"Adriana LaGrange must come forward and apologize on behalf of her government for failing her own constituents so badly while serving as the health minister," said Metz.

"And when she issues that apology, we're also demanding she come forward with a real plan and timeline and funding to build the Red Deer Hospital expansion. No more excuses and no more delays."

UNA president Heather Smith said the cut is a "prescription" for driving nurses and health-care workers out of the province and the profession

Founder David Parker says he won't provide the names of his donors to Elections Alberta until all of its employees are fired.

One issue he wanted Smith's remarks on landed her in a dicey spot she hasn't much wanted to discuss: prosecutions of Albertans arrested during the pandemic.

He asked about the plight of four men arrested at the Coutts blockade in February 2022 and charged with conspiring to murder RCMP officers. Carlson called their legal detention as they await trial "a human rights violation" and argued their charges were dubious.

"Don't you think it would send a powerful message to go visit them in jail and find out what they've been accused of?" Carlson asked Smith.

There was a time, before she was premier, when she'd have been far more aligned with Carlson and many of the Albertans filling that convention centre hall that injustice was being done to those facing COVID- or convoy-related charges. She'd mused about amnesty for some Albertans facing prosecution for nonviolent offences while campaigning for the United Conservative leadership.

But weeks into her current job, she was told pardons and amnesty aren't possible with the stroke of a premier's pen. She's constrained in how she interacts with the police and court system, regardless of her beliefs. "This is part of the journey we've all gone on in the last year to realize just how much limitation there is," Smith told Carlson of her powers to intervene on cases.

And she expressed regret that she was now unable to push, after she praised civil-liberties groups for winning a court victory this week against the Trudeau government's declaration of the Emergencies Act.

"I truly wish I could do more, but I've had my wings clipped in the last year," Smith said.