Alberta Hansard — 26 April 2006, Afternoon sitting (13:30) (Legislature 26, Session 2)

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Alberta — Debates (Hansard)

April 26, 2006 Alberta Hansard 1059 Legislative Assembly of Alberta Title: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 1:30 p.m. Date: 06/04/26 [The Speaker in the chair] head: Prayers The Speaker: Good afternoon and welcome. Let us pray. From our forests and parkland to our prairies and mountains comes the call of our land. From our farmsteads, towns, and cities comes the call of our people that as legislators of this province we act with responsibility and sensitivity. Grant us the wisdom to meet such challenges. Amen. Please be seated. head: Introduction of Visitors The Speaker: The hon.

Minister of International and Intergovern- mental Relations. Mr. Mar: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Sir, it is a privilege to rise in this Assembly and introduce to you and through you to members of this Assembly two very honoured guests: the ambassa- dor of Croatia, Her Excellency Vesela Mrden Korac, and Mr. Korac, both of whom are in your gallery. The ambassador has represented Croatia to Canada for six months, since November of last year. However, as a career diplomat she is no stranger to our country of Canada.

Ambassador Korac was in Canada a decade ago, from 1994 through 1997, as the first Croatian chargé d’affaires to Canada and as a counsellor at the Croatian embassy in Ottawa, and we are happy to welcome her and her husband back to Canada. Alberta and Croatia have a small trade relationship, and about 10,000 Croatians are living in our province as Albertans. Ambassa- dor Korac is in Alberta today to explore how her country and our province can develop closer and better ties and a more productive relationship in the years ahead.

I ask our guests to rise in your gallery and for the members of this Assembly to give them the warm traditional greeting. The Speaker: The hon. Minister of Community Development. Mr. Ducharme: Merci, M. le Président. Aujourd’hui j’ai le privilège de présenter en votre nom, à vous et à l’Assemblée, une délégation de Sénateurs français, membres de l’Association interparlementaire Canada-France du Sénat. Ce matin ces invités spéciaux ont eu l’occasion de rencontrer Dr.

Jean-Michel Turc, consul honoraire de la France à Edmonton et président directeur général du Alberta Cancer Board, qui leur a donné une visite guidée du Cross Cancer Institute. Cet après-midi le groupe rencontrera des membres de la communauté francophone et visiteront le Campus Saint-J ean à l’Université de l’Alberta. Demain le groupe ira à Fort McMurray pour visiter les sables bitumineux, et ils termineront leur séjour en Alberta avec des rencontres à Calgary pour discuter des opportunités d’investisse- ments et d’échanges commerciaux entre l’Alberta et la France.

Je suis heureux de vous présenter en premier lieu M. Claude Saunier, Sénateur des Côtes d’Armor, vice-président du groupe interparlementaire France-Canada du Sénat; M. Michel Guerry, Sénateur représentant les Français établis hors de la France; M. Joseph Kergueris, Sénateur du Morbihan, et son épouse, Mme Kergueris; M. Yannick Texier, Sénateur d’Ille-et-Vilaine; M. Matthieu Meissonnier, administrateur du Sénat. Les accompagnant aujourd’hui sont M.

Luc Serot Almeras, consul général de la France à Vancouver, et la Sénatrice albertaine, l’honorable Claudette Tardif, qui est la vice-présidente de l’Associa- tion interparlementaire Canada-France du Sénat. Je leur demanderais de se lever et d’être reconnus par l’Assemblée. Je vous invite à vous joindre à moi pour leur souhaiter une bienvenue chaleureuse. [Translation] Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I have the privilege of introducing to you and through you to the Assembly a delegation of Senators from France, members of the Canada-France Inter-Parliamentary Association and, specifically, the Senate group.

This morning these special guests had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Jean-Michel Turc, the honorary consul of France in Edmonton and president and CEO of the Alberta Cancer Board, who provided a wonderful tour of the Cross Cancer Institute. This afternoon the group will meet with members of Alberta’s franco- phone community and visit the Campus Saint-Jean at the University of Alberta. Tomorrow the group will travel to Fort McMurray to see the province’s oil sands development and then proceed to Calgary to discuss further investment and trade opportunities between Alberta and France.

I am pleased to first introduce Mr. Claude Saunier, Senator of Côtes d’Armor and vice-president of the Canada-France Senate group; Mr. Michel Guerry, Senator for French expatriates; Mr. Joseph Kergueris, Senator of Morbihan, and his spouse, Mrs. Kergueris; Mr. Yannick Texier, Senator of Ille-et-Vilaine; Mr. Matthieu Meissonnier, Senate administrator. Accompanying them today is Mr. Luc Serot Almeras, consul general of France in Vancouver, and Alberta’s own Senator, the Hon. Claudette Tardif, who is the Canadian co-chair of the Can- ada-France Inter-Parliamentary Association.

I would ask them to please stand and be recognized by the Assembly as I invite the members of the Assembly to join me in extending them a warm welcome. [As submitted] The Speaker: The hon. Member for Cypress-Medicine Hat. Mr. Mitzel: Thank you. Mr. Speaker, hon. members, I have the great pleasure of introducing Dr. David Carter, who is seated in the Speaker’s gallery. Dr. Carter served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for 15 years.

He was first elected on March 14, 1979, for the constituency of Calgary-M illican and then subse- quently for the constituency of Calgary-Egmont in 1982, 1986, and 1989. He served as the ninth Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for seven years, from 1986 to 1993. He was the second ordained clergyman to serve as Speaker. Reverend David Carter now is the minister of St. Margaret’s Anglican church, nestled in the Cypress Hills of southern Alberta. He’s also a renowned author of such books as Behind Canadian Barbed Wire, a story of the prisoner of war camps in Canada after the Second World War.

I’d ask members to join with me in welcoming Dr. Carter once again to our Legislature. Thank you. head: Introduction of Guests The Speaker: The hon. Minister of Advanced Education. Mr. Herard: Well, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. We are going to have a blast here this afternoon. It’s my great pleasure to introduce to you and through you to Members of the Legislative Assembly eight members of the Bureau of Learners from Alberta Speakers Team, commonly known as BLAST. BLAST team members are adult learners who have worked hard to improve their

Alberta Hansard April 26, 20061060 literacy skills. Through the BLAST program they learn to develop their public-speaking abilities so that they can talk about their experiences with others. They then move on to take

part in speaking engagements across the province in schools and community groups, sharing their stories of courage a nd determination. Together they emphasize the importance of literacy and inspire others to take the steps necessary to improve their skills. Literacy is a vital component of Advanced Education’s family of programs. These remarkable individuals are with us today and are seated in the members’ gallery. I would ask each BLAST member to stand when I call his or her name.

So let’s blast off: Jacquie Coulas, Kalvinder Dhillon, Lillian Gallant, Jill Manning, Scott Maslyk, Paul Ruot Galuak, Leonard Duby – and you might remember that Leonard was Alberta’s first recipient of the Council of the Federa- tion’s literacy award, which was presented last year – and Philip Beakhouse. I’m sure that many of you recognize Philip because he works right here in the Legislature. Philip often shares his successes with his Legislature colleagues, and they celebrate these achieve- ments with him.

The BLAST team is joined by Janet Lane, executive director of Literacy Alberta, and Cindy Easton, manager of the literacy help line of Alberta, also with Literacy Alberta. Please join me in extending the warmest welcome. The Speaker: The hon. Minister of Energy. Mr. Melchin: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On behalf of our colleague the Minister of Human Resources and Employment I’m delighted to introduce to you and to all members of this Assembly 10 staff members from the Department of Human Resources and Employ- ment. They are doing their public service orientation tour.

I’d have them stand and receive the warm welcome of the Assembly. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Vermilion-Lloydminster. Mr. Snelgrove: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, it’s very appropri- ate today that while most Albertans are caught up in the chase for the Stanley Cup, I have a classroom of grade 6 students from Alberta’s most famous hockey town. I speak of Viking, Alberta, and the Sutters of course. Joining the 38 students here today are their teachers, Muriel Hill, Debbie Snider, Trudy Josephison, and Anna Rutledge, and their parent helper, Colleen Loveseth.

I would ask the students and their teachers to all rise and receive the traditional warm welcome of this Assembly. 1:40 The Speaker: The hon. Member for Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville. Mr. Stelmach: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to introduce to you and through you to all members of the Assembly 35 visitors from St. Mary’s high school in Vegreville. Just like the hon. member who introduced Viking as the home of the famous Sutter family, we’re known, of course, as the home of the world’s largest Easter egg. These fine students are seated in the public gallery. They’re accompanied by teachers Mr.

Steven Tymko and Ms Shalynn Zakordonski. I would ask them to rise and receive the traditional warm welcome of this Assembly. Thank you. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Calgary-Bow. Ms DeLong: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It is my pleasure to introduce to you and through you to all members of this House the Propane Gas Association of Canada. We have here several people: Sharon Lemke, Dan McPhee, Bill Egbert, Leslie Siegman, Rick Evans, Bruce Osborne, Harry James, Wyatt Lund, Jack Osland, and Brian Shaw. I see that they’re all standing, and if we could all give them a very warm welcome. The Speaker: The hon.

Minister of Public Security and Solicitor General. Mr. Cenaiko: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It’s with great pleasure that I rise today to introduce to you and through you to all members of the Assembly 46 visitors from Bow Valley College in my constituency of Calgary-Buffalo. These students are from the social studies program at Bow Valley College that is currently studying Canadian government. They are at the Legislature today to get an inside look at the government in action, and I trust that their visit will be a pleasant and informative experience.

I had the pleasure of meeting with these students earlier this afternoon. Their intelligent questions and dedication to learning will ensure their success in the future. Travelling with the 46 students are their two teachers, Ms Susan Jolliffe and Jeri Wylie-Smith. I’d ask them to please rise and receive the traditional warm welcome of this Assembly. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Rutherford. Mr. R. Miller: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

It is indeed an honour and a pleasure to introduce to you and through you to all members of this Assembly someone who 25 years ago, when I was first learning how to hang-glide, I literally and figuratively looked up to. Bill Leegsma was flying off mountains while I was on the training hill, and he’s making his first visit to the Legislature today. I would ask him to please rise and receive the traditional warm welcome of the Assembly. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Calder. Mr. Eggen: Thanks, Mr. Speaker.

I’d like to introduce to you and through you to the members of this Assembly Nick and Margaret Carter. Nick and Margaret have been active members in their community, and Nick also serves as the Grand Exalted Ruler of Edmonton Elks lodge 11, which is the Edmonton local located in Edmonton-Calder. They have three wonderful children – Michelle, David, and Deborah – and five grandchildren. Nick is also a cancer survivor and is grateful for the facilities like the Cross Cancer Institute.

I would now ask that they rise and receive the warm traditional welcome of the Assembly. head: Oral Question Period The Speaker: First Official Opposition main question. The hon. Leader of the Official Opposition. Nutrition Programs in Schools Dr. Taft: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this week this govern- ment shut down a Liberal opposition motion urging for sufficient resources to be made available to feed the tens of thousands of children who go to school hungry every day right here in Alberta. Just the next day the Premier announced his plans to participate in a taxpayer-funded world tour before he retires.

In a province as wealthy as Alberta it is shameful – it is shameful – that eliminating child hunger is not a government priority. My question is to the minister of learning. Given that 3,000 children are on the waiting list for a volunteer-run hot lunch program in Edmonton alone, when

April 26, 2006 Alberta Hansard 1061 will this minister admit that there is a problem with child hunger in this province? Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr. Speaker, I made it very clear in the House during that particular debate on that motion where we stood on this matter. The fact is that we’re providing $5.3 billion for kindergarten to grade 12 education, and within that envelope there are dollars, flexible dollars, available to school boards to virtually do a lot of these innovative kinds of programs.

