While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Lisa Johnson.
EDMONTON -- A former backbench member of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative caucus is back in the fold, a day after standing in the house to apologize for past actions and statements.
Alberta's elections agency said Thursday it believes 568 people accessed a voter list at the heart of a massive privacy breach involving a separatist group. The group, called the Centurion Project, had made a publicly accessible database featuring the names and addresses of nearly three million Alberta voters. The website was shut down last week after Elections Alberta secured a...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is criticizing the Opposition for not telling her about a massive privacy breach at a meeting attended by one of her caucus staffers. Smith says the United Conservative Party caucus staffer didn't realize a database shown at the virtual meeting three weeks ago involved a privacy breach with the personal information of three million Alberta voters.
Alberta's United Conservative Party caucus says staff attended a meeting to discuss how to access a website that's now the focus of investigations into a massive breach of personal data. The caucus says in a statement that staff regularly attend meetings of political interest and, in this case, organizers told them the database was obtained legally. The database contained the...
EDMONTON -- Advocates in Alberta have lost a court battle in their fight against provincial restrictions on medical treatment for transgender youth.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says a key approval for a cross-border oil pipeline project to deliver more of the province's crude to the United States is coming after years of advocacy from her government. U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a presidential permit authorizing the Bridger Pipeline expansion, considered a partial revival of the Keystone XL pipeline project. The Keystone...
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says a key approval for a cross-border oil pipeline project to deliver more of the province's crude to the United States is coming after years of advocacy from her government.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says a key approval for a cross-border oil pipeline project to deliver more of the province's crude to the United States is coming after years of advocacy from her government.
EDMONTON -- Alberta's government says it's upping its defences against invasive mussels, hiring more dogs to sniff out the shellfish and preparing to levy hefty fines for boaters who skip inspections this summer.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has launched a website to put the weight of the government's persuasive powers behind getting a democratic mandate for sweeping immigration reform.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is set to deliver an update today on a provincewide referendum scheduled for the fall.?? Smith announced in February she will put nine questions to Albertans in October, including proposals to restrict social services from some immigrants. Since last April's federal election, the province has also been embroiled in a heated debate over Alberta separating from...
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is set to deliver an update today on a provincewide referendum scheduled for the fall.??
EDMONTON -- Alberta's government is lowering the age for breast cancer screening to those as young as 40, a move that opens the door to self-referral so more people can access publicly funded mammograms by next year.
EDMONTON -- The former politician who gathered more than 456,000 signatures to keep Alberta in Canada says he watched first-hand Tuesday as the legislature committee tasked with a review continued to strangle the democratic process.
Premier Danielle Smith's government says Albertans will soon be ditching twice-a-year clock changes. Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally confirmed Monday the province plans to stick with daylight time year-round. "We'll be moving forward with having an extra hour of daylight in the evenings," he told reporters in the legislature. That means Albertans would stay on the current time and no...
EDMONTON -- Premier Danielle Smith's government says Albertans will soon be ditching twice-a-year clock changes.
EDMONTON -- Premier Danielle Smith says Albertans will soon be ditching twice-a-year clock changes.
Alberta's governing United Conservatives are looking to take another run at redrawing provincial riding boundaries - a move the Opposition NDP calls a cynical backdoor scheme to rig the October 2027 general election. Premier Danielle Smith's caucus is set to introduce a motion in the house today to revisit a recent bipartisan panel report to add more seats to reflect...
EDMONTON -- An organization representing large public libraries across Canada warns Alberta's proposed bill affecting libraries threatens "unprecedented" government overreach into organizations meant to be shielded from political control.
EDMONTON -- The Alberta government says it won't axe its fuel tax yet, after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced federal measures to give Canadians relief at the pumps.
EDMONTON -- Alberta's government is laying the legislative groundwork to let more people pay in order to bypass their doctor to get faster access to everything from CT scans to blood tests.
EDMONTON -- Critics of Alberta's proposed rule changes to public libraries say the true danger lies in the fact they give the province power to dictate access and potentially snoop on Albertans to see exactly which books they are checking out.
EDMONTON -- The Alberta government has introduced legislation to ensure children and young teens won't be able to access sexually graphic images in books at public libraries.
EDMONTON -- The Alberta government is looking to make changes in all public libraries to ensure children and young teens don't have access to graphic sexual images.
EDMONTON -- Alberta's government is proposing changes to give it more oversight of who hires temporary foreign workers.
EDMONTON -- Alberta's government is proposing changes to give it more oversight on who hires temporary foreign workers.
EDMONTON -- Alberta is aiming to regulate who can slap an Alberta whisky stamp on spirits produced in the province.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government is proposing major changes to its law governing citizen-led petitions for the third time in less than a year.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government is proposing major changes to its law governing citizen-led petitions for the third time in less than a year. Justice Minister Mickey Amery introduced Monday a bill that, if passed, would make it impossible to start a petition for a constitutional or policy referendum a year before or a year after a provincial election. Petitions...
