Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press

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.

Before he launched a campaign that would see him take over as leader of Alberta’s New Democrats, Naheed Nenshi worried politics had become too polarized, too toxic for him.

But ultimately that was why the man known for espousing “politics in full sentences” decided he had to return.

“The players make the game. And if we abandon the game because it's so awful, then the game will get worse,” Nenshi said in an interview before winning the party’s leadership vote on the first ballot on Saturday.

“We need a new government very badly, and we're not a debating society.

Former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi’s appeal to new members outside the traditional fold of the Alberta NDP has propelled him to the helm of the party.

Nenshi becomes the first from Calgary to lead the New Democrats, easily securing the win with 86 per cent of the vote on the first ballot of the party's biggest leadership contest.

The race was pegged as a battle between the NDP's ideological roots and political pragmatism in the traditionally conservative province.

Cheryl Oates learned that she needed to lace up a good pair of running shoes to keep up with Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley.

“When I think about her turning me into a runner, despite the fact that I didn't want to be runner, it’s an interesting parallel to her politics,” says Oates, who was head of communications when Notley was premier.

“Given the chance, she will either wear you down or convince you."

On Saturday afternoon, the party will be Notley’s crew no more. It's set to announce a new leader.