Alberta Hansard — 18 November 2003, Afternoon sitting (13:30) (Legislature 25, Session 3)

20031118

Alberta — Debates (Hansard)

November 18, 2003 Alberta Hansard 1691 Legislative Assembly of Alberta Title: Tuesday, November 18, 2003 1:30 p.m. Date: 2003/11/18 [The Speaker in the chair] head : Prayers The Speaker: Good afternoon and welcome back. I would ask the members to remain standing after prayers so we may pay tribute t o ou r former colleagues w ho have passed away since we were last in the House. As we commence proceedings today in this Assembly, we ask for divine guidance so that our words and deeds may bring to all people of this great province hope, prosperity, and a vision for the future. Amen.

With our admiration and respect there is gratitude to members of their families who shared the burdens of public office. Members of Dick Johnston’s, G ordon Tay lor’s, Mick ey Cla rk’s, and Herb Jamieson’s families are here with us today in the Speaker’s gallery. Mr. Archibald D. “Dick” Johnston March 5, 1940, to June 25, 2003 The Speaker: Mr. Archibald “Dick” Johnston passed away June 25, 2003. Mr. John ston was first elected March 26, 1975, and served until June 15, 1993. During his years of service he represented the constituency of Lethbrid ge-East for th e Progressive Conservative Party.

During his years in the L egislature Mr. Johnston ser ved as Minister of Municipa l Affairs from April 1975 through to March 1979; M inister of Federal and Intergovernmental Af fairs, March 1979 through to November 1982; Minister of Advanced Education from November 1982 through to May 1986; P rovincial Treasurer from May 1986 to December 1992; and minister responsible for financial institutions, including trust companies, credit unions, and insurance companie s. Mr.

Johnst on also served on the select standing committees on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing; Public Affairs; and Public Accounts. Mr. Gordon Edward Taylor July 20, 1910, to July 26, 2003 The Speaker: Mr. Gordon Edward Taylor passed away on July 26, 2003. Mr. Taylor was first elected March 21, 1940, in the Drumhell- er constituency and served with the Social Credit Party until 1975.

He was re-elected in the sam e riding of Drumheller in 1975 as an independent supporting the go vernment and served as Minister of Railways & Telephones, Minister of Highways and Transport, and Minister of Youth d uring his time. Mr. Ta ylor also served on the select standing committees on Agriculture, Colonization, Immigra- tion and Education; Law and Regulations; Municipal Law; Private Bills; Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing; Public Accounts; Public Affairs; Railways, Telephones and Irrigation; and the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund Act. Mr.

Taylor served on the special committees on Automobile Highway Review, Automo- bile Insurance, Redistribution Procedure, and Workers’ Compensa- tion. Mr. Taylor was elected as Member of P arliament for Bow River in 1979 and was re-elected in 1980 and in 1984. Mr. Lewis Mitchell “Mickey” Clark November 26, 1923, to September 10, 2003 The Speaker: Mr. Lewis Mitchell “Mickey” Clark passed away on September 10, 2003. Mr. Clark was first elected on March 14, 1979, and served until 1986, representing the Drumheller constituency for the Progressive Conservative Party. Mr.

Clark served on the select standing committees on Law and Regulations, Private Bills, Public Accounts, and Public Affairs. Mr. Richard Herbert “Herb” Jamieson April 19, 1912, to September 15, 2003 The Speaker: Mr. Richard Herbert “Herb” Jamieson passed away on September 15, 2003. Mr. Jamieson was elected June 18, 1959, and served until May 9, 1963. During his years of service he represented the constituency of Jasper West for the Social C redit Party. Mr.

Jamieson served on the select standing committees on Agriculture, Colonization, Immigration and Education; Munic ipal Law; Privi- leges and Elections, Standing Orders a nd P rinting; and Railways, Telephones and Irrigation. Our prayers are with them all. In a moment of silent prayer I would ask you to remember hon. members Dick Johnston, Gordon T aylor, Mickey Clark, and Herb Jamieson as you may have know n them. R est eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them. Amen. Now, hon. members, would you please join in the singing of our national anthem. We’ll be led today by Mr.

Paul Lorieau, and please join in the language of your choice. Hon. Members: O Canada, our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free! From far and wide, O Canada, We stand on guard for thee. God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. The Speaker: Please be seated. head : Introducti on of Visit ors Mr. Tannas: Mr.

