Karen Kleiss
Edmonton Journal
Edmonton, AB, Canada
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Past articles by Karen:
NDP staffer also registered Alberta lobbyist
A union activist hired by Rachel Notley’s NDP government remained a registered lobbyist until Tuesday due to an “administrative error,” officials said. Tony Clark was the research director for the Alberta Federation of Labour until he was hired earlier this year by the NDP government. He now serves as the chief of staff to Human Services Minister Irfan Sabir — the same… → Read More
Children who have died in provincial care focus of Monday vigil outside legislature
A coalition of advocacy groups will fill the legislature steps with hundreds of candles and teddy bears Monday night in a vigil for children who have died in provincial care. → Read More
Premier, labour minister hear the case for bold increase to minimum wage
Premier Rachel Notley said Friday she hopes to axe Alberta’s two-tier minimum hourly wage rate. Notley and her labour minister spent Thursday and Friday discussing the issue with interest groups. → Read More
Business groups worry at pace of minimum wage hike
Premier Rachel Notley said Thursday her government remains committed to hiking the minimum wage to $15 an hour and signalled she favours abolishing Alberta’s two-tier minimum wage, despite concerns from business groups. → Read More
Home care to get promised funding boost, Alberta health minister says
Alberta’s health minister said Wednesday the NDP government plans to make good on an election promise to boost home care funding by $30 million this year, and by $60 million in each of the next four years. → Read More
Low-key session, high-stakes game: NDP government convenes for the first time
Alberta’s new NDP government is aiming to host a quick, low-key summer session to pass a handful of money and accountability bills, but political observers say the high-stakes sitting is really about managing expectations and laying critical groundwork for the next four years. → Read More
Rathgeber tables bill aimed at repeat offenders
Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber has tabled a federal private member’s bill that would make it more difficult for repeat offenders to be released on bail. Rathgeber named Bill C-686 after RCMP Const. David Wynn, who was shot and killed at the Apex Casino in St. Albert on Jan. 17. → Read More
Notley government takes shape
The new NDP government has started to take shape after a host of controversial and high-profile political appointments to key roles in Alberta ministries and in Premier Rachel Notley’s office. Chiefs of staff have been hired for all 12 cabinet ministers, most with strong ties to organized labour or long-standing party affiliation. But many are from outside Alberta, a move critics say means… → Read More
$2 million for municipal energy efficiency: Phillips
Environment Minister Shannon Phillips on Thursday announced $2 million in new funding for municipal climate change initiatives. The money will be used to encourage energy-efficient retrofits at municipal buildings from town halls to community leagues to fire halls. → Read More
Alberta NDP appoints B.C. ‘apparatchik’ to highly paid civil service job: critic
The Wildrose opposition alleged Monday that Premier Rachel Notley is politicizing Alberta’s civil service by appointing an NDP “apparatchik” to a new $287,000-a-year position, but the NDP says they’ve just hired the right man for a short-term job. → Read More
Alberta NDP appoints B.C. ‘apparatchik’ to highly paid civil service job: critic
The Wildrose opposition alleged Monday that Premier Rachel Notley is politicizing Alberta’s civil service by appointing an NDP “apparatchik” to a new $287,000-a-year position, but the NDP says they’ve just hired the right man for a short-term job. → Read More
Alberta Tory party executive should resign after ‘misogynist’ attack on health minister: critic
A high-ranking Progressive Conservative party executive was lambasted on social media Monday after he publicly attacked Alberta’s health minister, suggesting her appearance undermines her legitimacy as a lawmaker. In a Facebook post, southern Alberta vice-president Jordan Lien body-shamed Health Minister Sarah Hoffman and suggested her decision Sunday to ban the sale of menthol tobacco… → Read More
$42M Fort McMurray seniors project gets go-ahead while government was in limbo
An unnamed bureaucrat rubber-stamped a $42-million deal to build a controversial Fort McMurray seniors’ home while the Alberta government was leaderless and in limbo after the May 5 provincial election. Acting on old instructions from the ousted Progressive Conservative government, the official inked the deal with Ledcor Construction on May 13, government records show. → Read More
Girl, 9, nearly died from dental infection while on Alberta child welfare officials’ watch: report
A shy, nine-year-old Alberta girl almost died from malnutrition, septic shock and congestive heart failure caused by a preventable dental infection, while child welfare officials looked on. After the child and youth advocate released a report on the girl’s case Wednesday, critics called her story “heartbreaking,” the government “grossly negligent,” and her case a… → Read More
New women’s minister faces troubling numbers
Alberta has shed the dubious distinction of being the only Canadian province without a minister responsible for the status of women, but the rookie MLA at the helm of the new ministry has a herculean task ahead. After nearly two decades without a legislated women’s representative at the cabinet table, minister Shannon Phillips inherits the biggest gender wage gap in the country, low… → Read More
Notley to review agencies, boards and commissions
Premier-designate Rachel Notley has pledged to continue her predecessor’s review of Alberta’s 320 agencies, boards and commissions, which control more than half of the province’s roughly $40-billion budget. Notley said she intends to review pay scales, make salaries public under the provincial sunshine list and assess the “content as well as the quantity” of the organizations, known as ABCs. → Read More
Impact of unprecedented Alberta minimum wage increase disputed
Alberta is among a small number of jurisdictions with plans to significantly boost pay for low-income workers, becoming the first Canadian province and fifth place in North America to set its sights on a $15-an-hour minimum wage. → Read More
Alberta Premier-designate Rachel Notley’s promises change as she meets her caucus
NDP Premier-designate Rachel Notley stressed the diversity of her new caucus Saturday as she met for the first time with the 52 people elected Tuesday. “We are young parents, we are grandparents, we are business owners and workers; we are nurses and health care professionals, we are students, and we are teachers,” she said at Government House in Edmonton. → Read More
Long-term strategy, preparation behind ‘shocking’ NDP win
The orange tsunami that hit Alberta on Tuesday night was not a freak storm. When Rachel Notley’s NDP won a commanding 53-seat majority, pundits said the victory was “stunning,” “shocking,” even “a lesson from the increasingly unpredictable voter.” → Read More
Cumbersome process of installing NDP government begins
Premier-designate Rachel Notley has begun the long and cumbersome process of establishing a new government in Alberta after 44 years of Progressive Conservative rule. On Thursday, she met with Lt. Gov. Donald Ethell, who formally asked if she was capable of forming government — the first step in a process expected to take up to a month. → Read More