Fall sitting opens with UCP MLAs split over separatism and a leadership review push
The legislature returned Tuesday for 19 sitting days as four constituency associations voted for a review of Premier Danielle Smith's leadership.
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Alberta's legislature opened its fall sitting Tuesday, the first sitting since last May, with 13 or 14 bills expected from the government, according to house leader Joseph Schow.
The bills planned include bike lanes and e-scooters, AI data centres, auto insurance changes and an overhaul of school report cards. The first bill introduced Tuesday would remove DEI hiring practices from the public sector and strengthen laws on deepfake intimate imagery.
The sitting comes as four UCP constituency associations have voted to hold a leadership review of Premier Danielle Smith. Mitch Sylvestre, president of the Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul association, said separatists are a supermajority of UCP membership and accused Smith of abandoning the party's grassroots. Smith responded that separatists who want to represent the UCP should "join a different party."
Official Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi said in question period that the government is too focused on culture war issues and failing on affordability and health care access. He called the October referendum a "colossal waste of time" and proposed a non-confidence motion.
Shane Getson, a two-term MLA, announced his immediate resignation Monday. The government's office said the next provincial election is set for Oct. 18, 2027, so no byelection will be called.
