Public Interest Alberta

Each year the Public Interest Awards are given to individuals and/or organizations who are making an exemplary contribution in one or more of the following ways.

This year’s annual advocacy conference, “Advocacy in a Time of Opportunity” took place on the April 14 and 15^th, 2016.  With nearly 160 participants, our largest conference to date, we delved into important questions for all Albertans in the new political context at both the provincial and federal levels.

Nominations are now open for the 2016 Public Interest Alberta Awards! Nominate an individual or an organization today! The PIA Board will make the selection and the award will be presented during our Annual General Meeting in June. The successful nominees will be advised prior to the event to ensure their availability to accept the award.

Nominations are now closed for the 2016 Public Interest Alberta Awards! Recipients of this year's awards will be notified in the coming weeks. Thank you!

Join us for Public Interest Alberta's 10th Annual Conference, Advocacy in a Time of Opportunity, on April 14 & 15, 2016 at Chateau Louis Conference Centre in Edmonton, AB. Since Public Interest Alberta was founded in 2004, we have advocated for the protection of public services, and the public interest more broadly, in a time of crisis.  With changes to more progressive governments at both the provincial and federal levels, we are in a time of opportunity for public interest advocacy.

Our office will be closed for the holidays and will re-open on Monday, January 4th. Happy holidays to all of our members and supporters. We look forward to seeing you in the new year!

Our Board Chair Larry Booi has written to the Honourable Lori Sigurdson, Alberta's Minister of Jobs, Skills, Training, and Labour, to congratulate her on taking action to protect farm and ranch workers in their workplaces.

Public Interest Alberta would like to offer our congratulations to the University of Alberta's Parkland Institute on receiving a substantial grant for $2.5 million from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Along with an additional $2 million in matching funding from supportive partners and universities, the money will fund a six-year research project titled "Mapping the Power of the Carbon-Extractive Corporate Resource Sector."

Dear Public Interest Alberta members and supporters, I am very excited to have been selected as Public Interest Alberta's new Executive Director. You can read our media announcement here, which includes information on my past work and what I hope to bring to the position. With the opportunities we have in Alberta's new political context, our work is as important now as ever.

Public Interest Alberta board chair Larry Booi today announced that Joel French has been selected to serve as the organization’s Executive Director, succeeding Bill Moore-Kilgannon, who had acted in that capacity since the organization’s founding in 2004 until his departure for a political staff position with Alberta’s new government in May.