Taylor Lambert
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Taylor Lambert
@taylorlambert.ca
7K followers 580 following 46 posts
Investigative journalist at CBC Edmonton • Author of Darwin's Moving & other fine-ish books • he/him • taylorlambert.ca

contact me securely on signal: https://signal.me/#eu/uX+mBaJwF75zOw0nJ1vWbuHW4iZmjOPIWgaSTWlXkvIC05g03+hNyKap2dVjMcF7
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taylorlambert.ca
This chart shows the total number of extra duty hours and shifts each year.

I got 2020-2024 through FOIP; EPS then shared two prior years of shifts to demonstrate that the increase is simply a return to pre-pandemic levels.
May 6, 2025 at 2:50 PM
taylorlambert.ca
Here's the Alberta govt's first appearance in the database, from 1964, where they registered themselves as their own lobbyist... with a Los Angeles office address.
Screenshot from a document. The heading says "United States Department of Justice." The date is April 30, 1964. The registrant is listed as the Government of Alberta, with an address of 550 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, California.
February 27, 2025 at 4:20 PM
taylorlambert.ca
Here's a proposed comms strategy from 2013 around the Keystone XL project, where the goal is to "neutralize environmentalist arguments."
A screenshot from a document. The highlighted text reads: "environmentalists opposed to the project have aggressively taken control of the debate," and "Objective: Define and execute a public relations strategy to give the current debate more context thereby giving President Obama the air cover he needs to support the Pipeline."
February 27, 2025 at 4:20 PM
taylorlambert.ca
Along with the Foreign Agents Registration Act data, documents from each contract were also publicly available.

Here's one from a current Government of Alberta contract, where the lobbying firms are selling themselves by highlighting their personal connections to U.S. senators.
A screenshot from a contract. The highlighted text reads: "Jonathan Kott is a key confident of several US policy makers including Senator Coons and Senator Manchin... Through our work, Senator Manchin became a key ally for Alberta, which was particularly important given his leadership position and ability to work along bipartisan lines. To that end, we were pleased to coordinate Senator Manchin’s visit to Alberta."
February 27, 2025 at 4:20 PM
taylorlambert.ca
I crunched 80+ years of U.S. foreign lobbying data. Turns out Alberta has hired more lobbyists than any other province or the federal govt since 2000.

STORY: www.cbc.ca/1.7469140
Two column charts, side by side. The title is "Registration of US Lobbyists." The subtitle is "Number of appearances in the US Foreign Agent Registration Act database." The chart on the left shows data since the year 2000 - Alberta is first with 15, Ontario is second with 14, and the rest of the provinces and federal government have 5 or fewer. The chart on the right shows all-time data, with the federal government first with 56, Ontario second with 28, Alberta third with 25, and Quebec with 21, followed by a sharp drop off for the rest.
February 27, 2025 at 4:20 PM
taylorlambert.ca
Hello new followers! I'm an investigative and longform journalist in Edmonton, I've written books and won awards and all that crap.

But I am on medical leave at the moment and have nothing of substance to contribute, so here's an old photo of my late dog (RIP) fighting a T. Rex.
A very cute small white dog locked in mortal combat with a plush toy dinosaur.
November 18, 2024 at 5:14 PM
taylorlambert.ca
I wrote about a curious trend - considerably more police misconduct complaints get appealed from Edmonton than Calgary, despite similar total numbers of annual complaints.

That's been true for more than a decade, which is as far back as I was able to find data.

STORY: www.cbc.ca/1.7382151
A line chart titled "Law Enforcement Review Board cases by location." There are two lines showing the number of cases for Edmonton and Calgary from 2013 to 2023. Edmonton has more cases than Calgary in every year.
November 14, 2024 at 8:46 PM
taylorlambert.ca
New from me: The number of people experiencing homelessness in Edmonton has surged to nearly 5,000 — an increase of nearly 2k in the past year.

This comes after #yeg set a new record for the no. of frostbite amputations last winter — more than half for unhoused patients

STORY: www.cbc.ca/1.7368114
A stacked line chart showing the number of people in Edmonton who are unsheltered, in shelters, or with provisional accommodation. The x-axis is time, ranging from 2019 to 2024. The y-axis is the number of people. There is a general increasing trend in all categories over time, and a steep increase from late 2023 on.
October 31, 2024 at 3:43 PM
taylorlambert.ca
New from me: I got data showing that Edmonton set a new record for frostbite amputations last winter.

