Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press

Canada's western premiers say they've agreed to identify, plan and develop new economic corridors to connect provincial resources to international markets.

A joint statement issued Thursday says doing so would boost Canada's market access in Asia and Europe while the country fights a trade war with the United States and China.

Parts of Alberta's personal information protection legislation have been ruled unconstitutional.

But the ruling from Court of King's Bench Justice Colin Feasby also upheld an order to stop an American facial recognition company from collecting images of Albertans.

Clearview AI scrapes the internet and social media for images of people and adds them to a database, which it markets to law enforcement agencies as a facial recognition tool.

Calgary legislature member Ric McIver is the new Speaker of the Alberta legislature.

McIver resigned as municipal affairs minister early Tuesday and soon after was voted into the Speaker's job by his peers, defeating Opposition NDP candidate Heather Sweet.

After the vote result was announced, McIver was ceremoniously dragged to the Speaker's chair by Premier Danielle Smith and Opposition NDP house leader Christina Gray.

Some jovial heel dragging on McIver's part meant Gray dropped his elbow and started pushing him from behind while Smith led the way.

Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver has resigned from cabinet amid speculation he will run for the vacant position of Speaker of the house.

Premier Danielle Smith, in announcing his resignation, said in a statement Tuesday that she's grateful for McIver's commitment and hard work in serving Albertans.

Tourism Minister Joseph Schow will take on McIver's portfolio on an interim basis, Smith said.

"Minister Schow will be available to municipalities around the province as they continue to navigate the uncertainty of the wildfire season," she said.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government is freezing its industrial carbon price effective immediately at $95 per tonne of emissions.

Smith told reporters Monday the move is critical to keep industry competitive and defend jobs as Canada navigates a tariff fight with the United States.

"With the change in government south of the border, it is essential that we have a reasonable carbon pricing system, not one that will price our industries out of global markets," she said.

Alberta's access to information watchdog has found the provincial government to be non-compliant with its own freedom of information rules.

A new report from information and privacy commissioner Diane McLeod says Alberta's government has implemented internal procedures and policies that allow government employees to wrongfully deny freedom of information requests.

Alberta's now-former Speaker of the legislature says he's excited to display some partisanship in his last days as an elected official.

Nathan Cooper announced this week that he is to resign his seat in the assembly to become Alberta's representative to the United States in Washington.

The United Conservative Party MLA had been Alberta's legislature Speaker — the non-voting and non-partisan debate referee — since 2019.

The Speaker of the Alberta legislature is resigning his seat in the assembly to become the province's representative to the United States.

"Serving this assembly has been one of the greatest honours of my lifetime," Nathan Cooper said Wednesday in a speech to the house announcing his resignation.

"Working as the assembly's chief diplomat has equipped me in, and to be ready for, my next role serving Albertans in a new and meaningful way."

The chief of staff to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is defending a business class flight he charged to taxpayers, citing a health condition that increases his risk of blood clots.

The flight in question was a return flight he took from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Calgary earlier this year when he accompanied Smith to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.

The CBC reported this week that the two-day stop in Florida for Smith, Anderson and two others cost Alberta taxpayers about $10,000, with Anderson's flight home billed at nearly $3,000 alone.

Alberta's government says three children are in intensive care in hospital after contracting measles.

A health ministry spokesperson declined to disclose their ages, citing privacy concerns.

At a news conference Monday, Dr. Sunil Sookram, Alberta's interim chief medical officer of health, said there have been no deaths.

Sookram said the risk of getting the highly contagious disease in Alberta is at its greatest point in almost 30 years.