These bulletins summarize and explain the important and relevant details of potential and upcoming law in the Province of Alberta, including important and poignant points from the debates between elected Members of the Legislative Assembly as they create legislation.
The Legislative Assembly enters December amongst a flurry of petitions including 15 individual recall petitions against UCP MLAs (including the Premier) and the approval of the “Forever Canada” petition on Alberta sovereignty. The latter must now be addressed by the Assembly through an affirmation vote or, otherwise, be sent to the polls for public debate and affirmation.
Visitors to the Legislature included members of the consul general of France, Alberta’s top-ranked U11 basketball team, and several local advocates promoting a myriad of issues including mental health, reproductive rights, and highway safety. There was also plenty of heated discussion and debate over the introduction of privatized healthcare, the expanded use of the notwithstanding clause (NWC), and Alberta’s place in the fabric of Canada. There has been a corresponding and notable rise in points of order.
Members’ Issues and Related Bills or Activities
Bill 7 – Water Amendment Act, 2024
Honourable Rebecca Schulz, Minister of Environment and Protected Areas
Bill 7 contains long-promised amendments to the Water Act and the modernization of Alberta’s water management system, a shift in how water is controlled, allocated, and transferred in Alberta. The changes follow years of consultation with advocacy groups, municipalities industry, environmental groups, and farmers.
Proponents of the Bill contend that the changes will make more water available for growing communities by clarifying rules and streamlining regulatory decision-making. Advocates point out that Bill 7 addresses concerns over use of alternative water sources (like rainwater), consolidation of water licences, and inter-basin transfers.
Significant changes include “good-standing” requirements on licences, changing the definition of “water” under the Water Act to incorporate rain and snow, enforcing time restrictions on applications, increased public disclosure, allowance for licence amalgamation, and establishes the basis for several other regulatory changes.
Bill 7 also merges existing water basins – the Peace/Slave and Athabasca River basins – into a single, large basin covering nearly all of northern Alberta. While this likely improves access and streamlines management through consolidation, the change raises concerns about uncoordinated overuse, inadequate monitoring, and unaccounted cumulative environmental impacts.
The Bill also weakens safeguards against inter-basin transfers of invasive species and contaminants by introducing a “lower-risk transfer” provision. This allows the minister to approve water transfers where flow is below a set threshold. Although this may reduce regulatory costs, it heightens the risk of spreading invasive species and pathogens – such as whirling disease – across Alberta’s watersheds by reducing oversight and increasing the likelihood of water transfers.
Bill 7 allows licence holders to change a point of use provided that the new point of use is located on the same land or is associated with an attached and licenced project. The minister may only grant an amendment to the licence where there is no adverse effect on the rights of the user, other licence holders, or adversely affect the ability to conserve or manage a water body. However, the risk remains that there will be consequential extensions of water use for a single user to the detriment of other licence holders with priority.
Also worth mentioning that several Indigenous groups have protested the implementation of Bill 7 on the grounds of inadequate consultation and potential deleterious effects on members’ use of Treaty land.
While Bill 7 increases access to available water sources, there remain unanswered questions on ecological protection and licence holder prioritization. RMA continues to research into the effect of Bill 7 on water use and licencing.
Bill 7 passed its third reading on December 2, unamended, and has been tabled for Royal Assent.
Bill 8 – Utilities Statutes Amendment Act, 2025
Honourable Dale Nally, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction
Bill 8 outlines energy use requirements for AI data centres, and their integration with Alberta’s electricity market.
The Bill primarily amends the Electric Utilities Act to introduce rules surrounding Alberta’s new Restructured Energy Market (REM). Consultation on the updated rules has been ongoing, administered concurrently with AESO – Alberta’s Independent System Operator (ISO) and primary electricity market regulator – with the presentation of this Bill. Bill 8 provides the basic outline for the REM ISO rules.
Data centres require an extreme amount of energy to operate. Current estimates state that Alberta only has between 5-10% the estimated amount of electricity production necessary to handle data centre capacity if integration matched expectations. There are ongoing concerns that any established centres may excessively draw from the municipal pool creating a price shock and – or – drain energy reserves.
Bill 8 also lays out the basic framework for the creation of in situ (or on-site) energy generation, as well as the rules guiding the integration of in-situ energy generation with the municipal grid. Data centre project proponents will also be responsible for any costs associated with necessary upgrades to the electrical transmission systems. Bill 8 will grant AESO the ability to monitor, audit, regulate, and sanction data centres and their operators in respect of in situ energy generation and grid integration.
