UCP scrapping Alberta boundaries commission and appointing MLA committee to draw new electoral map

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 18, 2026

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

Every day is a new round of chaos in Alberta politics

The United Conservative Party government surprised the opposition, political watchers, and probably a few of their own MLAs with plans to introduce a motion in the Legislature to scrap the final report of the bipartisan Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission and replace it with an MLA committee and advisory panel tasked with redrawing riding boundaries ahead of the next provincial election.

The motion placed on the Order Paper by UCP Government House Leader Joseph Schow would create a Special Select Committee on Electoral Boundaries, composed of Leduc-Beaumont UCP MLA Brandon Lunty as chairperson and 3 UCP MLAs and 2 NDP MLAs. The MLA committee would oversee a new advisory panel that would include a government-appointed chairperson, two UCP-appointees and two NDP-appointees.

Nenshi wants to avoid Brexit mistakes in fight against Alberta separatists

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 11, 2026

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi launched the For Alberta For Canada campaign (source: Naheed Nenshi / YouTube)

“Our country is not perfect, but it’s the best place in the world, and Albertans are ready to fight for Canada,” Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi said as he launched his party’s For Alberta For Canada campaign in anticipation of an expected referendum on Alberta’s separation from Canada.

“Every day, Albertans ask me one simple question about separatism: ‘what can I do?’ This new campaign is an answer to that—giving everyday people the tools and the power they need to stand up for our country.

They know that if Alberta separates, we’ll lose so much. Even the threat of a referendum is already damaging our economy and creating chaos and uncertainty. Today we are giving Albertans the tools to take action and be ready for this fall.”

The NDP campaign will kick off with a province-wide door-knocking day of action on April 25, which Nenshi says aims to attract pro-Canadian Albertans beyond NDP voters.

“We’re not repeating the mistake of the people who thought Brexit would never pass. We’re getting out there now,” Nenshi told reporters. “We’re not sleepwalking into this.”

In Session: Danielle Smith charms rural leaders as secret Saudi side trip raises questions about loose ethics rules

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 23, 2026

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This is the third in a series of Daveberta Podcast episodes I’m calling Daveberta In Session. In these short episodes available to paid subscribers, I’ll sharing a few key things that I’m watching in Alberta politics this week and some other things that have caught my attention.

In today’s Daveberta Podcast episode, I discuss:

Premier Danielle Smith reluctantly admitted last week to taking jet flights and hotel stays from a Saudi Arabian prince that were not previously disclosed during her recent trip to the Middle East. The secret Saudi side trip is raising questions about loose ethics and disclosure rules.
Smith charmed rural municipal leaders at the recent Rural Municipalities of Alberta convention in Edmonton. A new report from a joint government working group acknowledges that unpaid property taxes from oil and gas companies are a sore spot for rural municipal governments and proposes solutions for the future, but not much hope that the already due back-taxes will ever get paid.
A new report from the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters highlights the importance of investing in transportation in rural communities in order to save lives and makes four recommendations.
The ongoing police investigation and expected Auditor General report into serious allegations of corruption and political interference involving hundreds of millions of dollars in medical supply procurement and private surgical contracts by the provincial government. MLAs will soon select a new Auditor General before Doug Wylie retires on April 28.
A few things I’ll be watching in Alberta politics in the week ahead, including the final report of the Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission, Smith and energy minister Brian Jean’s trip to CERAWeek in Houston, Texas (federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson will be there too), and the federal NDP leadership vote next weekend.

I decided to test this podcast series during the spring session of the Alberta Legislature. I’m planning to do this for most weeks until the Assembly breaks for the summer — and then we’ll see where we go from there.

Thank you for subscribing and listening to this episode of the Daveberta Podcast. A sincere thank you to new paid subscribers, Selena, Megan, Sandeep, and Nate.

Share your feedback in the comments and if you enjoyed the podcast feel free to share it with a friend.

Listen to the entire episode

Daveberta Podcast

In Session: First Nations Chiefs hit back against Alberta separatism

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 16, 2026

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Challenging Danielle Smith at the Legislature to meeting King Charles III in London. It was a big week.

This is the second in a series of Daveberta Podcast episodes I’m calling Daveberta In Session. In these short episodes I’m sharing a few key things that I’m watching in Alberta politics in the week ahead and some other things that have caught my attention.

In this week’s episode, I discuss:

First Nations Chiefs taking centre stage in demonstrating their willingness to challenge Premier Danielle Smith and confront Alberta separatism.
Minister of Municipal Affairs Dan Williams announcing a probe into Calgary’s water infrastructure problems. The UCP has been spending months trying to pin this on Alberta NDP leader and former mayor Naheed Nenshi. Calgary is the province’s key electoral battleground, so the UCP’s response is undoubtably political.
the 25th anniversary of Ralph Klein’s sweeping win in the Alberta’s 2001 provincial election and the impact of “Welcome to Ralph’s World” on Alberta politics (and my involvement in politics).

