Juno News - June 01, 2025


Nenshi seeks a seat while Smith dominates polls


Episode Stats


Length

12 minutes

Words per minute

129.40851

Word count

1,557

Sentence count

88


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Three Alberta by-elections are taking place across the province on June 23rd, and the Alberta Prosperity Project has officially filed its petition for a referendum on separation from Alberta. All that and more on this week's Alberta Roundup.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 If you thought the joy of the election was over, well Albertans might be in for a treat.
00:00:15.620 Three by-elections will soon be taking place in Alberta, with the leader of the Alberta NDP,
00:00:20.840 Naheed Nanshi, set to run in one of them. The leader of the Republican Party of Alberta,
00:00:25.580 Cam Davies, will also be running. These three by-elections are set to occur while Alberta
00:00:30.800 Premier Danielle Smith is running hot, with even the CBC showing that her government would
00:00:36.300 cruise to an easy majority if another provincial election occurred. The Alberta Prosperity Project
00:00:41.500 also officially filed its petition application to Elections Alberta while requesting that the
00:00:47.060 office prioritize its question over potential counter-questions from other groups that might
00:00:52.420 not warrant a citizen-initiated referendum. The province also cracked down on schools that
00:00:58.000 refuse to deal with the presence of explicit pornographic materials in K-12 school libraries.
00:01:03.760 Also, the province has been cracking down on commercial truck-driving schools for violating
00:01:08.620 the Traffic Safety Act. All that and more on this week's Alberta Roundup. I'm your host,
00:01:13.600 Isaac Lamoureux. Let's get into that first story now. Three Alberta by-elections were recently called
00:01:18.660 by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith across the province. The by-elections for Edmonton Strathcona,
00:01:24.800 Edmonton Ellerslie, and Old Didsbury Three Hills will occur on June 23rd. The seat in Edmonton
00:01:31.380 Strathcona became vacant when Rachel Notley resigned her seat last year. The seat has been held by the NDP
00:01:37.260 since 1997. It has not been held by a conservative since Julian Koziak, who held the seat between 1971 and 1986. Now, Alberta NDP leader Nahid Nenshi is set to run in the riding, which is, of course, the safest NDP seat in the province.
00:01:54.240 Perhaps even more interestingly for some is the riding of Old Didsbury Three Hills, where the leader of the Republican Party of Alberta, Cam Davies, will run in the by-election.
00:02:04.160 This riding will be interesting to monitor as constitutional lawyer Keith Wilson has warned that the Republican Party of Alberta might split the vote on the right and grant the NDP power.
00:02:15.080 Since 1997, the seat has been held by the Wild Rose and conservative parties. It recently became vacant because Nathan Cooper resigned to become Alberta's representative in Washington, D.C.
00:02:27.180 The Alberta NDP are running Bev Taves as their candidate in the riding.
00:02:31.060 The three by-elections are taking place while provincially, the UCP would soar to another easy majority if a provincial election took place based on recent polling.
00:02:40.520 And this is coming from polling from the CBC, so if they're saying that the Conservatives are way ahead, you know it must be pretty dominant.
00:02:47.680 The CBC conducted a poll between May 7th and 21st, showing that over half of Albertans currently support the Alberta UCP.
00:02:55.000 The poll showed that Smith's favourability rating was 4.5 out of 10 last year, which rose to 4.7 this year.
00:03:01.640 Conversely, Nenshi received an average impression rating of 4.1.
00:03:06.540 And speaking of polls, a recent Leger poll showed that support for separation in Alberta might be rising,
00:03:13.000 with 41% of Albertan respondents saying they would vote to separate in a referendum, with only 44% saying they would vote no.
00:03:20.780 The third by-election is occurring in Edmonton, Ellerslie, because the seat was vacated by Rod Loyola,
00:03:26.940 who stepped down to run for Mark Carney's Liberal Party.
00:03:30.180 Remember, Loyola joined the Liberals despite blasting the party for years.
00:03:34.500 On March 25th, 2014, he said, quote,
00:03:37.520 You won't catch me working with the Liberal Party of Canada.
00:03:40.680 They talk like NDPers, but they act like Conservatives.
00:03:44.220 The Liberals subsequently axed the candidacy of Loyola after a video surfaced of him praising terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
00:03:52.840 He then pledged to run against Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi as an independent candidate in Edmonton's southeast.
00:03:59.040 Loyola and Sohi both lost to Conservative Jagsharan Singh Mahal.
00:04:04.060 Sohi returned to be Edmonton's mayor for now, but said he won't run again when his term concludes.
00:04:09.440 For our next story, the Alberta Prosperity Project has officially filed its petition for a referendum on separation,
00:04:16.580 but more accurately, the group filed the placeholder petition application.
00:04:20.880 The CEO of Alberta Prosperity Project, Mitch Sylvester, filed the petition application last Friday.
00:04:26.660 However, the group asked Elections Alberta to hold the application until Bill 54 is officially proclaimed.
00:04:32.980 The bill, which lowers the referendum threshold from 600,000 to 177,000 signatures, received royal assent on May 15, 2025.
00:04:43.560 The Alberta Prosperity Project's letter confirmed the group has received over 250,000 pledges as of May 21, 2025,
00:04:52.120 which consists of Albertans pre-registering their intent to sign a petition.