I should point out again, in case the hon. member didn’t hear it clearly earlier this week, that approximately 70 per cent of school boards throughout the province do provide one form or another of a hot lunch program or a breakfast program or a snack program or some nutritional program in partnership with a community agency. They’re very proud of that, and so are the community agencies. So it’s not as if these issues are being ignored, Mr. Speaker. Dr. Taft: But they are. There are 3,000 kids in Edmonton on a waiting list.

Again to the same minister: given that almost all other provinces recognize what many studies have shown, that proper nutrition is essential for learning, why did this minister choose to vote against the Liberal opposition’s motion to allocate proper resources to remove child hunger in Alberta? Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr. Speaker, I’m so grateful for this question because it will give me a chance to remind the opposition leader of what I really said.

What I really said was that I could support a motion like this if it had a friendly amendment and if that friendly amendment didn’t compel in a mandatory fashion school boards to provide those kinds of programs because they want some flexibility at the local level. They are locally elected to make local decisions. All that he would have to do to gain this minister’s support would be to review that word “dedicated” or labelled or targeted funding in his motion, and then we could have that discussion. The Speaker: The hon. leader. Dr. Taft: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I’d like the hon. minister to return to the motion and tell us what wording it is that he thinks compels school boards to deliver this program. He’s misreading the whole thing. Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr. Speaker, I just exactly did that moments ago, but the hon. opposition leader was too engaged trying to tell us why he might support unelecting school boards in the province, and he didn’t hear the answer. That’s the exchange he was engaged in. I’ll repeat it, and I’ll say it more slowly, Mr. Speaker.

I said on Monday when the motion came up, and I’ll say it again, that this minister could possibly have supported such a motion b ecause we understand the value and the balance required with nutrition and food and clothing and shelter and how, essentially, parents have to provide that but in some cases don’t. We could support that – this minister could – if it didn’t have the word “dedicated,” which translates as labelled or targeted funding. That goes against the grain of flexibility, which school boards are looking for. Premier’s Travel Dr. Taft: Mr.

Speaker, the Premier’s long goodbye has cost this government some cabinet ministers and any semblance of a legislative agenda, and now it looks as though it’s going to cost Albertans tens of thousands of dollars. Taxpayers will be sending the Premier and his Tory entourage on an all expense paid, first-class tour of Russia and China and France and Ukraine. My questions are to the Premier. Given that the Premier will be retiring within weeks of these expensive trips, won’t he admit that it is pointless for him personally to be making these contacts? Mr. Klein: Mr.

Speaker, the last time I looked I’m still the Premier, and as Premier I intend to serve Albertans until the day I walk out the door. I will continue to pursue every opportunity that exists to build on the tremendous su ccess of this province. When the time comes and details are finalized, we will issue news releases that will include itineraries and estimated costs, and those details will be posted on the website for anyone in the world to read. 1:50 I’ll be promoting Alberta’s oil sands to business interests in France, including investment, technology, and equipment supply.

We already have one French company, Total, with very substantial investments in the oil sands. I have announced already that it’s my hope that someday we will eradicate cancer. Dr. Turc, who was introduced in this Legislature earlier, will be part of the mission, and I’ll be touring cancer research and treatment facilities in France, which I’m told has the best in the world. The Speaker: The hon. leader. Dr. Taft: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Given that the Premier said just yesterday that he’ll be taking the minister of learning along as his translator, can’t he find a less expensive translator and leave the minister here to do his job? Mr. Klein: Fine. I don’t know if the hon. member can translate Ukrainian. I don’t think he can. He doesn’t speak Russian. As a matter of fact, he hardly speaks English. I’m visiting Alberta’s sister provinces in Ukraine for the first time since we signed agreements on various areas of co-operation. Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member recalls, the governor of Lviv was here, and we hosted a reception for him.

He was here for the centennial celebrations, and of course we signed a protocol of agreement with Lviv. So this is a reciprocal visit, given that governors from those sister provinces have been here. There is one other province, and I can’t pronounce the name, but maybe you can. Mr. Zwozdesky: Ivano-Frankivsk. Mr. Klein: Right. The Speaker: And we may get to it in the third one. The hon. leader. Dr. Taft: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Given that the Premier just said that part of his agenda is to help find the cure for cancer, why doesn’t he use some of the resources for this trip to solve school hunger in Alberta instead? Why don’t you do something useful instead? Mr. Klein: Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Education already outlined very clearly the policy of this government and the opportunity to give flexibility to school boards, unlike the autocratic, compulsory attitude of the Liberal Party where they want to force everyone to do everything that they want. They want to force everyone to do everything that they want.

Alberta Hansard April 26, 20061062 The Speaker: Third Official Opposition main question. The hon. Member for Edmonton-Centre. Health Benefit Design Options Report Ms Blakeman: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Alberta government seems to be the only jurisdiction constantly fearmongering its citizens about the future of the health care system. Canada and the United States are the only places that experienced a baby boom, while Japan and many European countries already have an older population. They are not experiencing the catastrophic scenario of unsustainability that this government is predicting.

My questions are to the Minister of Health and Wellness. Given that all the evidence already showed that privatization wasn’t viable, what was the point of this $1.5 million exercise with Aon? Ms Evans: Mr.

Speaker, last October when we released the RFP for a contract subsequently managed by Aon, we were looking at an Alberta database, an Alberta model that would look at our growth scenarios, look at the costs, look at the probabilities, and look at the fact, too, on areas where we have a high incidence of costs, like pharmacare, where we have services provided to Canadians that are not necessarily covered under the Canada Health Act in terms of supplementary allied services, look at nonemergent services, look at the continuous care program, look at those elements and see in the future what the aging population would do.

We noted in Finance that we didn’t have people that were building actuarial models. Although there was the latitude to spend $1.5 million, a bout $1.3 million was spent on the contract. Ms Blakeman: Again to the same minister: given that competition has proven to drive up costs in the public health care system, and the minister’s own framework suggested more co-operation between regional health authorities, is the minister considering accepting Aon’s suggestion for increased competition in the public system? How does having the Royal Alex compete with the Misericordia get us anywhere further? It doesn’t.

Ms Evans: Mr. Speaker, the Aon presentation that today was made to members of all sides of the House, including the hon. member opposite, very clearly articulated that Aon Consulting was not there to do a policy recommendation or a policy review. Somehow in the question there is an implication that that is something that has been recommended by Aon as a policy of this government. It has neither been recommended nor does this particular document become the basis of any policy that we’re directing now.

What we are looking at in the policy framework is the kind of regional co-operation and collaboration that should take pl ace, the use and the role of hospitals, the use of community facilities. That’s quite separate and apart from the kinds of things that Aon evaluated in their actuarial modelling of issues surrounding mandatory provision of health care insurance, which we have chosen not to implement. The Speaker: The hon. member. Ms Blakeman: Thank you very much.

Again to the same minister: given the concern about containing costs, why isn’t the minister implementing public system cost savers like bulk buying pharmaceuticals, including midwifery services under the public insurance plan, specialized surgical centres, or any number of other good ideas we already have? Ms Evans: Well, Mr. Speaker, for a minute there I thought I heard the hon. member opposite say “specialized surgical centres.” I must explore that with her later to find out under what auspices she was considering those because over the past several weeks all I’ve heard is that the sky is falling. Mr.

Taylor: Go to an ear, nose, and throat specialist and get the problem fixed. The Speaker: The hon. minister has the floor. The hon. leader of the third party. Health Care Costs Mr. Mason: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to thank the minister for the briefing – I’ll start with that – because it gave us some good stuff to ask questions about. The government has hired Aon at a cost of 1 and a half million dollars, one of the world’s largest insurance corporations, to come up with scary scenarios designed to frighten Albertans into believing that we cannot afford to maintain our public health care system.

If we take Aon’s word for it, we are expected to believe that the entire provincial budget will be consumed by health care by the year 2025. What nonsense. To the Minister of Health and Wellness: why should Albertans put any stock in the 20-year financial projections done by Aon, which are based on assumptions generated by the Ministry of Finance, which has underestimated government revenues to the tune of $41 billion in the last 13 years? Ms Evans: Mr. Speaker, I know that the hon. Provincial Treasurer will supplement my answer.

Quite frankly, by looking at the models for private insurance and determining that we would not pursue those models of private insurance, from the perspective of Aon Consulting, who is not itself an insurance company, albeit subsidiar- ies of that company do insure, they certainly did not come forward with anything that would be a conflict of interest. In fact, they recommended quite the opposite, that we not engage in any of those particular options. In terms of the assumptions that Finance makes in terms of financial information, to the Treasurer, please.

The Speaker: Perhaps they’ll get that in another question. The hon. member. 2:00 Mr. Mason: Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, that is the government’s own number. This is again to the Minister of Health and Wellness. Why should Albertans put any stock in the Aon report which assumes that health spending will increase by 10 per cent a year for the next 20 years when health spending has only gone up at a rate of 5.9 per cent every year since 1993? Ms Evans: Mr.

Speaker, I would hope that Albertans, including the hon. members opposite, really look at every part of that report and determine what, in fact, they would shoot down in the assumptions in that report. That report looked at a middle-growth scenario, looked at not only the figures from Finance but, in fact, comparisons across the world, looked at their actuarial design. One might say: well, why do they have the expertise to do that? We did a lot of work in framing a request for proposal that would get us an unbiased report on that. Frankly, Mr. Speaker, I think that if anybody can identify what

April 26, 2006 Alberta Hansard 1063 was wrong with it – I note that the members that were there and stayed until the very end heard that they looked at a number of the ways that they predicted resource revenues, which in the next 20- year period are presumed by Aon’s report to decrease in terms of the valuation of all of the other kinds of costs. So if you look at the fact that they depleted the amounts of monies that were attributable to resource revenue, you can hardly argue that we were using any inflationary factor to try to in fact scare the Alberta public. They used modest assumptions.

They followed through with a document that I’d like to see quite specifically what Albertans would say is wrong with their assumptions and wrong with their conclusions. The Speaker: The hon. leader. Mr. Mason: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Well, why should Albertans accept the cost projections and fearmongering contained in the Aon report when the government has rejected excellent ideas for actually bringing down the costs of health care, such as the NDP’s pharmaceutical savings agency that could save us $75 million a year in the first year? Ms Evans: You know, Mr. Speaker, I can’t resist saying this.

This minister has taken more hits than George Chuvalo by the members opposite on both sides of the bench. Quite frankly, this kind of a hit, this kind of fearmongering that they continue to do is because I don’t think they have a leg to stand on. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Cardston-Taber-Warner, followed by the hon. Member for Drayton Valley-Calmar. Education Issues Mr. Hinman: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday the Minister of Education mentioned to the Committee of Supply, which due to the two-hour time constraint I was unable to participate in, that program number 3 is up by 6.3 per cent.

Of that, $152 million will address the government’s responsib ility for the unfunded liability of the Alberta teacher’s pension. To the minister: could you please explain both to the citizens of Alberta and the teachers how $152 million addresses, as you said, “government’s responsibility for the un- funded liability of the Alberta teachers’ pension plan,” which is over $4 billion? Mr. Zwozdesky: Certainly, and thank you for the question. Mr.

Speaker, prior to 1992 the teachers’ pension plan was largely underfunded both by the teachers and by government, so in 1992 an agreement was struck whereby the government of Alberta undertook responsibility for two-thirds of the unfunded portion. The funded portion is done on a 50-50 basis. Now, teachers undertook responsi- bility to pay for one-third. Our share on an annual basis is now going to be $152 million this year, and it will grow proportionately thereafter.

