00:00:00.000This week, Alberta moved first on a First Nations-backed West Coast pipeline, committing funds and a technical advisory group to shepherd an application towards Ottawa, while promising Indigenous co-ownership from the start.
00:00:24.000Alberta's teachers, meanwhile, voted overwhelmingly to strike next week after nearly 9 in 10 rejected the province's latest deal.
00:00:31.160And in Calgary's mayoral race, Jeremy Farkas used a Reddit Ask Me Anything to float hate-tracking programs and pushed back on the province's use of the Notwithstanding Clause on Youth Gender Policy.
00:00:42.800Alberta separatists touted a second round of Washington, D.C. meetings with senior figures in the Trump administration,
00:00:49.220while Premier Danielle Smith reiterated that her goal is a strong, sovereign Alberta within Canada.
00:00:54.920All that and more on this week's Alberta Roundup. I'm your host, Isaac Lamoureux, and let's jump right into that first story.
00:01:00.240Alberta says it will take the lead in advancing a new West Coast oil pipeline proposal, at least through the early pre-application phase,
00:01:08.420by funding a technical advisory group alongside Indigenous partners and three pipeline companies.
00:01:14.020The province will act as a proponent until a formal application is approved, with the expectation that private investors will assume ownership and risk from there.
00:01:23.340Premier Daniel Smith said the approach centres Indigenous co-ownership and leadership from the outset and targets a formal application to be submitted by spring 2026.
00:01:34.920This project application is about more than a pipeline. It's about unlocking Canada's full economic potential.
00:01:41.380Together, we are charting a path to secure Canada's energy future for generations while bringing the world's most ethically and responsibly produced energy to market.
00:01:50.920Despite Smith's enthusiasm, though, BC NDP Premier David Eby immediately rejected the idea, arguing that it would be subsidised by taxpayers even beyond Alberta.
00:02:15.980We are not in the process of having Alberta taxpayers on the hook for owning a pipeline.
00:02:20.240The province is committing $14 million for early planning, which is route assessment, engineering, cost estimates, and Indigenous engagement,
00:02:28.180with an application to be filed to the Federal Major Projects Office under Building Canada Act around spring 2026.
00:02:35.060Officials said the province's involvement at this stage reflects federal and regulatory hurdles,
00:02:39.840like the tanker ban that have stymied past projects such as Energy East, Northern Gateway, and Keystone XL.
00:02:45.500Smith argued that had those projects preceded, Canada's GDP would be $55 billion higher every year,
00:02:50.880and energy officials noted that $11.5 billion in capital moved from Canada to the U.S. over the past three months.
00:02:58.180Smith tied the entire project to national unity.
00:03:00.980In fact, one of her quotes was so powerful.
00:03:03.840I'll actually just let you take a quick listen to that.
00:03:06.460Obviously, there's going to be a little bit of pushback here.
00:03:09.040We already have the Premier to the West of us calling this not realistic, essentially a distraction.
00:03:14.160So how do you plan to deal with some of the opponents to this project,
00:03:17.960whether it's the Premier next door, whether it's some of these Indigenous groups,
00:03:21.420whether it's just activists who don't want a pipeline?
00:03:24.240So I will continue, as I said, to build the coalition of partners who are going to be on board with this.
00:03:31.220But this is a Canada project, and this is a test of whether Canada works as a country.
00:03:38.100Because if we can't build with the collaboration of the federal government and between provinces,
00:03:43.820if it's everybody gets to get their products going to market except Alberta, that's not a country.
00:03:48.240A country is one where we support each other.
00:03:49.860And I think Canadians are there, and I hope that we can get more and more politicians to get there, too.
00:03:55.200Energy Minister Brian Jean linked the proposal to Canada's global ambitions.
00:07:22.300I was surprised when the Premier said that the Level 5 or whatever that is,
00:07:28.020Level 5 teacher is paid $114,800 per year if they had accepted this offer.
00:07:36.820Highest paid teachers in Western Canada if they had accepted this offer.
00:07:41.620On top of that, the province of Alberta is promising to hire 3,000 new teachers plus 1,500 classroom assistants,
00:07:51.300all while we're facing down a huge debt of about $84 billion.
00:07:57.620Yeah, that sounded like a pretty darn generous offer.
00:08:02.280Teachers should really stop and think and ask themselves.
00:08:05.080Think of that pay increase, okay, 3% per year for the next four years.
00:08:12.420Think of your workplaces where you get to go to work that is clean and safe and everybody's looking up to you as the smartest person in the room.
00:09:24.880We put $2.6 billion on the table, $300 million more than our spring offer, and the teachers still rejected it.
00:09:31.680Let's also remember that the offer that the teachers just rejected was put forward last week by the ATA and accepted by TEBA.
00:09:39.780I have to say, I'm left questioning what it is exactly the teachers want.
00:09:43.520I believe it is harmful for the union to strike without clearly understanding and presenting what their members are looking for.
00:09:51.600He maintained the package would have made Alberta's teachers, again, the highest paid in Western Canada after taxes.
00:09:57.400But to mitigate the impact on families, the province is stepping up while the teachers step aside, and it will provide $150 per week per student to parents of children 12 years old and under in public, separate, or Francophone schools affected by the strike.
00:10:12.100According to the government, the payments will be funded through redirected, unused education grants and unspent teacher salaries during the strike year, so eligible parents and guardians can begin preparing on the provincial website.
