Alberta’s first quarter fiscal update was presented last week and showed the incredible impact that high resource prices can have on the province’s bottom line. While the UCP government announced that they will be making a significant debt repayment, investing in the Heritage Fund and reindexing personal income taxes to inflation due to the $13.2 billion surplus, there was no mention of reindexing other supports for seniors or AISH.

Alberta garnered national attention in the worst possible way late last week when Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland faced harassment when leaving Grande Prairie City Hall. Rhetoric and distrust in the federal Liberal government has been ratcheted up to unprecedented levels following the COVID-19 pandemic, so-called freedom convoy and both federal CPC candidates and provincial UCP candidates fanning the flames of discontent.

A new survey from the Alberta Chamber of Commerce found that one in four business operators and almost the same number of Albertans list inflation as their top issue, beating out the previous top item of the economy, according to a new column from Chris Varcoe. Health care has risen to the second most important issue for business owners and the public at large alike in the survey.

Out of the 4 million-plus Albertans in the province, the Alberta Liberal Party was unable to find a single person willing to put their name forward to lead their party. The deadline to apply came and went on Friday, leaving the future of the party uncertain.

Between service delivery, fundraising, and marketing the day-to-day management of a non-profit can appear to leave little room for government relations (GR). Oftentimes, GR is an afterthought, something sought out in moments of change or during a crisis.

The latest fundraising numbers are in, and they show a very strong Official Opposition in the NDP, having raised nearly $2.5 million to date in 2022 with $1.4 million coming in the second quarter. So far in 2022 the central UCP has raised $1.4 million with a little over $520,000 coming in Q2. The UCP’s numbers don’t reflect their full fundraising capacity as it doesn’t include money raised by constituency associations.

The first United Conservative Party 2022 Leadership Debate took place last night in Medicine Hat. Conventional wisdom says that debates in politics seldom matter, but this debate was revealing. It was also consequential in a race that will be decided by preferential ballot. Candidates who are unfamiliar to voters can only help themselves on a preferential ballot if they perform well in debates.

Much of the focus this week will be on the visit of Pope Francis to the province, who landed in Edmonton on Sunday. The focus of his trip is aimed at Indigenous reconciliation and apologizing for the abuse that occured at the church’s residential schools. It’s the first visit of Pope Francis and the third papal visit to the country; you can view the full itinerary here.

Live taping of Alberta Relaunch. Keynote: Hon. Lisa Raitt, Panel: The Halls of Power, Keynote: Lisa Baiton, Panel: Decarbonizing the Energy Sector, Keynote: Mark Carney, Panel: Political Realities, Panel: West of Centre Taping

New numbers from Statistics Canada show that Canadians continue to feel the impacts of rising prices. In May, consumer inflation rose 7.7 per cent year over year, the largest yearly increase since 1983. Rising inflation and cost of living, while front of mind for many Albertans, with a new survey from the Angus Reid Institute showing that 59 per cent of Albertans surveyed saying they are struggling or uncomfortable and 71 per cent stating that the provincial government is doing a poor or very poor job on the cost of living/inflation.