Alberta Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis said he is most proud of the government’s policies keeping Albertans safe. As Ellis has said before, the Alberta government will do whatever it can to keep Albertans safe. “That’s why we put 50 new police officers in Calgary and 50 in Edmonton,” said Ellis on a Friday panel at the Alberta United Conservative Party Annual General Meeting at Westerner Park in Red Deer. “This is why I announced even today another new SCAN (Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods) team right here in the Red Deer area.” That was why the Alberta government created the Fugitive Apprehension Sheriffs Support Team. That was why it created surveillance teams. Because the Canadian government introduced Bill C-75, he said Alberta has become less safe. However, he confirmed it was taking these measures to keep Albertans safe. The Alberta government said in February people deserve to feel safe when they are in their homes, studying at their schools, and commuting to work. .ALBERTA BUDGET 2024: More than $150 million to be spent on community safety.“Albertans have a right to feel safe working and living in their communities, and this budget makes sure we can put the right resources in place to ensure public safety across this province,” said Ellis. “Additional investments to improve public safety — including supports for police and investments to strengthen Alberta’s response during a disaster — will help meet urgent needs while we lay the groundwork to deliver other public safety priorities over the next three years.”Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said there were three education measures the government was carrying out that he was most proud of. “First and foremost, I’m so excited about the School Construction Accelerator Program (SCAP) and the fact we’re going to be building almost 100 new schools in our communities of greatest need to make sure that kids can go to school right in their backyard,” said Nicolaides. “I think that’s so important.” The second education measure Nicolaides said he loves is the Alberta government removing cellphones from classrooms. He added cellphones do not belong in classrooms. The third education measure he said he is proud of is allowing parents to make the final decisions when it comes to their children’s education. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in September the government has approved the SCAP to respond to the province’s exploding student enrolment growth..Smith says Alberta government to bring in School Construction Accelerator Program .Under the SCAP, Smith said the Alberta government will be increasing its kindergarten to Grade 12 capital budget for new school spaces and modernizations to about $8.6 billion over the next three years. “This will allow us to complete actual construction on approximately 50,000 new student spaces over the next three years — and to complete and open over 150,000 new spaces over the four years after that,” said Smith. .Alberta Mental Health and Addictions Minister Dan Williams said he was proud to be working on his file. “And I can tell you under premier’s leadership, the work we’ve done, Alberta has rejected the lie that has been presented to Canadians and Albertans in particular when it comes to addiction,” said Williams. “We’ve been told by woke academics and the media that we need to make a choice.” That choice is between caring for addicts with compassion or having safe communities. He pointed out this is a lie. That is why the Alberta government has built out 10,000 new addiction treatment spaces over the last five years. It is forming 11 recovery communities to provide people with free addiction treatment. Regardless of who people are, he said it is uncompassionate to leave them out in the cold suffering from mental illnesses and addictions and say it is a lifestyle choice. He noted it would return order to Alberta’s streets and care for people dealing with mental illnesses and addictions. Williams became emotional on a panel at the Alberta Municipalities Spring 2024 Municipal Leaders Caucus in March when speaking about the increase in funding Mental Health and Addictions has received since 2019..Alberta cabinet ministers vow municipal conduct reforms, recovery communities at conference.“This government takes incredibly seriously this crisis around addiction and this crisis people face in their homes with mental health challenges,” said Williams. “On this piece, particularly around overdoses, the metric we need to look at is are we getting people treatment.”