00:10:23.820The first payment will be made October 31st if the strike proceeds.
00:10:27.720Education Minister Dimitrios Nikolaides also unveiled a free parent toolkit to keep learning on track at home.
00:10:33.280He said, quote, the toolkit provides a week-by-week guide for parents to follow the Alberta curriculum.
00:10:38.480It covers core subjects, offers practice materials, and will be updated weekly in English and French.
00:10:44.160But even without a ratified agreement, Nikolaides said the government would proceed with $300 million to hire at least 1,500 educational assistants over the next three years.
00:10:53.260Smith also highlighted $8.6 billion in school construction funding to build 130 new schools and add 200,000 student spaces by 2030.
00:11:01.500She pointed to the extraordinary enrollment growth with, of course, more than 80,000 new students in the past three years as the system's primary pressure point.
00:11:10.920Smith said, quote, we just simply have a space restriction.
00:11:13.920We just had 100,000 kids almost come into the system in three years, and we have a physical space restriction that we are working through.
00:11:20.560The province has linked enrollment pressures to federal immigration trends.
00:11:24.900Smith previously, of course, criticized the Liberals' reckless immigration policies and Immigration Minister Joseph Skow.
00:11:30.780Similarly, said they had lost control of sustainable immigration in Canada.
00:11:34.780Alberta has grown faster than any other province in Canada over the last several years, partially due to repeatedly leading the country in interprovincial migration.
00:11:43.120And some of the teachers seem to be realizing this, that it's enrollment that is causing the issues, but maybe they aren't just coming to the evident point that it's immigration is the problem.
00:11:52.320As for our next story, we'll hop into a mayoral race because Calgary mayoral candidate Jeremy Farkas used a scheduled Reddit Ask Me Anything to promote a hate tracking initiative, opposed Alberta's efforts to enforce its ban on child gender transitions and other woke policies.
00:12:07.020So framing his platform as fiscally conservative but supportive of vulnerable populations, Farkas said his plan includes hate tracking and education programs, culturally competent training for first responders, and the housing equity roadmap to ensure our housing system works for racialized, newcomer, indigenous, disabled, and 2SLGBTQ residents.
00:12:27.160A campaign policy brief repeated the pledge to invest in community-ledged education and hate tracking, and on reconciliation, Farkas said Mayor Jyoti Gondek deserves real credit, vowing to continue partnerships in housing and land use.
00:12:40.520He declined to support the province's use of the notwithstanding clause on gender policy, writing, quote,
00:12:46.000I do not support that use of the notwithstanding clause, and suggesting such decisions should be left to municipalities.
00:12:52.620Pressed about alleged association with racism, bigotry, and xenophobia, Farkas replied, quote,
00:12:58.720I've never associated myself with that kind of garbage, pointing to a past Pride-themed Wild Rose Parade logo when he was a constituency association president.
00:13:07.200He added he has promoted a pro-immigration message for Calgary.
00:13:11.520On transit safety and affordability, Farkas called for more safety ambassadors and better lighting and visibility at stations.
00:13:18.720He backed former Mayor Naheed Nenshi's mental health and addiction strategy, saying, quote,
00:13:23.620I've backed efforts like culturally competent safety training and restoring liaison officers so BIPOC and newcomer communities feel represented and protected.
00:13:31.200True North's previous exclusive polling showed Farkas leading overall among mayoral candidates in Calgary at 31.08% support,
00:13:39.400with 39.4% support among those who voted Conservative in the 2025 federal election.
00:13:45.260Of course, Sonia Sharp was in second at 22.5%.
00:13:48.460Despite the province taking a stand against bike lanes and transportation,
00:13:52.060Minister Devendrishan, of course, previously celebrated Gondek when she called the bike lanes temporary,
00:13:56.900Farkas might take a different approach.
00:13:58.440He said, quote, if the provincial government wants us to stay out of their lane,
00:14:02.540they should stay out of ours, and also advocated for lowering speed limits.
00:14:06.720One of the users on the AMA asked Farkas what he would do if he was given $100 million to spend on Calgary tomorrow.
00:16:33.820do you agree that the province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province of Canada?
00:16:38.760The petition, however, remains stalled,
00:16:40.920penning a constitutional review ordered by the Alberta Court of King's Bench earlier this year.
00:16:45.740Because, as we know, in August, the Court of King's Bench Justice Colin Fiesby ruled the referendum question requires a full constitutional review,
00:16:53.100with a decision expected by year's end.
00:16:55.660Smith had previously pledged to allow Albertans to vote on separation in 2026,
00:16:59.880if the required numbers of signatures were collected.
00:17:02.600However, she recently said she was doing everything in her power to prevent a referendum vote,
00:17:07.000a comment that drew criticism from the independence movement.
00:17:10.020Of course, this comment was in response to Lukaszak's petition, but she didn't specify that.
00:17:14.700While former cabinet minister Thomas Lukaszak's petition must proceed under the old rules due to an early filing blunder,
00:17:20.560which, of course, is going to require him to collect 293,976,000 signatures in 90 days,
00:17:26.940the Alberta Prosperity Projects would proceed under the new threshold of 177,000 over 120 days.
00:17:32.240However, Republican Party of Alberta leader Cam Davies previously told True North that Bill 54
00:17:37.160was why the Alberta Prosperity Projects petition was held up in court.