Beyond Local

Challenging her own government's pandemic response, Airdrie-East MLA Angela Pitt has joined End the Lockdowns Caucus, a national group that is critical of provincial and federal COVID-19 restrictions.

The move comes a day after Wood Buffalo councillors voted to stop transferring emergency medical calls to the provincial dispatch centres on the grounds the recent changeover has led to logistical delays and confusion, putting patient safety at risk.

RCMP charged the man, who was travelling from Alaska to the U.S., with failing to follow the rules to isolate set out in the Quarantine Act when he stayed overnight in Banff.

Critics say UCP caucus members who are challenging lockdown rules are undermining Premier Jason Kenney's authority. Kenney says the members are representing their constituents and it's a matter of free speech.

Province is giving $1,200 payments to about 380,000 public and private-sector front-line workers. Recipients include gas-station attendants, school-bus drivers, social workers, grocery cashiers, custodians, hospital orderlies, pharmacy assistants, counsellors and nurses.

Airdrie resident Tony White was Alberta’s first official cancer patient to receive the go-ahead to undergo psilocybin (psychedelic mushroom) therapy.

Banff's residential property assessments remain relatively stable, decreasing about one per cent.

About $6 billion will be available to municipalities right away for projects that are ready to go, according to the government, while the remainder will go into a $3-billion-per-year fund starting in 2026-27.

"While they've had some really awesome experiences skating outside, there is nothing that can replace being on fast ice, world-class ice, which we had in Calgary and we will have again."

Only a central bank can guarantee privacy rights would be upheld, competition encouraged, and universal access for those in remote communities, Lane said.