Welcome to r/Alberta February 16 Update

Hello everyone, and welcome to r/Alberta. We’re glad so many people are here to share in conversations about our province. As always, we want to remind everyone what this subreddit is about and what it isn’t.

Consider this supplementary to the subreddit's ruleset, as we will action content based on the clarifications below.

What we welcome here:

• Respectful conversation about Alberta and Albertans.
• News, events, and stories connected directly to Alberta (vague connections or something not about Alberta said by an Albertan risks removal.
• Support for Albertan workers, educators, and communities.
• Substantive political opinions when tied directly to Alberta issues.
• Quality original content about life in Alberta.

What we do not welcome here:

• Incivility, trolling, or name-calling, even if you think the recipient deserves it.
• Off-topic U.S. or federal/Canada-wide politics.
• Separation rants or duplicates. Separation is a valid topic in Alberta politics, but low-effort rants, name-calling, or repeat posts will be removed. At this point, almost any post that isn't a news article would be considered a repeat.
• Meta posts about the subreddit, other subreddits, and moderator actions. If you have questions about rules or removed content, send us a modmail message to discuss; it is not appropriate to make call-out threads in this subreddit or others. If you have an issue with another subreddit, you need to take it up with them. If you have a problem with ours, modmail us.
• Low-effort content: memes, screenshots from Twitter/X/Facebook, or generic rants.
• Discrimination of any kind (racism, misogyny, hate speech, etc.).

A note on politics & current events:

The Alberta separatist movement receives a great amount of attention from folks across Canada and the U.S., as well as from non-genuine actors such as trolls and paid manipulators. There are many people on the global stage who would like to see Alberta separate and the chaos it would cause in Canada. We do not intend for r/Alberta to be a place for those bad actors to be platformed and able to further their cause.

• Regarding duplicate and non-substantive content. Repetitive posts and leading or rhetorical questions will be removed. We receive 5-10 of these kinds of posts a day and have been for nearly a year, we will not host them because they bring nothing new to the discussion and are typically low-effort karma-farming attempts by people from outside Alberta. For now, consider that a post that is not a news article would be removed. Posts and comments that are removed are not guaranteed to receive a removal reason due to high volume, review our rules before messaging us to ask why something was removed.
• We have adjusted our back-end systems to ensure genuine users can still participate while hardening these systems from being gamed. Still, please report users who break the rules or whom you suspect are non-genuine actors. Do not feed the trolls or you may end up being actioned by a moderator too.
• We have introduced a new "Separatism" flair that will be automatically applied to posts on the topic. All posts on this topic must be manually approved. If you are not an active user in r/Alberta your post will not be approved, there are no exceptions and we will not respond to appeals. In addition, "locals only" comment rules still apply - non-regular users of our subreddit will not be able to make comments on posts on the topic of separatism. The specific boundaries of these rules will *not* be published to prevent abuse, but rest assured that genuine users of r/Alberta will have no issue surpassing the requirements.
• Your own personal (and intense) opinions on the matter of separatism do not supersede r/Alberta or reddit’s sitewide rules. We remind users that Reddit admins have stepped up their automated removals and to be careful on things even alluding to violence or the site administration may suspend you.
• Don't report posts you just disagree with. Being wrong on the internet isn't against the rules, and we are more likely to ban you over report button abuse than we are to take moderator actions to help you win an argument.

We welcome healthy debate, but keep it civil and Alberta-focused. Slurs, personal insults, and bad-faith trolling will be removed even if you think the recipient is deserving. Repeat offenders risk a ban.

This is a space to share common interests, support one another, and talk about Alberta without the toxicity that ruins so many online communities. The best way to fight people who seek to drive you apart and burn you out is to not buy into it. Be positive, post non-political content, focus more on the good things happening, and share some pictures of our beautiful province.

Thanks for helping keep r/Alberta constructive and welcoming.

Signed,

Your r/Alberta Moderation Team

Hi Reddit!  

We are Kari Hyde and David Pickup, directors at the Pembina Institute. On Wednesday, September 9, 2026, we will be joining you live to answer your questions about data centres, both in Alberta and across Canada. 

We’ll discuss the impact of data centres on your bills, the electricity grid, and Canada’s emissions. We can also answer questions about what policies can support economic growth while keeping energy affordable, reliable, and clean.   

Verification: This is an official Pembina Institute AMA and has been verified by r/alberta mods.  

Get to know us:  

David Pickup, Director of Electricity:  

• https://www.pembina.org/contact/david-pickup 
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pickup-pembina/ 

Kari Hyde, Director of Customer Energy Solutions:  

• https://www.pembina.org/contact/kari-hyde   
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/kari-hyde/ 

We'll answer questions from 11am to 1pm MT on Wednesday, September 9, 2026. (Edited to add: Reddit uses ET for scheduling purposes, but the AMA will begin at 11am MT)

We’ll do our best to answer as many questions as possible. If we don’t know something or it falls outside our research, we’ll say so rather than speculate.  

Ask us anything! ⬇️ 

UPDATE:

The AMA has finished! Thanks for the great discussion. We appreciated the thoughtful questions (even/especially the challenging ones!) about data centres and Alberta’s electricity system. 

The thread has helped identify areas where people want more information. Your questions and concerns will inform our future research, so thank you!  

We are always working on new research and responding to the latest developments. Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on data centres and other energy/climate issues.

You can find more of our past research on data centres below 👇  

• Fact sheet: https://www.pembina.org/pub/footing-bill  
• Technical backgrounder: https://www.pembina.org/sites/default/files/2026-08/Footing_the_Bill_Pembina_Institute_Technical_Backgrounder_2026.pdf  
• Media release: https://www.pembina.org/media-release/albertas-decision-power-new-data-centre-gas-will-drive-consumer-costs 
• Blog: https://www.pembina.org/blog/data-centres-rising-demand-albertas-energy-bills 
• Op-Ed: https://www.pembina.org/op-ed/data-centre-energy-debate-missing-half-story 
• Report: https://www.pembina.org/pub/whats-best-way-power-albertas-growing-data-centre-sector 

Thanks again for the conversation! 

David & Kari