News

Al Beeber Lethbridge Herald Nearly eight months after the Alberta government predicted a budget surplus of $4.6 billion at the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year, that figure has risen substantially. The province now says the budget surplus was $8.3 billion due largely to higher than anticipated resource revenue as well as corporate and personal [...] Read More »

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Lethbridge Herald As the appointment of a new chief for the Independent Agency Police Service marked the next step in giving municipalities a new option for local policing, local officials and the National Police Federation weighed in on the matter Thursday.  Mayor Blaine Hyggen says that as public safety in our city is [...] Read More »

Alexandra Noad Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter For most of us, camping is a leisure activity to reconnect with nature in the summer. But for many of Lethbridge’s unhoused population, it’s their only option to have a place they can call their own. The City of Lethbridge created an encampment strategy back in 2023, [...] Read More »

Al Beeber Lethbridge Herald The creation of a new provincial police agency moved a step forward on Wednesday with the appointment of a chief for the Independent Agency Policy Service. The agency, created as a Crown corporation, will be renamed the Alberta Sheriffs Police Service with its headquarters in Calgary. Sat Parhar, Former deputy chief [...] Read More »

Lethbridge Herald The level of the Waterton Reservoir has increased 21 per cent since  early June but at 76 per cent capacity is still below normal,  according to the province’s latest reservoir storage summary table. As of Wednesday, the Oldman Reservoir was at 66 per cent capacity,  down four per cent since June 4. It [...] Read More »

VANCOUVER — British Columbia infrastructure minister says in her eight years as a member of the legislature, she can recall receiving about half a dozen death threats, and considers herself “pretty fortunate” as a provincial politician. Bowinn Ma says she knows it’s strange to say, but she is aware of other elected officials who have [...] Read More »

YELLOWKNIFE — Canada’s environment ministers have endorsed stronger air quality standards for fine particulate matter, while acknowledging the struggles caused by wildfires that can blanket the country in smoke advisories. Provincial, territorial and federal environment ministers met in Yellowknife for the annual meeting of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment. In a joint [...] Read More »

OTTAWA — Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says the federal government is talking to mining and metals giant Rio Tinto about helping the company with liquidity problems caused by the United States’ global steel and aluminum tariffs. During a visit to Saguenay, Que., on Thursday to meet with businesses in the province’s critical aluminum sector, Joly [...] Read More »

Hate aimed at religion, sexual orientation and race or ethnicity has jumped in British Columbia, setting off a funding increase for the RCMP’s hate crimes unit. Public Safety Minister Garry Begg announced an additional $734,000 for the RCMP’s anti-hate crime unit in the province as police-reported hate crimes rose by an average of 23 per [...] Read More »

MONTREAL — A subsidiary of a Norwegian energy company wants to build a liquefied natural gas export project in Quebec. Marinvest Energy Canada says there’s a strong business case for an LNG project in Quebec to export Canadian natural gas to Europe. The company is offering few details about the project, but an elected official [...] Read More »