Ideally, Bill 8 provides the necessary legislative resources and authority to effectively manage the integration of AI data centres into Alberta’s electricity grid in a manner that protects communities and consumers from price shocks and energy system failure. However, AESO will also likely need adequate funding to monitor and enforce the expected growth that is likely to come with increased builds to ensure that electricity prices remain reasonable or even decrease, and there is no current legislative guarantee that adequate increased funding will be supplied.
Bill 8 passed its second reading on December 2 and has been tabled to the Committee of the Whole for further evaluation, critique, and refinement.
Bill 10 – Red Tape Reduction Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (NO. 2)
Honourable Dale Nally, Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction
Bill 10 amends several pieces of legislation to varying degrees. Contrary to its namesake, the Red Tape Reduction Statues Amendment Act, 2025 (NO.2) adds several significant amendments to the captured acts. While the changes may add some level of clarification, it also ensures that certain aspects are now prescribed, potentially changing the nature of the issue of red tape rather than correcting it.
Changes include the extension of ministerial power onto private lands that are captured under an all-seasons resort development, the increase of powers to filter frivolous licencing complaints related to land agents, and an increase in potential government uses of information obtained through the collection of a person’s driver’s licence.
By far, the most significant amendments were made to the Livestock Industry Diversification Act. Bill 10 opens the door to keeping livestock on a “harvest preserve,” an area designated for the act of pen hunting – or hunting within a defined and enclosed area.
The government states that the change allows deer and elk producers to provide a unique experience to consumers that will provide much needed revenue to the industry. However, significant concerns were raised over the likely increased risk of the spread of livestock diseases such as chronic wasting disease (CWD), a pattern that is common to pen hunting in other jurisdictions.
While there have been confirmed cases of CWD in Alberta, CWD is hard to trace and control once it has infected a population. CWD can also only be confirmed be examining killed elk or deer, and there are concerns that Alberta does not have the capacity to test penned elk and deer to the extent necessary.
Bill 10 passed its second reading on December 2 and has been tabled to the Committee of the Whole for further evaluation, critique, and refinement.
Bill 11 – Health Statues Amendment Act, 2025 (NO. 2)
Honourable Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services
Bill 11 is an extensive bill that purports to modernize Alberta’s healthcare system by allowing physicians to practice in both public and private sectors. This Bill seeks to establish the framework outlining requirements for physicians and other medical professionals to participate in a private healthcare system. This separate and distinct system will run alongside the already established public healthcare system.
Bill 11 – indeed, the concept of private healthcare on its own – is incredibly controversial in Canadian circles.
The Government argues that the Bill will help attract and retain healthcare professionals in Alberta, emphasizing the model’s adoption in some European countries. However, proponents of Bill 11 continue to be heavily criticized for deflecting acknowledgement of known knock-on effects from the introduction of a private system.
Initial research indicates that jurisdictions that have introduced a private system to run alongside a public one have reported decreased overall levels of care, increased costs associated with providing care, and a detrimental drain of available resources from the public system – a system that must remain open to provide some level of care to those that cannot afford the private side – which increases the level of stress and on healthcare professionals that work in the public system. Burnout tends to become commonplace and precipitates a lack of access to healthcare for the majority of the population and especially those living in rural areas.
Accordingly, debate on the matter continues to be lengthy and heated.
Bill 11 passed the first reading on November 24. A vote on second reading has been delayed since November 26.
Bill 12 – Financial Statues Amendment Act, 2025 (NO. 2)
Honourable Nate Horner, President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance
Bill 12 is a massive omnibus bill that – among other things – introduces Canada’s first AI data centre levy, introduces further prohibitions on stock market misinformation, changes disability supports, and boosts funding for the families of fallen first responders. Bill 12 amends more than a dozen act, constituting a massive overhaul of the province’s finances and applicable regulation.
Bill 12 amends the Securities Act to provide regulators the ability to consider inadequate, inaccurate, or misleading information about an issuer that has been disseminated to the public and could harm investors. This includes the ability to halt trading in situations involving significant misinformation.
The Bill also amends the Alberta Corporate Tax Act to include a AI data centre levy and tax credit. The levy will apply to tangible personal property owned by the data centre that is used to process, store, or transmit digital information, including racks, cabinets, trays and other ancillary property used to house the centre’s functional property. The levy applies to AI data centres that have a power generation greater than 75 MW per annum. The rate is fully deductible from Alberta corporate income tax.
Bill 12 formally establishes the Alberta Disability Assistance Program (ADAP), a replacement for the outgoing Alberta Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program. While ADAP provides some income to those living with a severe disability, it ties funding to the inability to find employment because of that disability instead of supplementing income where employment has been gained. This greatly reduces the number of individuals living with disability that would be able to qualify for support by preventing those who are employed – even if they are not working because of their disability – from receiving funding. Various other health benefits that existed under the AISH framework remain untouched.
