While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Lisa Johnson.
Alberta's judges are calling for respect days after Premier Danielle Smith said she wishes she could "direct" them. The province's three chief justices say in a rare public statement that democracy only functions when all three branches of government operate independently and respect each other's role. "It ensures judges can make decisions based solely on the law and evidence presented,"...
EDMONTON -- The operator of one of the province's largest long-term care homes says it's working to address serious concerns about an infestation of mice and mice droppings.
EDMONTON -- Alberta's emergency room doctors, in a letter to the provincial government, have detailed front-line horror stories of preventable deaths along with indignities and suffering by patients in what one physician describes as "death zones."
EDMONTON -- An Alberta school division has launched an investigation after the premier shared on social media an audio recording, purportedly of a teacher disparaging the province's conservative political culture.
EDMONTON -- Alberta's Opposition NDP is calling on Premier Danielle Smith's government to face a "crisis" of overcrowded hospitals head-on as doctors plead for emergency measures to help cope.
EDMONTON -- Doctors who have been pleading for help as Edmonton hospitals are being overwhelmed by patients say Alberta's health-care leadership is missing in action.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the American capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro underlines the urgency of building oil pipelines to export Canadian oil to new markets. U.S. President Donald Trump sent political shock waves around the world with the weekend military raid, saying Washington aimed to seize the South American country's oil reserves. Smith says the events "emphasize the...
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the American capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro underlines the urgency of building oil pipelines to export Canadian oil to new markets.
The leader of a rival party to Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservatives says they're scrambling to organize on the chance Smith tries to undercut them by calling a spring election. "Time is not on the side of the UCP," Peter Guthrie, the head of Alberta's new Progressive Tory Party, said in an interview. "If you look at us organizing, we're...
EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA -- The leader of a rival party to Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservatives says they're scrambling to organize on the chance Smith tries to undercut them by calling a spring election.
Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz is quitting cabinet and says she will also soon be leaving the legislature altogether. Schulz made the announcement on social media Wednesday. She says she has offered her resignation from cabinet effective Friday and will step down as the United Conservative legislature member for Calgary-Shaw by May. "Timing is everything in life and in politics,"...
EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA -- Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz is quitting cabinet and says she will also soon be leaving the legislature altogether.
The Alberta government in 2025 completed the final legal foundations of its new health-care system -- and Premier Danielle Smith says she's working in 2026 to prove it was worth it. The massive reorganization saw Smith dismantle Alberta Health Services as the provincial health authority and relegate it to a hospital service provider. Smith said with one major piece of...
CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA -- The Alberta government in 2025 completed the final legal foundations of its new health-care system -- and Premier Danielle Smith says she's working in 2026 to prove it was worth it.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's hand-picked panel re-examining the province's relationship with Ottawa says it's time to ditch the RCMP and hold a provincewide referendum on quitting the Canada Pension Plan. The Alberta Next panel, in a report with findings and recommendations, says creating a provincial pension plan was the most hotly debated topic among citizens and one that needs to...
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's hand-picked panel re-examining the province's relationship with Ottawa says it's time to ditch the RCMP and hold a provincewide referendum on quitting the Canada Pension Plan.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's hand-picked panel re-examining the province's relationship with Ottawa says it's time to ditch the RCMP and hold a provincewide referendum on quitting the Canada Pension Plan.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government is hiking the cost to apply for a citizen-initiated referendum by 5,000 per cent, saying it's about making sure applicants are serious.
EDMONTON -- Alberta's justice minister is the latest member of Premier Danielle Smith's caucus to face a citizen recall petition.
Alberta's governing United Conservatives stayed up until the early hours of this morning to pass a bill making it the fourth time they have used the Charter's notwithstanding clause. Members of Premier Danielle Smith's caucus used their majority to pass on third and final reading a bill affecting transgender citizens. The UCP members pounded their desks and shouted "Hear, hear!"...
EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA -- Alberta's governing United Conservatives stayed up into the early pre-dawn hours of Wednesday morning to pass a bill that marks the fourth time in under two months they have used the Charter's notwithstanding clause.
EDMONTON -- The Alberta government moved to the final stage of debate early Wednesday on legislation that, if passed, would see the Charter's notwithstanding clause invoked four times in less than two months.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government moved one step closer late Tuesday night to passing legislation invoking the Charter's notwithstanding clause for a fourth time in this sitting.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government was poised Tuesday to pass legislation invoking the Charter's notwithstanding clause for a fourth time in this sitting.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says those seeking an independence referendum should not have "gatekeepers," like the courts, standing in their way.
EDMONTON -- Two Alberta cabinet ministers say money was a key factor in the United Conservative government's decision to use the Charter's notwithstanding clause to override teachers' rights and shut down a provincewide strike.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government is urging Crown prosecutors to think twice about charging someone who acts to defend themselves or others in their own homes.
Alberta's watershed pipeline deal with Ottawa wasn't front and centre Friday when Premier Danielle Smith spoke with United Conservative Party faithful at their annual convention. Smith took the stage in Edmonton for the first of many addresses planned for the weekend. It wasn't until after she spoke on issues including rural policing, new federal legislation and even separatism that someone...