So the exact answer is that the $152 million that is in the Education budget that was debated and passed yesterday is reflective of our commitment to honour our obligation. Mr. Hinman: I’ll have to do the math. I don’t see how that catches up. To the Premier: will the Premier follow his own legislation to put all surplus revenue to pay off debt or offset debt with a trust fund, as you have with the provincial debt as it comes due, by creating a trust fund for the teachers’ pension before implementing new programs and increased spending? Mr. Klein: Mr. Speaker, I’ll defer to the hon. Minister of Finance. Mrs.

McClellan: Mr. Speaker, in the financial statements of the government the pension liabilities are below the line, so in fact our commitment to remove debt is met. Mr. Speaker, there’s no question that we are as interested and concerned as anyone about ensuring that we have absolutely no financial obligations in the way of debt. However, I’m proud to say that under this government, this Premier’s leadership in sound fiscal management we are prepared to meet all of our obligations in this province. Mr. Hinman: I don’t know how this spending spree will end.

Again to the Minister of Education: will the minister act as fast as possible to address the 50 per cent of Alberta students who do not go on to postsecondary education by implementing a work experience program in high school that addresses the needs of the students as well as the insurance liabilities of the schools and the employers? Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr. Speaker, we have a number of work experi- ence related programs that are really turning in very successful and proud numbers. We work in conjunction with the Ministry of Advanced Education to deliver those.

Included in that bevy of options are programs such as RAP, the registered apprenticeship program, and YAP, the youth apprenticeship program. We have a new one now called learner pathways. We have a number of outreach sites that sc hool boards have in pl ace right now where students have that experience, and we have a number of CTS programs as well. I’m grateful for the question. It is an important area, and we are making good progress there. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Drayton Valley-Calmar, followed by the hon. Member for Edmonton-Glenora. Federal/Provincial Fiscal Relations Rev.

Abbott: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s great to live in Alberta. Why? Because evidence of a thriving ec onomy is all around us. We have low unemployment, Albertans have new opportunities, and the province leads the country in most economic measurements. We know, however, that this has not gone unnoticed by other parts of the country. Sometimes being the leader makes you susceptible to the envy of others and to those who claim it is unfair. My first question about equalization is to the Premier.

How is the provincial government ensuring that other Canadians under- stand how our province’s economic success benefits the rest of the country? Mr. Klein: Well, Mr. Speaker, we can’t really ensure that everyone understands, but certainly I’ve been saying in speeches in . . . An Hon. Member: In China. Mr. Klein: No, not in China. They understand. Unlike the Liberals they understand in China. It’s their cousins.

It’s their Liberal cousins in Ontario that don’t understand, and I’ve been in Ontario on numerous occasions to explain that we are a caring and we are a sharing province and we are the largest net contributors to Canada on a per capita basis. Mr. Speaker, I point out the Canadian Energy Research Institute, and I allude to the report that they released recently indicating that the federal government is the largest recipient – the largest – whether it’s a Liberal or a Conservative government, of the tax revenue that

Alberta Hansard April 26, 20061064 will be generated by Alberta’s oil sands between the year 2000 and 2020. According to the report Ottawa will collect some $51 billion – billion – or 41 per cent, of the estimated $123 billion in taxes associated with the oil sands facility. Just from oil sands. The Speaker: The hon. member. Rev. Abbott: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. My first supplemental is to the Minister of Finance. What is this government doing to ensure that Alberta’s success is not somehow hobbled by changes to equalization or to transfer payments or to some other program they come up with? Mrs.

McClellan: Mr. Speaker, there is and has been concern raised by some groups in the province, and I think this is an area that’s not well understood by many. There are people who would tell us that we should just stop our transfer payments to Ottawa. Well, in fact, the government of Alberta does not transfer money to Ottawa. The benefit, as outlined by the Premier in his answer, is gained in Ottawa by taxation, taxation that Albertans pay when they file their federal income tax, which the federal government under the Constitution has the ability to collect. Mr.

Speaker, the one thing I can tell you is that under our Pre- mier’s leadership, working with our Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations and certainly the Minister of Finance, we will be in constant contact with our counterparts across Canada and review each of the studies and reports that come forward on this. We will make sure that there is nothing that goes forward that in any way unfairly impacts Alberta. 2:10 The Speaker: The hon. member. Rev. Abbott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My second supplemental is also to the Minister of Finance.

Can the minister tell this House and all Albertans more details on what is happening in those discussions with her counterparts across the country. How are they trying to get our money? Mrs. McClellan: Well, in fact, Mr. Speaker, I think that what many provinces are saying is that they want a larger amount of money under equalization. Equalization is something that Alberta has been a strong supporter of, a proud supporter of, because what equaliza- tion does is it ensures that every province in Canada can offer quality core programs to their people, their constituents.

But having said that, we are following this very carefully. We will ensure that the reports are vetted, and we will not support a program that increases payments to provinces based on poor policy developed in those provinces. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Glenora, followed by the hon. Member for Calgary-Hays. Appointment of Chief Judge Dr. B. Miller: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The appointment of a Chief Justice of the Provincial Court of Alberta is important not just to the legal community but to all Albertans.

It is absolutely critical that the judiciary operates fairly, openly, and most importantly with complete impartiality from interference from any other entity, especially political influence. Albertans and the legal community have many questions about the process that led to the appointment of Gail Vickery as Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta. My questions are to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General. Can the minister tell us what considerations were involved in this appointment process, who made the decision, and what criteria were used in screening and evaluating applicants? Mr.

Stevens: It is an excellent question, and certainly I think that the points raised by the hon. member in his

preamble are accurate with respect to the importance of this particular position. The Chief Justice of the Provincial Court of Alberta does have a very important role in our justice system, and it is important that we do a good job and appoint a very, very qualified person, and I’m very pleased to tell you that Judge Gail Vickery is indeed a very qualified individ- ual. Under our rules, Mr. Speaker, the Chief Judge of the Provincial Court has a seven-year appointment. The retiring Chief Judge is Chief Judge Walter. His term is up in May of this year.

Last December, as part of this particular process, I as Justice minister did two things. Firstly, what I did was I said to all Provincial Court judges in the province of Alberta by way of a memo that as a result of Chief Judge Walter’s term coming to an end in May, they should, if they were interested, send applications through to the department and that we would receive those. As part of the process of vetting I asked that a committee be established.

Now, this was a completely new process, but I thought it was important that it be done, that a committee be established to vet those applications, not knowing whether there would be one or whether there would be 115 because there are 115 Provincial Court judges. That particular committee, Mr. Speaker – and I’ll end with outlining who was on it – comprised the current Chief Judge, the former president of the Law Society of Alberta, the Deputy Minister of the Justice ministry, and the chair and one nonlegal member of the Provincial Nominating Court Committee. Dr. B.

Miller: To the same minister: can the minister tell us if the new Chief Judge’s involvement in the Multi-Corp affair was considered along with close personal ties to the Premier? Did the minister or the committee consider if this would interfere with judicial independence? Mr. Stevens: You know, Mr. Speaker, there are typically two things in life that we all recognize as being certain, and those are death and taxes.

But I think that there’s a third that we can add, and that is that this Liberal opposition will at every opportunity take an opportunity to impugn the reputation of good people outside of this Assembly in here without the courage to go out there and say those things. I’m particularly distressed because, candidly, I t hought that this hon. member is one that stood apart from that, from this particular group. Let me address the issue of the process.

What I asked this particular committee to do was to review the applications and to provide a list of those applicants who were qualified to do the job, and I received that list. Judge Gail Vickery was on that list, and ultimately she was selected from that list. But allow me to say this, Mr. Speaker. The obligation of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General is to receive this informa- tion and to consider that along with other things. I for one had no knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the

preamble of this last question, so to the hon. member I can say: it was not a consider- ation. In fact, I can tell you that Judge Gail Vickery had a reputation before becoming a member of the judiciary of this province that I am envious of, and I had, I’d like to think, a reasonably successful, modest degree of success as a lawyer before coming to this Assem- bly. She was one fine lawyer, and she’s been one fine judge, and we should be thankful that she accepted the position.

April 26, 2006 Alberta Hansard 1065 Speaker’s Ruling Protected Persons The Speaker: Hon. members, as all hon. members know, the chair has no knowledge of what the nature of a question is that will be forthcoming, but the chair is knowledgeable on the rules of the House and would refer all members to Beauchesne 493(1): “All references to judges and courts of justice of the nature of personal attack and censure have always been considered unparliamentary, and the Speaker has always treated them as breaches of order.” The chair did see some movement in anticipation of a point of order – the question was raised, and the answer was provided by the minister – when it went beyond the normal 35 to 45 seconds that we require in anticipation of a perceived point of order.

So, hon. Member for Edmonton-Glenora, please pro ceed with your third question, recognizing what has just been quoted by the chair with respect to the rules of the House. Appointment of Chief Judge (continued) Dr. B. Miller: I’m just concerned about the process. I have a conscience. I represent Albertans. Will the minister follow the example of his federal cousins and adopt a scrutiny process, like the federal government is following, allowing an all-party inquiry to ensure that judicial independence is not compromised and appointments are not just patronage appoint- ments?

The Speaker: Hon. minister, please sit down. There are two ways of going with a question. One is a very direct way, and the other one is an interesting, behind-the-door way. I think that the hon. member just took the latter approach in th e third question. The chair is not going to allow a member of the judiciary to have his or her reputa- tion tarnished in this House in any way, shape, or form. We’re now moving on to the next question. The next question comes from the hon. Member for Calgary-Hays, followed by the hon. Member for Lethbridge-East. 2:20 Native Friendship Centres Mr. Johnston: Thank you, Mr.

Speaker. According to the last census the number of aboriginal people living in urban centres has doubled and in some cases tripled. Today half of all aboriginal people live in cities. Calgary has a vibrant friendship centre which helps aboriginal people make the transition to urban living. The city also has Canada’s fourth largest aboriginal population, with 22,000 people. To the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development: what kind of funding do you provide to native friendship centres in Alberta? Ms Calahasen: Well, Mr.

Speaker, first of all, friendship centres are really vital to Alberta and, most specifically, to aboriginal people because friendship centres are more than a gathering place. They actually help aboriginal Albertans make that transition to urban life. As a result, we do provide some funding to them, approximately $650,000 annually. However, we have not seen any change in that amount for a long time, and therefore I would encourage those boards to continue to work with me and with their MLAs to ensure that we can continue to receive a little bit more dollars. Mr.

Johnston: To the same minister: given that since the ’80s native friendship centres have not received a funding increase from the province, what plans do you have to provide funds to help these unique organizations? Ms Calahasen: First of all, Mr. Speaker, we are always looking for ways to be able to work with the friendship centres because they do serve a really good population within the aboriginal community. This year through my department we had an additional $100,000, which we were able to put to good use.

We gave Red Deer Native Friendship Society some money to establish what we call a commu- nity liaison contact. The second one was to the High Prairie Native Friendship Centre Society to provide youth programs. The third one that we were working with was the Alberta Native Friendship Centres Association itself to assist in project management training for their staff and, as well, Peace River, which is the Nistawoyou friendship centre, to host a spiritual and health gathering. Mr.

