“We’re pleased about this being approved,” said the Reeve of the RM of Hazelwood. “However, it seems like it’s a temporary measure.

“I would like to see them remove the ban indefinitely.”

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The federal government has announced it will allow farmers in Alberta and Saskatchewan to use rodent poison strychnine to tackle growing gopher populations. Ottawa had originally denied a joint use application from the two province’s to use the chemical in February.

“Under the Emergency Use Registration authorized through the Pest Control Products Act, areas in approximately seven crop districts in southwest, southeast, south central and northwest Saskatchewan will be eligible to access strychnine,” the provincial government said in a news release.

“These areas were identified using Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation claims data and information related to species at risk presence.”

Husband said the most opportune time to deploy the chemical is between March 20 and April 10, when the gophers start to scurry from their burroughs. He said it will be difficult to get strychnine to use, now, within that window.

“Part of my ongoing frustration with this whole thing is that this should have been looked after in February,” Husband said. “Then we could have taken appropriate measures for 2026.”

The federal government banned strychnine in 2024, as it said it posed risks to wildlife that consume poisoned carcasses.

Husband said the chemical was essential to getting rid of Richardson’s ground squirrels feasting in his fields.

“(In) canola fields, gophers leave it completely bare,” he said. “On crops such as barley, wheat, cereal crops, they do lots of damage, they stunt the growth.

“Obviously, the yield is poor in those areas.”

Husband said gopher populations in his area have only grown since the chemical has been banned.

In a post on social media, Premier Scott Moe celebrated the decision to allow strychnine’s use in the province.

“This is a win for Saskatchewan farmers—giving them the tools they need to keep producing and providing,” Moe said.

The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) is also pleased to see the temporarily allowed use of the chemical.

“Producers have been clear that they need effective tools to protect their crops and pastures, and this decision acknowledges that reality,” said SARM President Bill Huber in a news release on Tuesday.

The association said it will work with the federal and provincial government to distribute the chemical.

–With files from The Canadian Press.

The shared road is on the Montana side, but Alberta maintains it.

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North of the road lives Ross Ford.

On the south, it’s Roger Horgus.

Both are in their 60s but remember childhood days bounding back and forth across the invisible demarcation line to play.

It was a generational thing. In 1990, National Geographic magazine profiled the two families as exemplars of amity along the world’s longest undefended border.

No more.

In the age of U.S. President Donald Trump, with American concerns of cross-border drug traffickers and illegal newcomers, the road is set to be closed to Canucks starting this summer.

When that happens, the only member of Ford’s family free to cross the road will be his black-and-white border collie, Geordie.

“It’s unfortunate,” Ford, 64, said in an interview on his farm just east of Coutts, Alta. “We’ve enjoyed free access to the road for I guess about 80 years, way before I was born.

“We’ve always been very close to our neighbours.

“Of course, they live in Montana and that won’t change — but we have this new barrier.”

Horgus, 68, sits drinking coffee at the kitchen table on his farm near Sweet Grass, Mont., and nods in the direction of his nearby neighbour, whom he has known for, well, forever.

“When we grew up, I wouldn’t be surprised if some weeks every day we’d run across and play. Ride bicycles, ride horses, go-karts,” Horgus said.

“(The road closure is) ridiculous. I hate to see it because the Canadians have taken such good care of us and the road, with grading and all of that.”

Horgus said U.S. border patrol officials have told residents there has been an increase in illegal traffic, but he’s seen no evidence.

A silver marker on a hill overlooking Ford’s farm indicates the exact location of the border. Recognizing the Treaty of 1908, it reads Canada on the north side of the marker and the United States on the south.

On a recent spring day, two U.S. border patrol officers pulled over in their vehicles on Border Road to have a chat.

Ford said patrols are usual. But in times past, U.S. officers would wave people through if a driver was heading across to chat with a neighbour.

Soon, the one road now will be two.

Ford said a virtually identical parallel gravel road will be laid down just metres away, on the Canadian side.

