wanted to share this petition which has been started in canada urging the federal government to protect canadian citizens access to gender affirming care
this comes after the alberta provincial government recently used the notwithstanding clause to push forward legislation banning gender affirming care for minors, along with other bills targeted primarily at trans youth.
if this passes 500 signatures it will be brought to the house of commons so i urge you to sign only if you are a resident of canada! (you will need to provide a postal code when signing)
also make sure if you do sign to check your email you submitted afterwards to confirm your signature because it will not count otherwise!!
if you don’t live in canada please just spread this around, get the word out where people who can sign it can see it!
Hey Alberta - there's a federal petition out right now to bar construction of resource-hungry AI data centres. It aims to mandate and prioritize national environmental protections, public hearings, and First Nations consent first and foremost.
Anyone from Canada can sign: https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7427
The petition is open from May 20, 2026 until September 17, 2026, so spread this to your Canadian friends and relatives to get as many eyes on it as you can! We know how detrimental to local health and wildlife AI data centres are, so let the government know you don't want mega-centres here!
The government of Alberta wants to implement "guidelines" to what is acceptable reading material in schools
All their examples of sexually explicit material is related to queer stories.
You can see their press release on the topic here.
Albertans have the opportunity to provide feedback until June 6, 2025 via a survey that can be found here.
If you're Albertan, please tell them that this idea is horrendous and that you do not stand behind them on this.
If you're not Albertan, please signal boost this so Albertans who haven't heard about this can have their say.
Some points worth making that you can use:
Book banning takes away parent choice of what their kids are allowed to read by restricting the books available to kids. It should be the job of the parent, not the government, to decide what a kid can read.
Instead of banning books, parents should talk to their kids (and if they want, the kids' librarian) about what they believe is appropriate vs inappropriate for their specific child/children. It's their job to monitor what their kids are reading, not the government's job.
Librarians are trained professionals who literally attend semester-long classes on how to choose books to purchase for their library. Are they saying that their training/professional judgement can't be trusted? If so, what are they employed for?
Friendly reminder that Alberta has municipal elections coming up this month! October 20th is election day.
Many areas will have advance polls.
Not sure what the point of voting in a municipal election is? Below is a breakdown of what each branch of government is responsible for. (Note: some things are funded by more than one branch, so they appear under each branch that provides funding).
Many areas will also have school board trustee elections, so make sure you research who is running in your area and vote for those elections as well!
In some rural areas, there might not be an election. For example, my municipal district counselor was the only person who submitted their papers to run for my ward, so there isn't an election in my ward. But, there are elections for other wards within my MD. This may also be the case for some school board trustees.
Make sure you know what ward/municipal electoral area you reside in, and find out when/where to vote. You should be able to find this on your local governments website. You can vote where you live, even if you recently moved!
Image description under the cut
[Image description: 3 columns, listing the areas of control of the 3 branches of government: municipal, provincial and federal. Next to each point is a small graphic (e.g. a hospital, garbage truck, etc). Text of the graphic is below:
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT | City of Grande Prairie
City Hall
Development and building permits and fees
Family and Community Support Services
Municipal police force
Local road maintenance and improvment
Parks, trails, and playgrounds
Property tax (municipal portion)
Protective Services
Recreation facilities
Senior's supportive housing
Social services
Transit
Utilities (water, sewer, wastewater)
Waste collection
PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT | Alberta
Employer and employee supports
Family and Community Support Services
Highways
Hospitals
Housing
Justice
Landlord and tenant supports
Post-secondary education
Property tax (provincial portion)
Safety enforcement
Schools
Social Services
Student loans
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT | Canada
Airports
Borders and passports
Broadcasting and telecommunications
Canada Child Benefit
Chart of Human Rights
Employment insurance
Fisheries, oceans and national parks
Income tax
International travel and support for Canadians abroad
Mortgages
National RCMP
National defence and veteran's affairs
Postal service
Student loans
Source:
Grande Prairie Chamber of Commerce www.GrandePrairieChamber.com
I think that Canada needs to have a serious reckoning with the fact that Postmedia, which owns is about 60% of our newspapers, is a far-right American Trumpist hedgefund that's actively trying to subvert the country through organs like the Calgary Herald.
a teenage boy from a calgary high school at the alberta next panel had his mic cut and was told by bruce mcallister (alberta's very own education and advanced education critic) that his parents should “put thim over their knee” for questioning why private education gets such high funding while public school is left to flail.
The student's censored query came just two days following a province-wide student walkout and "Save Alberta’s Education" rally protesting the province's education funding, recent controversial book ban and transgender laws, which Premier Smith said she is willing to override Charter Rights to push through.
Source: Bruce McAllister's Wikipedia page (Moderating Incident section).
link to clip + link to reddit post
Watch "Alberta Next Panel suggest spanking teenager asking about why taxpayer dollars fund private schools " on Streamable.
transcript below:
MCALLISTER: I know the premier will pick up on thay in a few minutes, but, uh, back to the mics.
STUDENT: Hi, my name is Evan Lee, I'm a Calgary high school student. Like many other high school students, I'm concerned about what's going to happen to the upcoming teacher's strike. Just an hour ago they voted 89.5 (per cent) in favour of striking.
[Audience cheers.]
MCALLISTER: Evan–
EVAN: And my question is, why is the government handing out 4–[Mic cuts out]
[Some noise from the audience. Audience then starts booing.]
MCALLISTER: Here's... Here's... Here's the thing, Evan. Evan, I... I applaud–I applaud you coming here to speak, I don't applaud how you're trying to speak. It's not making any sense, so we're going to move along. Okay? Let's go over to this microphone, okay? [Video skips back and repeats “this microphone, okay?”]
[Audience boos and yells.]
MCALLISTER: I know you'd love some chaos, but your parents should turn you over a knee. Let's go over here.
The government of Alberta says the controversial supervised consumption sites in Calgary and Lethbridge will be closing down at the end of J
The Alberta government is shutting down the province’s first-ever supervised drug consumption site.
Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said the Sheldon M. Chumir Centre in Calgary, as well as a mobile service in Lethbridge will be shuttered as the next step in the province’s move to a recovery-oriented approach to addiction.
Ellis said the funding for the two sites will be transitioned into different support services.