But Calgary's stats were down despite similar winter temps.

Potential reasons for divergence: encampment evictions in #yeg, and more aggressive frostbite treatment in #yyc

STORY: cbc.ca/1.7358413
A line chart showing number of frostbite amputations in Edmonton Zone and Calgary Zone from 2011 to 2024. Both lines follow similar trends, spiking sharply in 2021-22. In 2023-24, the lines diverge significantly, with Edmonton rising and Calgary falling. A line chart showing daily minimum temperatures in Calgary and Edmonton from Oct 2023 to April 2024. Both cities show similar temperatures, with Edmonton slightly colder at times and dropping steeply to minus 45 degrees Celsius for a few days in mid January.
October 22, 2024 at 1:53 PM
taylorlambert.ca
ICYMI my story from yesterday — Alberta is allocating 72% more water to the oil and gas sector than it did in 2009.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
A doughnut chart showing the sector breakdown in Alberta's water allocation for 2009 and 2024. The oil and gas portion was 6% in 2009, and 11% in 2024. A doughnut chart showing the breakdown by activity within the oil and gas sector for water allocation. The largest by far is oil sands mining at 74%. Others are injection (9%), hydraulic fracturing (8%), refineries and upgraders (4.8%) and Other (4.7%).
June 15, 2024 at 3:17 PM
taylorlambert.ca
On Thursday, the governing body of one of the University of Alberta's largest faculties voted overwhelmingly against president Bill Flanagan's leadership over his handling of a pro-Palestinian student protest camp. He didn't have much to say about it.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
A screenshot of the top of the linked article. The headline reads "University of Alberta arts faculty council passes non-confidence vote on president's leadership."
May 25, 2024 at 3:36 PM
taylorlambert.ca
In this drought year, Alberta's water allocation is under the microscope. Here's my breakdown of what water licensing data tells us about how we manage our water supply.

Link: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Screenshot of the top of the article. A chart showing the various categories of use of groundwater, surface water, and total water in Alberta A bar chart showing river basins ranked by how much water is allocated - the Bow and Oldman rivers are far ahead of any others. A series of charts showing how water in eight river basins is allocated amongst various categories of use. Irrigation is dominant in the south, while oil and gas is dominant in the north.
March 6, 2024 at 7:22 PM
taylorlambert.ca
I wrote about water law in Alberta, which sounds super boring but I totally nerded out on it.

It's also super important to understand, so here's my attempt to break it down!

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
A screenshot of a web article with a photo of a river. The headline reads: "Priority? Licence transfers? Here's how Alberta's water system works"
February 15, 2024 at 5:36 PM
taylorlambert.ca
Trying to confuse any would-be banana bandits.
A banana with the word "apple" written on it.
February 7, 2024 at 7:46 PM
taylorlambert.ca
I wrote about the planned closure of the Swan Hills hazardous waste plant, its fraught history and environmental legacy — and the debate over whether its closure is good or bad.

Notably, the clean-up costs are now estimated at $223 m, far higher than previous figures.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Screengrab of the article headline: "A contentious hazardous waste plant in northern Alberta is slated to close. What's next?"
February 5, 2024 at 3:42 PM
taylorlambert.ca
Edmonton's unhoused community is less than 1% of the city's total population. Yet they accounted for 58% of all hospital visits for frostbite amputation in the last fiscal year.

My story: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
A chart titled "Number of visits for amputation due to frostbite." Each fiscal year shows the total number as well as the number of homeless patients.
January 18, 2024 at 5:54 PM
taylorlambert.ca
I looked into how many cops in Edmonton and Calgary have left their jobs while under investigation for misconduct since 2012 — 88 in total, one of whom is now the police chief in Camrose.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
A list of allegations against Edmonton police officers, including inappropriate use of force and discreditable conduct.
December 7, 2023 at 3:47 PM
taylorlambert.ca
Life is a FOIP.
Screenshot of an email. Text reads: "Here are the answers to your questions." Below that text, everything is blacked-out and redacted.
September 27, 2023 at 7:11 PM
taylorlambert.ca
💚
August 2, 2023 at 12:06 AM
taylorlambert.ca
Since Edm-Cgy passenger rail service ended in 1985, bringing it back in some form has been debated, studied, but never built.

With concerns about decarbonization, rail advocacy has taken on new urgency, and raised a Q: should it be left to the private sector?

Story ➡️ https://www.cbc.ca/1.6917639
July 27, 2023 at 12:14 AM