Alberta will ban solar panels from provincial landfills and charge a $14 recycling fee on every new panel supplied in the province beginning October 1st. Environment and Protected Areas Minister Grant Hunter says the program, which the provincial government calls the first of its kind in Canada, will recover valuable materials and build a recycling industry before dead panels start piling up. The fee applies only to panels supplied on or after October 1st, with no charge on panels already installed, and the government estimates it adds $280 to a typical 20-panel residential installation, or less than 1.5% of the cost. By 2045, more than 95% of the solar panels currently installed in Alberta are expected to reach the end of their lives, generating as much as 72,700 tonnes of material. The Business Renewables Centre-Canada, whose members develop and buy renewable power, says it supports a recycling program but describes the fee itself as a "punitive tax", with director Jorden Dye arguing it is more than double the charge in any other jurisdiction the group examined and ignores the salvage value of recovered materials. Dye says the next-highest fee anywhere is Germany's at $5 per panel, and the group estimates the Alberta charge will add about $1 million in upfront costs to an average 38-megawatt solar project.
The Alberta branch of the Canadian Bar Association has published an analysis warning that many of the proposals Albertans will vote on in the October 19th referendum would face steep constitutional obstacles if a government tried to act on them. The lawyers' group, which takes no position on how people should vote, examined all 10 questions after its members began fielding queries about them. On the separation question, it notes that a province cannot unilaterally leave Canada, though a clear majority on a clear question would oblige the federal government to enter discussions about secession and its possible terms. The four constitutional questions - a provincial role in appointing superior court judges, abolishing the Senate, opting out of certain federal programs, and giving provincial law priority over federal law - would each require constitutional amendments, with Senate abolition needing resolutions from the Senate, the House of Commons, and every province and territory. On the five immigration questions, the analysis says a unilateral provincial cap could run into federal paramountcy problems, charging non-permanent residents for provincially funded supports could conflict with the Canada Health Act, and a new proof-of-citizenship requirement to vote could draw a Charter challenge on equality grounds. The office of Justice Minister Mickey Amery did not address the specific points but said the government has a duty to uphold its citizen-initiated referendum laws and give citizens a voice.
Saddle Lake Cree Nation says Alberta's restrictions on gender-affirming care violate its Treaty rights, and it plans to write its own health law regulating health care on its lands. Chief Dale Steinhauer says the Nation's responsibility as a rights holder under Treaty No. 6 is to protect the health, dignity, and life of everyone who comes to its territory, and the Nation grounds the new law in the treaty's commitment to keep a medicine chest for the use and benefit of its people. Under the plan, the First Nation would bring in Canadian-trained clinicians to provide gender-affirming care, primary care, and specialist care to members and visitors, and would exempt those clinicians from any sanctions by professional bodies for providing care the Province has banned. Two-Spirit family doctor James Makokis argues that anti-trans laws fail to uphold the spirit and intent of the medicine chest clause. The provincial government maintains that its policies, which include banning puberty blockers for those under 16, are meant to protect children from making life-changing decisions, and it used the Charter's notwithstanding clause in November to shield the legislation after a Court of King's Bench judge granted a temporary injunction on the grounds that the ban was likely to cause irreparable harm. The federal Ministry of Crown-Indigenous Relations said it is committed to the treaty relationship, while Indigenous Relations Minister Rajan Sawhney did not respond to a request for comment.
Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Minister Dale Nally says registries will now accept passports that have been expired for less than a year as proof of citizenship for a driver's licence renewal, along with any citizenship certificate recognized by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada rather than the short list accepted before. The change follows weeks of complaints about the province's new integrated licences and identification cards, which carry a citizenship marker and a health-care number and have drawn criticism from the Opposition NDP. Nally, however, says demand has been far higher than expected, with renewals up 33% and only about 1% of applicants needing a 60-day interim licence because they could not produce the right documents.
Alberta has launched an online portal for businesses to tell the provincial government how US tariffs and Canadian counter-tariffs are affecting their operations, jobs, and growth. The province says the information will be used to identify sector-specific effects, including changes to costs, investment decisions, market access, competitiveness, employment, and supply chains, and to shape its response across affected industries. A cabinet committee has been set up to coordinate that response across several ministries, and Premier Danielle Smith and Jobs, Economy, Trade and Immigration Minister Joseph Schow recently hosted a meeting of the Alberta Trade Advisory Council to hear directly from industry and business leaders. The announcement quotes business groups saying retaliatory measures fall hardest on small and medium-sized enterprises, with 60% of them importing goods against 20% exporting. The province says it will keep pressing for free and fair trade with the United States and wants the dispute settled through negotiation.
