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- The Government of Alberta is moving to a single provincial education property tax rate from 2027, a change it claims will cut the amount collected from property owners by about $98.7 million in 2027-28. Under the new system, to be introduced through Budget 2027, the residential and farmland rate will be $2.65 for every $1,000 of assessed value, compared with a 2026-27 provincial rate of $2.84, and non-residential properties will pay $3.98 per $1,000, compared with $4.17. The Province says the rates will be locked in for three years, and Finance Minister Jason Nixon said any shortfall would be absorbed through general revenue, with no cut to its commitment to build schools and hire teachers. The reduction is measured against that provincial benchmark rather than each municipality's current rate, so some property owners could still face a higher rate than they pay now. In Crowsnest Pass, where the 2026 residential rate is $2.6416 per $1,000, the education tax on a home assessed at $350,000 would rise by $2.94 if its assessment did not change. The Province says it will offer a one-time transition tax credit in 2027 in municipalities where the new rate is higher than the current one, but as of November 4th it had not released the formula or confirmed whether the credit would fully offset local increases. Municipalities will keep collecting the tax, although 86% of delegates at the 2025 Alberta Municipalities conference backed a motion for the Province to collect it instead.
- Primary and Preventative Health Services Minister Justin Wright tabled Bill 39, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2026 (No. 2), which includes changes meant to stop public money from paying for lab tests tied to privately paid health services. Wright said that since 2011, when patients paid privately for services such as cosmetic procedures, vitamin therapy, or hormone testing, the Province has covered related tests like blood work, costing Alberta Precision Laboratories about $12 million a year. He blamed Alberta Health Services and credited the Government's health-care restructuring for bringing the problem to light. Critics question whether the change could lead to more tests being labelled medically unnecessary, shifting costs to patients and private insurers, while Wright and Hospital and Surgical Health Services Minister Adriana LaGrange maintain that nothing in the Bill would affect access to public health care. The Bill would change nine health laws, adding requirements for physicians who provide services through self-insurance plans and for insurers offering that coverage, and moving about 300 public health inspectors from Alberta Health Services to Primary Care Alberta.
- Advanced Education Minister Myles McDougall tabled Bill 38, the Advanced Education Statutes Amendment Act, 2026, which would bar public and independent post-secondary institutions from making official statements on political, social, or ideological issues outside their academic missions. Institutions would have to adopt neutrality and freedom of expression policies that the Minister could review, while staff, faculty, and students would remain free to express their own views, and private and First Nations institutions would not be affected. McDougall said schools could still offer expressions of sympathy after a tragedy but could not explore the related politics, and that there will have to be consequences for breaking the rules, with the standards and penalties left to regulations expected by next year. University of Calgary professor emeritus Tom Flanagan, who had water dumped on him while debating residential schools earlier this year, said universities should not take political positions except where their own interests are directly affected. The Bill would also let the Government set minimum standards for student codes of conduct and let the Minister replace annual tuition growth caps with maximum amounts for programs by ministerial order, with increases for existing domestic students capped at 2% in 2027-28. McDougall would not say what happens to tuition after that, and Alberta Students' Executive Council Chair Rylee Mae said a ceiling still needs safeguards on how quickly tuition can rise. University of Calgary Students' Union President Gabriela Dziegielewska called the neutrality and conduct rules a distraction from removing the tuition cap and urged the Legislature not to pass the Bill at second reading, while the Students' Association of Mount Royal University cited minimal consultation and vague wording. NDP critic David Eggen called the Bill "culture war garbage" meant to distract from underfunding of post-secondary schools.
- A new Alberta electoral map tabled in the Legislature on November 2nd would divide Lethbridge into four ridings from two and add rural areas to Calgary seats, changes Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi calls gerrymandering and has vowed to fight in court. The report comes from a five-member advisory panel with a UCP-appointed majority, chaired by retired Justice Brian O'Ferrall, and proposes 91 ridings, four more than now, with rural-urban hybrid ridings rising to 29 from 19. The Government ordered the new process after rejecting the Electoral Boundaries Commission's 89-seat majority report, adopting a condition from commission chair Dallas Miller that restoring two rural ridings should not affect anything south of Airdrie, yet the panel's most disputed changes are in Lethbridge, Calgary, and Canmore, and its report said Miller's recommendation was not the "Fifth Commandment". Lethbridge would have one central riding of 58,897 residents and three hybrids pairing city neighbourhoods with rural areas, which the panel's majority defends by calling the city a hub for southern Alberta, while the NDP says new hybrids in west Calgary would help cabinet ministers Rajan Sawhney, Demetrios Nicolaides, and Mike Ellis. The panel's two NDP-appointed members warned that the courts could end up imposing a map. Premier Danielle Smith said Lethbridge would be well served by four representatives, noting that she represents a hybrid riding herself, and that the Government would assemble a legal team if necessary. Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said the map shortchanges Calgarians, whose ridings would average 5.6% above the provincial average population, and Rural Municipalities of Alberta President Kara Westerlund said hybrid ridings would dilute the rural voice. UCP MLAs endorsed the map in a vote split along party lines, and the boundaries will now be put into a bill that Justice Minister Mickey Amery expects to pass by the end of the year.
- The Government of Alberta has proposed changes to the Compassionate Intervention Act, the legislation that will allow Albertans with severe substance addiction to be forced into involuntary treatment. The Act will let family members, guardians, health care professionals, police, or peace officers request an assessment order as a last resort for someone whose addiction has made them a danger to themselves or others. The amendments, part of Bill 39, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, would change the application and hearing processes, support timely access to information, provide greater clinical flexibility, and clarify oversight, and the Government claims existing safeguards would remain in place. Mental Health and Addiction Minister Rick Wilson said the Government is finalizing the building and procurement of treatment beds, and is looking at existing facilities and beds it can switch over to get compassionate intervention going early in spring 2027. The Bill would also amend the Mental Health Act to strengthen coordination between health service sectors within approved hospitals, and would give the Government regulatory tools to oversee self-insurance arrangements for elective care outside the public system. Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi argued that involuntary treatment does not work without housing supports for people leaving care, and said the Government is spending a lot of money on constructing spaces.