Speaker, I am honoured today to introduce to you and through you family members of our former colleagues who have passed away since we last met here in the Legislature. The family members are seated in your gallery , and I would ask that a s I introduce each family, they would then stand and receive the warm welcome of the House. The hon. Dick Johnston’s family: Mr. David Johnston, son; Mrs. Barbara Anic, daughter; Mrs. Suzanne Keglowitsch, daughter, Mr. Roger Keglowitsch, son-in-law, and their children; the grandchildren Conrad, Kirea, Quinlin, and Malika Keglowitsch.

I would ask the members to join with me in w elcoming the me mbers of the hon . Dick Johnston’s family. The hon. Mickey Clark’s family: Mrs. Mary Clark, his wife; his daughter Sherrill B enns; brother -in-law Kenneth Hna tiuk; and longtime family friend and former colleague of this House Mr. Jack Campbell. Would the members please join with me in welcoming these members of the hon. Mickey Clark’s family. The hon. Gordon Taylor’s family: nephew Mr. Dennis Taylor and his wife, Mrs. Mavis Taylor; nephew Mr. Tom Taylor and his wife, Mrs. Jackie Taylor. Members, please join with me in welcoming the members of the hon.

Gordon Taylor’s family. The hon. Herb Jamieson’s family : daughter Mrs. Ellen Moore, daughter Mrs. Faye Galloway, and his grandchildren Wes Moore, Kathy Siemens, and Brad Galloway. Would the members please join me in welcoming the members of the hon. Herb Jamieson’s family. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Alberta Hansard November 18, 20031692 *This spelling could not be verified at the time of publication. 1:40head : Introduction of G uests The Speaker: The hon. Minister of Community Development. Mr. Zwozdesky: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s, indeed, a privilege to introduce some ve ry outstanding young people from Velma E. Baker school who are joining us here today. There are two classes. These are, of course, members of our most precious resource, our children. I’m delighted that they are accompanied by some parent helpers and teachers, and I’d like to introduce them now.

They are Beverly Rich ardson, Kulwinder Kharal, Candy Bell, sub teacher Maria Markeli, Kathy Reid, Terri Tum ack, Hend Moustafa, Lisa McCormick, and their outstanding teacher, Marilyn Manning. May they all rise and please receive the warm welcome of everybody here. The Speaker: The hon. Minister of Sustainable Resource Develop- ment. Mr. Car dinal: Thank y ou very much, Mr. Speaker . It is m y pleasure to welcome two special guests here seated in your gallery. They each represent groups with a stron g interest i n the Wild life Amendment Act, 20 03, which w ill be disc ussed later.

I’d like to introduce Steve Hull, managing director of the Alberta Conservation Association, and also Darryl Kublik, co-ordinator of the provincial Report a Poacher prog ram. I ’d like Ste ve and Da rryl to r ise if they’re here y et and rec eive the traditional warm welcome of the Assembly. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Norwood. Mr. Masyk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you and thr ough you 35 s tudents from the wonderful Princeton elementary sc hool. They ar e accom panied by their teacher, Mrs. Dianne Unger, Ms Natasha Michaud, and Mrs. Leslie Tanzi.

I would ask them to rise in the public gallery and receive the traditional warm welcome of this Assembly. Thank you very much. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Medicine Hat. Mr. Renner: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It’s a pleasure for me today to introduce to you and to members of the Assembly some guests that we have seated in the members’ gallery. I’m sure that you will agree with m e that the l ifeblood of any polit ical party is committed youth, youth that are not only committed but enthusiastic in their commitment.

It’s my pleasure to introduce to you today the president of PCYA, the Progressive Conservative Youth of Alberta, Mr. William McBeath . Joinin g Mr. McBeath in the gallery this afternoon are two members of his executive, Mr. Jeff Duncan and Mr. David Mc Coll, as w ell as th e ex ecutive di rector o f th e PC Association of Alberta, Mrs. Marilyn Haley. I had the pleasure of having lunch with all four of these people today, and I can assure all members that they are w orking ex tremely hard on behalf of the government that they support. I’d ask that they rise and receive the warm recognition of all. Mr.

