Airdrie

The Canadian Meat Council is warning that the Liberal government’s legislation to ease the movement of goods and services within Canada could actually undermine red meat exports.

Lauren Martin, senior director of public affairs for the organization, says the bill is raising questions about whether it could lead the federal government to recognize provincial rules for inspecting meat processing facilities as equal to federal standards.

The Calgary Fire Department has lifted its boating advisory for the Bow River, saying river conditions have improved enough to allow the resumption of normal activities.

Airdrie is no longer under a fire advisory, according to the Alberta Fire Bans map, which was updated on Tuesday.

The advisory was lifted one day after Rocky View County ended its own countywide fire advisory.

Airdrie had been under a fire advisory since May 30.

Rocky View County graduated 20 new part-time firefighters on May 23, following two weeks of training and station placement across the region, according to a County news release.

Eight new firefighters joined the Balzac Station, four were assigned to Elbow Valley, four to Bearspaw, and four to Springbank, the County said.

Acting Fire Chief John Evans said, “We have a composite staffing model, which is exactly that. We have career fire stations and paid-per-call fire stations.”

Alberta's auditor general has been granted his request for nearly $1 million in extra funding to dig deeper into allegations of corruption in private health care contracts.

Auditor general Doug Wylie says the scope and complexity of the probe means his office needs to hire additional help and cover legal costs.

Members from both the United Conservative Party government and Opposition NDP who sit on the legislature committee that approved the request say Wylie is doing important work.

Tara Sawyer of the United Conservative Party has won the provincial by-election in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, while Alberta’s New Democrats have captured both Edmonton ridings, according to unofficial results from Elections Alberta.

Elections Alberta says all vote counts remain unofficial until the official tabulation is completed on July 3.

Canada Day in Alberta could come in hot, if The Old Farmer’s Almanac has it right.

The publication is forecasting “hot temperatures for [the] Canada Day holiday” across the Prairie provinces. The Farmers’ Almanac offers a slightly tamer prediction, calling for “sunny, very mild” weather between July 1 and 4.

But short-range forecasts suggest the heat could come with a side of thunder.

A previous collision, as initially reported by Airdrie transit, which warned that "road traffic accident that has completely closed the Balzac bridge" has been cleared. 

There is no word on the number of vehicles involved, though motorists can expect delays. 

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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is set to announce today next steps in her plan to challenge what she and her government have called unfair intrusions from the federal government.

Smith will be in Calgary to announce details of the Alberta Next Panel. 

She will be joined by Adam Legge of the Business Council of Alberta at a news conference in Heritage Park.

A top federal official said fixing the payroll problems caused by Phoenix cost taxpayers more than $5 billion — and they'll keep paying extra to run two public service payroll platforms at once as Ottawa weans itself off the problem-plagued system.

Alex Benay, associate deputy minister at Public Services and Procurement Canada, said the alternative to running the Phoenix system in tandem with its replacement, Dayforce, would have been worse.

"The unfortunate situation is there's no easy path," he said. "This is the one that's going to impact employees the least."