On Monday October 19, the Alberta separatist movement is going to face a major test.

Albertans are voting on whether to start a legal process to hold a referendum on full independence from Canada.

Poll numbers in favour of separation have not cracked 25 percent as of this past week, meaning the movement is set up for a loss on Monday.

Still, 25% is a big number, and leads to some questions, including one that I’m sure all of us have had at some point: “who is behind the separatist movement?”

Over the years, PressProgress has interviewed and written about many of the main figures in Alberta’s separatist movement.

The person doing the majority of the legwork on those stories, Alberta reporter Stephen Magusiak, joins Ontario reporter Eric Wickham to talk Alberta separation, and the people driving the movement.

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On September 16, Mississauga passed an interim control by-law pausing approval on all data centres with a peak power draw of over 10MW for the next year.

Mississauga is one of a growing number of municipalities putting planning before development on these large digital infrastructure projects in order to make sure the right guard rails and regulations are in place before more data centres show up.

But why are these centres showing up everywhere, and why has there so much pushback?

Ontario reporter Eric Wickham was there in Mississauga on the day of the vote to meet up with the activists involved in the grassroots movement to prevent the 40 MW data centre in the north end of the city.

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PressProgress is an award-winning non-profit news organization focused on uncovering and unpacking the news through original investigative and explanatory journalism.

Support our work so we can keep telling the stories that matter to you. Head to our website and make a contribution today.

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Canada’s single payer healthcare system has always been a point of national pride.

But according to advocates, policy decisions by the provinces are actively undermining the healthcare system we all rely on.

Alberta’s expansion of private-pay models, British Columbia’s reversal of harm reduction and decriminalization measures amid an ongoing public health emergency, Quebec’s handling of tuberculosis outbreaks in Inuit communities, and Ontario’s cuts to funding for long-term care are all raising concerns among healthcare advocates about the direction of health policy across the country.

In a webinar on July 15, PressProgress Health Reporter Brishti Basu spoke with four healthcare experts and advocates about what is going on in the provinces, and what can be done to stop our healthcare system from getting worse.

The following is a conversation with:

• Chris Gallaway from Friends of Medicare
• Dr. Ryan Herriot from Doctors for Safer Drug Policy
• Andrew Longhurst from Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
• Dr. Yassen Tcholakov from the McGill Department of Global and Public Health, and Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Service

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