“The roads will basically parallel each other for the full length of the road. So we’ll have our road, and they’ll have their road.

“And the border will be in the ditch,” he said with a laugh.

Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen said the province was told last year that changes were coming.

“We were informed by Homeland Security that they were making sure that this and other areas of U.S. soil at the border were going to be enforced,” Dreeshen said in an interview.

“We obviously went through the process to make sure we were able to expedite this (road), working with the County of Warner to make sure local access for Albertans (was available) on the Canadian side of the border.”

Dreeshen said $8 million has been allocated. Work is to begin in April and hopefully be completed by summer.

He understands the frustration many area residents may feel, he said.

“Regardless of the line on the map, you’ll have farmers on both sides of the border, you’ll have family friends on both sides of the border.

“I think obviously that will continue.”

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Smith is the second premier in Alberta’s history to face a recall petition, with the other happening nearly 90 years ago.

Heather VanSnick says her campaign against Smith gathered 2,300 of the roughly 12,000 signatures it needed to move the process forward.

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VanSnick says she still thinks the petition was useful and that 2,300 people calling for better representation in Smith’s Brooks-Medicine Hat riding sends a powerful message.

“This process has made clear that there are many people that don’t feel represented, not just by her as our MLA but by her as our premier,” VanSnick said in an interview Tuesday.

She said she hopes the turnout is enough to prompt change.

“People are telling me that they are tired of leadership that turns to blame, and we need accountability,” VanSnick said.

“We’re tired of seeing division deepen when what we need is a coming together of humanity.”

Smith, in a statement, thanked constituents for their support throughout the petition process.

“My focus and commitment remain unchanged — I will continue working to deliver results for you and listen to your feedback as our government works to grow the economy, improve access to health care, and ensure quality education for our families,” the premier said.

Smith is one of 24 members of the United Conservative Party caucus who had petitions launched against them late last year.

VanSnick had said she was doing it because Smith was ignoring residents and experts when developing policies, a claim the premier has denied and pushed back against.

So far, none of the petitions targeting members of Smith’s caucus have reached their required number of signatures. Two petitions were also launched against legislature members with the Opposition NDP.

Petitioners have three months to collect signatures equal to 60 per cent of the total number of votes cast in their constituency in the 2023 provincial election.

If successful, a constituency-wide vote would be held on whether the politician keeps their seat. If the member loses, a byelection would be held.

Elections Alberta announced Friday that Mitch Sylvestre and the Alberta Prosperity Project have from Saturday until May 2 to collect just under 178,000 signatures to qualify.

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“Citizen initiative petition signature sheets have been issued,” Elections Alberta said in a statement.

“The proponent may now proceed with collecting signatures.”

Elections Alberta had already announced before Christmas that it had approved the referendum question.

But it said the group could not collect signatures until it had finalized details, including hiring a chief financial officer.

The question seeks a yes or no answer to: “Do you agree that the province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?”

Sylvestre could not be immediately reached for comment.

He has previously said a referendum is needed because of federal government restrictions on oil development alongside dim hopes for electoral change in Ottawa.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 2, 2026.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to unveil today a memorandum of understanding with Alberta on a possible new oil pipeline to the coast.

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A source with knowledge of the agreement, who is not authorized to discuss details before they are made public, says the agreement will stipulate that no pipeline can go forward without the Pathways Alliance carbon-capture project.

The source also said the agreement will include a strengthened industrial carbon pricing system in Alberta.

The Pathways project is a proposed $16.5 billion carbon capture and storage network planned for northern Alberta.

Asked Wednesday whether he told Alberta that Ottawa would repeal its ban on large tankers off the northern B.C. coast — a necessary precondition for building a pipeline — Carney said he would make that clear today.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2025

Smith’s United Conservatives, using their majority in the legislature and passing procedural rules to put one-hour limits on discussion, voted and passed the bill through three debate stages in six and a half hours, finishing at 2 a.m.

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During debate, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides told the house the government faced an “undeniable moral imperative” to stop a three-week strike that was harming students’ social and educational development.

