Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says close to 800,000 people have applied for her government’s $100 energy rebate.
Smith says she expects the first batch of payments to start landing in Albertans’ bank accounts in the next few days.
The premier made the comments while speaking to the media at a pancake breakfast on the Edmonton legislature grounds.
An estimated 3.4 million Albertans are eligible to receive the rebate.
In a press release, the Alberta NDP labelled the program “a total failure” and called on the Smith government to change its approach by cancelling the provincial gas tax, while prices are high, in order to help “Albertans keep more of their hard-earned money.”
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In June, the province was forced to issue a warning about a phishing scam after many Albertans received a text message about the energy rebate that falsely claimed to be from the province.
There have also been concerns raised over the amount of personal information Albertans were being asked to provide when applying for the rebate.
And the provincial government has claimed to have blocked about 35,000 fraudulent applications.
Smith said the government is looking at ways to streamline the application process.
However, she says it’s too soon to say whether the affordability payments will continue or if the government will revert to its previous relief program that cut gas taxes at the pump when oil prices were high.
100$
What a joke
@ Vancouverite…Only NDP voters applied, hence the 800K.
Mine got denied because my household income was higher than the threshold. My income was literally 20K last year because i was on mat leave and my husband died. Very frustrating that even a simple income test cant be handled properly.
The main issue is getting the direct deposit set up. I noticed that RBC will not log in and ATB is not even on the list. And this thing of taking picture of your driver’s license and then a selfie. Forget it. Time to fire the IT programmers that came up with this idea and try again.l
I’m donating mine to the Forever Canada group. Kind of ironic that a separatist government is trying to buy my vote for 100 dollars. Back in the day Klein gave us significantly more and the PCs weren’t separatist. I have always voted PC. So not an NDP as numb-nuts suggested earlier.
It was so easy to apply, no problem at all I received my payment today.
Not sure why people are having a hard time applying.
Cons communication skills are limited to insulting those of differing opinions.
Many examples follow.
It seems the concept of a government giving money to peasants is confusing to fat Nenshi and friends. Violates basic NDP beliefs.
Oh and I want to gobble Donnie after my TDS meds kick in. Gobble gobble
I’m a total clown. Down the road batsh!t crazy. A absolute donkey
Wow those Albertans are sure love free money. Alberta was also one of the top 3 provinces that applied for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) during the pandemic
The math shows only NDP voters have applied.
Smith She says the government is looking at ways to streamline the process after some reported having issues with the online application.
Let me guess, the Streamlined process will be onboard Oct 1st, 2026.