Robocalls and solar panels

Albertans may have noticed phone messages from Opposition leader Jason Kenney as part of United Conservative Party caucus outreach.

“I’m calling to invite you to participate in a live telephone town hall meeting that’s going on right now,” Kenney says in the automated message, adding he wants to take questions from participants.

“Please stay on the line and you’ll be automatically placed into a tollfree conference call to listen in with your neighbours and have a discussion about our future.”

A random assortment of phone numbers received the call, said UCP spokeswoman Annie Dormuth.

The robocalls — which came at an undisclosed cost — were funded by UCP caucus with the approval of the Legislative Assembly Office, she added.

The NDP ramped up its robocalls across the province starting last month.

SOLAR PANEL PLAN

More than 30 Indigenous communities will be home to solar panels by the end of 2018, says Indigenous Relations Minister Richard Feehan.

The Alberta Indigenous Solar Program (AISP) gives $200,000 grants to cover up to 60 per cent of solar panel installation costs for community buildings.

Feehan provided an update during a budget estimates committee last week. He said Montana First Nation, about 90 km south of Edmonton, helped to inform the program.

“They were well ahead of the curve many years before we invented this climate leadership program, and we went to them and learned a lot from what they were doing,” he was recorded saying in Hansard.

In 2016, the province funded $2.5 million in green energy programs for Indigenous communities, including the AISP.