“This strike has moved beyond the state of inconvenience,” Nicolaides said.

Smith was not in the house for the introduction or the passage of the bill, having left earlier Monday evening on a trade mission to Saudi Arabia and other destinations in the Middle East.

The Opposition NDP voted against the bill, calling the use of the notwithstanding clause an authoritarian abuse of power from a government that professes to honour freedom and liberty.

Students are slated to be back in classes Wednesday.

The move puts Smith’s government on a potential collision course with more than 350,000 workers in other provincial unions, which promised an “unprecedented response” if the government invoked the clause to override teachers’ constitutional rights to assemble.

Some teachers and supporters were in the legislature chamber gallery and there were shouts of “Shame!” as Finance Minister Nate Horner formally introduced the bill late Monday afternoon.

There were more shouts of “Shame” after the bill passed Tuesday morning.

Before the bill was introduced, Smith told reporters the size of the strike and the need for ongoing labour stability in schools required the clause, which overrides Charter rights for up to five years.

“This is a very unique situation we find ourselves in. This is a unique strike. We’ve never had 51,000 workers off the job at the same time,” Smith said.

“I do not think people should indicate any broader type of approach (using the notwithstanding clause) when it comes to labour action.”

The strike has already affected the more than 740,000 students out of schools since it began Oct. 6.

Jason Schilling, head of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, said the union’s executive council will meet soon to determine next steps, but said the use of the notwithstanding clause is a black mark and a disturbing precedent.

“This is a sad day for teachers. This is a sad day for Albertans to have a government that is willing to trample on your Charter rights for their own purposes,” Schilling told reporters.

“They should be ashamed of themselves, and they’re not,” he said. “They will use it again on others.”

Under the bill, the Alberta Teachers’ Association and its members would face hefty fines if they don’t comply: up to $500 a day for individuals and $500,000 a day for the union.

It would also impose a collective bargaining agreement previously put forward by the union and the province, which rank-and-file teachers overwhelmingly rejected in a vote. Teachers would receive a 12 per cent wage hike over four years, with a promise to hire 3,000 more teachers and 1,500 more educational assistants.

The bill also overrides protections in the Alberta Bill of Rights and the Alberta Human Rights Act.

The teachers from public, separate and francophone schools walked off the job after the two sides failed to find common ground, mainly on the issue of class sizes and complexity. The union called for immediate action on overcrowded classrooms and a lack of supports for students who need specialized care.

Smith has said the issues can’t be solved with a one-size-fits-all approach at the bargaining table, but require a flexible, collaborative approach.

On Monday, she said the legislation wouldn’t address all concerns. She committed to collecting and publicly reporting data on classroom sizes – a measure abandoned by the United Conservatives under former premier Jason Kenney – and to forming a special panel on classroom complexity.

However, the premier called the idea of a class size cap “arbitrary,” arguing it has failed in the past.

Larger labour unrest may be on the horizon.

Late last week, Common Front, a coalition of 30 Alberta unions representing 350,000 workers, issued a statement promising an “unprecedented response” if the notwithstanding clause was invoked.

The group said using the clause is an abuse of process and effectively undermines the leverage unions have in negotiations.

Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour and the point person for the Common Front, told reporters they are looking at all options, including a strike.

He said they will be meeting Tuesday with affiliated unions and others to finalize a plan they will announce Wednesday.

“If the government puts a gun to the head of the teachers, and they’re not able to continue their strike, then we in the broader labour movement will stand where they’re not able to,” he said.

There’s political precedent for using the notwithstanding clause in an attempt to end labour action.

In 2022, Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government used it to prevent a court challenge to a bill stopping 55,000 school support workers from going on strike.

They walked off the job on the day the legislation went into effect, shutting down thousands of schools. But public outcry prompted the province to repeal it.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2025.

Fraser said it would be “unimaginable” for a federal government to steer clear of a case affecting Charter rights that will have lasting impacts and suggested the premiers’ argument is “untenable.”