The Bill increases the amount available for the Alberta Heros Fund by amending the Heroes’ Compensation Act to increase annual amounts from $1.5 million to $3 million. The Fund provides immediate compensation of $100 000 to the dependants of correctional officers or first responders who have lost their lives in the course of their employment.
Bill 12 passed its first reading on November 25. Debate on the Bill has been postponed since December 2.
Bill 203 – Energy Storage Planning for Investment Act, 2025
Honourable Nagwan Al-Guneid, Member for Calgary-Glenmore
Bill 203 aims to establish a coordinated plan for energy storage in Alberta. This Bill was created in response to expressed concerns over the price of electricity, and future worries that prices may increase dramatically as capacity is taxed by planned AI data centres. The private members’ Bill would also establish regulatory criteria around long-duration storage, mineral extraction, and development for the creation of batteries.
Arguably, Bill 203 fits within the Alberta Government’s goal to modernize and stabilize Alberta’s electricity grid and attract investment. There were significant points raised in respect of rising electricity prices that Bill 203 may help to address if an increase in battery storage was adopted by the Government.
Debate on the private members’ Bill has been comparably cordial; however, there have been critiques levelled that implementation of the Bill’s requirements may slow down production and development of energy projects – including battery storage – that have already been approved for investigation.
Bill 203 was defeated on division across party lines on December 1.
Other Notable Legislative Action
Bill 5 – Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2025
Honourable Joseph Schow, Minister of Jobs, Economy, Trade and Immigration
Bill 5 makes several important corrective changes to nine different Acts including the Access to Information Act (ATIA), the Alberta Heritage Scholarship Act, the Automobile Insurance Act, the Bee Act, the Labour Relations Code, the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act, the Protection of Privacy Act, the Vital Statistics Act, and the Weed Control Act. Most changes clarify language or correct previously uncorrected errors.
One notable amendment introduced is the repeal of the “Henry VIII” clause in ATIA. Henry VII clauses allow primary legislation to be amended by secondary legislation, which raises concerns about the delegation of power. The ATIA clause allowed the government to change or amend any act or regulation that touched matters related to ATIA through regulation, by-passing the open debate and wide public disclosure that is typically required or expected. Both parties – in their own way – framed the repeal as correcting a significant mistake.
Bill 5 passed through the third reading on November 27 and awaits Royal Assent.
Bill 6 – Education (Prioritizing Literacy and Numeracy) Amendment Act, 2025
Honourable Demetrios Nicolaides, Minister of Education and Childcare
Bill 6 has been presented by the Alberta Government as a method to ensure all students have the strong learning foundation required to succeed in school and beyond. If passed, Bill 6 would amend the Education Act to legislate literacy and numeracy screening assessments – standardized testing – as part of the regular curriculum for kindergarten through grade 3.
The literacy and numeracy assessments would be a provincially supplied assessment examination that would provide an opportunity to screen students according to their demonstrated potential. All information related to the assessment is run through the ministry for evaluation.
Standardized testing across all grades has been common practice in jurisdictions within the US for the past two decades. Alberta has long used standardized test for senior grades, but standardized testing for younger grades is new. Government advocates purport that the testing will be “minimal,” and will help inform curriculum development and funding allocation.
As a method for evaluating younger students, standardized testing has been heavily criticized. The tests often fail to predict long-term academic potential and tend to overlook forms of intelligence not easily measured through traditional examination formats. The provision of these tests also add stress for teachers required to administer them, further increasing an already strenuous workload. Additionally, the current proposal does not appear to include exemptions or accommodations for students who require extra or specialized support which will likely skew results.
There was extensive debate on the contents of Bill 6. Topics included an increased strain on teachers that is likely to result from the implementation of this Bill, an increase in implementation costs, and the detrimental effects of the use of the NWC following a strike related to poor teaching conditions in Alberta, conditions that are likely to be exacerbated by this Bill.
Bill 6 passed through the Committee of the Whole, unamended, across party lines, on December 2. Bill 6 now returns to the Legislative assembly for its third reading.
Bill 9 – Protecting Alberta’s Children Statutes Amendment Act, 2025
Honourable Mickey Amery, Minister of Justice
Bill 9 inserts the notwithstanding clause (NWC, or s. 33 of the Charter) into the Education Act, Fairness in Safety and Sport Act (FSSA), and Health Professions Act (HPA) to protect provisions that discriminate against trans, gender diverse, and female students and athletes from legal challenge and judicial scrutiny.
The NWC allows governments to pass laws that are likely to violate fundamental rights and freedoms enumerated in section 2, 7, and 15 in the Charter. These include the right of freedom of expression and association, and freedom from discrimination on the basis of enumerated categories such as sex, age, race, religion, etc.
