St. Albert Minute: Issue 113

St. Albert Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of St. Albert politics

📅 This Week In St. Albert: 📅

• Council voted unanimously on May 19th to retain St. Albert's integrated firefighter-paramedic model, directing Administration to re-negotiate its ground ambulance contract with Emergency Health Services rather than divest the service as Administration had recommended. The vote followed public galleries packed with firefighters and residents ahead of the decision. The Province's new benchmark price for ground ambulance service is lower than what it costs St. Albert to operate the integrated model, meaning the gap between the two will be funded through the municipal tax base. Council did not specify how large that gap is or how it will be addressed in future budgets. The decision preserves a model St. Albert has operated for decades, in which firefighters are cross-trained as paramedics and respond to both fire and medical emergencies from the same stations.
  
  
• Council also voted unanimously - with Councillor Ken MacKay absent - to ask the Province to pause implementation of the Alberta Disability Assistance Program (ADAP) before its planned July 1st rollout. The motion, brought by Councillor Amanda Patrick, calls for meaningful consultation with persons with disabilities, advocacy organizations, and municipalities before the transition from the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program proceeds. Recipients moved to ADAP would receive $200 less per month than they currently receive under AISH. St. Albert NDP MLA Marie Renaud told Council she estimates between 750 and 1,000 St. Albert residents are currently on AISH. Patrick warned that costs could download to municipal services including the food bank and Family and Community Support Services if recipients lose income. Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, and Lethbridge have all passed similar motions since January.
  
  
• The Province is funding 38 additional teachers across St. Albert Public and Greater St. Albert Catholic school divisions this fall, with the aim of reducing average class sizes in K-9 classrooms from 25 students to 22. St. Albert Public's K-9 classes currently average between 24 and 25 students, though some outliers are considerably larger - including a 58-student soccer academy class at Lorne Akins Junior High and a 39-student K-3 class at Muriel Martin Elementary. Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division is receiving approximately $1.08 million toward the new hires. Superintendent Krimsen Sumners cautioned that physical space may be the bigger constraint, since splitting existing classes into smaller groups would require additional classrooms. Alberta Teachers' Association president Jason Schilling called the announcement a first step in addressing "years of chronic underfunding."
  
  
• A federal electric vehicle rebate introduced on February 16th - offering up to $5,000 on Canadian-made or eligible imported EVs priced under $50,000 - has driven a sharp rebound in EV sales locally and across Alberta. Statistics Canada's March 2026 data shows zero-emission vehicle sales nationally soared nearly 75% to 21,574 units, representing about 12% of all new vehicles sold, even as total vehicle sales fell 6.6%. Alberta tracked closely with a 73% increase, rising from 669 to 1,158 units sold compared to the same month a year earlier. Craig Chorzempa, sales manager at Ron Hodgson Chevrolet Buick GMC in St. Albert, said demand had effectively collapsed after the previous federal rebate was cancelled in March 2025, dropping to roughly one inquiry a month - but has since returned daily. Clean Energy Canada policy advisor Denise Lee attributed the surge to pent-up demand, higher gas prices stemming from the US-Iran war, and Canada's lowering of tariffs on Chinese EVs in January, and noted that EVs are estimated to be $23,000 to $32,000 cheaper to own over ten years due to lower fuel and maintenance costs.
  
  
• Council unanimously approved $1.9 million in utility servicing for Fire Hall No. 4, unlocking construction of the $26.5-million station on St. Albert Trail. The work is scheduled to begin this summer with the hall expected to open by late 2027. The servicing package includes a 1,200mm sanitary trunk line crossing St. Albert Trail and a 450mm service line to the fire hall itself. Approximately $1.3 million of the $1.9 million is recoverable through the City's off-site levies program, since the trunk line will ultimately serve a large development basin on the west side of St. Albert Trail - the remaining $600,000 benefits only the fire hall and other City-owned lands and is not recoverable. Councillor Sheena Hughes noted the hall was originally expected to be built by 2023.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

Join us for Pints & Politics! 

Where: The Canadian Brewhouse (101 St Albert Trl #50)

When: Wednesday, June 10th, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Cost: Free (Snacks provided, meals and drinks available for purchase)

RSVP: Required due to limited capacity

🪙 This Week’s Sponsor: 🪙

This week's sponsor is you! We don't have big corporate backers, so if you like what you're reading, please consider making a donation or signing up as a monthly member.

Having said that, if you are a local business and are interested in being a sponsor, send us an email and we'll talk!