Between soaring inflation, ballooning costs of basic necessities, and stagnant wages (all while corporations rake in record profits), it feels impossible for working people in Alberta to catch a break. It seems like every day, we're faced with more devastating news that life is getting harder, more unaffordable, and more precarious.

The UCP has refused to act in the best interests of the public. They've made a bad situation worse with mass layoffs, cuts and privatization of our public services, all while gifting tax breaks to their friends in the corporate elite.

And now, Danielle Smith has been sworn in as Premier, opening the door for even more chaos and uncertainty. From shilling for Big Tobacco, to climate change denialism, homophobia, COVID misinformation, and threats to provoke a constitutional crisis, if Smith's track record is any indication of our future, we're in for one hell of a bumpy ride.

Simply put, Alberta is in crisis. But there is a better way.

To build a life here, working families need stability, opportunity, and a good standard of living. That means making life more affordable. It means making sure we have public health care that is there when we need it, good homes for all, and quality education so the next generation can reach their full potential. It also means making the rich pay their fair share and strengthening rights for workers.

We need to work together to protect our province. We need to expand our imagination past the status quo and demand a just future for all. We need to work together for a better way for Alberta.

We need you to be a part of the better way. Will you join us for an emergency town hall?

To join one of our town halls, please select a location closest to you for more information and to RSVP:

• October 24, 2022 - Calgary
• October 25, 2022 - Lethbridge
• October 26, 2022 - Medicine Hat
• October 27, 2022 - Red Deer
• October 28, 2022 - Edmonton

EDMONTON | CALGARY | LETHBRIDGE | MEDICINE HAT| RED DEER | WOOD BUFFALO

Alberta is facing many challenges. But together we can make this municipal election about the public interest and a better future for all our communities. That’s because Alberta’s future depends on coming together to build a vision for all of us. 

This election, we are demanding better. We can build cities and communities where nobody is left behind.

This summer, we decided to engage directly in Alberta’s municipal election. We launched our campaign with a simple goal: to put the public interest on the agenda. Because we believe that if we’re going to come back stronger than before, our cities and communities need to focus on what matters: our people and building a better future for all Albertans.

This is a critical moment. We need the right focus.

Alberta and its communities are at their best when we build together. We need to get back to a vision and a plan where everyone has better access to what they need to succeed so we can build a better future for all.

For us, this means demanding better. Better from our services, the way we build, how we tackle the big problems, and how we keep our elections democratic.

These are our priorities:

• Services: Protecting and Strengthening Public Services
• Mobility: Equitable city Building, Public Transit & Fare-Free Transit 
• Housing: Inclusive Cites for All & Ending Homelessness in Alberta
• Transparency: Making Sure Albertans, not Dark Money, Decide Elections

Together, we can put the public interest on the agenda. 

We, the signatories to this letter, are organizations from civil society, labour, and senior citizens representing hundreds of thousands Albertans speaking out against Bill 70: COVID Related Measures Act. 

This legislation will unjustly provide a liability shield for health services facilities—including continuing care operators who are facing lawsuits over illness or death due to exposure to COVID-19. This bill would prevent families from being able to seek answers and hold care homes responsible for negligence of their loved ones. 

Since the beginning of this pandemic, 64 percent of Alberta’s COVID-19 deaths occurred in care facilities, and we have seen the deaths of six front-line workers. After decades of escalating privatization, declining staff-to-patient ratios, and a chronically underpaid and stretched-thin workforce, our continuing care system has been rendered unable to contend with the deadly toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. The continuing care system in Alberta and across the country has long been in crisis and seniors continue to suffer physically, mentally, and emotionally. 

Bill 70 will make a dire situation even worse. Grieving families facing the preventable loss of their loved ones have a right to seek justice. It is vital that governments act in the public interest to protect vulnerable seniors, rather than the monetary interests of the private, for-profit continuing care industry and their shareholders. 

Furthermore, the legislation will apply retroactively to March 1, 2020—prior to when Alberta enacted emergency public health measures. Any existing lawsuits that do not meet the new standard for gross negligence could potentially be thrown out, even if they met the standards that existed at the time they started their legal actions. The bottom line is that this bill would make it harder for those who are seeking justice on behalf of those who have been harmed as a result of COVID-19 in long-term care and retirement homes.

The retroactive nature of this legislation has been discussed during debate of this bill and government MLAs have obfuscated this fact, despite that it is clearly indicated in section 9 that the Bill will come into effect on March 1st, 2020. While existing lawsuits will be able to continue if this bill is passed, they will have a higher burden of proof and will make accessing justice more difficult. Alberta seniors and their families cannot have any trust that this government will act in the best interests of seniors. 

