Residents and farmers in the Fraser Valley are hoping for water levels to continue falling as they begin to take stock of the damage inflicted by floods that burst over the Nooksack River’s banks earlier this week, drowning farmland in B.C.’s southern interior near the U.S. border.

It’s a grim weekend for Matt Dykshoorn’s brother and father, whose chicken barns were submerged in floodwaters this week, killing their flock of chickens despite frantic sandbagging efforts to save the birds.

Flood waters began to recede from the Fraser Valley on Friday, leaving residents and farmers to assess damage and demand answers as to why more hasn’t been done to heed lessons from the devastating B.C. floods of four years ago.

Poultry farmer Corry Spitters said this year’s flooding rose to within an inch of one of his chicken barns.

Alberta’s Auditor-General says the province’s reporting on how the health care system is performing is not credible and has worsened over time – an issue that needs to be corrected if Premier Danielle Smith’s plan to dramatically reform the system is to be fairly evaluated.

Auditor-General Doug Wylie made his assessment in a report, published Thursday, that found data used to validate the early success of Ms. Smith’s plan to improve the province’s health care system were inconsistent and were selected to make “performance look better than it actually was.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will have to face a bid to remove her from the legislature after a recall petition was approved by Elections Alberta on Wednesday, making her the latest target of citizens using her United Conservative Party’s own legislation to voice their anger with the government.

The effort to oust her from her Brooks-Medicine Hat constituency occurred one day after Alberta’s top elections administrator sounded the alarm over a bill that would transfer many of his powers to elected officials, warning of perceived partisan influence over elections.

The Alberta government is proposing sweeping changes that will limit what names can be used for new political parties, eliminate guardrails for citizen-initiated referendums and strip the Chief Electoral Officer of many of their powers.

The Justice Statutes Amendment Act, introduced Thursday, would help clear the way for a separation referendum question currently tied up in court and could prevent two former United Conservative Party MLAs from using the Progressive Conservative brand for a party they are hoping to create.

The Alberta government on Tuesday announced it is directing law enforcement agencies in the province to not enforce Ottawa’s gun buyback program, using Premier Danielle Smith’s flagship sovereignty legislation to circumvent federal laws it considers unconstitutional.

The Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act has not been tested in court and experts have called it constitutionally dubious.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pointed to her advisers when asked to explain how an Edmonton businessman whose contracts with the province’s health agency are now under scrutiny ended up in a hotel suite with her top lieutenants on the night of the 2023 provincial election.

A Globe and Mail investigation published over the weekend examined the links between medical supply company executive Sam Mraiche and Ms. Smith’s government. The Globe found Mr. Mraiche, whose company MHCare was awarded more than $600-million in contracts with Alberta Health Services, had more extensive connections to the government than previously reported. Mr. Mraiche has said he acted properly and has denied any wrongdoing.

Alberta’s Official Opposition on Sunday said a Globe and Mail story documenting ties between Premier Danielle Smith’s government and an Edmonton businessman underscore the need for a public inquiry into the province’s health care procurement practices.

New Democratic Party Leader Naheed Nenshi said The Globe’s investigation detailing links between executive Sam Mraiche and Ms. Smith’s government reveal “deep, deep, deep” ties worthy of further examination.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith walked a thin line at this weekend’s annual United Conservative Party convention trying to appease the pro-independence grassroots base of her party while simultaneously touting a new energy deal with her frequent foes in Ottawa.

While she faced loud boos when attempting to sell her energy accord with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday, and a combination of cheers and jeers when she asked the crowd to “not give up on our country” in her speech on Saturday, the Premier said she believes she won some of the party faithful over.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told delegates at her party’s convention Friday that she hoped the energy accord she signed with Ottawa made them more confident that Canada is working properly.

A chorus of boos greeted the comment about the deal, which Ms. Smith signed alongside Prime Minister Mark Carney with fanfare on Thursday. It’s being touted by both leaders as a reset of the relationship between the governments and the start of Canada’s transformation into an energy superpower, with Alberta at the forefront.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will likely walk into this weekend’s United Conservative Party annual convention basking in the afterglow of a new energy accord with the federal government.

But the proverbial good vibes may not last at the Edmonton gathering for a Premier who is facing growing pressure from all sides.

The Alberta government compromised the independence of the province’s health authority as it worked to sign a deal with a private laboratory testing company in 2022 that was terminated just eight months after it was implemented, according to an investigation by Alberta’s Auditor-General.

Alberta’s Health Ministry asked Alberta Health Services to forge ahead with the deal despite repeated warnings from AHS about overstated cost savings, in its bid to hand community lab testing to Dynalife, the report published Wednesday by Auditor-General Doug Wylie said. Between 2019 and 2023, the Alberta government paid a combined $109-million to set up the system and eventually kill the deal.

The 43-page report details issues throughout the procurement process including miscalculated cost savings, failures to assess Dynalife’s financial vulnerabilities, along with technological issues that led to an increase in critical misdiagnoses for serious health conditions.

The Alberta government defended its plan to introduce a public-private model for physicians on Tuesday, a proposal that health care experts say could contravene the Canada Health Act.

Alberta intends to introduce a hybrid model in health care where doctors could work in both systems simultaneously, The Globe and Mail revealed on Tuesday, according to confidential draft legislation. No other Canadian province allows physicians to toggle between the two systems.

Matt Jones, Minister of Hospital and Surgical Health Services, during Question Period, said the model has worked in other jurisdictions, listing countries such as Denmark and France. He also pointed to Quebec and New Brunswick, despite neither province operating a hybrid system similar to what Alberta is proposing.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has invoked the notwithstanding clause for three sweeping bills affecting transgender and gender-diverse youth that were passed last year in a bid to prevent courts from derailing the legislation.

The trio of bills, respectively, limit gender-affirming treatment for transgender youth, ban transgender participation in women’s’ and girls’ sports divisions and require parental consent for name and pronoun changes in school while also requiring parents to opt their child into sexual education.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is expanding the province’s use of private surgical centres to perform thousands of procedures, with the goal of increasing operating-room capacity and shortening wait-lists.

Ms. Smith announced Friday her government’s plan to improve access to acute care, which will include constructing three buildings, each adjoined to hospitals in Calgary and Edmonton. Together, the buildings will hold more than 1,000 new hospital beds. They will be added to Grey Nuns and Misericordia Community hospitals in Edmonton and South Health Campus hospital in Calgary.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on Thursday said an agreement with Ottawa is expected to be signed in the coming days that would address federal regulations she has repeatedly said hamper private-sector investment in the energy industry.

The Premier said she is also encouraged by the latest batch of projects announced by Prime Minister Mark Carney this week that will be fast-tracked through his government’s newly created Major Projects Office, headed by former Trans Mountain Corp. chief executive Dawn Farrell in Calgary.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he has not reflected on his leadership style after losing two members of his caucus last week.

In his first remarks since Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont crossed the floor to join the Liberals and Alberta MP Matt Jeneroux announced his resignation, Mr. Poilievre pointed to Mr. d’Entremont’s past comments critiquing the current government.

As the Second World War came to a close, Elmer Friesen and his brother, Alvin, received a letter from their Mennonite church in Aberdeen, Sask.

They could return to the church, it said, but not without publicly apologizing to the small rural congregation. They had been expecting the ultimatum since first being given the choice at the outset of the war: Serve and renounce your membership to the church, or don’t participate at all.