These bulletins summarize and explain the important and relevant details of potential and upcoming legislation in Alberta, including important and poignant points from the debates between elected Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) as they create law.
The final week of the Fall session delivered. There were so many historic moments, expedited decision-making, and political drama.
Premier Smith now faces a citizen-led recall petition, joining 18 other MLAs as the grassroots protest to government action continues to gain traction. The UCP refused to answer questions after an NDP MLA asked – in the context of rules changes for childcare safety – if the government would “let more sexual predators off the hook.” And the notwithstanding clause remains front-and-centre, even as critics warn its heavy use is chipping away at democratic norms and the rights of Albertans.
Visitors to the Legislature included members of the Ross Shepard High School Model UN, president of the north China-Canada business association MR. Bao Wei Zhang, and several social media political content creators. There was also significant debate given to the significant changes to Alberta’s healthcare system, including increased need for provisions in Northern Alberta, political attacks on the judicial system and the ability of professionals to self-regulate, and the increased cost of living that continues to grow.
Members’ Issues and Related Bills or Activities
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 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. Project proponents will be responsible for any costs associated with necessary upgrades to the electrical transmission systems through a new cost-causation model. Bill 8 grants 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 failures from overload. However, AESO will also likely need adequate funding to monitor and enforce the expected growth that is likely to come with increased demand to ensure that electricity prices remain reasonable or even decrease – there is no current legislative guarantee that adequate increased funding will be supplied.
Bill 8 passed its third reading on December 4 and now awaits Royal Assent.
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 six pieces of legislation. Contrary to its namesake, the Red Tape Reduction Statues Amendment Act, 2025 (NO.2) adds several significant amendments to these captured acts. While the changes may add some clarification, they also prescribe certain aspects that likely and simply change the nature of the red tape issue rather than correct 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 increased citizenship information provided through a person’s driver’s licence.
Significant debate over the introduction of citizenship markers on drivers’ licences occurred. Proponents say markers would give officers clearer guidance, while critics warn it could open the door to discriminatory actions by law-enforcement and members of the public. Critics point out that whenever citizenship status becomes a formal prerequisite for rights or benefits, already marginalized communities are pushed further to the margins increasing social gaps.
Significant amendments were also 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 third reading on December 8 and now awaits Royal Assent.
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 and often in comparison to the almost completely private system of our neighbours to the south.
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 most of the population and especially those living in rural areas.
Additionally, critics questioned the government’s decision to invest in a new system instead of expanding the existing public healthcare system noting ongoing challenges in hospitals and medical centres across Alberta. It remains unclear and unexplained how the government expects a new private system to deliver services that the existing public system already provides at a rate that provides adequate care to all Albertans.
Bill 11 passed its third reading, on division, on December 10 and now awaits Royal Assent.
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 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.
An amendment was introduced and accepted by the Committee of the Whole that clarified that no levy is payable when the data centre and its energy generation capabilities are not connected to the grid at any time during the calendar year..
Bill 12 also 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 third reading, on division, on December 9 and now awaits Royal Assent.
Other Notable Legislative Action
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 for sports organizations to receive critical 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.
Bill 9 passed its first reading on November 18. The debate that followed has the most extensive and heated seen in the Assembly in quite some time. The UCP purports that parents will have more tools to care for their children under Bill 9, while the NDP argues it instead strips parents of meaningful involvement, sidelines medical expertise, and restricts freedoms of expression, association, and access to medical care as protected by the Charter.
This marks the fourth time the NWC was used by the Alberta government over the Fall session. By invoking the NWC, the Alberta Government has effectively shielded the provision from being struck through a constitutional challenge – an outcome that legal experts largely predicted would be likely.
Bill 9 passed its third reading in the late hours of December 9 and now awaits Royal Assent.
Bill 13 – Regulated Professions Neutrality Act, 2025
Honourable Mickey Amery, Minister of Justice
Bill 13 introduces the Regulated Professions Neutrality Act (RPNA), legislation that purports to establish a framework that will encourage freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression throughout regulated professional societies in Alberta. However, critics of the Bill argue that the RPNA would only permit abuses to perpetuate by removing the ability to interfere.
The RPNA sets standard rules for regulated professional bodies – such as the Law Society of Alberta, the College of Alberta Psychologists, the Real Estate Council of Alberta, etc. – that confines investigations and sanctions to a limited type of individual actions that are 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.
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 impose elevated standards of conduct to preserve public confidence in their professions. By curtailing their capacity to enforce these standards, the government interference is likely to diminish public trust in the quality and integrity of the services provided.
Bill 13 passed its third reading, on division, on December 9 and now awaits Royal Assent.
Bill 14 – Justice Statutes Amendment Act, 2025
Honourable Mickey Amery, Minister of Justice
Bill 14 introduces significant reformation to Alberta’s election and democratic processes.
Bill 14 alters the Citizen Initiative Act by removing decision-making power on the acceptance and constitutionality of proposed referendum questions from the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and courts, and into the hands of the Justice Minister. The ability of the CEO to refer referendum questions to the courts for a constitutional assessment were initially removed and passed on to the Justice Minister; however, additional amendments removed the government’s referral ability altogether.
Bill 14 also alters the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act to prevent political parties from using “distinctive word[s] pr phrase[s] that is uniquely associated with a registered party.” This essentially bars any new party from using “conservative”, “democrat”, “united”, “Alberta”, or any other phrase that may create an association. As rumours increasingly suggest the formation of a new conservative party in Alberta, this amendment appears timely.
Most concerningly – the Bill prevents the Law Society of Alberta from sanctioning current or former Attorney Generals, Justice Ministers, or deputy Justice Ministers. Former Justice Ministers Kaycee Madu, Tyler Shandro, and Jonathan Denis have all recently faced sanctions under the Legal Profession Act; an appeal of Madu’s sanction related to a distracted driving charge was set to be heard in February.
That the current Justice Minister – Mickey Amery – is proposing his own legal immunity for actions taken while in a powerful position is incredibly problematic.
Both Amery and Premier Smith stated that the changes were necessary to prevent “gatekeepers” such as the courts from delaying access to direct democracy. However, the courts – as keepers and protectors of the Charter and Constitution – serve the necessary function of gatekeeping to prevent likely unconstitutional measures before they create delays, costs, and harm Albertans’ rights. These amendments weaken this function considerably.
Bill 10 quickly passed its third reading on December 10 and now awaits Royal Assent.
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 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