In January, Alberta’s lobbyist registry shows that the government was lobbied by representatives for the private continuing care industry, seeking legal protections against the potential financial impact of COVID-19 related lawsuits from residents and families. The subsequent legislation, Bill 70, primarily benefits private, for-profit continuing care companies, and in no way serves the public interest, or the interest of those Albertans who tragically died potentially preventable deaths in a system more focused on profit than on the lives of the most vulnerable in our society.

Despite the disproportionate impact that this pandemic has had, we have seen no legislation to protect residents. We, the undersigned, have been loud and clear about what changes are urgently needed to protect people living in care homes, and to make sure they have the care they need. The COVID-19 pandemic and its disproportionate toll on seniors should serve as a grim lesson to our governments that systemic change to our continuing care system is long overdue. If our governments fail to take this opportunity to finally remedy a system that has been in crisis for decades, they will be allowing for these lives to have been lost in vain. This legislation serves to restrict the rights of Albertans based on age and disability. It is simply discriminatory. 

This legislation must not pass – for the sake of Alberta seniors and their families. 

Each and every resident of Alberta’s continuing care facilities is a vital and integral part of our communities and families. Seniors deserve so much more than to be treated as commodities to be profited from, and families deserve answers and the peace of mind to know that every step has been taken to keep their loved ones safe throughout this pandemic. To do anything less reveals the ugly heart of ageism and a callous lack of care for the life and dignity of Alberta seniors. Alberta seniors deserve better.

Signed, 

Alberta Arts Action 

Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL)

Alberta Federation of Union Retirees (AFUR)

Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE)

Canadian Labour Congress - Alberta Region 

Central Alberta Council on Aging  (CACA )

Congress of Union Retirees of Canada - Calgary Area Council

Congress of Union Retirees of Canada - Edmonton Area Council 

Council of Canadians - Medicine Hat Chapter

Council of Canadians - NW Region 

CUPE Alberta

Edmonton District Labour Council 

Eyes Forward Alberta

Friends of Medicare (FOM)

Friends of Medicare - Calgary Chapter 

Friends of Medicare - Lethbridge Chapter

Friends of Medicare - Palliser Chapter 

Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) 

Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA)

Parkland Institute

Public Interest Alberta (PIA)

Red Deer Labour Council 

Seniors’ Action and Liaison Team (SALT)

United Nurses of Alberta (UNA)

Whitemud Citizens for Public Health

In May 2019, the government of Alberta struck a Blue Ribbon Panel to review Alberta’s finances and recommend a plan to balance the budget -- only looking at the expenditure side of the equation. The panel released their report on September 3 and it is disastrous for the public services that all Albertans need and rely on. 

Like Ralph Klein before them, government officials are repeating the talking point “Alberta has a spending problem” to justify making extreme cuts to public services and infrastructure.

The truth is, Alberta has a revenue problem. Due to decades of insufficient taxation and overreliance on resource revenues, there is a shortfall of up to $14.1 billion dollars annually in the province, which could be easily solved with the tax system of any other province.

The panel is recommending cuts of over 14% in all areas of government spending over the next four years when we consider population growth and inflation.

Public services need to be strengthened, not cut, especially in times of economic uncertainty and precarity. Albertans deserve to know if they get sick, they’ll get high-quality medical care and  that their children will have the opportunity to develop their full potential in classrooms that are a reasonable size and have appropriate resources and supports. Alberta parents need access to high-quality, affordable, and accessible child care. We won’t give up the fight for our public services. 

Newsletters

The Advocate - Fall 2019

Media Releases

MacKinnon panel delivers on mandate to recommend gutting Alberta's public services (September 3, 2019)

Government fiscal update continues to ignore the real problem: revenue (August 27, 2019)

Already severe government revenue shortage will worsen with handouts to corporations (May 13, 2019)

Blue ribbon panel to balance budget looks to be justification for cuts to public services (May 7, 2019)

Editorials

Opinion: Blue ribbon panel gives political cover to public service cuts, by Joel French

As printed in the Edmonton Journal and the Calgary Herald

Other Resources

Share it on Facebook and Twitter

PDF for printing

The Government of Alberta has introduced a discriminatory minimum wage for youth.

On October 1, 2018, the minimum wage in Alberta went up to $15 per hour. Over 300,000 people in our province got a raise - that's 1 in 6 working Albertans.

The effects of the $15 minimum wage were immediately apparent. It was a positive step forward for building a strong economy for all Albertans, and contributed to the child poverty rate decreasing by half over the last two years.

But now, the provincial government is discriminating against youth--a demographic of workers who can't express their opinion at the ballot box--by cutting their minimum wage from $15 to $13 per hour.

This policy divides working people by providing an incentive for businesses to avoid hiring adult low wage workers, who tend to be already-struggling young adults, women, and people of colour.

A discriminatory differential minimum wage is wrong.

Join us to demand equal pay for equal work. Sign the petition today.

