Overview
- Calgary Herald reporting says Elections Alberta has asked for additional funding to manage a surge of recall and referendum activity and to police changing donation and spending rules.
- The UCP previously lifted the ban on union and corporate donations and set a third‑party referendum advertising cap around $607,000, expanding the scale of campaigns regulators must track.
- Premier Danielle Smith questioned whether labour‑backed recall and referendum efforts reflect the legislation’s intent and raised concerns about unknown crowdfunding sources, though the Alberta Federation of Labour had no active GoFundMe noted in the coverage.
- Letters to the editor reflect intensifying public pressure, including calls for an Alberta independence referendum and criticism of the government’s use of the notwithstanding clause and removal of binding arbitration in the teachers’ dispute.
- Separately, B.C. unveiled a Look West growth plan targeting roughly $200 billion in new investment by 2035, with Premier David Eby urging Ottawa to push aggressively for economic expansion.