Speaker , if I coul d have y our indulgence for one m ore introduction, I see seated in the public gallery a constituent of mine who has joined us for quest ion period this aft ernoon. I’d like to introduce to you Mrs. Karen Charlton, a trustee from Medicine Hat school district No. 76 who has joined us this afternoon. I see she’s standing, and I ask members to recognize her as well. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Peace River. Mr. Friedel: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure to introduce to you and to the members of this Assembly some good friends of mine.

They are the board members from the Fort Vermilion school division. They are here in Edmonton to wrap up the Alberta School Boards Associat ion confere nce. Thos e in attenda nce today are David Steer, the chair of the board, Grace Dimond, Tom Hoffman, Alison Batt, Keith Lambert, Lena Neudorf, and I believe that Ken Dropko, the superintendent of the school board, is here a s well. I believe they’re all standing. I would ask the Assembly to show them our traditional warm welcome. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Lac La Biche-St. Paul. Mr. Danyluk: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased to introduce to you and t hrough you t wo repre sentatives f rom the county of St. Paul. J oining us this afternoon ar e Mike Be rgeron, who is the deputy reeve, and Kim Heyman, who is the chi ef administrative officer. They are in the capital this week to attend the fall convention of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties. They have risen, and I would as k the Assembly to give them our traditional warm welcome. Thank you. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Whitecourt-Ste. Anne. Mr. VanderBurg: Thank you.

It gives me great pleasure today to introduce to you and through you two special family members that are here vis iting today: my mother, Kitty – the gr andmother and great-grandmother of many of your constituents, Mr. Speaker, so pay attention to this lady – and, of course, my wife, Liz. Thank you. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Strathcona. Dr. Pannu: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have two sets of introduc- tions here.

First, I would like to introduce to you and through you to all me mbers of the Hou se two registered nurses, dedicated professionals who are proud of the work that they do and the service that they prov ide to patie nts in Edmont on hospitals. They are Gwyneth Foster-Newell and Sherry Stone. Both of them are sitting in the public gallery. They have already risen, and I would ask the Assembly to give them a warm welcome. Mr. Speaker, my second introduction is of a group of 26 grade 6 students from King Edward elementary school in my constituency of Edmonton-Strathcona.

This school really represents a truly profes- sional learning community. Teachers, principals, administrators, and parents work together collaboratively to provide the very best quality of education to young boy s and girls in this school . They are accompanied b y their teacher, Mr. Jim Kaiser, a nd parent Mrs. Sheila Brinton-Atrens, who has accompanying her her young baby, Paxton.* I’ll ask all these guests to please rise and receive the warm welcome of the Assembly. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Drayton Valley-Calmar. Rev. Abbott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is a great pleasure for me to introduce a school group f rom m y consti tuency t hat will be joining us in approximately 10 minutes or so. They are currently on a tour of this great building, but as they come in, perhaps you could wave to the Thors by high school students. There are 34 of them. They are goin g to be accom panied by their tea chers Mr. A ndy McKee, Mrs. Trish McKee, and Mrs. Lorraine Kuzio. So as they come in, please welcome them. Thank you.

November 18, 2003 Alberta Hansard 1693 The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Riverview. Dr. Taft: Thank you, Mr. Speak er. I’m honoure d t o make two introductions today. Both people are seated in the public gallery and will be watc hing the proc edures toda y v ery closely. The f irst is Melanie Shapiro, who I’d ask to rise. She’s a mother of schoolchil- dren at Windsor Park school in my constituency, a v ery active education a dvocate, and closely involved with the Riverview education coalition.

The second guest is Susan O’Neil, who has children at Lendrum school and will be serving as editor of a new publication called Commission Watch , which prom ises to v ery actively support the implementation of the recommendations of the Learning Commis- sion. So I ask you all to welcome these two guests. Thank you. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Highlands. Mr. Mason: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased to introduce to you and through you to the other m embers of our Assembly Elena N’Apora.

Elena is a member of the Edmonton Friends of the North Environmental Society , and she’s here today to observ e our Legislature in action. I would ask all members to join me in giving her a warm welcome. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Mill Woods. Dr. Massey: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure to introduce to you a nd t hrough you to all members of the A ssembly Kieran Leblanc. Kieran is a mem ber of APPEAL, Albertan s Promoting Public Educ ation an d Le arning.