In the lead up to the 2019 provincial election, issues related to the province’s economy have been the highest priority for both of the major political parties and have therefore dominated media coverage and the overall public conversation. However, as our Executive Director Joel French wrote in a blog post, "If the goal is to move Alberta forward, not backward, then public services need to be at the heart of the campaign."

Albertans value their public services, and they need to be strengthened. Services like health care, early learning and child care, care for Alberta's seniors, the public education system, and our post secondary system are vital to a thriving and healthy society. 

We interviewed activists and advocates from across the province to learn more about the issues, and to hear the concerns of citizens of our province.

On January 16th, 2019, Public Interest Alberta held a press conference at Jasper Place Child Care & Family Resource Centre to release the summary of our 2018 Child Care Survey, which focused on studying the outcomes of the government's $25-a-day child care pilot program. The results are clear: the program is a success. We need universal child care so families are fully supported in the care and development of their children. 

What are key issues in health care affecting seniors this upcoming election? Public Interest Alberta and Friends of Medicare held a citizens' forum in Red Deer to talk about critical issues facing Albertan seniors and their families like the need for universal pharmaceutical coverage, expanded capacity and staffing in our hospitals, and major improvements in our seniors' care system. Our government must invest in improvements to care for our province's system because Alberta Seniors Deserve Better.  

Classroom conditions are the central issue for K-12 education in Alberta’s election. Voters need to hold political parties to a high standard, demanding that they take action to reduce class sizes and increase classroom supports. Public Interest Alberta recently held a citizens’ forum in Edmonton at the Alberta Teachers' Association to address these important issues.

Post-secondary education is the answer to many of Alberta’s challenges, including our transition to a more stable and diversified economy. To meet those challenges, we need a stronger system that is higher quality, more affordable, and more accessible. Public Interest Alberta recently interviewed students, faculty, and staff at the University of Alberta to get their thoughts on how to address those issues.

On January 16th, 2019, Public Interest Alberta held a press conference at Jasper Place Child Care & Family Resource Centre to release the summary of their 2018 Child Care Survey. 

In addition to overall conditions in the child care sector, the survey sought to gain insights into the impact of of the Government of Alberta’s Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) Centres pilot program, also known as the $25-a-day program. The results are clear: the pilot program is a success. While the child care sector continues to face challenges such as long wait lists, the ELCC program significantly reduces those barriers to high-quality child care. Through public funding, the ELCC centres are better equipped to support children with complex needs, and are able to hire and retain better-trained staff.

The continuation and expansion of the ELCC program should be a cornerstone of government priorities for strong public services. 

Read our media release

Read the 2018 Child Care Survey Summary

Public Interest Alberta in the News

Benefits of $25-a-day daycare highlighted in new report

by Carly Robinson, CityNews

Alberta child-care survey points to success of $25-a-day programs

by Jordan Omstead, CBC

Funded child care centres increase quality, reduce gaps in affordability: Public Interest Alberta

by Dylan Short, Edmonton Journal

Calls to expand Early Learning Child Care Program

by Regan Hasegawa, CTV News Edmonton

Parents benefiting from provincially funded child care centres: survey

by Dylan Short, Calgary Sun

2018 Alberta Low Wage Report

Public Interest Alberta obtained the following information from Statistics Canada’s monthly Labour Force Survey. It indicates the average number of employed Albertans in each category for the year ending June 30, 2018. The total number of employed Albertans in this period was 1,913,200. The minimum wage will increase from $13.60 per hour to $15.00 per hour on October 1, 2018.

More than 300,000 Alberta workers will receive a raise on October 1^st because of the minimum wage increase.

• 302,300 employed Albertans earn less than the incoming minimum wage of $15 per hour (15.8%).
• 359,100 earn less than $16 per hour (18.8%).
• 159,500 earn the current minimum wage of $13.60 per hour (8.3%).

More than 60 percent of workers receiving a minimum wage raise are women.

• 189,400 workers earning less than the incoming minimum wage of $15 per hour are women (62.7%).
• 100,100 workers earning the current minimum wage of $13.60 per hour are women (62.8%).
• 223,200 workers earning less than $16.00 per hour are women (62.2%).

More than three-quarters of workers receiving a minimum wage raise are 20 years of age or older.

• 233,300 are 20 years of age or older (77.2%).
  o 163,300 are between 20 and 44 years old (54.0%).
  o 59,300 are between 45 and 64 years old (19.6%).
  o 10,700 are 65 years of age or older (3.5%).

Download our printable fact sheet

Read our media release showing what the data means for Albertans working in the province.

