By Brett McKay, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Investigative Journalism Foundation
Alberta’s government has quietly transferred responsibility for its communications wing to the premier’s office, greatly expanding the size and budget of the province’s executive council.
An April 29 Order in Council shifted responsibility for the province’s Communications and Public Engagement (CPE) department from Treasury Board and Finance to Executive Council, meaning Premier Danielle Smith is now the minister overseeing the branch. Aside from notices of the order posted to the government website, the province has not publicly commented on the department transfer.
CPE is part of the public service and manages marketing and communications across all government branches.
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Previously known as the public affairs bureau, the government communications branch was moved from executive council to treasury board and finance by the then- Alberta NDP government in 2017 after years of complaints from consecutive opposition parties that it was used as a propaganda arm of the premier’s office.
Rakhi Pancholi, deputy leader of the Alberta NDP, said relocating the public relations branch under the premier normalizes the United Conservative government’s use of public dollars for partisan purposes.
“What I think has been happening gradually over the last six years is that government communications have become increasingly partisan. And the decision to bring it under executive council and the premier is clearly a decision to formalize that process,” Pancholi said.
The move will add about 288 full-time employees to Executive Council, which will operate with a budget of $38 million, Smith’s press secretary Sam Blackett told the IJF. The decision to transfer the communications branch was made by cabinet in April, he said.
“The objectives of CPE remain unchanged. As dedicated and non-partisan public servants, CPE staff will continue to communicate and implement the policy priorities of Alberta’s government,” Blackett said.
Though the CPE is tasked with delivering factual and non-partisan information about government policies and programs, Pancholi said official social media accounts and news releases have more frequently veered into political territory with messaging “intended to create a certain narrative” about government policies or “overt partisan references to the federal government.”
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Major initiatives supported by CPE in recent years include the $8 million Tell the Feds advertising campaign opposing federal net-zero emissions regulations and a $7.5 million campaign promoting the Alberta Pension Plan.
The UCP’s transfer of CPE continues the consolidation of the province’s communications apparatus and the expansion of the executive council by the Smith government. Earlier this year the controversial Canadian Energy Centre, an “energy war room” created by former premier Jason Kenney’s government to counter critics of Alberta’s oil sector, was also folded into the premier’s office, adding an additional $4.8 million to its budget.
The 2025-26 budget for the premier’s office and Executive Council is $25.7 million, up from about $21 million the previous year, which Smith said is needed to cover increased staffing expenses.
An order in council on May 13 designated two additional deputy ministers in that office who answer to Smith, a senior deputy minister of operations and a deputy minister of communications and public engagement.
Enyinnah Okere, former chief operations officer with Edmonton Police Service (EPS), was appointed deputy minister of CPE. The same order also appoints Justin Krikler, chief administrative officer of EPS’s corporate services bureau, as the new deputy minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services.
In their time with the Edmonton police, Okere and Krikler worked under former police chief Dale McFee, who announced his retirement from policing in late 2024 and was hired as deputy minister of Executive Council and head of the Alberta Public Service in February.
Blackett said that under the new arrangement, communications staff will continue to report directly to the deputy minister of CPE, just as in any other government department.
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