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Recent Research

A Thumb on the Scale

Alberta Government Interference in Public-Sector Bargaining

In 2024, about 200,000 public-sector Alberta workers will be negotiating new contracts. This report examines the ways governments, and specifically the Government of Alberta, interfere in public-sector collective bargaining. It also explores how this growing interference may impact the 2024 bargaining round. The report concludes by offering several options for how public-sector workers and their unions can respond to growing government interference, both at the bargaining table and through increased political pressure.

Failing to Deliver

The Alberta Surgical Initiative and Declining Surgical Capacity

Through Freedom of Information requests, statistical analysis, and a review of the research literature, this report evaluates claims made by the Alberta government about the effectiveness of the Alberta Surgical Initiative in reducing wait times and the role of for-profit surgical outsourcing. Based on the research evidence, the report recommends that the provincial government shift away from for-profit surgical delivery and fully commit to public system improvement.

Recent Blog Posts

Mirror, Mirror

What’s Fair about the 2024 Budget?

Is the Alberta we are hoping to build made possible by Budget 2024? How will we meet the immediate and long-term needs of a rapidly growing province, in a rapidly changing political, economic, and environmental context? When we look in the mirror, what Alberta do we see?

Welcome to the New ‘Alberta Advantage’

Pre-budget address promises dawn of perma-austerity era

Premier Smith’s pre-budget address announced the dawn of an era of permanent austerity and chronic underfunding for the province. Maybe someone should’ve explained to the UCP that the goal of ending the fiscal roller coaster was always to land at the middle, rather than getting stuck at a permanent bottom. This blog analyses why Smith decided to run this particular play — and why now.

Ensuring Dignity in Retirement

Social security and the Canada Pension Plan

In this opening installment of Parkland’s two-part blog series on Alberta pensions, the authors examine the history of pension plans in Canada and Alberta, setting the stage for understanding the UCP's pension policies and their current proposal of an Alberta Pension Plan. For a recent history and analysis of the UCP's stance on public pensions, please read the blog “Navigating the UCP’s Pension Agenda,” by Bob Ascah.