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The minister, who is also attorney general, told reporters Wednesday morning this should be a legal matter decided through the courts, not the subject of political debate and pressure.

“The interplay of the notwithstanding clause, vis-a-vis the rights and freedoms that the Charter guarantees to all Canadians, is something that will be of national importance, that will have lasting impacts,” Fraser said.

“It is unimaginable that a federal government would not intervene to share its perspective on the meaning of the Charter — particularly at a time when, in Canada and around the world, democracies are increasingly under strain, courts’ independence are being questioned.

“We are going to stand ardently in defence of the Charter and the rule of law, and thankfully it will be the court and not a federal or provincial government who will make the decisions.”

In a filing submitted last month to the Supreme Court of Canada in a case on Quebec’s secularism law, the federal government argues constitutional limits on the notwithstanding clause should prevent it from being used to wipe out rights guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Constitution’s notwithstanding clause gives provincial legislatures or Parliament the ability to pass legislation that effectively overrides provisions of the Charter for a five-year period.

In a letter sent Tuesday to Prime Minister Mark Carney, the premiers of Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia say the federal government should withdraw its court submission because it amounts to a “complete disavowal of the constitutional bargain that brought the Charter into being.”

The premiers argue Ottawa’s argument threatens national unity.

“The federal government’s position amounts to a direct attack on the foundational constitutional principles of federalism and democracy,” the letter says.

But Fraser said Canada should be “very careful” to guard against the erosion of rights.

He said Canada’s possible “future downfall as a nation, should it ever come,” will not come about through invasion but through “some future government who is empowered by an erosion of our rights today.”

“If we are not very careful, we are going to see, bit by bit, the rights that we enjoy as Canadians will come to cease to exist and we will have no one but ourselves to blame.”

Speaking to reporters last month, Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the court intervention “the worst decision” that Carney has ever made

Ford said elected provincial legislatures should not be blocked by unelected judges.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2025.

RCMP Corporal Gina Slaney says that there are maps of the search area at the centre, which is set up in the Crowsnest Sports Complex in Coleman, and that it’s specifically for people who know the backcountry.

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Darius Macdougall was last seen a week ago while walking with young family members in the Crowsnest Pass area.

Slaney says it’s hoped that people who are highly familiar with the area may shed light on possible places the boy may be.

“He looked at me and I looked at him and I thought: that one’s cute,” said Entz, of Vulcan County, Alta.

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She asked her boss at the dairy farm if she could take the calf home once he was weaned off milk. He said yes.

For reasons she didn’t understand, Entz, 29, had always wanted a steer she could ride.

She had no intention of raising one that would become a global phenomenon, taller than a pickup truck, as heavy as a rhinoceros — her own bovine version of Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Guinness World Records announced Beef as the world’s tallest living steer at 1.95 metres tall (six foot five), edging out by one centimetre the record held by an Oregon steer named Romeo.

Beef, now eight years old, last weighed in at 1,100 kilograms (2,500 pounds), when officials took his measurements two years ago as the first step in confirming the record.

He’s grown since then, Entz said, which Beef confirmed when he could no longer fit inside his trailer earlier this year.

Jasmine Entz stands with her Guinness Book of World Record breaking eight-year-old Holstein steer called “Beef,” who weighs 2,400 pounds and stands nearly two metres tall, and a normal sized Holstein cow on her ranch in Vulcan County, Alta., Friday, Sept. 26, 2025.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

About 45 kilograms of hay is needed each day to power the hulking Holstein, Entz said, at a cost of about $400 a month.

“I was always told that steers never stopped growing. And I was like, ‘That’s got to be a lie,'” she said. “Except here we are, at eight years old, and he’s still growing.”

Beef is a breed of cattle often fed to eventually be slaughtered for meat. Despite his name, he was never meant to be anything more than a pet.

Entz started training him to pull a cart and later to saddle up and ride.

She was riding him by the time he turned two, and it was sheer joy, she said.