Speaker, it’s always very difficult for friendship centres because they are dealing with the fastest growing population in Alberta, and that’s the aboriginal community. So we’re trying to make sure that we do work with them to ensure that we can provide any help that we can to them. Mr. Johnston: My second supplemental to the same minister: is there any other way that we can support friendship centres by encouraging the development of partnerships that benefit urban aboriginal people? Ms Calahasen: Well, absolutely, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, one of the areas that we’ve been working on is to facilitate and work with other ministries, such as Children’s Services, Economic Develop- ment, and Community Development, so that we can begin to see how we can build those partnerships. We have also encouraged the federal government to work with us on the friendship centre area as well as the municipal districts so that we can see the partnerships occur. We’ve seen a lot of partnerships start to happen, and we’ve been encouraging other kinds of partnerships to occur.

We’ve been working with seniors, as I indicated in one of my previous answers, in housing and dealing with urban aboriginal housing as well as the housing that they’re having to deal with in these areas where they’re located. Mr. Speaker, we’re also developing strategies with the AUMA and the AAMD and C so that they can work more effec- tively with aboriginal people in their neighbouring communities. Of course, the urban aboriginal strategy is another area that we can push. So we’ve got some strategies which we will continue to work with. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Lethbridge-East, followed by the hon.

Member for Calgary-Fort. Education Funding for Lethbridge Ms Pastoor: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Education minister boasts of spending $5.3 billion on education, but Lethbridge’s public school board will have to choose which services to cut next year. Yes, cut teachers. We can do without the Minister of Education. We can do without the janitors. Without t eachers there is no education. My question is to the minister. What is the Education minister’s response to the horrifying funding situation in Lethbridge caused by this inadequate hold-the-line budget? Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr.

Speaker, Lethbridge public has a budget for the ’05-06 government fiscal year of about $59 million. The budget that we approved yesterday will see their budget rise to about $59.6

Alberta Hansard April 26, 20061066 million. I hardly think that that can be interpreted as a cut or a slice or whatever it is that she was saying in the

preamble. Ms Pastoor: Doesn’t meet inflation. How many other school districts are also victims of this hold-the- line budget that doesn’t cover the cost of inflation, or is Lethbridge the proverbial canary in the coal mine to assess how deep these cuts can go? Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr. Speaker, it’s unfortunate that the hon. member asking the question hasn’t had a chance to review Hansard from yesterday, wherein I outlined all of the increases, but with the permission of the House I’ll start all over. Some Hon. Members: No. Mr. Zwozdesky: Well, I’ll condense them a little bit. Okay.

First of all, there’s an overall increase to the K to 12 education budget of $330 million. That’s 6.7 per cent. That will include increases to all three infrastructure envelopes: school construction, operations and maintenance, and infrastructure maintenance and renewal. That includes increases to transportation, up to $232 million in total. That includes special needs, an increase of 9.7 per cent, up to $373 million, and the list goes on, Mr. Speaker.

Ms Pastoor: Thank you for referring to and using the word “con- struction.” How much longer will the residents of Lethbridge wait for the much-needed high school as costs continue to rise without even a shovel in the ground? Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr. Speaker, I was very pleased to be part of an announcement I think it was last September or October wherein we announced to date the single largest project that I’m aware of for a joint project in the hon. member’s hometown. I know it was 20- some million dollars, as I recall, and it’s a collaborative project which sees a much-needed new high school being built there.

I would have thought that the hon. member would have known about that because it was front-page coverage. Specifically, it was $27.6 million for the west Lethbridge high school new education centre. Now, we’ve since corresponded, and I understand that they have some cost escalations. We’ve looked at those, and things are under control there. We’re looking forward to a school opening very soon. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Calgary-Fort, followed by the hon. Member for Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview. Home Schooling Mr. Cao: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I understand that our government has been working to update the home-education regulation. Many parents who home educate their children are already starting to plan for next year and are wondering what the status of it is now. Reflecting inquiries and concern from my constituents, my questi on today is to the Minister of Education. When will the updated home-education regulation be available for use by parents who educate their children at home? Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr. Speaker, as most members here would know, we have a significant enrolment of home-educated students.

They work in co-operation with a local co-operating school board. As a result of extensive consultations over the past couple of years we found it necessary to update the current regulation. However, the short answer to the member’s question is that the new home-ed regulation is just about completed in terms of its drafting, and we’ll have the new home-ed regulation out very soon. But in the mean- time, hon. members and Mr. Speaker, it should be noted that I have extended the current home-ed regulation through to the end of July. The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Cao: Thank you.

My first supplemental question is to the same minister. Given that some caring and dedicated parents who believe in home-education for their children have expressed concerns about student assessments, stating that their children do not necessarily follow the Alberta program of study – and it is true – how, then, does the government know what home-educated Albertan youth are learning and how they’re learning it? Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr.

Speaker, in a nutshell, we and the parents and the co-operating school board and for that matter the students know exactly how they’re doing because the whole process starts with the parents sitting down with a co-operating teacher, who is there from the co-operating board, and they design a program specific to that student’s needs. There are a variety of programs that can be followed. Thereafter the co-operating teacher visits the student, visits the home – visits the location, in other words – works one-on- one with the child or the student and monitors the progress.

Then at the end of the year, depending on which grade level they’re at, they have an option of what type of assessment might be done. It’s all done in co-operation with skilled and trained professional people. So there’s a fairly good method in place now. 2:30 The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Cao: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My second supplemental question is to the same minister.

Given that we all expect Alberta youth to go to postsecondary education and career training, facing a really competitive world outside their home environment, how can the government ensure that home-schooled students meet the qualifications for acceptance in postsecondary learning? Mr. Zwozdesky: Mr. Speaker, that is a good question. The answer, of course, is this. First of all, it’s the responsibility of the home- educating parent to ensure that the track they put their child on yields the particular result that they are seeking.

If they’re seeking a postsecondary entrance result, there is advice on procedures and policies and guidelines that is available through the co-operating school board. Secondly, it should be noted that many postsecondary institutions don’t require specific graduation diplomas to be provided in order to facilitate access to that particular institution. So there are responsibilities there, there is advice there, and there are programs of study routes to be taken which parents should be well advised of. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview, followed by the hon. Member for Calgary-Currie.

PDD Program Review Mr. Martin: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government continues its lengthy track record of ignoring the needs of vulnerable Albertans and punishing those who challenge bad government policy. Despite the minister’s efforts to pretend that cuts to services for people with disabilities are not happening across the province, yesterday’s protest and a chorus of letters and e-mails from distressed PDD recipients and their families prove that there’s a real funding

April 26, 2006 Alberta Hansard 1067 problem. But when people have the courage to stand up and speak out in this province, this government responds with bullying and intimidation, with phony financial reviews and phony audits. My question is to the Minister of Seniors and Community Supports. Why is it that these types of reviews only happen when people publicly voice concerns that are embarrassing to the government? Mrs. Fritz: Mr. Speaker, I am not bullying and intimidating.

I can tell you, by going out to a rally for an hour and speaking with individuals about their concerns, that I was pleased to actually have a lot of hugs from people as I went through and as they gave their stories and shared with me what the real issues are. I was also pleased to be able to let people know that we are reviewing this situation. This review started some time ago. I had mentioned that to you in the Assembly previously. As we had AACL here yester- day, it’s a review that is very inclusive. It has stakeholders. It has people from my ministry. Families themselves are a part of this.

It will take some time to complete that review. It’s an important initiative, and it is taking place. It’s not bullying to do a review. Mr. Martin: Well, Mr. Speaker, the point is: given that yesterday the minister said that the problems seemed to be with the community boards, it’s not a real review. Isn’t that a form of intimidation when people speak out against government policy? Mrs. Fritz: No. Mr. Speaker, the answer to that question is no. Mr. Martin: Mr.

Speaker, how can the minister pretend to be an advocate for disabled Albertans when she responds to their requests for funding with punitive reviews and insufficient funding? Mrs. Fritz: Well, Mr. Speaker, this review is actually going to be very helpful as we move forward with this change in governance that we have. I think that tonight we’re debating this in Committee of the Whole. I’m looking forward to the participation of the commu- nity at large, of my ministry as a part of the review. Stay tuned. We’ll have the results for you. The Speaker: Hon. members, the hon.

Government House Leader noted a point of order, but I think I dealt with that purported point of order during question period. Unless there’s something pressing, I’m not quite prepared to recognize the hon. Government House Leader with respect to that point. I think it’s been dealt with. Historical Vignette The Speaker: Hon. members, with respect to an historical vignette let me talk to you about the Privy Council of Canada. Rev. Abbott: Oh. Timely. The Speaker: Timely. Appointments to the Privy Council for Canada are made by the Governor General upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

All current and former members of the federal cabinet are members of the Privy Council, but the Prime Minister may recommend the appointment of other distinguished Canadians as well. While the Privy Council is constitutionally an executive advisory body, convention has limited the advisory duties to those members who are currently members of the federal cabinet. An appointment to the Privy Council is intended to be a great honour. A number of Alberta’s Premiers have been appointed to the Privy Council, including Arthur L.W. Sifton, who served as Alberta’s Premier from 1910 to 1917.

He was appointed to the Privy Council on October 12, 1917. Charles Stewart, who served as Premier from 1917 to 1921, was appointed to the Privy Council on December 29, 1921. However, interestingly enough, both Mr. Sifton and Mr. Stewart received their appointments when they were named to the federal cabinets of Prime Ministers Sir Robert L. Borden and W.L. Mackenzie King respectively. Premier Ernest C. Manning, who served as Premier of Alberta from 1943 to 1968, was a ppointed to the Privy Council on July 5, 1967. Premier E.

Peter Lougheed, who served from 1971 to 1985, was appointed to the Privy Council on April 17, 1982. All former Alberta MLAs who have eventually been appointed to the federal cabinet have also become members of the Privy Council for Canada, the most recent of which is former MLA Stockwell Day. Appointments to the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada are for life. head: Members’ Statements The Speaker: The hon. Member for Lac La Biche-St. Paul. Anniversary of Chernobyl Disaster Mr. Danyluk: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. This day marks a sad anniversary in the history of the world.

Twenty years ago today one of the four reactors at the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl in the Soviet Ukraine exploded, releasing over 50 tonnes of radioactive material into the atmosphere, an amount greater than the combined bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The world first heard of the accident two days later, when Swedish monitoring stations detected the radiation that spread across northern and eastern Europe, contaminating millions of acres of farmlands and forests. Thirty-two people died from the immediate explosion. Dozens more suffered radiation burns.

The accident eventually killed 5,000 people from cancer and other radiation- related illnesses and left a legacy of illness, suffering, and shortened lifespans for generations. The last working reactors at Cher nobyl were shut down in 2000, and the plant was closed. But the lingering impact continues to confront scientists, health professionals, the nuclear power industry, and international policy. Mr. Speaker, no one felt the impact of that explosion more keenly than the 300,000 Albertans of Ukrainian heritage, who saw so much of their ancestral homeland devastated, perhaps beyond recall.

All Albertans felt the suffering of those affected and the fear that spread with the radiation. Alberta reacted with compassion and generosity, providing financial assistance and medical care at the time and in the years since. Albertans have continued to open their homes to some of the 3,000 children from the Ukraine and neighbouring Belarus who are sent abroad every summer, when radiation levels are highest. Mrs. Klein visited the Chernobyl museum and paid homage to the victims of the disaster on the Premier’s mission to the Ukraine in 2002. Mr.

Speaker, the devastation of Chernobyl has revealed the Alberta heart. On the 20th anniversary we look back with horror and look ahead with the Ukrainian people to a stronger partnership in the future. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Whitemud. 2:40 Bureau of Learners from Alberta Speakers Team Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Literacy is important, but you don’t need to believe me. Believe our guests introduced by the Minister of Advanced Education earlier today. They can blast the

Alberta Hansard April 26, 20061068 message much more powerfully than I. On March 11 they cele- brated a graduation ceremony that I was unable to attend, so I’m delighted that the members of the BLAST team could join us today and be recognized. Reading and writing are integral to everything we do. Sometimes we take these skills for granted. We forget that without these fundamental capabilities even the smallest tasks can be challenging. These skills are absolutely critical if we are to be successful in work and participate in our communities. Literacy is essential for continued learning.

