You’ve probably noticed I haven’t recorded an episode of the Daveberta Podcast in a while — so if you were missing listening to it, please know that I was missing recording it.
Starting today and over the next few weeks I’m going to record a series of short episodes in which I will share a few key things that I’m watching in Alberta politics in the week ahead and some other things that have caught my attention.
I decided to test this podcast series — which I’m calling Daveberta In Session — during the spring session of the Alberta Legislature. I’m planning to do this for eight or nine weeks until mid May when the Assembly breaks for the summer months — and then we’ll see where we go from there.
In this week’s episode, I discuss:
Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas’ threat to hold a municipal referendum on provincial property tax increases that he compared to equalization.
NDP MLA Heather Sweet’s private members’ bill to improve whistleblower laws for health care workers.
the storm of misinformation and disinformation that is barrelling towards us as Albertans are faced with ten or eleven referendum questions on October 19, 2026.
This week’s episode is free to all Daveberta subscribers, but next week’s episode will be available exclusively to paid subscribers, so be sure to sign up for a monthly or annual subscription at Daveberta.substack.com/subscribe.
Thanks for listening to this new episode. Share your feedback in the comments and, if you enjoyed the podcast, please feel free to share it with a friend.
Quick note: In the episode, I said the budget was tabled on March 26. It was actually tabled on February 26.
Related reading
Thousands of Alberta seniors to lose income supplement as province faces rising provincial deficit (Elise Stolte · CBC, March 3, 2026)
2026 Alberta budget taxes criticized as ‘another version of equalization’ (Ken MacGillivray, Global News, February 26, 2026)
Calgary mayor suggests plebiscite over provincial property tax hikes (Jordan Kanygin, CTV, March 4, 2026)
Jeromy Farkas battles Danielle Smith in epic tax hike fight (Rick Bell, Postmedia, March 2, 2026)
Changes to Alberta’s whistleblower act recommended again 5 years later (Michelle Bellefontaine, CBC, February 16, 2026)
Bill 204: Public Interest Disclosure (Publicly Funded Health Entity Whistleblower Protection) Act
4 ways Danielle Smith’s UCP could react to the Forever Canadian citizen initiative (Daveberta, December 5, 2025)
Alberta ‘excessively vulnerable’ to foreign interference, experts warn (Emmanuel Prince-Thauvette, CBC, March 4, 2026)
Canada Is Already at War with the US—We Just Don’t Know It Yet (Patrick Lennox, The Walrus, March 6, 2026)