00:04:57.320 Remember, the Alberta Prosperity Project unveiled its official question at the start of May.
00:05:02.520 The proposed referendum question is,
00:05:05.420 Do you agree that the province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province of Canada?
00:05:11.940 But now, countergroups are trying to propose questions of their own.
00:05:15.780 For example, the APP's letter addressed another petition application that was recently filed.
00:05:20.660 The Alberta Prosperity Project's letter, written by a constitutional lawyer and general counsel with the project,
00:05:26.480 Jeffrey Rath, reads,
00:05:27.520 Do you agree that Alberta must remain in Canada and any form of separation be rejected?
00:05:40.820 Rath added,
00:05:41.480 The letter continued,
00:05:58.140 The next four steps are to wait.
00:06:24.500 Wait for the amended legislation that lowers the legal referendum threshold from $600,000 to $177,000 to be proclaimed into law.
00:06:33.180 Wait for Elections Alberta to approve the application.
00:06:36.280 Wait for official instructions.
00:06:38.200 And wait for official petition sheets.
00:06:40.860 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will also have to decide how to deliver the referendum.
00:06:45.000 She previously pledged that the question on separation would be put to a vote in 2026 if enough signatures were collected.
00:06:52.900 Rath cautioned Albertans, however, not to sign any petitions until Elections Alberta issues official sheets and canvassers receive proper training.
00:07:01.260 He said,
00:07:01.680 Take back Alberta leader David Parker commented on the Alberta Prosperity Project moving forward in its process.
00:07:14.560 Parker said,
00:07:15.180 For our next story,
00:07:28.560 We'll discuss how the Alberta government is cracking down on school boards that allow pornographic materials to remain on K-12 library shelves.
00:07:37.100 Education Minister Demetrius Nicolaides announced a new public consultation to develop mandatory standards for library content.
00:07:44.500 Standards that will now be enforced province-wide.
00:07:47.920 He said,
00:07:48.560 The province says books like Genderqueer, Flamer, and Fun Home, which include passages involving sexting, sexual violence, and profane pornographic content, have been discovered in libraries for children as young as kindergarten.
00:08:14.360 The content of these books has sparked outrage among parents who claim schools are exposing children to pornography under the geese of diversity and inclusion.
00:08:24.360 And to be honest, some of the quotes we covered in this article are so obscene that I'm not going to say them here.
00:08:30.680 And remember, this is available for children.
00:08:34.080 Previously, Alberta only offered voluntary guidelines.
00:08:38.240 But with inconsistent vetting by school boards, the province says it's stepping in.
00:08:42.740 The new rules will apply to public, Catholic, Francophone, Charter, and independent schools.
00:08:48.560 And school boards will be required to publish their policies for evaluating library materials.
00:08:53.880 However, the new rules will not apply to public libraries, including the 55 municipal libraries housed inside school buildings.
00:09:01.940 Albertans are being invited to weigh in through an online survey where they can share their views on what should be accessible in school libraries.
00:09:08.860 The province says it will collect feedback and then issue a ministerial order ahead of the 2025-26 school year.
00:09:16.620 That means explicit material will soon be on its way out, permanently.
00:09:20.940 Nicolaides said, quote,
00:09:22.140 For our last story today, we'll discuss how Alberta is clamping down on truck driving schools that have been skirting the law.
00:09:37.960 Following multiple investigations, Transportation Minister Devin Dreschen told True North that several driving schools and instructors have had their licenses revoked and have been fined up to $10,000 for, quote,
00:09:50.100 serious violations of the Traffic Safety Act.
00:09:53.420 Those violations include fake student records, cheating on road tests, and falsified assessments, all of which, Dreschen says, put Albertans at risk.
00:10:02.440 He said, quote,
00:10:03.940 Any school or instructor that compromises public safety will face serious consequences.
00:10:09.680 Our enforcement strategy is proactive, data-driven, and uncompromising when it comes to protecting Albertans.
00:10:16.320 The minister said the province regularly inspects driver training schools, instructors, and examiners to ensure compliance with provincial traffic laws.
00:10:24.880 Dreschen pledged that the province would continue to take strong actions against bad actors in the commercial driving industry.
00:10:30.680 The crackdown comes as the province rolls out its new Class 1 learning pathway, which replaces the MELT program and introduces tiered apprenticeship-style training for new drivers.
00:10:40.560 The crackdown follows several recent incidents.
00:10:43.620 In March, an Albertan-based semi-truck driver and their company were charged with 28 offenses after a load struck an overpass on Shorewood Park Freeway.
00:10:51.820 The driver faced 13 tickets totaling around $25,000, and the company faced 9 tickets totaling around $13,000 for a cumulative $38,000.
00:11:01.920 Last fall, another Albertan driver was fined after a modular home he was hauling slammed into a BC overpass, the 24th overpass strike of the year in BC, far surpassing the 17 recorded in all of 2023, and by year's end, BC recorded 29 overpass crashes involving commercial vehicles.
00:11:22.620 That wraps up this week's show.
00:11:24.240 My name's Isaac Lamru, your host of the Alberta Roundup.
00:11:26.980 Have a great weekend.
00:11:27.940 Thank you, and God bless.
00:11:31.920 Thank you.