It provides the foundation for further education and, ultimately, for maximizing one’s potential through knowledge. Given the importance of literacy, programs that help and encourage Albertans to improve their literacy skills are vital to our province. Earlier this afternoon the hon. Minister of Advanced Education introduced the members of the Bureau of Learners from Alberta Speakers Team, or BLAST. Through this program adult learners develop their public speaking abilities and then take

part in speaking engagements across the province. Members of the BLAST team share their personal experiences, telling others how they improved their literacy skills and what it means to their lives. Through their stories they inspire others to have the courage and perseverance needed to develop their reading and writing skills, and they remind others of the importance of literacy. Believe me, Mr. Speaker, they are powerful stories of lives changed. Literacy Alberta is a great organization that works year after year to support and assist learners in their literacy development.

It deserves our thanks and our appreciation. The BLAST team deserve our recognition and our admiration for their courage, their achieve- ment, and their willingness to shar e their experiences with others. All of our guests – Jacquie Coulas, Kalvinder Dhillon, Lillian Gallant, Jill Manning, Scott Maslyk, and Paul Ruot Galuak – deserve great admiration for their achievements and for their willingness to share their journeys with others.

I particularly want to mention Leonard Duby, who you may be aware won the first Council of the Federation literacy award for Alberta last year, and our own Philip Beakhouse, who works in the Legislature Building every day – day in, day out – making it habitable for us to work. Philip overcame a brain tumour, which was finally removed at age 25. He never learned to read or write until now. A friend urged him to join PALS in the mid-1990s, and literacy has changed his life. Please join me in congratula ting Philip, Leonard, and all the members of the BLAST team. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-McClung.

Democratic Renewal Mr. Elsalhy: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I continue my series of talks on democratic renewal in Alberta. To start, let me share with the hon. members one of the four Alberta Liberal caucus documents collectively called Alberta Horizons, which all state that the time to dream is now, and the place to dream is Alberta. In this particular one the dream is to revive democracy in this province. Why do we even dream? Dreams are jumping blocks to great achievements. There was the dream which later became Canada. There was the dream which later offered us public, universally available health care.

There was the dream that this province could potentially be out of debt one day. Et cetera. But do we stop dreaming if things are better today than they were yesterday? Do we become lazy and complacent and stop thinking about our children’s future? The answer, Mr. Speaker, is definitely no. The Alberta Liberal caucus has a vision for this province’s future and the people and policies to take us there. Part of our work focuses on electoral reform.

It is noteworthy to highlight the fact that British Columbia, for example, has fixed election dates, something we Alberta Liberals advocate as evident in our private member’s bill, Bill 210, calling for just that: fixed election dates. We also want to increase voter participation. Under an Alberta Liberal government we will ensure that every vote will count. Albertans, Mr. Speaker, will not have to vote strategically ever again.

Furthermore, on the issue of campaign financing we are going to mandate donation limits to restore faith in the electoral process, where people are elected on their merits and with true grassroots support, not bought by special-interest lobbyists and big business. Other areas we’re working on include legislative renewal, restoring government accountability, and improving transparency and access to information. In essence, Mr.

Speaker, we advocate better government with the same virtues valued by Albertans in their daily lives – freedom, fairness, trust, honesty, and hard work – virtues which are unfortu- nately lacking from this 35-year-old, tired government. To be continued. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Calgary-Varsity. Democratic Renewal Mr. Chase: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Alberta Horizon’s democratic renewal. Yesterday afternoon during the education debate/debacle players and audience members present witnessed the fragility of Alberta’s ongoing, one-act democracy.

Under the auspices of this government’s staging directions, Standing Orders, the Minister of Education figuratively strolled the stage, soaking up the spotlight without fear of the appearance of an offstage hook from his government’s designated deputy drama critic. From time to time he would gaze appealingly into the gallery for the offstage prompts of his forgotten lines. Opposition players’ stage entrances were not only hindered by the minister’s lengthy solilo- quies but were blocked by a backbench chorus not content to discuss their concerns offstage while waiting in the wings.

Fortunately, well prior to the afternoon performance, undaunted by an army of government stagehands led by an ever-expanding troupe of deputy and assistant deputy ministerial stand-ins, the .3 opposition researcher had boldly defied the odds by prearming his critic’s role of David to do battle with the government Goliath. Having thoroughly prepared and rehearsed their scripts, the opposi- tion troupe was ready to engage. Meanwhile, on stage the real fate of billions of Albertans’ dollars was being decided at the surreal rate of millions a minute.

With the cancellation of the fall legislative theatrical accountability ses- sion/season in both 2004 and now again in 2006, is it any wonder that half of the once Alberta democracy subscribers, now barely 50 per cent of eligible voters, feel so disenchanted that they no longer wish to attend or participate in government preorchestrated, first past the post performances? Democracy in Alberta is desperately calling for a scene change, for new players supported by a visionary script.

This is why both the Alberta audience and the media reviewers are applauding and embracing the recently released Alberta Horizons four-pillar policy provincial Liberal blueprint. Economic and environmental ideals are balanced on a broadly inclusive social policy base supported by a

April 26, 2006 Alberta Hansard 1069 democratically engaging plot line which lays out a sustainably prosperous future for all Albertans. The curtain is rising. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Calgary-East. Zaheed Damani Mr. Amery: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is indeed a pleasure to rise today during National Volunteer Week to recognize a very special young Calgarian. Last night at Volunteer Calgary’s 10th annual leadership awards, attended by the hon. Minister of Community Development and the chair of Alberta’s Youth Secretariat, the hon. Member for Lac La Biche-St.

Paul, Zaheed Damani was the senior high recipient for the leaders of tomorrow award. I can think of no better recipient, Mr. Speaker. Zaheed is an incredible example of community leadership and education. He’s involved in the advisory panel for the Alberta government’s Youth Secretariat as a leader, researcher, and presenter. He is also the province’s youth representative on the learning Alberta advanced education learning subcommittee, that guides government direction for postsecondary education.

In addition, Zaheed has held other volunteer positions with the Ismaili Muslim community, Boy Scouts, Camp Discovery, Child & Youth Friendly Calgary, Calgary Inter- faith Food Bank, and many other organizations at his school within Calgary and in southern Alberta. Mr. Speaker, it makes me so proud to see such incredible dedication in one individual. When you take a look at his fellow nominees, there is no doubt that Alberta’s future is bright. Mr.

Speaker, I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate and thank Zaheed for his volunteer efforts, and I am sure we will continue to hear great things about his work in the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Calgary-Foothills. Volunteer Calgary Leadership Awards Mr. Webber: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my pleasure to rise today to honour the hardworking and dedicated volunteers honoured at last night’s Volunteer Calgary’s 10th annual leadership awards.

Awards were handed out in seven categories, demonstrating the diversity of ways that volunteer Calgarians make an important difference in our community. Lynne McShane and Connie Cook from the Glenbow Museum were recognized for leadership in volunteer management. The Mustard Seed storefront 101 was named leader in the community for its successful and innovative volunteer program that advances the mission and goals of the nonprofit organization. The outstanding efforts of youth who are making a difference in our community were also saluted.

Youth award winners were Courtney Leach, Keirstyn Secord, and Zaheed Damani. Excellence in workplace volunteerism was also recognized by Volunteer Calgary. Southport Dental Care received the gold medal, GWL Realty Advisors received the silver medal, and CIBC Wood Gundy won a bronze award. For the first time this year there was a new award recognizing pets for the many and varied activities they are involved in that make our community a better place. Charlie, a five-year-old yellow lab/gold- en retriever assistance dog, was singled out for an award.

Volunteer Calgary’s VIP award recognizes the outstanding contributions of individual volunteers. Hattie Boothman from Meals on Wheels received this year’s award. Harold Merrick received this year’s heart of Calgary award, which recognizes individuals who have strong enthusiasm and take responsibility for creating a healthy and caring community through civic participation. Congratulations to all these award winners and all the nominees for making a difference in our community. Thank you. 2:50 The Speaker: I’d like to congratulate three members here who just participated in Members’ Statements.

Might I congratulate the Member for Edmonton-McClung, the Member for Calgary-East, the Member for Calgary-Foothills for knowing the Standing Orders of the House and for abiding by the Standing Orders of the House. But to the hon. Members for Calgary-Varsity, Lac La Biche-St. Paul, and Edmonton-Whitemud, perhaps a review of the Standing Orders might be appropriate. In particular, the chair would like to draw their attention to Standing Order 7(4). Speaker’s Ruling Standing Orders The Speaker: Now, I am going to make one other comment here today.

I have ruled out points of order, and I’ve ruled out points of privilege with respect to members’ statements. Every once in a while something is said in members’ statements which, however, does cause some movement by the chair. Today the hon. Member for Calgary-Varsity in his member’s statement alluded to the Standing Orders of this House and said that they were government Standing Orders of this House. The chair is a nonpartisan member of this Assembly, and the chair has during the nine years that he has been the chair insisted that all Standing Orders be done by unanimous consent of all members of the House.

The Standing Orders are not owned by one

section of this House; they are owned by all members of this House. The Standing Orders belong to this Legislative Assembly, not to a particular caucus. That utilization of the truth is inappropriate, and it’s wrong because in addition to the orders being the Standing Orders of the House, all House leaders of all parties signed off on them and advised me in no uncertain terms that all of their members supported them. For a member to then stand up and criticize them, the member is only criticizing himself, so one should look in the mirror periodically. head: Tabling Returns and Reports The Speaker: The hon.

Government House Leader. Mr. Zwozdesky: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this week the hon. Premier promised to table with the House copies of an antici- pated letter he alluded to that would come his way from the office of the Ethics Commissioner which would clarify postemployment restrictions as they apply to members of Executive Council under a particular act. On his behalf I’m pleased to table the requisite number of copies of a letter from the office of the Ethics Commis- sioner, dated April 26, 2006, in that regard.

I’ll just quickly add that the Premier will also be meetin g with the Ethics Commissioner to seek yet further clarification as may be necessary on May 3. Thank you. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Peace River. Mr. Oberle: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to table a petition that I received from Barbara Brown, dated April 10, 2006, with approximately 800 signatures from Albertans from the Peace

Alberta Hansard April 26, 20061070 *This spelling could not be verified at the time of publication. Country who are concerned not only about the loss of doctors in the Peace C ountry but also that doctors and nurses are being over- worked. They are urgently requesting attention to this matter. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Calgary-Currie. Mr. Taylor: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to table 10 letters from family, staff, and residents who are either involved in or dependent upon the continuing care system in this province, expressing their deep concerns about the state of that system.

These letters are signed by Fred and Marie Nash, Roger Johnson, L. Howard, Linda Wood Edwards, Bob Peel, C. Isabel Pangrass, Betty and Joe Sparling, Doreen Rennie, Sheila New, and Evelyn Patterson. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Meadowlark. Mr. Tougas: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to table these 10 letters from family, staff, and residents who are dependent on the continu- ing care system and expressing their deep concerns about how the system is operating.