Bill 9 protects provisions in the Education Act that prevents student organizations based around providing sex education or associated with sexual orientation or gender identity, requires school receive parental consent to call a student by a preferred name, and require parental consent to provide sex education to a student.
Bill 9 protects the FSSA in its entirety. The FSSA requires all sports organizations to require proof of gender by way of birth certificate for participation in female leagues. Approved policy is required to receive Provincial funding.
Finally, Bill 9 protects provisions in the HPA that prohibit gender-affirming care through surgery or hormone therapy for persons under the age of majority irrespective of a doctor’s opinion or parental consent.
The protected provisions have been subject to extensive debate in the public sphere. By invoking the NWC, the Alberta Government has effectively shielded the provision from being struck down as a result of a constitutional challenge – an outcome that legal experts largely predicted would be likely.
Bill 9 passed its first reading on November 18. Debate preceding the vote on second reading has been extensive and continuous since it commenced on November 19.
Bill 13 – Regulated Professions Neutrality Act, 2025
Honourable Mickey Amery, Minister of Justice
Bill 13 introduces the Regulated Professions Neutrality Act (RPNA), a piece of legislation that purports to establish a framework that will encourage freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression throughout regulated professional societies in Alberta.
The RPNA would create a set standard of rules for regulated professional bodies – such as the Law Society of Alberta, the College of Alberta Psychologists, the Real Estate Council of Alberta, etc. – when investigating and sanctioning the actions of an individual revealed through a complaint.
The RPNA blocks or reduces the ability of the regulated bodies to sanction or enforce compliance on a member where the investigation concludes that discrimination occurred on the basis of an enumerated characteristic. In other words, a regulated body cannot enforce its own internal policing where the complaint relates to discrimination or verbal disparagement based on race, colour, ancestry, ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religious or political beliefs.
Regulated professional bodies would be prevented from promoting or affirming principles related to the belief that people are different and come from different backgrounds, and that society (both politically and socially) has historically treated people with different enumerated traits differently than others. The RPNA also prohibits the provision of education related to political, historical, social, or cultural issues unless it relates directly to the professional competence of the individual – there is no expansion on the scope of direct relation – and prohibits any education related to cultural competency, unconscious bias, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Interestingly, the RPNA removes itself from consideration of enumerated rights under the Alberta Human Rights Act. This means that – while the RPNA would remove the avenue of consideration under the professional body for the harmed party – the harmed party may still go through the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal (AHRT) for restitution. This sets up a conflict between potential professional regulated body decisions and AHRT decisions.
Actions that constitute sexual, physical, or mental abuse, or an abuse of authority, would not be protected by the RPNA. While this introduces some room for complainants, it also introduces complexities that will need to be untangled after a complaint is raised. The reality of these complexities is not likely to reduce any chilling effect that the RPNA may create on effective self-regulation.
Regulatory bodies hold their members up to higher standard to increase the public’s confidence in authorized professionals. By reducing the ability of regulated professional bodies to self-police to this high standard, the Government is inserting themselves into the practice of regulated industries. This may also reduce public trust that regulated professionals will be held to the high standard of association and in delivering the best service available.
Bill 13 passed its second reading on December 1, unamended, and has been tabled to the Committee of the Whole for further evaluation, critique, and refinement.
Bill 204 – Public Interest Disclosure (Publicly Funded Health Entity Whistleblower Protection) Act, 2025
Honourable Heather Sweet, Member for Edmonton-Manning
Bill 204 seeks to provide protection to public healthcare employees who provide reliable information that implicates or insinuates wrongdoings on the part of members of the employer (ie. government officials).
Bill 204 arrives within the context of the “Corrupt Care” scandal – allegations of corruption, political interference, and high-level coercion of former AHS officials in the procurement of health services that has implicated several current ministers. The allegations are currently subject to an RCMP investigation.
“Wrongdoings” under Bill 204 include general breaches of legal responsibility, but explicitly define actions that create a danger to health and safety of individuals, danger to the environment, gross mismanagement of public funds, or failure to perform specified duties in relation to the provision of public health services.
Bill 204 passed its first reading on November 26. As with most things related to Alberta’s health services, there has been extensive debate on this matter. A vote after the second reading continues to be delayed.
Standing and Select Special Committee Meetings
December 5:
Standing Committee on Legislative Offices
December 12:
Standing Committee on Legislative Offices
Ian Profiri
Policy & Research Analyst
825.319.2352
ian@rmalberta.com
Wyatt Skovron
General Manager of Policy & Advocacy
780.955.4096
wyatt@rmalberta.com