A PPEAL is a provincew ide advocacy group, and many of t he parents in APPEAL have been working for over 10 years in the best interests of children. Kieran is in the public gallery, and with your permission I’d ask her to stand and receive the traditional warm welcome of the Assembly. 1:50 The Speaker: The hon. Minister of Learning. Dr. Oberg: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker . It’s my pleasure today to rise and introduce to you and to members of the Assembly Iris Rathschlag, who visits us from Germany.

Iris has completed her BA in international business management and is currently complet- ing her fina l year in Ger man business. Sh e’s here to obs erve our legislative process and improve her language skills. I would ask her to rise and receive the warm welcome of the Legislative Assembly. Mr. Speaker, I understa nd, although I have not seen them, that Shirley Barg, Brett Bergie, and Melan ee Thomas from the CAUS and ACTISEC student associations are in the gallery. I would like to have them rise an d receive the extremely warm welcome of the Legislative Assembly if they are here. The Speaker: The hon.

Member for Edmonton-Norwood. Mr. Masyk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have another wonderfu l school in the public gallery, Delton elementary school. I paid many visits to this school as a guest. It’s led by teacher Mrs. Sutherland – Mrs. Sutherland ha s 28 wonderf ul students – a nd parents Mr s. Hamilton and Mrs. Rivas. I would ask them to rise and receive the traditional warm welcome of this Assembly. Thank you. head : Ministerial Statements The Speaker: The hon. the Premier. Edmonton Eskimos Mr. Klein: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It’s a great honour to have this opportunity to stand and extend sincere congratulations on behalf of all government members an d all Members of the Legislati ve Assembly and all Albertans to the Edmonton Eskimos. Needless to say, these congr atulations are exten ded t o the Eskimo s for t heir outstanding victory in Regina on Sunday. You know, the Grey Cup is an ex citing event bring ing together Canadians f rom ac ross the c ountry in a real spir it of unity and national tradition. I had the pleasure of being part of the celebrations in Regina this year and witnessed the Eskimos’ victory in person.

I can tell you that it was a hard-fought win. Mr. Norris: Right on. Mr. Klein: It was . The Esk imos played extrem ely w ell, and Edmontonians and all Alber tans can be very proud o f the team’s performance. This is the 12th Grey Cup win for the Eskimos, and it is a real testament to one of the most succes sful franchises in th e Canadian Football League, not only in football but in all professional sports. The Eskimos have s erved the city of Edmonton w ell for man y years and continue to be a real asset for the city. The team contrib- utes to the community in countless ways.

My face-to-face chat with team members after they won the Grey Cup demonstrated to me that no matter where they play, the Eskimos are great ambassadors for their team, their city, and their province. This t eam de serves our admiration and also our thanks. I want to also extend my congratulations to the people of Regina and Saskatchewan. They organized and hosted a first-rate Grey Cup week. It was really moving there. It was moving and shaking, once again proving tha t no one know s how to host a Gre y Cup like western Canadians do.

Again, congratulations to the Edmonton Eskimos on an outstand- ing performance, and congratulations to the people of Edmonton. Thank you. The Speaker: Hon. members, the Leader of the Official Opposition to participate. Dr. Nicol: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Edmonton Eskimos. I can remember that whe n I was a little kid, I used to arg ue with my brothers as we huddled around the radio and listened to the greats like Jackie Parker, Johnny Bright, Normie Kwong. My team usually came out the win ner.

Today I rise a gain with great pleasure t o congratulate the well-fought victory of the Edmonton Eskimos in the 2003 Grey Cup. For 91 years the Grey Cup has brought the country together to celebrate Canada’s best in football. Also, Regina, who hosted this year’s event, should be c ommended for its efforts and great orga nization to mak e the Gr ey Cup m emorable for al l Edmontonians who traveled there and, indeed, for all Canadians. The Eskimos handily triumphed over the Montreal Alouettes with a final score of 34 to 22.

