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Alberta introduces new flag rules and restrictions for all schools starting in 2027
Alberta introduces new flag rules for schools
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
The Alberta government has announced new rules on when, how, and what flags can be displayed at schools.
Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides says the flags of Canada and Alberta must be flown outside schools during the school year.
Other flags -- including the Franco-Albertan flag, municipal flags and the Royal Union Flag -- can be displayed on specified days.
First Nations and Metis Settlement flags and foreign national flags can be displayed inside a school building during official occasions and on other specified days.
No other flag displays are permitted without permission from the province.
The new rules begin on Jan. 4, 2027.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Ballots cast on election day in B.C. will be counted by hand, Elections BC says
B.C. election day ballots will be counted by hand
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
It's the last full day of campaigning in British Columbia's election ahead of final voting day Saturday, when most ballots will be counted by hand.
Elections BC has confirmed that votes cast on election day will be tallied manually, in a departure from 2024, when electronic tabulators were used to count paper ballots for the first time in a general election.
That was hailed as a success in Elections BC's report on the polls, but the agency says in a statement that it's going back to a manual count due to "short time frames and complex operational logistics of a snap election."
It says paper ballots cast at advance polling stations and at district electoral offices will be counted with electronic tabulators, and it expects those results to be reported first.
Elections BC also says the election-night count will not include absentee or main-in ballots, which will be tallied at the final count scheduled Nov. 6 to Nov. 10.
Advance voting numbers released Thursday were down more than 11 per cent compared to 2024, bucking a two-decade upward trend.
There were more than 891,000 advance votes cast from Friday to Wednesday, representing about 24 per cent of all registered voters.
That compares to more than one million advance votes cast in 2024, when numbers spiked 49 per cent over the previous election.
Elections BC's report on the 2024 election says electronic tabulation allowed the first preliminary results to be reported within five minutes of polls closing, and 59 per cent of preliminary results to reported within half an hour.
"In past elections first results typically started to be reported around 45 minutes after polls closed," it said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Advocates flag contributions, not costs, of newcomers in Alberta referendum aftermath
Alberta vote raises labour shortage concerns
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
A union representative for a beef processing plant south of Calgary is warning of worsening labour shortages if immigration policy proposals that narrowly passed in Alberta's referendum are enacted.
"These are tough and high turnover jobs with few candidates lining up to fill them," said Faduma Ahmed, with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 at Cargill's abattoir in High River, Alta.
With 98 per cent of polls reporting in Monday's referendum, a slim majority of votes were cast in favour of limiting access to or charging a fee for provincially funded services based on immigration status. Premier Danielle Smith's government had argued that the cost to provide health care and education to temporary Alberta residents amounts to $1 billion a year and that a surge in newcomers has strained affordability and services.
But critics have warned that the referendum's outcome could make Alberta less attractive to newcomers at a time when jobs desperately need to be filled.
At the Cargill plant, temporary foreign workers, refugees, permanent residents and citizens from all over the globe work side by side and all pay taxes, said Ahmed. It's back-breaking work, with staffers often having to hoist whole carcasses.
"When we sit down to eat, we rarely think about the intense and the gruelling labour it takes to get the food onto our tables, right on our plate," she said, adding that workers have come to her concerned about their ability to pay for health care and school for their children.
"They are foundational to keeping our economy moving, and they are navigating the exact same punishing affordability crisis as every other Albertan."
Ahmed said the union will draw a "hard line" if the proposals become law.
"We will fight to ensure immigrant workers receive the same services they do today, up to and including making the employers pay at the bargaining table to fund the differences."
Another sector that relies heavily on immigration is health care for seniors.
"Often we'll find they'll work in roles that maybe some Canadians may not be interested in," said Leah Lechelt, executive director of the Christian Health Association of Alberta, which represents non-profits that employ 22,000 staff across the province.
She said some college programs for health-care aides have closed or reduced their enrolment simply because there haven't been enough applications domestically.
The workforce hails from around the world, and are mostly health-care aides, but also cleaning and food-service staff, Lechelt said. They deal with vulnerable patients, so regulations largely limit those jobs to permanent residents and citizens.
"It's really a very attractive role for somebody who is fairly new to Canada and sometimes is working on some English language proficiency skills."
The association has established an apprenticeship program that enables those in entry-level jobs, like housekeeping, to train on-site to become health-care aides and pursue a better-paying career path.
"And then we can backfill those positions with other newcomers, maybe starting out in their journey in Canada."
One of the referendum proposals asked whether Albertans would support the province taking more control of immigration from the federal government.
It was an idea the Business Council of Alberta has long advocated, said president Adam Legge.
"There's a bit of a better on-the-ground intel perspective compared to a centralized decision in Ottawa," he said.
