If you’re not a monthly patron to the Progress Report yet, we get it. Finances are tight, one red pepper is worth approximately $17 dollars and yet Galen Weston is still just walking through the streets mostly unmolested. 

Position: Director of Operations

One out of every five contracts Alberta Health Services (AHS) awarded to private nursing agencies over the past two-and-a-half years sent contract nurses to health-care facilities in the Calgary and Edmonton areas, according to documents obtained through a freedom of information request.

Edmonton Police Service (EPS) Chief Dale McFee called for restrictions on immigration multiple times, saying that “when one more is added, there’s more risk,” in a recent podcast appearance. 

Between April 2021 and April 2024 Alberta Health Services increased spending on private for-profit staffing agencies from just over $5 million a year to more than $154 million a year, an increase of roughly 3,000 per cent, according to documents obtained through a freedom of information request. 

The much rumoured appointment is finally real. Former prime minister Stephen Harper is now the chair of AIMCo. 

A man diametrically opposed to the concept of defined pension benefit plans for public sector workers is now the chair of an organization responsible for managing the investments of 375,000 Alberta pensioners. I don’t want to belabour the discussion around Stephen Harper too much but the man’s history is relevant. He built a political career campaigning against pensions. He refused to expand Canada Pension Plan benefits while Prime Minister and he pushed the age for receiving Old Age Security benefits from 65 to 67. 

The use of private for-profit nursing or staffing agencies is rising dramatically, warns a study from the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU).

Former Conservative MP Chris Alexander’s allegation that David Pugliese has been a Russian and Soviet intelligence asset is ludicrous.

The parents of a 27-year-old man who was killed after Calgary police officers shot him four times in 2015 challenged Chief Mark Neufeld’s decision to dismiss the possibility that officers colluded to claim their son lunged at them. 

The Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) requested and received a disputes inquiry board (DIB) from the United Conservative Party government after CUPE Local 3550, the union that represents educational support staff in EPSB, were set to go on strike on Oct. 24. This follows the same tactic being used on CUPE locals representing public and Catholic school support staff in Fort McMurray in September after both voted overwhelmingly in support of job action.