Under the leadership of quarterback Ricky Ray and his high pass completion percentage and his ability to avoid the Montreal defensive blitz, the E skimos were unbeatable. Jason Tucker, a recei ver for the Es kimos, played a fanta stic game with seven receptions and 132 yards and two touchdowns. Mike Pringle, the running bac k for the Eskimos, showed that a second chance always pays off. I join today, Mr. Speaker, in thanking the team, the staff, and in fact all those associated with the team for their commitment to the

Alberta Hansard November 18, 20031694 sport of football and to the community of Edmonton and in fact all of Alberta. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Speaker: Hon. members, unanimous consent would be required to recognize the hon. Member for Edmonton-Strathcona. [Unanimous consent granted] The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Strathcona. Dr. Pannu: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I want to note the very warm support by the Premier for my ability to stand up and say a few words.

Were the traditions and the rules of this House to allow me to don this cap as I’m paying tribute, I would certainly do that, but I guess it’s not appropriate for me to do so. So on behalf of the New Democrats, the opposition here, I wish to add my congratulations to the entire Edmonton Eskimo organization for their outstanding game and their victory in the 2003 Grey Cu p championship gam e in Regina. Edmontonians and other Albertans were proud to be represented by the Eskim os, the fl agship f ranchise of the CFL.

Indeed, t he support from more than 50,000 fans i n attendance at Taylor Field showed the support that this outstanding team receives and enjoys from across the country. The cit y of R egina and the province of Saskatchewan, t he NDP gove rnment of Saskatc hewan, a nd the people of S askatchewan deserve congratulations as w ell for t heir outstanding job in hosting this year’s Grey Cup. By returning the Grey Cup to our city for the 12th time , the Eskimos Football Club showed that Edmonton truly is the City of Champions. My congratulations to the Eskimos team. Thank you, Mr.

Speaker. head : Oral Quest ion Peri od The Speaker: First Official Opposition m ain question. The hon. Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal and Official Opposition. Premier’s Travel Dr. Nicol: Mr. Speaker, in Alberta drivers are pay ing among the highest rates in Canada for auto insurance, deregulation has driven the cost of ut ilities through the roof, the government’s Bill 43 has made enemies of postsecondary students, and the Premier has chosen this time to leave the province.

To the Premier: how will you solve the auto insurance crisis from London given that your government can’t find a long-term solution that will lower rates? Mr. Klein: Mr. Speaker, the last time I look ed and the la st time anyone else looked, I’m here. You know, I’m here answering his questions. I’m not out of the province. I’m going to be leaving the province, but I’m here right now. So I wish the hon. member would correct that statement. To say that I’m not here is . . . An Hon. Member: It’s wrong. Mr. Klein: Well, it’s wrong, but it’s ludicrous. An Hon. Member: He’s not all here. Mr. Klein: I am all there.

They are not all here. The Speaker: Hon. Premier, please. Come on now. This is the start of a fall session, a nd we ca n have ci vility and courtes y in this Assembly. The hon. the Premier. 2:00 Mr. Klein: Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member is really concerned and committed to telling the people of Alberta what this government has been up to, then he would find that the list of achievements, the list of activities is a very impressive list indeed.

You know, we may accuse – and I read the headline in one of the newspap ers toda y about the gove rnment dr ifting a nd no t hav ing a co-ordinated response to major issues such as auto insurance and deregulation and school funding. The hon. leader alluded to all of them. The truth is that this government has been very active and we have been very busy since the end of the sp ring session. We have been listening to Albertans and acting on issues they tell us are important.

That includes BSE, or mad cow disease , sch ools, auto insurance, utility prices, forest fires, and many other issues that come to us on a day-to-day basis. They don’t go to the opposition because nobody speaks to the op position and fo r good reas on: we ar e the gov ern- ment. Th erefore, we’re challenged to contend with numerous, countless issues. The Speaker: Mr. Premier, we’ll come back to that. Dr. Nicol: Again to the Premier, Mr. Speaker: how will you solve the crisis you’ve created in postsecondary education from Ottawa? Mr. Klein: Mr. Speaker, there is no crisis in education.

As a matter of fact, I’ll have the hon. Minister of Learning speak to it. The education system is a good system. We record some of the highest achievement results not only in the country but in the world on the educat ion fron t. Just today, onl y a f ew hours a go, the Minister of Learning announced more than $60 million in additional funding for schools, and that was in response to the first comprehen- sive review o f t he K to 12 education system done in 30 years. Alberta’s spending on e ducation continues to be the highest per capita in Canada. Mr.