EDMONTON -- Falling oil prices and trade troubles continue to threaten Alberta's finances, but the province's deficit is expected to shrink only slightly.
EDMONTON -- Falling oil prices and trade troubles continue to threaten Alberta's finances, but the province's deficit is expected to shrink only slightly.
EDMONTON -- Alberta is moving to insulate its Crown investment corporation from potential legal liabilities and protect companies in the province from lawsuits accusing them of greenwashing.
EDMONTON -- The Alberta government has tabled a bill that would open the door for surgeons to charge patients for privately-delivered procedures while keeping a foot in the public system and billing taxpayers.
EDMONTON -- The head of the Alberta Teachers' Association says a report on classroom aggression and complexity largely vindicates its longstanding calls for more support and money to fix the problem.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government is limiting what behaviour professional regulators can police in the name of strengthening freedom of expression.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government is limiting what behaviour professional regulators can police in the name of strengthening freedom of expression.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith revealed her government's plan to introduce legislation to let doctors choose to work in the public and private health systems simultaneously.
EDMONTON -- The Alberta government is on the hunt for a new auditor general, but the Opposition NDP says they're forcing him out before he finishes investigating a health-care contracting scandal.
EDMONTON -- The Alberta government is starting to roll out compensation for the families of children who were kept out of classrooms during a three-week teachers strike.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says absent a deal to end a provincewide teachers strike, her government will introduce back-to-work legislation Monday. Smith says with the strike deep into its third week, the hardship facing students and families is intolerable, forcing her government to step in. The two sides do not have formal talks scheduled but Smith says there is still...
EDMONTON -- Alberta doctors say the province's effort to save money on COVID-19 vaccines could end up costing taxpayers far more in public health-care costs.
EDMONTON -- Alberta's government is providing more details about a bill it says will prevent long ballot protests during provincial elections.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government is planning to introduce legislation this fall to limit who can run in provincial elections. Government house leader Joseph Schow says the changes will ensure only those who, in his words, "truly care and are serious about representing a community" will be put on the ballot. Schow, speaking to reporters, declined to provide details on...
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government is planning to introduce legislation this fall to limit who can run in provincial elections.
A final report into allegations of corruption in Alberta government health contracts says it was widely known two staffers were in conflicts of interest but no steps were taken by senior officials. Former Manitoba judge Raymond Wyant makes 18 recommendations for the Alberta government, including improving conflict and procurement policies.
EDMONTON -- The head of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce says a provincewide teachers strike is putting a strain on businesses.
EDMONTON -- Alberta's government says it expected to receive a final report Wednesday from the investigation into allegations of corruption over health contracts, but it won't be immediately released.
EDMONTON -- Alberta's government says it expects to receive a final report today from the investigation into allegations of corruption over health contracts.
EDMONTON -- Football decals plaster the walls of his bedroom. A San Francisco 49ers bedspread and a binder full of trading cards make it clear the seven-year-old loves sports.
Alberta's government says Ottawa is dodging responsibility by not standing behind a proposed pipeline project to the B.C. coast. Premier Danielle Smith's office says the decision to build a pipeline lies solely with Prime Minister Mark Carney and the federal government. Her spokesperson Sam Blackett says anything short of decisive support would be a betrayal of the constitutional rights of...
EDMONTON -- The Alberta government says Ottawa is dodging responsibility by not standing behind the province's planned proposal for a pipeline that would bring oil to the B.C. coast.
EDMONTON -- The former Alberta politician trying to keep the province from splitting up with Canada says his campaign is zeroing in on its goal, but he's not slowing down.
EDMONTON -- A newborn in Alberta has died of measles marking the province's first death from the disease this year, the government said Thursday.
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says those who question her rationale for the government's law restricting health care for transgender youth need to read up on puberty.
EDMONTON -- Doctors and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups challenging Alberta laws affecting transgender people say they aren't backing down, after learning the province plans to invoke the Charter's notwithstanding clause.
EDMONTON -- Premier Danielle Smith's Alberta Next panel, aimed at wrenching more political control from Ottawa, was spurred to take action in Grande Prairie Wednesday.
EDMONTON -- Premier Danielle Smith's Alberta Next panel is in Grande Prairie tonight to brainstorm potential referendum questions aimed at wrenching more political control from Ottawa.
EDMONTON -- Critics are questioning what problem the Alberta government's move to add mandatory citizenship markers to provincial identification aims to solve, and say it opens the door to potential privacy breaches and discrimination.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her latest meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney has inspired optimism and he is demonstrating a "real shift" from the previous Justin Trudeau-led Liberals. Speaking in Edmonton on Thursday, she said she understands why Albertans might feel the rug has been pulled out from them several times before, but she's committed to diplomacy. "I found...
EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her latest meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney has inspired optimism and he is demonstrating a "real shift" from the previous Justin Trudeau-led Liberals.
EDMONTON -- With a provincewide teachers strike looming, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says their union has a stark choice between heftier pay hikes and more teachers.