But that only lasted one season. That year, Entz gave Beef the winter off after he was injured. She hasn’t saddled him up since, in part because she’d need to get a customized tack to fit his body.

In those intervening years, she said she realized through suggestions from friends that Beef’s size likely put him in record territory.

Beef is now living out his days grazing across the farm with his “best buddy” Josie, a white cow covered in black speckles, a horse named Talent and more than 50 miniature goats.

“He literally lounges. That’s the best way to put it — he doesn’t do much of anything,” Entz said.

Except eat.

And that makes fall a special time.

Last year, Beef needed just three hours to polish off an entire post-Halloween pickup full of pumpkins.

“He sees a pumpkin coming towards him,” said Entz, “and he lights right up.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2025.

EDMONTON — Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and 213 others vying for a seat in the House of Commons will be in the spotlight Monday, as voters in a rural Alberta riding head to the polls.

Two political science professors say Poilievre is expected to handily win the byelection in Battle River-Crowfoot, a sprawling eastern Alberta riding stretching from Edmonton to Calgary. The riding and its previous incarnations have been a Tory stronghold for a century.

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They say the only question is: by how much?

“In every election from 2004 to 2025, the vote share garnered by the Conservatives’ winning candidate has been at least 80 per cent,” said Julie Simmons with the University of Guelph in Ontario.

The one exception was in 2021, when Conservative incumbent Damien Kurek got 71 per cent of the vote, largely due to the right-wing People’s Party of Canada eating up some of his votes, Simmons said.

“This is just certainly an exceptionally strong riding for the Conservative Party,” she said.

Lori Williams, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said Poilievre needs to not only win the riding but do it “decisively,” so electors can trust he’ll be a good Opposition leader and pass his January leadership review.

“He absolutely needs to sail over this hurdle,” she said.

“But if he clears this one, he’s then got to clear the, ‘How am I going to be an effective Opposition leader in this climate? How can I be pro-Canadian and critical of the government?'”

The byelection was called in June after Kurek, who won the seat again in the April general election with 83 per cent of votes, stepped down to allow Poilievre to run.

Poilievre lost his long-held Ottawa-area seat to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy.

In Delia, families, farmers, and energy workers know the stakes. They are ready for national leadership to repeal Carney’s reckless ban on gas-powered cars, stop his Liberal gun grab, and defend the people who power, feed, and protect this country. pic.twitter.com/VQxTz0dCVb

— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) August 17, 2025

Simmons said if Poilievre sees less than the average percentage of votes Conservatives have received in the last few elections, it could be because of vocal challengers like Independent candidate Bonnie Critchley.

The military veteran has described Poilievre as a parachute candidate who only wants to represent the riding to progress his political career.

Poilievre was born and raised in Calgary but has lived in Ottawa for the last two decades.

A majority of the candidates on the ballot are part of the Longest Ballot Committee, a protest group calling for various changes to Canada’s election system. They could also put a dent in Poilievre’s vote share, Simmons said.

“For some people, this might be a protest vote against the Conservative Party,” she said.

Other candidates include Darcy Spady, from the energy sector, for the Liberals. The NDP’s Katherine Swampy is a former band councillor for Samson Cree Nation.

Also running for the seat is Libertarian Party candidate Michael Harris, who wants to win so a referendum over whether Alberta should separate from the rest of Canada can make headway.

Thick coil-bound, 32-page laminated booklets listing the record 214 candidates are to be available at voting stations.

Elections Canada has said, for the first time ever in Canadian history, it’s using a blank ballot because there are too many candidates to put on the piece of paper.

Voters won’t be marking a box with an X. Instead, they must hand write the name of their preferred candidate in a blank space.

If a voter misspells a candidate’s name, Elections Canada said it will still be counted.

More than 14,000 people out of almost 86,000 registered voters cast votes in advance polls.

A spokesperson for Poilievre’s campaign has said the party leader plans to be in Camrose, the riding’s largest municipality, on Monday

Elections Canada said counting on election night is expected to take longer than usual.

— with files from Lisa Johnson

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