Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith removed her government's deputy minister of health Wednesday but bucked calls for a public inquiry into allegations of government interference in lucrative medical contracts.

Speaking to media in Calgary for the first time since the allegations surfaced two weeks ago, Smith said Andre Tremblay is being replaced in the Health ministry.

However, he is to continue as the head of Alberta Health Services, the province's front-line health agency.

The leader of Alberta’s Opposition NDP says it’s time to fire Health Minister Adriana LaGrange given new allegations surrounding high-level corruption in medical contracts.

Naheed Nenshi said Thursday if the claims made this week in a lawsuit are true, it would be the worst scandal and coverup in Alberta’s history.

“We cannot negotiate with other countries while being led by a banana republic. Albertans deserve ethical government," he said.

Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange says an unnamed third party has been called in for an investigation into reports of high-level government interference and questionable deal-making in medical contracts and product buys.

"We are going to have an external party do it, and so I am looking forward to making information - as much as possible - public so that people know what's going on," LaGrange told reporters at the legislature Tuesday.

"People deserve to know what's going on and we want to make sure that happens.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is travelling back to Washington, D.C., this week, along with her provincial counterparts, to lobby U.S. lawmakers and industry players amid continued tariff threats.

Smith confirmed the trip in a Monday news release, saying she will embrace a "Team Canada approach" to convince Americans the levies would harm workers and businesses on both sides of the border. She also plans to continue highlighting the "significant" role Alberta energy exports play in helping the U.S.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she's "greatly heartened" by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff pause, saying the eleventh-hour deal with Canada follows through on a border security measure she had been calling for.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said late Monday the tariffs will be paused for "at least 30 days" while Canada appoints a "fentanyl czar" and works with the U.S. to combat drug trafficking and organized crime.

Canada's Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault apologized Friday, after shifting claims about his Indigenous identity came under scrutiny.

The Liberal member of Parliament said at an unrelated announcement in Edmonton that he's sorry he hadn't been clear, "with everything that I know now."

"I apologize that I wasn't as clear as I could have been about who I am and my family's history,” he said, adding that he's still learning about his family's heritage "in real time."

The federal housing minister and the Alberta minister in charge of the file have spoken about funding to tackle encampments and homelessness.

The phone conversation comes after Housing Minister Sean Fraser said in a statement Tuesday that Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan hadn't formally responded to an offer of funding.

Officials say that during the call, Jason Nixon, Alberta's minister of seniors, community and social services, expressed his government's continued willingness to partner with Ottawa and to cost-match the additional federal funding.

Residents in Calgary and surrounding communities, fresh off having to conserve water for weeks due to a water main break, are soon going to have to do it all over again.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek announced Wednesday extended tests on more than 10 kilometres of pipe have revealed 16 more problem spots that need to be fixed.

Work on those spots is to begin in about three weeks, on Aug. 28, and are expected to last one month.

One-third of all structures in the townsite of Jasper are gone, burned to the ground in this week’s wildfire, officials confirmed Friday.

Premier Danielle Smith said there are 1,113 structures in the picturesque Rocky Mountain resort community.

She said Wednesday night’s wildfire destroyed 358 of them and damaged seven more.

The structures were homes and businesses. Much of the damage was contained to the west side of town.

Smith said critical infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and water treatment services, remain intact.

One of two raging, wind-whipped wildfires bearing down on the historic Jasper townsite reached its southern outskirts early Wednesday night as a last-ditch attempt to reroute it failed.

Around the same time, all first responders were ordered out of Jasper National Park for their safety and to give fire crews more room to operate.

Firefighters remained in the town to douse spot fires and maintain sprinkler lines. Everyone else was reminded to get out.