They are Shabantla Devi, Mary Roy,* Marie Bell Tonganis, Geena Mohanan,* Susan Aup,* Leena Prasad, Seema Kumar, Mom Melo, Jocelyn Gerald, and Jane Moorenya.* The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-McClung. Mr. Elsalhy: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have two tablings today. The first one is from an Edmonton-McClung constituent, Ms Sheila Haddad, who is disappointed with the Prime Minister’s decision barring the media from ramp ceremonies and not lowering the Canadian flag to honour fallen troops.

She, however, commends Alberta on lowering the Canadian flag on the “day of increment.” My second tabling today is 10 letters from families, staff, and residents who are all involved in the long-term care system express- ing deep concerns with the way the system is run and the quality of care offered. The names on these letters are Milo Kasala,* Raymond W. Bradley, Grace Johnston, G.M. Staines, Donna Slywka, Debbie Woloshyniuk, Shelley Mathiason,* Arla Stevenson, Esther Eiler, and Donna and Bill Buchanan. Thank you. head: Orders of the Day head: Committee of Supply [Mr.

Marz in the chair] The Chair: I’d like to call the Committee of Supply to order. head: Main Estimates 2006-07 Community Development The Chair: I’d recognize the hon. Minister of Community Develop- ment. Mr. Ducharme: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m pleased to present the estimates for Community Development for the year 2006-2007. Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of various individuals who make my ministry the success it is.

Seated in the members’ gallery are Neris Havelock, my executive assistant; Sue Bohaichuk, assistant deputy minister for strategic corporate services; Pam Arnston, executive director of financial services; and Kathryn Weigers, director of communications. I’d ask them to please stand. Please join me in giving them a traditional warm welcome. Mr.

Chairman, my ministry also relies on the commitment of other individuals who are unable to be here today: the Wild Rose Founda- tion chair, Krishan Joshee; the Alberta Foundation for the Arts chair, Audrey Luft; the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commis- sion chief commissioner, Charlach Mackintosh; the Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks & Wildlife Foundation chair, Orest Korbutt; the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation chair, Irene Nicholson; the Government House Foundation chair, Linda Mackenzie; the Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Education Fund Advisory Committee chair, the Member for Stony Plain; Fay Orr, my deputy minister, and her executive team; and the entire staff of Community Development.

Mr. Chairman, our operating budget this year is $242 million. That is just 85 cents out of every $100 this government will spend on programs this year, yet this small investment has a big impact on those areas that add to and, in some cases, define our quality of life as Albertans. About one-quarter of my budget goes directly to Alberta’s communities as grants to libraries, the arts, sport and recreation, volunteer organizations, community museums, and human rights education.

Our foundations and agencies contribute to 260 community-based museums, more than 500 arts groups and about the same number of individual artists, 104 provincial sport and recreation organizations that have a total of 1.2 million members. Tens of thousands of volunteers donate 449 million hours a year to their communities, plus 314 public library service points loan over 30 million items a year to Albertans.

In addition, my ministry directly operates more than 500 parks and protected areas, operates 17 provincial museum historic sites plus the two Jubilee auditoria and the Provincial Archives, sponsors sports, recreation, and competitive games like the Alberta Games and Team Alberta at the Canada Games, provides programs that support and develop volunteerism, and ensures fairness by support- ing the Alberta Human Rights Commission and sponsoring the Francophone Secretariat.

All this work adds up to a quality of life that builds Alberta pride, which makes Alberta a better place to live, work, and visit, and that has a big impact on our economy. The impact is significantly higher than our $240 million invest- ment. My budget helps leverage an annual economic impact of $3.4 billion a year in cultural activ ities, $2.2 b illion in sport and recre- ation, and $1.3 billion in parks tourism. We cannot take sole credit for this impact, but we are important contributors. Every grant dollar from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts leverages $12 in community spending.

Every dollar in grants from the Sport, Recreation, Parks & Wildlife Foundation leverages $5 in the community. Communities that host the Alberta Games average a $3 million impact. The impact of international sporting events is measured in tens of millions. The World Masters Games last year had an impact in Alberta of $30 million. 3:00 Volunteerism has a major economic and social impact: 19,000 not-for-profit and voluntary organizations in Alberta with 176,000 employees. Albertans volunteer 449 million hours of service a year, equivalent to 234,000 full-time jobs.

Alberta-based nonprofit and voluntary organizations have total revenues of $10 billion. Beyond the money is the impact on our quality of life and reputation. Provincial parks help keep people healthy and rural economies strong. Libraries support lifelong learning and in small communities are access points to government services. The arts promote innovative thinking, provide avenues for expression, and nurture mental and physical health. Museums and heritage management protect and educate about our history and identity.

April 26, 2006 Alberta Hansard 1071 Volunteers are more likely to make charitable donations and to participate in community organizations. Human rights protection and education foster equality, promote inclusion, and reduce discrimination. Physical activity reduces obesity, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. For youth it also reduces the rates of drug and tobacco use while increasing academic achievement. Our sports development progra ms and training facilities are respected across the country and the world.

Almost 30 per cent of Canada’s medal winners at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin were from Alberta and another 42 per cent trained here, giving Alberta a stake in 72 per cent of Canada’s most recent Olympic medals. Colleagues, the budget allocated to Community Development may be listed in the estimates as an expense, but we all know that it is an investment. My budget for 2006-2007 shows a net decrease of $40.2 million from last year’s third-quarter forecast, but the changes are not readily apparent, with some programs ending and new resources added.

Several initiatives from last year do not continue in 2006- 2007: $1.7 million for major sporting events in 2005, like the World Masters Games, was one-time funding. The $2.5 million NHL teams initiative is discontinued. The $20 million in new library grants was one-time funding that came out of 2005-2006 surplus and is not part of this year’s estimates. The $13.5 million film develop- ment program is transferred to Alberta Economic Development. Considering these reductions, my base budget actually reflects enhanced program funding: $7.1 million in lottery funding is added to the five lottery funded agencies.

That is a 13.4 per cent increase over the previous year. This increase is allocated with an eye to balancing our priorities. Three million dollars is added to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts to support Alberta’s creative side; $2.8 million is added to the Albe rta Sport, Recreation, Parks & Wildlife Foundation. The $1.3 million balance is distributed among foundations that support community historic resources, human rights education, and volunteerism.

One million dollars is added to parks to monitor drinking water quality to new and higher standards as well as to operate new interpretive centres in four parks. Built as centennial projects, at a cost of $17 million, the new interpretive centres w ill serve visitors to Writing-on-Stone, Lesser Slave Lake, and Dinosaur provincial parks and Cypress Hills interprovincial park. Parks also benefit from a small increase in fees, all of which is dedicated revenue to offset parks maintenance and services.

Six hundred thousand dollars in one-time funds go to showcase Alberta at the Smithsonian Folklif e Festival in Washington, DC. This is the first time in its 40-y ear history that the festival is featuring a Canadian province, and about 1 million American tourists, businesspeople, and policy-makers are expected to attend. At $59 million our capital spending this year is similar to the funding provided to our lottery funded agencies. The single biggest beneficiaries are visitors to Alberta’s parks. The 2004 parks survey shows only 38 per cent of visitors were very satisfied with parks facilities.

This budget allocates $24 million to rebuild visitor facilities as part of a three-year, $60 million commitment. This investment protects facilities, with an estimated replacement value of $437 million. The remaining $35 million continues our commitment to two centennial projects: $20 million will expand the tourism and educational potential of the Calgary Zoo, already recognized as one of the world’s leading zoos; $15 million will help build a new home for the Art Gallery of Alberta as a provincial showcase of the best and most inspiring art. Rural Alberta is also a major beneficiary in this budget.

More than half of the province’s public libraries serve communities of fewer than 1,200 people. Libraries in these communities can borrow from libraries across the province to meet almost any information need. For example, Acadia Valley in southeast Alberta has just 512 residents. One in three is a local library member. Those few hundred borrowed over 1, 600 titles in just one year. Small-town libraries are also access points for a range of government services online.

Every Albertan lives within 100 kilometres of a provincial park or protected area, and Albertans use them, making 7.5 million visits a year to their provincial parks. An additional 1 million visitors come from out of province. Much of the $1.3 billion a year generated by parks tourism is spent in rural centres on gas, food, and lodging. This does not include secondary spending on the goods and services that support camping, fishing, and outdoor recreation. Colleagues, I ask that you approve the estimates for Community Development for 2006-07.

This budget features ongoing support for the ministry’s core services, small but important and well-allocated increases in priority areas, and judicial investments in parks infrastructure and continuing centennial legacies. With your approval this budget will help sustain the quality of life Albertans enjoy and will start to strengthen priority areas as we head into Alberta’s next century. Mr. Chairman, I’d like to move my estimates. I’m ready to accept questions and will answer as many as possible here today. If I’m unable to answer the questions right away, I will respond in writing. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The Chair: The hon. Member for Calgary-Varsity. Mr. Chase: Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I want to begin by commending the minister on his open approach. I and my researcher had the pleasure of meeting with the minister this morning and were very warmly received. It is my belief that the minister, with his experience as party whip, will stand out and stand up for parks. As I indicated in my member’s statement when I said that there was a chance to leave either a blot or a mark, I believe this minister is going to leave a mark, and for that I am grateful.

With regard to the parks and protected areas I want to also thank the hon. Member for Edmonton-Ellerslie for allowing me to proceed, as I have a travelling engagement later this afternoon. I also want to thank the minister for indicating his willingness to provide written answers. That will go a long way in terms of dealing with the frustration I experienced yesterday at not having a full chance to discuss.

The forecast spending for parks is $148 million in 2006-2007, which is down from $165 million in 2005-06; $1 million to operate four previously announced park interpretive centres in Lesser Slave, Writing-on-Stone, Cypress Hills, and Dinosaur parks, and to monitor water quality. I’m glad that investment is being made. However, $24 million this year to rebuild parks infrastructure is a bit of a concern because that’s less than half. It’s down from $50 million that was dedicated to it in 2005-06. Over the next three years $60 million is committed for infrastructure. I’m hoping that that figure will be adequate.

From personal experience, I’ve seen how rundown a number of our parks are. The core business of the parks and protected areas division is to preserve, protect, present, and promote the appreciation for Alberta’s historical resources, add culture, and provide opportunities for heritage tourism too. Questions I have with regard to infrastructure, which I’m pleased to receive in writing. Considering that the economic impact of the 8 million visits is $1.3 billion a year, that means every $1 investment in the park system pays back about $9 to the provincial economy.

Alberta Hansard April 26, 20061072 That being the case, why don’t we reinvest more into park infra- structure? We’ll get a better return. While the government press release boasts spending on capital projects, it masks the fact that the total capital spending will be lower in ’06-07 than the previous year. Equipment and inventory purchases were down by 21 per cent. This includes all capital purchases under $5 million and might include such things as vehicles, computers, or park equipment and mobile accommodation.

The questions would be: are an y of the equipment/inventory purchases going to improve park facilities in smaller parks, such as replacing picnic tables, fire rings, et cetera? This is on page 100, line 5.0.3, of the estimates. Hopefully, some of that money is also going to go to repair the fences around the various sites to keep the intrusion of free-range cattle out. 3:10 Capital investment budgets. Projects greater than $5 million are down to $21 million in the ’06-07 compared to $46 million in ’05- 06. That’s on page 101, line 5.0.3, of the estimates.

This is still far better than the ’04-05 actual, where the total investment was $7 million. If we can keep heading up in terms of parks and protected areas infrastructure spending, I will support the minister for every appeal he makes for additional funding, provided it’s within this budgeting process. I would like to know what parks have requested this money. I kind of think most have, if not all. Where will the money be spent? Is there a capital plan which includes priorities for infrastructure renewal in Alberta parks?

