Looking forward to 2025
By Chantelle de Jonge Chestermere-Strathmore MLA
As 2024 comes to an end, and we look forward to the opportunities of 2025, it’s a time to reflect on the accomplishments and milestones of this last year.
Our government wrapped up a successful fall session – strengthening your rights, freedoms, and personal protections, making life more affordable, education more accessible, and empowering our healthcare sector.
To remain the province of the strong and free, we introduced and passed 13 crucial pieces of legislation, beginning with the Alberta Bill of Rights Amendment Act 2024. These amendments ensured that Albertans’ rights and freedoms surrounding medical choices, property rights, and legal firearms use are protected in our fast-changing world.
The Bill of Rights is further strengthened by The Health Statutes Amendment Act 2024, which protects the rights of Albertans during a public health emergency while adding further protections to preserve the rights of children and youth to grow and develop into mature adults so they can make informed decisions about their health and lives. The Fairness and Safety in Sports Act protects women’s and girls’ sports, ensuring meaningful participation in the athlete’s choice of biological female-only and co-ed divisions.
We’ve heard from parents across the province that they want to be more involved in their children’s education and we are happy to strengthen their involvement through the Education Amendment Act 2024, which focuses on promoting student success and well-being, and will ensure children, parents and teachers have the right supports to navigate complex conversations in Alberta’s classrooms. We also passed the Early Learning and Child Care Amendment Act to increase oversight and provide more information to parents, while allowing for greater intervention and administration of penalties when providers fail to meet vital safety standards.
To conclude a strong session, we continued to stand up against the federal government’s unconstitutional overreach, passing an Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act motion to safeguard Alberta’s economy from the job-killing federal emissions cap.
Keeping life affordable is a main priority for our government. This is why we are cutting up to 70 per cent of photo radar and lowering auto insurance rates. Effective April 1, 2025, automated traffic enforcement on numbered highways will end as photo radar will be restricted to schools, playgrounds, and construction zones. Our government is killing the photo radar cash cow, ensuring that radar is used for promoting safety and not revenue generation. Furthermore, we are working to significantly lower auto insurance rates while providing better benefits that Albertans can rely on if injured in a collision. Due to the time needed to create and develop the new system, these changes will come into effect in January 2027 and are expected to save Albertans $400 a year once implemented.
To keep up with the incredible growth our province is experiencing, this year we committed $8.6 billion to complete and open 200,000 new student spaces across Alberta over the next seven years through the School Construction Accelerator program. This program will build new schools in our fastest-growing communities, modernize aging school infrastructure in rural Alberta, and expand school choice by building new public charter schools. These new and modernized spaces will ensure that students have the resources to learn, grow, and reach their full potential.
We have made significant healthcare improvements over the past year to improve doctor, nurse, and healthcare worker recruitment. These improvements include an incoming new primary care compensation model for family medicine and rural generalist physicians and a new model for nurse practitioners to strengthen our primary care network. We are leaving no stone unturned to make sure Alberta’s primary care system is the best in Canada.
It’s an honour to serve as your MLA and connect with our community. If you, your community group, or business, have any questions, feedback, or would like to schedule a meeting, please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office.
Wishing you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
(Chantelle de Jonge is the MLA for Chestermere-Strathmore and the Parliamentary Secretary for Affordability and Utilities)