Empress, Alberta: The Missing Gravel Money
Empress is a village of about one hundred people near the Saskatchewan border. A formal complaint to Alberta Municipal Affairs and the RCMP alleges that, alongside a licensed gravel operation paying royalties to the village, a separate unpermitted pit removed aggregate worth millions of dollars and that no royalties appear in the village's financial statements. At a 2025 municipal election debate, the hall manager ordered us to leave over our earlier coverage, and a physical altercation followed. An Alberta Environment and Protected Areas inspection later found that "the pit was operating outside the approved boundary." That finding cuts against the earlier acceptance by then-Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver of the village's explanation that the shortfall was a miscalculation. Facing tax hikes, the village is now weighing dissolution into Alberta's Special Areas. The allegations of missing revenue have not been adjudicated.
Timeline · oldest first
Oct 16, 2025Part 1Censorship Failed: Missing ~$3 Million+ Dominates the Election Debate in Empress, AlbertaMillions of dollars’ worth of gravel has left the municipal pit of this small Alberta village — but the money is nowhere to be found, and taxes keep climbing.
- Apr 15, 2026Part 2ILLEGAL MINING: Amid Missing Taxpayer Revenue and Tax Hikes, Empress Now Considers Dissolution
Alberta Environment and Protected Areas inspection confirms that “the pit was operating outside the approved boundary,” contradicting the earlier “cover-up” by former Alberta Municipal…
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