- Edmonton city council's urban planning committee heard overwhelming support for a private tree protection bylaw aimed at preserving mature trees. Advocates, including Jan Hardstaff of the Residential Infill Working Group and Kristine Kowalchuk of the Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition, said the bylaw is overdue to prevent clear-cutting and boost the city's 13% canopy cover, which lags behind other major Canadian cities. They highlighted trees' vital role in climate resilience, reducing heat, and improving public health, though some opponents expressed concerns about increased red tape.
- Alberta schools are facing increased pressure from overcrowded classrooms and a significant rise in special education needs, with 133,703 students identified in the 2024-25 school year, marking a 17% increase since 2019. Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides acknowledged the rising complexity, pointing to federal immigration policies for contributing to more than 80,000 new students in three years. The province is building more schools, allocating targeted resources, and formed a class size and complexity cabinet committee. Jason Schilling of the Alberta Teachers' Association said that government funding has not kept up with enrolment growth.
- The Edmonton Blues Festival has been permanently cancelled after running for 25 years. The announcement on Feb. 10 marked the end of the long-standing annual event in Edmonton. "Escalating production costs, weather uncertainties, changing of venues and declining attendance have all conspired to make it impossible to host another event," the festival wrote on its website.
- A new report from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) says that Edmonton's rental market is expected to soften this year due to rising vacancy rates, increasing rental supply, and slowing population growth. CMHC predicts the vacancy rate will reach 4.5% in 2026, up from 3.8% in 2025, providing renters with more choice. Housing starts are also projected to decline as supply catches up to demand.
- A fireball seen over Edmonton on Feb. 10 likely landed hundreds of kilometres away, according to Frank Florian of the TELUS World of Science - Edmonton. "It's most likely just a little black rock," Florian said.
- The Alberta Council of Women's Shelters is urging the province to keep independent oversight of domestic violence deaths or reinvest the funding into frontline services after Alberta's family violence death review committee ended its work in 2025. The council also called on the province to release the committee's latest report, expected this spring. The Ministry of Children and Family Services said resources will shift to "integrated, forward-looking prevention efforts" and frontline programs.
- The Alberta government wrongly withheld hundreds of pages of its Alberta Next survey results from Postmedia, an adjudicator with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner ruled last week. Adjudicator Teresa Cunningham rejected the province's argument that legislative exemptions allowed it to withhold early responses and post-survey written replies related to a provincial pension plan, police service, and immigration, Postmedia reported. The government, which released a summary of multiple-choice results in late December 2025, must now release the remaining records, including 213 pages of written replies, by April 20.
Headlines: Feb. 11, 2026
By Mariam Ibrahim