I commented about the fact that there were only 45 management plans, but we had over 512 parks and protected areas. I’m looking forward to seeing those plans. In the area of conservation are there any habitat restoration projects taking place in the Alberta parks? What line item is this addressed in? In my own personal experience at Cataract Creek, Bell Pole was allowed to use the access roads into the park, took out a beautiful aspen parkland campsite to get at its logging. I’m hoping that that has been restored and this might be part of the project.

The most underrepresented natural area in Alberta is the grass- lands. If you looked at a map showing the underrepresented area and the private land in Alberta, they virtually overlap. Combine this with an income crisis in the farming industry, and it looks like there may be an opportunity to solve two problems at once by providing economic incentives to protect grasslands on private land. We already have a number of private and public trust organizations being founded to help preserve our land loss.

Has the minister considered working with Agriculture, Food and Rural Development to develop policy that works for the conservation of the grasslands and considers the need for farmers to address their income crisis? This might be a buy-back program to encourage farmers to convert marginal areas back to natural grasslands or heritage rangelands, possibly with some organic or sustainable grazing taking place on the range. This could be a win-win for farmers and conservation groups.

With regard to staffing I’ve frequently complained about the 50 per cent reduction in conservation officers and the effect that that has on both visitor information and parks and protected areas protection. Full-time employment is increasing by two full-time equivalents. Will these staff be in the park areas or somewhere else in the department? This comes from page 107 of the estimates. Park conservation officers. Throughout the entire province there are 70 permanent conservation officers. An additional 88 will be added in May for the summer season.

This is the same number of permanent officers as last year, and the seasonal number is slightly higher. Having spoken to a number of seasonal conservation officers who would like to have a permanent career in conservation, I hope that there will be an opportunity for these individuals, having demonstrated their abilities season after season, to receive full-time employment. This works out to one staff for every three parks or one staff for every 130 square kilometres. My researcher was hoping that the minister might provide a few staff with binoculars so that they could cover the wide range.

Has the minister considered the impact to the rural communities of relying on seasonal employ- ees that are near Alberta’s parks; for example, experiment with employees living in the gateway communities near the parks rather than commuting from Edmonton just for the summer season? Scientists and planners. The previous Community Development minister was unaware that there were caribou living in Alberta’s parks, much less doing anything about ensuring that their habitat was properly stewarded.

Is there sufficient staff such as biologists to work with SRD to manage endangered species such as the caribou, the swift fox, or the grizzly bear within our parks and protected areas? Are there sufficient planners and project officers in perma- nent and year-round positions to participate in regional planning exercises and park planning exercises that are vital to the manage- ment of park ecosystems? Other priorities. The minister knows that this is a favourite of mine. We talked about it this morning. Will the minister work to preserve the Castle wilderness?

Will the minister work to improve access to information by tabling planning documents, provide money to support the planning processes, complete a thorough economic benefit study of the contribution of Alberta’s park system to the economy and indirectly – well, I guess it is directly – the effects it has on our health system? Because healthy people don’t end up within the system. If he says that they already have, tell him to send us and the NGOs a copy. The footnote is there, and if you have it, I would love to receive it.

Then we could have it in the library because, unfortunately, the latest version we have is 1996. So I would be appreciative of receiving that document and having it tabled and available in the library. Performance measures. The only performance measure for the parks and protected areas department is camper satisfaction. I talked about visitor dissatisfaction in my questions yesterday. I had a good discussion with the minister toda y with regard to improving the electronic booking of parks, and I am confident that he w ill work towards that improvement.

Why doesn’t the ministry develop a full set of indicators for the ecological health of Alberta parks? Why not evaluate whether people are appreciating nature and understanding the purpose of parks rather than just being satisfied? We need to up the ante. People are very satisfied after visiting West Edmonton Mall or Disneyland, and it doesn’t mean that the parks are serving their public purpose. I believe their purpose should be to appreciate and enjoy nature along with conserving our flora and fauna, our ecological integrity. We should focus on parks as places to enjoy the outdoors and conserve nature.

This performance measure at this point does not assess that. Also, one of the sad circumstances is that the conservation officers rarely have the time to interact with the campers, to talk to them about the local flora and fauna. In the majority of our parks we don’t have the interpretive guided tours anymore. I know that my wife and I tried to provide information, which was provided to us by the government in terms of maps, posters, and so on, to educate the visitors to our campground in the southern Kananaskis, the provin- cial campground of Cataract Creek. Other issues of concern.

The Maqua Lake forest recreation area. We’ve received reports that this area is closed to the public and has been for some time, several years, it appears. I would appreciate knowing why the park is still closed. Are there plans to reopen it?

April 26, 2006 Alberta Hansard 1073 Given the demand for parks, why aren’t we providing access and/or resources to keep these areas open? Financial questions. What parks does the minister plan on making the $24 million investment in in the form of infrastructure? The reference pages are 100 and 101 in estimates, line 5.0.3, which I’ve previously referenced. How do you plan on assessing the need for infrastructure development, and how will the minister prioritize projects to ensure that they are based on the greatest need and not some other criteria?

As I mentioned this morning when we dis- cussed with the minister, while I’m extremely pleased that the Canmore Nordic Centre has been polished up – it’s a jewel – there are a number of wilderness parks that have not had that same kind of shining. Why is total spending in the parks and protected areas division down by $17 million? This is a reference to page 115 of the government business plan, expense by core business. 3:20 The Auditor General had no recommendations in the parks and protected areas division. I wouldn’t be surprised, Mr.

Minister, if this comes to you as a surprise because you’ve just taken over your department, but it came as a tremendous surprise to both myself and my researcher. Wal- Mart is now the official marketing sponsor for Alberta’s parks information site. This includes a link to Wal-Mart’s corporate site. I know that Wal-Mart allows campers to park in their lots, but are we not experiencing internal competition? What is the ministry receiving in exchange for Wal-Mart being the corporate s ponsor? Will the minister make all documentation related to the agreement with Wal-Mart as the marketing sponsor public?

This would include the RFP for sponsors, all other applicants, a description of what criteria were used to assess and select the sponsors, a description of what support Wal-Mart provides to the Ministry of Community Development. Now, if that Wal-Mart sponsorship will put a conservation officer at the entrance to every park, welcoming them to the park and talking about the special deals in creek aisle 4, then I think it would be a great sponsorship. Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Ducharme: Mr.

Chairman, as was indicated by the Member for Calgary-Varsity, we had agreed that I would be responding to him in written form as he had other commitments. So if we can move on to the next speaker, please. The Chair: Okay. I recognize the hon. Member for Edmonton- Ellerslie. Edmonton-Strathcona, I’ll recognize you next. Dr. Pannu: Sure. That’s fine. Mr. Agnihotri: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It’s my great pleasure to rise and participate in the budget debate on the estimates for Community Development.

First of all, I want to thank the hon. minister and his whole staff for preparing and presenting a good overview of the budget. Also, thanks for the efforts and their hard work. It’s not easy to answer all the questions in 20 minutes’ time or maybe a little less or more. If you can’t answer all the questions, please provide them later on in writing, as you already said, but I would like to see them in full detail. Mr. Chairman, allow me to start from the estimate on page 98, line 2.0.2. The estimate for arts is $2,268,000, a small decrease from the 2005-06 forecast.

Given that your ministry overspent in 2005-06 by $700,000, why haven’t you increased the funding for the arts this year so that you don’t overspend? Why hasn’t the government made arts funding a real priority yet? How will this money be utilized this year? Has the new minister met with the arts community yet to hear their concerns regarding funding? Why did the former Minister of Community Development pretend that he tried to get $40 million for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts?

I read it in the newspaper, but now the ministry has changed, and I have to ask the new minister to work on this again because there are lots of stakeholders in the arts sector requesting more money. I think $40 million is very reasonable because they are creating I think 3,500 jobs in the arts sector. The Alberta arts sector spent on operations and production in 2004 at least $120 million. The arts sector adds to the Alberta GDP each year. So the money we are receiving from this sector is not even close to what we are returning to them. Next I move to the estimates on page 98, line 2.0.4.

The estimate for sport and recreation is $1,439,000, virtually no change from the 2005-06 forecast. Why has the government again chosen to ignore the sport and recreation community in Alberta? The previous minister assured Albertans that sport and recreation funding was a priority for this government. If this is the case, why have you chosen not to increase funding for sport and recreation? How does the new minister plan to promote a healthier, more active population if funding for sport and recreation remains stagnant? What plans does the new minister have for implementing the Alberta sport plan?

Will additional funding for the Alberta sport plan come from this line item? What does the minister have to say about the govern- ment’s disappointing lack of funding to Alberta’s sport and recre- ation community? The former Minister of Community Development responded to my debate in the last budget that we will have a new sport policy in this session as well as a cultural policy, but I haven’t seen anything so far. I move to the estimates on page 98, line 2.0.6. The estimate for the Francophone Secretariat is $932,000, a 13 per cent increase from the 2005-06 budget.

Funding for the Francophone Secretariat has increased substantially over the past few years. Can the minister tell us how the additional funding will be used, and what does the minister hope to accomplish by raising the funding by more than a hundred thousand dollars? Estimates, page 98, line 2.0.11. The estimate for assistance to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts is approximately $22,080,000, an increase of 16 per cent from the 2005-06 budget. Although this increase is most welcome, it is once again far below what the arts sector requires in this province.

Is the minister prepared to work with the arts sector to ensure that their concerns are addressed? Is the minister willing to commit today to making arts funding a real priority for this government in the years to come? Arts groups have been asking for a substantial increase in funding to support them for years. It has been estimated that the arts contribute approximately $150 million annually to the economy of this province, yet this government continues to rank among the poorest supporters of the arts in Canada.

The point here is – and it is agreed upon by so many stakeholders – why does the Alberta provincial government consistently fail to support the arts when municipal and federal governments recognize the importance of the arts? Can the minister explain to these artists why they are always underfunded? The previous minister claimed that he did not have caucus support for a substantial increase to arts funding. What is the new minister going to do to change this?

It was in the newspaper that the former minister worked hard and tried to convince the caucus for $40 million, but the revenue department maybe didn’t agree with the hon. minister. Now it’s up to the new minister to recognize and do something for the arts sector, where so many people are involved, and they’ve been struggling for a long, long

Alberta Hansard April 26, 20061074 time. I hear in this Chamber most of the departments sometimes say that they are number one, number two, whatever, in their own department. As far as I know, I was reading one of the articles somewhere that we are behind in arts funding. We are behind the federal funding as well. Numberwise we are number 10 in Canada. Incomewise it’s huge revenue coming from this sector. We should focus a little bit more on the arts sector. 3:30 Now I move to page 98, line 2.0.13.

The estimate for assistance to the Wild Rose Foundation is $8.116 million, a 4 per cent increase from the year 2005-06 budget. The funding for this line item saw a minor decrease between 2004-05 and 2005-06. Can the minister tell us why he has increased assistance to the Wild Rose Foundation this year? Will any of this additional money go towards implementing the Auditor General’s recommendation in his annual report? Will any of this money be used to further investigate the Applewood grants?

Has the minister determined yet who was responsible for providing false or misleading information on the Applewood grant application? When can Albertans expect to see the Applewood money returned to the government, where it belongs? What is the minister doing to ensure that another Applewood does not happen? The next is on page 111.

Under core business 2, goal 3, it states that one of the goals of the government is to provide “financial and consultative support through . . . the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.” Why, then, does the Official Opposition continue to hear from the arts sector that this government does not support them? Why does this government continue year after year to disappoint the Alberta arts sector? When will th is government stop making false promises and truly support the arts community in this province? Next I move to strategy 3.4. This is again on page 111, under core business 2, goal 3.

