Alberta judge grants temporary injunction blocking a transgender health-care bill
An Alberta judge has put on hold a provincial law that bans doctors from providing gender-affirming care to youth.
Justice Allison Kuntz, in a written judgment Friday, said the law raises serious Charter issues that need to be hashed out in court, and issued a temporary injunction against it before it fully came into effect.
Kuntz wrote that a temporary stop is needed while the issue is debated.
Alberta economy back in the red with $5.2-billion deficit budget
Alberta’s finances, tied for generations to the steep peaks and sharp valleys of oil and gas prices, are once again plunging deep into deficit, with no immediate relief in sight.
Finance Minister Nate Horner introduced a budget Thursday that projects a $5.2-billion deficit this fiscal year on total spending of $79 billion.
That represents an $11-billion swing from the current budget, which wraps up at the end of March and is on track to register a surplus close to $6 billion.
No indication Trump will back down on tariffs, but retaliating not the answer: Smith
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, fresh off a weekend visit with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, says if Ottawa uses an energy embargo to combat Trump's promised tariffs, it would spark a "national unity crisis."
"Oil and gas is owned by the provinces, principally Alberta, and we won't stand for that," Smith told reporters in a virtual news conference Monday.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly hasn't ruled out an energy embargo in response to Trump's promise to impose punishing 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian products.