SENT ON BEHALF OF RAJ UPPAL, CUPE ALBERTA PRESIDENT AND LYNDSEY HENDERSON, CUPE POLITICAL ACTION COORDINATOR:
Hello Everyone,
We had a great turnout for CUPE National’s first-ever lobby day on Parliament Hill. Over 200 CUPE committee members from across Canada came together to learn and share our stories about the value of public services. We heard from many members that MPs appreciated their stories from the front line, and many more reported being unaware of some of the issues and concerns we were raising with them. MP Alexandre Boulerice, who presented on a panel, made a very poignant observation: ‘…if we’re not the ones there, sharing our stories and information, lobbyists will be.’ It’s essential that we continue to use our voice to advocate for positive changes for our members and our province.
Yesterday, we saw the UCP Government drop its 2026/27 budget, including a $9.4 billion dollar deficit. We saw no new funding for hospitals and primary care, no funding for even one new public school and not nearly enough to address the massive infrastructure deficit we’re seeing across our municipalities. While they may be touting “big” increases to education and healthcare funding, they still aren’t enough to keep up with the massive cuts and underfunding we’ve seen since 2019, not to mention the increases to population and inflation. This almost $10 billion deficit wipes out the surpluses we’ve seen in previous years, which were themselves built on the back of massive cuts to our key services. We remain the lowest funding per student for education across Canada. Albertans will also be facing massive property tax increases and a blizzard of new levies and fees on all sorts of services.
We urge you to join us on Tuesday March 3rd, for our healthcare privatization town hall to hear from experts with the Parkland Institute and Friends of Medicare to talk about the dire consequences of healthcare privatization that we’re already dealing with, as well as some of the more concerning trends we’re seeing coming out of yesterday’s budget. All members are welcome to join this free town hall to keep informed and empowered. You can register here: Healthcare Privatization Townhall – March 3, 2026 | Canadian Union of Public Employees
CUPE Campaigns, Calls to Action and Events
- Healthcare Privatization Townhall – March 3, 2026 | Canadian Union of Public Employees – Tuesday March 3rd 6:30 pm – online FREE TO ALL MEMBERS
- Alberta Social Services Sector Committee Meeting – March 10th 10:00 AM -online – join the first meeting of our new Social Services Sector Committee
- CUPE Issues a press release in response to yesterday’s budget – highlighting how this massive deficit is a product of economic mismanagement and highlighting key areas of concern
- Applications are now open for the first National Wild in Leadership Development (WILD) Program – designed to provide leadership skills to Indigenous, Black and racialized and non-binary members of CUPE
- CUPE has launched a letter-writing campaign to stand against another rural school closure in Innisfree – SIGN HERE
- CUPE Alberta Spring Schools – in Canmore April 26th – May 1st is filling up fast but still has some openings in some workshops.
- CUPE Alberta Convention – March 18-20th – Edmonton
- State of Emergency Health Care Crisis Stories – over 8000 stories have been shared through our State of Emergency Campaign – read them now and sign on!
- Don’t Touch CPP – Tell Danielle Smith and the Alberta Government that Albertans have made themselves clear, we want to stay in the CPP, and we don’t want any political interference in our pensions
- Friends of Medicare continues their “An Urgent Conversation: Public Health Care” tour with Dr. Paul Parks with events in
- Grande Prairie – Sunday March 22nd 2:00 PM – Richmond Reception Centre
- Friends of Medicare – Stolen Time Film Screening Fort McMurray – Saturday April 11th 7:00 PM
- Alberta Federation of Labour Fight Back Now Launch – February 28th 1:30 – 3:00 PM – Calgary
- Alberta Federation of Labour Worker Town Hall Tour
- Worker Agenda Townhall – Fort McMurray – March 2 – 6:00 – 8:30 PM
- Worker Agenda Townhall – Medicine Hat – March 18 – 6:00 – 8:30 PM
- Worker Agenda Townhall – Lethbridge – March 19 – 6:00 – 8:30 PM
- Alberta Federation of Labour Mid-Term Forum – April 24th – 25th – Chateau Lacome, Edmonton
- Public Interest Alberta – Annual Conference “Common Purpose, Collective Action” – May 8th– 9th – Barnett House Edmonton
- Public Interest Alberta – Annual Gala May 7th 5:00 PM- Chateau Louise Hotel and Conference Centre, Edmonton
- CUPE Health and Safety Conference – May 24th -25th Edmonton – Delta Hotels Edmonton South Conference Centre
Week in Review
- CUPE released a press release outlining our major areas of concern with yesterday’s budget and the continued mismanagement by the UCP. Some of our key areas of concern include
- Alberta still has the lowest funding for education of any province.
- Property tax increase.
- Home care costs to increase by 2%.
- Increased taxes on hotel rooms and rental cars.
- Twenty-seven new tax and fee increases of 10% overall.
- An increase in certification cost for trades, including a $150 fees for Red Seal and entrance exams, where previously there was none. Previously, fees for a Blue seal were $50, trade qualifier was $60, and the apprenticeship education program was $35.
- The UCP is creating a 5th entity to manage health care. Health Shared Services (HSS), to centralize corporate services between its four health agencies. How is this anything other than recreating AHS after they blew it up?
- No funding for new hospitals in Edmonton or Calgary.
- No new funding for primary health care, even with our hospitals in crisis.
- No funding for any new public schools.
- Alberta Municipalities put out a highly critical release of the budget, denouncing the massive increases to property taxes as well as the ongoing downloading of costs from the province to municipalities
- Treaty Chiefs of Treaty No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8 pass the first ever unanimous non-confidence vote in the Alberta government – they are decrying the government’s lack of respect for treaty rights, their refusal to denounce ongoing separatist campaigns
- Danielle Smith confirmed that the province is looking at changes to public libraries that are co-located with schools to extend the book ban imposed in 2025 on school libraries. A further announcement from Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams is expected in the coming weeks.
- Bill 15 – the Public Safety and Emergency Services Statutes Amendment Act has been tabled, which allowed the transfer of Alberta sheriffs to the new Alberta Sheriffs Police Service and paves the way for the new Alberta Police Service that the UCP is pushing forward, and to end the role of the RCMP. Major concerns have been raised about the ability to recruit and train new officers in Alberta as police forces across Canada are facing significant recruitment challenges.
- The government has indicated they intend to table 17-18 pieces of legislation in the spring sitting, which in anticipated to run until May 14th, with three weeks off for constituency weeks, some anticipated legislation is said to deal with the creation of a project delivery office, regulations for recruiters and immigration consultants, consumer protection, limits to medical assistance in dying (MAiD), and red tape reduction omnibus legislation.
- A bi-partisan committee is being struck to discuss the Forever Canadian petition. This committee will discuss whether the petition question goes to the public with the October referendums or if it is voted on in the Legislature.
- The request for an emergency debate around the state of emergency healthcare by the NDP opposition was voted down by the UCP in the Legislature
- Alberta doctors say they haven’t been consulted on the government’s new “band-aid” plan for ERs
In Solidarity,
Lyndsey Henderson (she/her)
Political Action Coordinator
Canadian Union of Public Employees
Alberta Regional Office
600 South 10130 – 112 Street NW Edmonton, AB T5K 2K4