After a very busy first week back in the Alberta Legislature, MLAs are now back in their ridings for a constituency week, with UCP MLAs tasked with sharing the good news found in the budget tabled Thursday. You can expect a slew of announcements highlighting some of the key initiatives from cabinet ministers and the Premier.

Without a doubt Budget 2022 and Tuesday’s Speech from the Throne were aimed at working class people like Larry, core supporters of the United Conservative Party.

New West Public Affairs’ Monte Solberg, Matt Solberg, Keith McLaughlin and Sonia Kont are joined by public opinion pollster Janet Brown to break down Budget 2022 and what it means for Albertans.

Yesterday, the Honourable Salma Lakhani, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, delivered the Government of Alberta’s Speech from the Throne. Highlights include, further diversification, building hospital capacity, creating a hydrogen centre, exploring an Alberta Pension Plan and more.

Protests and occupations have been shut down across the country including at four border crossings and in front of Parliament Hill, with the Trudeau government invoking the Emergencies Act for the first time since its passage in 1988. Premier Kenney has committed that the Government of Alberta will launch a court challenge of the invocation of the Act , and may also intervene in support of other court challenges.

Alberta’s next election isn’t scheduled until May 29th, 2023 but things are already starting to heat up. We’re also only 7 weeks away from Premier Jason Kenney’s leadership review vote, which may or may not, finally settle the infighting and palace intrigue that has plagued the UCP since the beginning of COVID.

Buckle up. It’s going to be an interesting political ride for the next 15 months.

For the past week much of the attention across the country has been focused on continuing blockades at border crossings including in Coutts and at protests in various cities participating in so-called Freedom Convoys, including in Edmonton. The Premier has stated that no Canadian politicians should be promoting the blockades and that it’s up to the RCMP to enforce the law in Coutts. Emerging news this morning is that the Prime Minister will invoke the Emergency Measures Act after meeting with Canada's premiers

The old adage of if you don’t like the weather to wait five minutes could also be applied to politics this week; since our last edition, federal conservative leader Erin O’Toole has been ousted from his post by his CPC caucus and the UCP government is set to wind-down COVID-19 restrictions amid unrest on display in the form of convoys and within Premier Kenney’s caucus.

On February 3, 2022 the Premier of Alberta signalled that the Government of Alberta will start lifting Covid-19 health restrictions next week. The Priorities and Implementation Committee of Cabinet meets Monday to decide what restrictions get lifted and when. It’s a slam dunk that the Restriction Exemption Program will be lifted, almost immediately

Listen to New West’s executives discuss the outcome of the Conservative leadership and what this means for the future of the party.