Daily Digest — Edmonton — 2026-02-24

Tough winter for one Calgary family: the Dawes, a family of six, have been living in their car for six months and two nights ago the battery died on a night that dipped to −21°C. They’ve been turned away from shelters because their eldest is 18 (legally an adult), volunteers and Good Samaritans helped get the car started again, and late Tuesday they were offered possible shelter for the night.

Small towns in mourning: two teenage hockey players, girls aged 17 and 18, were killed in a collision with a semi on Highway 16 around 7:15 p.m. while driving home from Jasper to Hinton (a 75‑km trip). Slippery conditions are believed to be a factor, classes at Harry Collinge High School were canceled Tuesday and Wednesday, and the community — about 10,000 people — is grieving while identities have not been released.

A Calgarian on the front lines in Ukraine: Paul Hughes, who volunteered in March 2022 and runs H.U.G.S., describes scenes as “heart‑wrenching,” saying Kharkiv’s population fell from 1.5 million to about 600–700k with roughly 200k internally displaced. He and his son MacKenzie (severely injured on Canada Day 2025 with ~30% third‑degree burns) keep delivering aid along a nearly 1,000‑km frontline, and he stresses huge ongoing needs for food, housing and jobs.

Selling online? Be careful: Edmonton police got about 15 reports in a month of robberies during Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji meetups involving higher‑priced items like phones and brand clothing. Suspects posed as buyers, worked with accomplices (one incident involved a firearm), three teen boys were arrested on Jan. 31 and charged with theft under $5,000, and EPS reminds sellers to use the four Buy & Sell Exchange Zones or meet in public with a friend.

Housing squeeze continues: Canadians’ total mortgage debt hit about $1.95 trillion in Q4 2025 (up 2.6% year‑over‑year) as mortgage renewals surge and at least 1.5 million households had renewed by end of 2025. Average new loan amounts rose to $363,778 (new buyers) and $441,301 (first‑time buyers), and a University of Ottawa analysis warns starter homes have become far less affordable (incomes +76% vs starter home prices +265% since 2004).

Pay boost for Alberta nurses: the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees says Covenant Health members ratified their new collective agreement with 89.2% support. The deal (retroactive to April 1, 2024) includes a 12% pay increase over four years, market adjustments and improved benefits, and it runs until the end of March 2028.

New Liberal MP joins PM’s trade trip: Matt Jeneroux will travel with Prime Minister Mark Carney to India, Australia and Japan as a "special advisor on economic and security partnerships" from Thursday to March 7. The delegation includes Defence Minister David McGuinty and other ministers (Anita Anand, François‑Philippe Champagne, Maninder Sidhu); the India leg also has Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe and New Brunswick’s Susan Holt, and the trip is part of Carney’s push to diversify trade amid security concerns.

Legislature returns with big files: Alberta’s spring sitting opened Tuesday with up to 18 government bills expected, covering items from a Project Delivery Office to tighter immigration recruiter rules and limits on MAID for some people with mental illness. The government also introduced a bill to transfer all 1,200 Alberta Sheriffs to a new Alberta Sheriffs Police Service, the budget (due Thursday) will show a multibillion‑dollar deficit and a 22% boost in doctor spending, and the sitting runs through May.