Speaker, I know t hat a member introduced someone in the audience who represents an organization to watch our action on the Learning Commission. Well, I can tell that individual right now that we will ta ke the re commendations contai ned in the L earning Commission under the most serious consideration because we have identified education as our number one priority. Dr. Nicol: Mr. Speaker, again to the Prem ier. Mr. Prem ier, your own advisory council has said that deregulation is a failure. Why don’t you stay in Alberta and help deliver lower cost utility bills to Albertans? Mr. Klein: Mr.

Speaker, my going to Ot tawa tonight to speak in Toronto the fo llowing day is hardly going to de al with t he whole issue of dereg ulation and ene rgy prices. My going to L ondon to promote economic development and tell the people in London about the great investment opportunities and what a great province this is is hardly going to do anything relative to electricity prices. But why would we w ant to do a nything? We’re now expe riencing falling electricity prices. We’re experiencing more generation than we’ve ever had before in the history of this province.

We’re seeing more competition coming onstream relative to the re tail component of electricity and more choices and competitive prices being offered. The only crisis exists in the minds of the opposition because they can think of nothing else other than crisis, conflict, confusion, confronta- tion, and chaos. That’s what they survive on.

November 18, 2003 Alberta Hansard 1695 Automobile Insurance Rates Dr. Nicol: Mr. Speaker, the Premier’s insurance team still hasn’t scored a long-term solution in the auto insurance crisis. Meanwhile, drivers in B.C., Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are paying far less in premiums than Alberta drivers. The Premier’s only solution is to freeze rates at a level that is alread y unaffordable to many. To the Premier: why don’t you roll back premiums by 15 percent and save Alberta drivers over $400,000 a day? Mr. Klein: Mr. Speaker, that is not true. What the hon. leader of the Liberal opposition said is not true.

It is not true. Mr. Speaker, I don’t know how old the hon. leader is . I’m 61 years of age. I suspect that he’s about 59 or 58, and I also believe that he’s had a good drivin g record. I would sa y that he’s paying about the same rate as I’m paying, which by the way is abou t the same rate as I’d be paying in Saskatchewan or Manitoba or British Columbia, about the same rate. I pay about $600 or $700 a year in car insurance; that’s PL and PD and collision combined. I believe that the hon. member pays about the same.

Those are comparable, very comparable t o the rates that he wou ld be payin g in thos e jurisdictions. To say that w e’re paying more is w rong. It is a falsehood. Where the discre pancy lies is in the extraordinary amount that young drivers with good driving records are paying and older drivers are paying and also as it relates to younger drivers, young males in particular. What we want to do is deal with that component mostly. But, Mr.

Speaker, I would ask the hon. member to tell the truth, because what he is paying, assuming that his driving record has been good, is no d ifferent, no m ore or no les s, than he w ould pay in Saskatchewan or Manitoba or British Columbia. So tell the truth. Dr. Nicol: Mr. Speaker, the average premium in Alberta is higher than it is in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, or B.C. If the Conservative government in Nova Scotia can roll back insurance rates, why can’t you roll back insurance rates in Alberta? Mr. Klein: Mr. Speaker, we are not Nova Scotia, thank God.

We’re a province where we have no deficit, where we’ve almost eliminated our gross debt , where we hav e no net debt, where w e have t he highest standard of living in the country. We are not Nova Scotia. We are Alberta, a have province, a proud province. Dr. Nicol: It wasn’t much of an answer, Mr. Premier. Why hasn’t y our governm ent even considered public a uto insurance given that it costs less? Mr. Klein: Mr. Speaker, we are not s ocialists on this side of the House. I know what they are on that side of the House. Mr.

Speaker, the system works, and it will work a lot better as a result of some decisions we made today, the details of which will be announced tomorrow. The system will work, and basically it will achieve three thing s. It wi ll offer good drive rs – good drivers – reasonable insurance rates. It will punish bad drivers, and I don’t think the opposition can argue with that, that bad drivers should be punished and good drivers should be rewarded. If they disagree with that, stand up and say so. It will fairly compensate those who are injured. If they disagree with that, stand up and say so.

Thirdly, it will end the discrimination, not completely but most of the discrimination, against young male drivers and senior drivers in this pro vince. N othing wrong with that , and if the y think there’s something wrong with that, stand up and say so. Education Funding The Speaker: Third Official Opposition main question. The hon. Member for Edmonton-Mill Woods. Dr. