Recent Research
Dentistry in Alberta
Time for a Checkup?
This report examines access to dental care in Alberta and across Canada and calls for solutions to improve population health. Alberta is the top private funder of dental care in Canada, and while it's the second highest spender on public dental care, only nine per cent of Albertans receive government-sponsored dental insurance benefits. More than 20 per cent of Albertans lack dental insurance, leading to serious implications for oral health, particularly among lower-income Albertans.
Whistleblowers Not Protected
While the second scheduled review of the Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act (PIDA) is underway, this timely report by Cameron Hutchison, a professor of law at the University of Alberta, outlines how the current PIDA falls far short of international best practices for whistleblower protection and is laced with pitfalls through which few whistleblowers should ever dare to venture.
Recent Blog Posts
Alberta Budget 2021
Tax Giveaways for Corporations, Service Cuts for Albertans
The compounded impact of years of cuts will be catastrophic. The United Conservative government is cutting or privatizing services that Albertans rely on in order to pay for their 33 per cent tax giveaway to large profitable corporations and for their mistakes of cancelling the crude-by-rail contracts and gambling on Keystone XL. On par with Premier Klein’s massive cuts in the late 1990s, the result will be deep structural changes and a legacy of lasting damage.
Private management of public data
Benefits and risks
From 1976-2016, Alberta lost 34 per cent of its farms, and fewer and fewer people now control more and more of the land base. In 2016, 40 per cent of farmland in Alberta was controlled by just six per cent of farms. This kind of information is vital as researchers keep track of the changing patterns of tenure across the province. Alberta government's privatization of land titles means higher service fees are likely and less accessibility for researchers to study Alberta's 50 million acres of farmland.
Fact checking Premier Kenney on Keystone XL
Ever since U.S. President Joe Biden cancelled the border-crossing permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, Premier Jason Kenney and others continue to spread misinformation about KXL, the oil sands industry and the energy transition. Ian Hussey takes a look at oil sands operations and pipelines, the energy transition and possibilities for economic diversification in Alberta.