Premier Danielle Smith's parliamentary secretary for constitutional affairs is encouraging Albertans to sign a petition that calls for a vote on separation from Canada. Jason Stephan, a United Conservative Party legislature member, penned his opinion for the online conservative media outlet "Western Standard." In it, Stephan argues signing the petition to have a referendum on separation is different from signing...
EDMONTON -- Premier Danielle Smith's parliamentary secretary for constitutional affairs is encouraging Albertans to sign a petition that calls for a vote on separation from Canada.
EDMONTON -- Alberta's government says it's soon instituting universal provincewide rules to regulate behaviour among local municipal councils.
EDMONTON -- An Alberta legislature committee has reached into the auditor general's office to pick a new person to lead the watchdog agency.
EDMONTON -- The mystery of a gold-coloured cat perched in the office of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is now a full-on hissing match.
EDMONTON -- New rules are now in effect in the Alberta legislature that one opposition member has warned will effectively allow Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative government to duck some queries for years.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's office says she's not been contacted by the RCMP as Mounties execute search warrants amid a probe into allegations of misconduct in multimillion-dollar government health contracts.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's office says she's not been contacted by the RCMP as Mounties execute search warrants in a probe into allegations of misconduct in multimillion-dollar government health contracts.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is rejecting Opposition accusations of entitlement for using a private jet courtesy of the Saudi government last fall. Smith and members of her United Conservative Party government staff travelled to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for meetings about potential collaborations on issues, including energy development and artificial intelligence. Smith says she's very transparent about...
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is rejecting Opposition accusations of entitlement for using a private jet courtesy of the Saudi government last fall.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her long-term goal is to be able to balance the province's books even with moderate oil prices.
EDMONTON -- The Alberta agency in charge of hospitals has released a review making 16 recommendations to the government in the wake the death of a man who waited for hours for care in an Edmonton hospital.
EDMONTON -- Recall petitions aiming to oust two opposition members of Alberta's legislature have been approved by Elections Alberta.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the war in Iran underscores the need for a new pipeline connecting her province's oil reserves to the West Coast. The threat of shipping disruptions has seen global oil prices jump since American-Israeli attacks on Iran over the weekend. Smith says any disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil choke point at the...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the war in Iran underscores the need for a new pipeline connecting her province's oil reserves to the West Coast.
It's budget day in Alberta, and the overarching question is not whether the budget will show a deficit, but exactly how many billions of dollars in the red it will be. Premier Danielle Smith has signalled for weeks that the deficit is going to be, in her words, "significant" but has not provided a dollar figure. She says the main...
EDMONTON -- It's budget day in Alberta, and the overarching question is not whether the budget will show a deficit, but exactly how many billions of dollars in the red it will be.
EDMONTON -- Alberta's government says it plans to increase physician spending by more than 20 per cent in its upcoming budget.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government isn't sure how much it might save if referendum questions proposing restrictions to social services for some newcomers are approved in the fall. Smith announced in a TV address Thursday that her United Conservative Party government is putting nine questions to a provincewide referendum on Oct. 19. They include proposals to restrict social...
Alberta's Opposition NDP says Premier Danielle Smith is stoking hatred by blaming her government's financial "mismanagement" on newcomers. Smith announced in a TV address Thursday night that her government is putting nine questions to a provincewide referendum on Oct. 19. They include proposals to restrict social services from some immigrants and to open up Constitutional negotiations on abolishing the Senate...
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government is putting nine questions to a provincewide referendum on Oct. 19, including proposals to restrict social services from some immigrants.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is set to address the province in a TV broadcast Thursday evening and is expected to discuss immigration.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is set to address the province in a TV broadcast Thursday evening and is expected to discuss immigration. Smith said Wednesday that rapid population growth coupled with slagging oil prices have put an unsustainable strain on the province's finances. "You have to be a taxpayer before you start using our services," she told reporters at an...
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is set to address the province in a TV broadcast Thursday evening and is expected to discuss immigration.
EDMONTON -- The Alberta government is hitting pause on a recent policy change cutting off health coverage for some temporary foreign workers, including youth coming to Canada on working vacations.
The Canadian Bar Association is speaking out against Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's call for more input on the selection of federal judges. Smith says if Alberta doesn't get more say on future judicial appointments to the province's superior courts and the Supreme Court of Canada, her government would hold back money those judges need to do their jobs.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government says it will bring in the new budget on Feb. 26 and is warning it will be a tough one.
EDMONTON -- Alberta's recently announced effort to add physician shifts to help triage patients in crowded emergency rooms has been delayed.
EDMONTON -- A former United Conservative member of Alberta's legislature says he will remain an Independent MLA when the house reconvenes in February.
Alberta's judges are calling for respect days after Premier Danielle Smith said she wishes she could "direct" them. The province's three chief justices say in a rare public statement that democracy only functions when all three branches of government operate independently and respect each other's role. "It ensures judges can make decisions based solely on the law and evidence presented,"...
EDMONTON -- The operator of one of the province's largest long-term care homes says it's working to address serious concerns about an infestation of mice and mice droppings.