This full episode of this podcast is available to paid subscribers of the Daveberta Substack, so be sure to sign up for a monthly or annual subscription at Daveberta.substack.com/subscribe.

Thanks for subscribing and listening to this episode of the Daveberta Podcast. Share your feedback in the comments and if you enjoyed the podcast feel free to share it with a friend.

Alberta Politics

NDP MLAs Sarah Hoffman and Samir Kayande first candidates nominated for 2027 election

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 6, 2026

MLA Sarah Hoffman (left) and MLA David Eggen at the Edmonton-Glenora NDP nomination meeting on March 3, 2026. Hoffman was acclaimed for the nomination. (source: Sarah Hoffman / Facebook)

Candidate nomination season kicks off in Alberta

It could be 18 months before Albertans line up to mark their ballots in the next provincial election but that isn’t stopping Alberta’s main opposition party from starting to nominate candidates ahead of the vote.

The Alberta NDP started nominating candidates this week, far ahead of the scheduled October 2027 vote. A much earlier election was rumoured but appears increasingly unlikely as we move further into 2026.

NDP MLA Sarah Hoffman became the first candidate nominated ahead of the next election when she was acclaimed in Edmonton-Glenora on March 3. Hoffman has represented the riding since 2015 and served as Deputy Premier and Minister of Health in the NDP government led by Premier Rachel Notley from 2015 to 2019.

Tags A Better Calgary Party, Alberta Budget 2026, Alberta Election Candidate Nominations, Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission, Alberta Federation of Labour, Alberta NDP, Alberta Politics Substack, Anthony Ascue, Avi Lewis, Banff-Kananaskis, Calgary-Confederation, Calgary-Edgemont, Calgary-Elbow, Calgary-Foothills, Calgary-Shaw, Calgary-Shaw by-election, Calgary-Varsity, Canada Election Substack, Canadian Strategy Group, Corey Hogan, Court Ellingson, Craig Chandler, Dan Arnold, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview, Edmonton-Glenora, Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood, Edmonton-South, Edmonton-South West, Elan Harper, Federal NDP leadership race 2026, Gil McGowan, Green Party of Alberta, Heather McPherson, James Anderson, Janis Irwin, Jason Copping, Jeremy Nixon, Jeromy Farkas, Julia Hayter, Justin Brattinga, Kelly Hooper, Lizette Tejada, Mike Derry, Naheed Nenshi, Nate Horner, Nathan Ip, Peggy Wright, Rebecca Schulz, Rhiannon Hoyle, Rob Ashton, Samir Kayande, Sarah Elmeligi, Sarah Hoffman, Tanille Johnston, Tony McQuail, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

Nate Horner’s big deficit budget — another year, another Alberta budget at the whim of oil and gas royalties

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date February 27, 2026

Alberta Minister of Finance Nate Horner in his pre-budget promotional video (source: Government of Alberta / YouTube)

There’s a baked-in analysis in every Alberta provincial budget that is impossible to ignore: Alberta relies too much on revenues from oil and gas royalties to fund the daily operations of government.

The other baked-in part of the analysis is what Albertans want: well-funded public services without having to pay more taxes for them.

From a first glance, it sure looks like that’s what Albertans got in Minister of Finance Nate Horner’s budget tabled today in the Legislature.

The budget doesn’t appear to include any big spending cuts, but it does include something Conservatives in this province used to like saying they wouldn’t do: run a deficit. This budget runs a big deficit of $9.4 billion and projects deficits for the next two budgets.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Alberta Anti-Immigration Referendum, Alberta Budget 2026, Alberta NDP, Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta School Board Association, Alberta Teachers' Association, Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, Canada Election Substack, Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Chris Gallaway, Coal Mining Referendum, Corb Lund, Court Ellingson, Dale McFee, Danielle Smith, Darren Hedley, Daveberta Substack, Deborah Yedlin, Deficit in Alberta, Edmonton Police Service, Enyinnah Okere, Friends of Medicare, Jan Gorski, Jason Schilling, Jeromy Farkas, Jim Prentice, Justin Krikler, Justin Trudeau, Katherine White, Kris Sims, Montreal Economic Institute, Naheed Nenshi, Nate Horner, Natural Resource Royalty Rates, No New Coal Mining in the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains, Paul de Jong, Pembina Institute, Pierre Poilievre, Progressive Contractors Association, Rachel Notley, Raj Uppal, Rakhi Pancholi, Ron Anderson, Sandra Azocar, Shali Baziuk, Taylor MacPherson, United Conservative Party, United Nurses of Alberta