The government plans to “introduce an inclusive cultural policy to promote Alberta’s cultural, historical and natural heritage.” Again, this looks like a hollow strategy. We have been hearing for some time that the government wants to introduce a cultural policy, but there is no action. How can this government develop an inclusive cultural policy when it fails to show sufficient support for the arts and cultural sectors in this province? What can the minister tell us about this government’s progress in developing this policy? We were expecting a cultural and sports policy in this session.

This is what I was promised by the former Minister of Community Development, and I haven’t seen anything so far yet. How long before we see some signs that this policy is in the works? What does the minister expect this policy to look like? Can the minister elaborate on the strategy and tell us specifically how he plans on making this a reality?

In the business plan, page 111, core business 2, goal 3, strategy 3.5, the government is co-ordinating the province’s participation “in the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., to increase awareness and appreciation of Alberta culture.” I’m happy that our artists are going to Washington. We are not against that, but this seems quite hypocritical. Why is the government taking steps to promote Alberta’s cultural and arts achievements in foreign countries when it does not even s upport them here at home?

Why doesn’t the minister show more of a commitment to the arts and cultural community in Alberta if he ’s so enthusiastic to promote it elsewhere? Given that the Alberta government consistently ranks among the worst supporters of arts and culture in Canada, what is the logic behind this initiative? What does the minister expect to gain from this initiative? Will this initiative result in greater government support for the arts and culture sector in this province?

In the business plan, page 113, core business 3, goal 4, perfor- mance measure 4(a), adult Albertans’ perception of how well human rights are protected in Alberta: last actual, 2004-05, 87.6 per cent; the target for the next three years is 88 per cent. This seems like a pretty low target given the importance of human rights. Does the minister believe that setting a higher standard for visitor satisfaction at provincial parks than for the protection of human rights is appropriate?

This government continually repeats how fantastic things are in this province, yet less than 90 per cent of Albertans believe that human rights are protected well in Alberta. Why does the minister aim for only 88 per cent on this performance measure? It would seem appropriate that this performance measure be among the most important in this ministry, yet you have set a relatively low target for the next three years. Even more alarming is that we are falling short on this performance measure. Does the minister agree that 87 per cent is far too low for this particular measure?

Has the minister compared this rating to other jurisdictions in Canada to see how Alberta compares? Why doesn’t the minister make this initiative a greater priority? Now I come to the recommendati ons in the Auditor General’s 2004-05 annual report, page 137. “We recommend that The Wild Rose Foundation review the results of our audit into the grants to Applewood Park Community Association and take appropriate action.” What updates can the minister provide regarding the Applewood grants? When does the minister expect to have the contested money returned by Applewood?

What has the minister done to date to address this recommendation by the Auditor General? From the Auditor General’s 2004-05 annual report, page 142: We recommend that The Wild Rose Foundation improve its grant systems for the International Development Program by: • obtaining third party evidence that matching funds exist before approving grants, • enhancing the review of accountability reports, and • establishing a way to obtain assurance that grant funds are used as intended. What progress has Community Development made to date regarding this recommendation? I again want to repeat that in this

article I read in one of the books, it said that the amount of taxes collected from the arts sector in Alberta each year is $19.6 million. Their revenue from the Alberta lottery fund in 1992-93: $153,708. I just want to say that the revenue coming from the arts sector is maybe a little more than what we are helping the arts sector with, so we should focus a little bit more on this. 3:40 I mean, that 7 per cent increase this year was the second in the last 16 years. It is not enough. I commend the former Minister of Community Development.

He took the initiative, and he started increasing grants to community developments. I commend him for that. After him another minister tried, and I read in the paper that he worked really hard to get $40 million for the AFA. My humble request, once again, is to the new minister to focus and convince the caucus and give the arts sector a little bit more attention. Forty million dollars is reasonable because if you see the job creation, it’s 3,500 jobs created in this sector. They deserve it. I leave it to you. I don’t want to say more than this. Maybe I’ll comment a little bit later on. Thank you.

The Chair: The hon. minister. Mr. Ducharme: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Now I really under- stand what rapid-fire questioning is all about. I’ll certainly give an attempt to address some of them. One of the questions that the hon. member asked was: why aren’t

April 26, 2006 Alberta Hansard 1075 we spending more on the arts? Hon. member, we’ve worked with the Alberta Foundation for the Arts to provide an increase of nearly 16 per cent for this coming year. Alberta’s arts community has grown at an incredible rate. Recognizing this, the government has allocated an additional $3 million in funding for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts in this year’s budget.

The new funding will be allocated to priorities outlined in the foundation’s strategic plan and will support existing clients and services in the areas of arts creation and production, arts promotion, arts participation, and art collection and display. Government support for the arts goes beyond the foundation. For example, an additional $600,000 will be dedicated to the Alberta program at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which will feature contemporary Alberta, including artistic expression, ethnic diversity, industry and technological innovat ion.

Also, $15 million, as I indicated in my opening remarks, will be provided to assist in the creation of the new Art Gallery of Alberta. There are other recent examples that have just taken place: the renovated Jubilee auditoria at a cost of $72 million. We contributed $500,000 to Alberta Scene in Ottawa and organized Alberta Tracks at a series of 10 free concerts in 10 Alberta communities, featuring 30 Alberta musical acts. Mr. Chairman, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts uses a formula to determine the amount of funds allocated for all operating grants to organizations.

The foundation has been granting funds to eligible applicants on a fixed budget for approximately 15 years. Based on statistics for the last four fiscal years, applicants have experienced funding that is between 43 per cent and 69 per cent of what they should r eceive to ensure that they are sustainable. Research has been conducted and presented regarding foundation programs that are subject to the most severe proration. All are prorated. Commu- nity support organizations receive the lowest rate, about 30 per cent.

The number of applicants to this program has increased by approxi- mately 25 per cent every year for the past three years. So, yes, there are certainly some challenges there and certainly a challenge for this new minister as he starts to work on his upcoming budget that will be forthcoming in a year’s time. You asked questions in regard to the funding of the sport plan. As I indicated in my opening remarks, the Alberta sport plan will benefit from the contribution of $2.8 million that was put into the Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks & Wildlife Foundation.

The decisions on how these funds will be distributed will be made in the near future by the board, and I can certainly say that a portion of these funds that were allocated there will be used as it was empha- sized in the sport plan. While it will not address all the challenges faced by the sport and recreation network in Alberta, it is a promis- ing step in the right direction. I will continue to work towards finding solutions to address other areas of the sport plan. You asked questions in regard to the increase to the Francophone Secretariat.

There was a 13.1 per cent increase in the budget towards the Francophone Secretariat. Seventy thousand dollars of that amount is an increase in projected funding from the government of Canada for francophone-related community projects, and $38,000 of that amount is an increase for government-wide union-negotiated salary settlements and management compensation adjustments.

Basically, the adjustments are there for extra funding arrangements that we make on a sharing basis as we meet with various community groups, francophone groups across the province, where they come in as equal partners, and we get matching dollars from the federal government. So it’s an enhancement of services in that way. You spoke in regard to the targets on human rights. In 2004-2005 nearly 88 per cent of adult Albertans felt that human rights were well protected in Alberta. In setting our targets, hon. member, we use a three-year average with a 1 per cent stretch allowance factor.

We feel that by doing that, we’re being realistic and that it is a target that is attainable. You made remarks in regard to the Auditor General’s recommen- dations regarding the international development program. Following the recommendations that came forward from the Auditor General, an entirely new set of guidelines and accountability requirements has been developed for the program incorporating all of the Auditor General’s recommendations. The new guidelines and accountability requirements were developed by department staff and reviewed by an independent agency.

The program is reinstated, and funding proposals are now being accepted. If I may, after he conducted the audit, the Auditor General’s recommendations were basically threefold.

One is that the founda- tion should obtain “third party evidence that matching funds exist before approving grants;” two, that the foundation s hould enhance “the review of accountability reports;” and three, the foundation should establish “a way to obtain assurance that grant funds are used as intended.” Basically, the current status is that the Wild Rose Foundation has incorporated all three of the Auditor General’s recommendations into their grants processes as fo llows.

At the application stage organizations that do not produce audited financial statements will now have to obtain third-party evidence that matching funds exist before grants are approved. Two and three: at the accountability stage the foundation has enhanced their review of accountability reports and strengthened their process to be assured that grant funds are used as intended, and initial discussions with the Canadian International Development Agency took place regarding possible on- site verifications.

Because the agency does not perform their own project evaluations, it was suggested that the foundation perform their own project reviews or contract the same firm as the agency to complete these project on-site reviews on their behalf. The founda- tion is currently researching this issue, which will include taking the appropriate budgetary measures in anticipation of these annual on- site verifications. The new guidelines originated from the review conducted by the foundation with representation from the Canadian International Development Agency and International and Intergovernmental Relations.

The foundation then contracted Agriteam Canada, an independent agency, to undertake the final review of the documenta- tion to examine the overall program parameters. On February 2, 2006, the Wild Rose F oundation publicly announced its new guidelines and accountability requirements. Funding proposals are now being accepted. In the case of what’s happening with the Applewood situation, all that I can advise the member is that the file has been forwarded to the Crown’s debt collections to recover the funds, and the process is now under way. Why are we doing the Smithsonian?

It’s basically to increase tourism and investment opportunities. It’s going to provide American decision-makers and policy-makers with an understanding of issues that are important to us such as energy and agriculture, and it will certainly help Albertans make valuable contacts in one of the most powerful cities in the world. Mr. Chairman, this is an incredi- ble opportunity to promote our province to the largest trading partner and enhance our trade relationship, which is already worth $60 billion.

There will also be a variety of long-term benefits from Alberta’s participation, including improved relations with the decision-makers in legacy projects, including a music CD and educational materials. That’s all that I have at this moment, Mr. Chairman.

Alberta Hansard April 26, 20061076 3:50 The Chair: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Strathcona. Dr. Pannu: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m pleased to rise and speak to the 2006-2007 estimates for the Department of Community Development. Let me at the very outset congratulate the new minister for taking on this responsibility. It’s indeed an important ministry, in my view.

How to co me to the conclusion that it’s an important ministry is not by looking at the total number of dollars that it spends but the significance of every dollar that it spends in the area of cultural development of communities, parks and recreational areas, arts, human rights. All of these are very, very important areas of activity in which government is involved. It is indeed, in my judgment, a very important portfolio, and I think the minister is up to the task. I was very pleased to receive an invitation last week from the minister to meet with him.

I and my colleague for Edmonton-Calder took the opportunity this morning to have a brief meeting with the minister. I have known the minister for many years in various other contexts. We’ve been on various committees together, worked together to address matters which are the responsibility of the whole House sometimes. I’m very pleased and looking forward to the opportunity of working with the minister. I know that he has some challenges, and I want to assure him that we’ll extend our full support on matters on which we all agree that we need to work together. With that, Mr.

Chairman, I want to just suggest that I’d focus perhaps on the arts and libraries, that area in particular. Maybe I can start with some simple and specific questions which go back to the Auditor General’s report and recommendations with respect to the work that the AG looked at that this department has done in previous years. I have with me some pages from the AG’s report for 2004-2005. I want to just read the general sort of recommendations that the AG makes on page 147.

It says that the Ministry of Community Development’s Parks and Protected Areas Division contracts out the management of approximately half of the provincial parks and recreation areas to private operators through fac

Document details

Collection	Alberta — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	20060426
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	L26 S2 20060426 1330 01 han.pdf
Language	en
Format	json
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	3f18007bf9aeab14c23cd4b183d0f1a7e1770fb6

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