Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press

Alberta's government announced Friday residents who are not immunocompromised or on social programs will soon have to pay to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

In a late afternoon news release, the government said that since provinces took over responsibility for procuring the shots in April, it has wanted to cut down on waste and recoup costs.

It said an estimated one million COVID-19 vaccine doses, or just over half of Alberta's supply, were not used during the 2023-2024 respiratory virus season. It said $135 million worth of shots were wasted.

The Alberta government says it is considering letting oil companies inject wastewater deep underground as a way to manage the toxic tailings that are accumulating in the oil sands.

The idea is one of five being put forward by a government-appointed committee tasked with studying potential tailings management options.

A new report from the committee says injecting mine water underground is a practical solution but considering over 1.4 trillion litres of tailings exist as of 2023 it can't be the only option.

Alberta's government has ditched a new fee schedule for breweries that would have seen the province's oldest beer maker pay significantly more in taxes.

The schedule, introduced in February after Alberta tabled its budget, substantially lowered the production threshold breweries needed to meet before they paid the highest fee to the government, while also adjusting the production limits and fees building up to the cap.

Alberta's government says it's extending the deadline for a former judge to investigate allegations of high-level conflict of interest and arm-twisting in health care contracts.

Former Manitoba provincial court chief judge Raymond Wyant was expected to submit an interim report to the government today, followed by a full report next month.

The government employee facilitating the investigation says the number of documents provided and interviews requested by the former judge means that initial time frame is no longer feasible.

A group representing Canada's doctors is challenging the constitutionality of Alberta's legislation limiting access to medical treatment for transgender youth, arguing it violates their Charter right to freedom of conscience.

The Canadian Medical Association says the court challenge is meant to protect the relationship between patients and doctors when it comes to making treatment decisions.

The legislation was part of a trio of bills Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government passed last year affecting transgender people.

A new report is warning the annual levy charged to Alberta oil companies to fund the cleanup of orphaned oil and gas wells remains too low to keep up with the rate of surrendering.

The report, written by former University of Calgary Public Interest Law Clinic lawyer Drew Yewchuk, says this year's levy rate combined with low rates in previous years is leading to an estimated funding shortfall of $1.2 billion.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has called three byelections to take place on June 23.

The three vacant ridings are Edmonton-Strathcona, Edmonton-Ellerslie and Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi will run in Edmonton-Strathcona, which became vacant when former premier Rachel Notley resigned her seat late last year. It'll be Nenshi's first chance at getting a seat in the legislature since taking over the party reins last summer.

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.