Regional Fact Sheets

• Athabasca - Grande Prairie - Peace River
• Calgary
• Edmonton
• Lethbridge
• Medicine Hat
• Red Deer
• Wood Buffalo - Cold Lake

Public Interest Alberta in the news

Minimum wage debate Segment on Alberta Primetime (CTV Two)
300,000 Albertans to benefit from minimum wage boost Interview on The Ryan Jespersen Show (630 CHED)
Minimum wage increase to benefit Red Deer workers by Susan Zielinski, Red Deer Advocate
300,000 Albertans will be getting a raise next month by Daily Hive Calgary
One in six working Albertans can expect a raise when minimum wage goes up Oct. 1, advocacy group estimates by Hamdi Issawi, Star Metro Edmonton
Thousands of Red Deerians to receive minimum wage increase by Troy Gillard, rdnewsNOW
Pending minimum wage hike will boost local economy: PIA by Tim Kalinowski, Lethbridge Herald
Chamber joins poverty-reduction group in opposition to minimum wage increase by Collin Gallant, Medicine Hat News (Low Wage Report mentioned)
Group takes issue with minimum wage approach by Collin Gallant, Medicine Hat News
Better wages won't fix poverty: Thrive by Collin Gallant, Medicine Hat News (Low Wage Report mentioned)
Minimum Wage Increases in Alberta by Ania Werbeniuk, Lexology
Who's driving the Thrive bus? Letter to the Editor, Medicine Hat News
Minimum wage increase will have major pain by Dayla Lahring, St. Albert Gazette (Low Wage Report mentioned)
25% of workforce gets raise by Collin Gallant, Medicine Hat News
A guide to Alberta's new $15 minimum wage and what it will mean for the economy by Kieran Leavitt & Brennan Doherty, Star Metro Edmonton
Alberta's minimum-wage workers tell us what $15 an hour really means for their bottom line by Hamdi Issawi & Brennan Doherty, StarMetro Edmonton
What does the increase in minimum wage mean for you? Alberta at Noon (CBC Radio)
Goes too far or about darn time, Alberta minimum wage hike continues to divide by David Bell, CBC News
$15 minimum wage increase met with mixed reception from public by Evan J. Pretzer, The Stony Plain Reporter
Minimum wage increase draws mixed reviews by Eric Bowling, Westlock News

Previous Low Wage Reports

2017 Low Wage Report
2016 Low Wage Report

Public Interest Alberta has launched this new campaign calling for the provincial government to fix Alberta's revenue shortage to protect and revitalize our public services.

Albertans need public services. They must be strengthened, not cut.

Resource revenues should be saved for future generations, not relied upon to fund government's basic operations.

Alberta's revenue shortage is best solved by renovating our tax system with changes to personal income taxes and a sales tax.

To learn more about our campaign and to take action, please visit www.RevenueReno.ca

Read our campaign launch media release

Read our Red Deer event media release

Watch our press conference

Watch our public discussion event in Edmonton

Watch the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs event in Lethbridge

Download our print leaflet

Public Interest Alberta in the news

Lobby group pitches sales tax in Alberta to save public services by Crystal Laderas, 660 News
An Alberta sales tax: The unpopular idea that just won't die by Robson Fletcher, CBC News (makes mention of the Revenue Reno campaign)
The Return of the Leg, Pipelines, and prep for the 2019 election by Dave Cournoyer and Ryan Hastman, Daveberta.ca podcast (mention of campaign begins at the 1 hour 8 minute mark)
The revenue reno campaign. Taxes could be good thing Interview with Joel French on the Rob Breakenridge show (News Talk 770)
Public Interest Alberta's revenue reno campaign Interview with Joel French on the Ryan Jespersen show (630 CHED)
Sustainable public services unattainable without 'revenue renovation' by United Nurses of Alberta news
Public Interest Alberta to host Revenue Reno in Red Deer Red Deer Advocate
Alberta’s revenue shortage concerns Central Albertans by Sean McIntosh, Red Deer Advocate
Alberta's tax system fair but failing, experts warn by Brodie Thomas, Star Metro Calgary
Advocacy group says tax reform, sales tax needed to get province off revenue roller coaster by rdnewsNOW
Globe editorial: It's time for Alberta to bite the bullet and impose a sales tax by The Globe and Mail
Opinion: Albertans face choice between service cuts or a sales tax by Joel French, Edmonton Journal
Alberta needs to renovate its tax system to generate more revenue by Joel French, Calgary Herald
Public Interest Alberta hosts meeting in Lethbridge for new 'Revenue Reno' campaign by Malika Karim, Global News Lethbridge
When Does "Advantage" Bring Structural Deficits? Ask Alberta Interview with Joel French on The View Up Here podcast
Alberta's tax regime today's SACPA topic Lethbridge Herald
Taxes only way to reduce deficit by Dave Mabell, Lethbridge Herald
Provincial Sales Tax Recommended by Public Interest Alberta 94.1 CJOC FM