"Oftentimes there are some skills and geographic mismatches between what Ottawa approves on an immigration basis and what is needed."
For instance, he said there's a huge demand for workers in the skilled trades, like heavy-duty mechanics, welders and electricians.
He said he heard from members generally that they don't want to see anything deter people from choosing to live in Alberta.
Research by University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe commissioned by the Calgary Chamber of Commerce found immigrants paid an estimated $4.1 billion in Alberta personal income taxes in 2026.
It also found immigrants younger than 40 had a net fiscal contribution of almost $1 billion, after the cost of provincial family programs, workers' compensation and social assistance are accounted for.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2026.
By Lauren Krugel | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Eddy de Big Brother confie que la slop ne lui a pas fait et la production fait le point
« Mon corps a très mal réagi à la slop. » 🤢
Lors de la septième semaine à Big Brother Célébrités, la patronne Claudia Bouvette a mis quatre nouveaux.elles candidat.es comme condamné.es. Ce sont donc Stéphanie Harvey, Guylaine Guay, Martin Vachon et Eddy King qui ont dû prendre des douches froides, dormir sur des lits de camp puis manger la fameuse slop. Après cette péripétie, Eddy King a confié que son corps n'a pas très bien réagi à la slop et la production nous a expliqué ce qu'il s'est passé.
C'est lors de l'émission de radio Véronique et les fantastiques du 28 février que l'équipe a demandé à l'humoriste comment il avait vécu sa semaine en tant que condamné dans la maison et c'est à ce moment qu'il a expliqué que ça ne s'était pas très bien passé :
« Je l'ai mal vécu parce que mon corps a très mal réagi à la slop. J'ai eu pas mal de maux d'estomac qui pouvaient se transformer en ulcères si on ne faisait pas attention. J'ai eu le soutien médical et ça va, je suis sous médication et ça se rétablit. »
Contacté par Narcity, le producteur au contenu Jean-Martin Bisson a confirmé que la slop n'a eu aucun effet néfaste sur la santé des joueur.ses mis à part l'adaptation au nouveau régime dans les premiers jours :
« Eddy avait quelques problèmes avant que la slop arrive ou qu'il soit lui-même sur la slop. [...] Il a eu une petite baisse d'énergie pendant une émission. Il a commencé à manger de la slop et, en même temps, il a commencé à avoir des brûlements d'estomac. Il a parlé à un médecin puis le médecin lui a dit que c'était impossible que ce soit à cause de la slop.
« Au début, étant donné que c'était nouveau pour leur corps, il y en a qui ont vécu certaines constipations pour peut-être une journée ou deux, mais ça, c'est dans le pire des cas [...]. Ce sont juste des conséquences normales à un changement de régime.
« Eddy a peut-être associé ça à la slop, mais il n'y a ensuite eu aucune médication reliée à de nouveaux problèmes de santé ou quelque chose d'autre que la constipation [...]. Il y a toujours des médecins qui s'assurent que nos joueurs vont bien au besoin », affirme le producteur au contenu.
La recette de la slop a été conçue par les nutritionnistes des athlètes de la maison, soit Hugo Barrette, Marc-Antoine Dequoy et Lysanne Richard, afin de s'assurer que les célébrités se nourrissaient des meilleurs ingrédients malgré tout au cours de leur semaine :
« Elle [était] fabriquée avec des aliments [et des légumes] frais préparés séparément et sans condiment. Les condamnés [avaient] le droit de la prendre comme ils [voulaient] : en smoothie, froide, réchauffée, frite ou au four. L’important, [c'était] de ne jamais altérer son goût », précise la production.
Il y avait deux variantes pour la slop, soit celle végétarienne ainsi que celle au poulet. Étant un concept bien répandu à Big Brother, la slop est généralement constituée d'un mélange similaire à du gruau, mais ce n'était pas le cas dans l'édition québécoise :
« On a même bonifié la slop [...] C'est bénéfique pour leur corps ce qu'ils ont reçu, c'est juste que pour nous et la télévision, avec l'odeur et avec la texture, c'est ça qui rend l'affaire un peu dégueulasse.
« Ce qui était très important, c'était de ne pas mettre nos célébrités en danger, de ne pas jouer sur la santé des célébrités. Au contraire, nous c'était juste pour un enjeu de télévision puis un enjeu pour eux de vivre une expérience plus difficile puis que ça devienne un jeu social et une contrainte de nommer des condamnés », ajoute Jean-Martin.
Après deux semaines avec la chambre des condamné.es, celle-ci a été fermée jusqu'à la fin de l'aventure. C'est maintenant la voûte de l'immunité qui préoccupe l'esprit des célébrités alors qu'Hugo Barette a déjà sélectionné l'immunité personnelle.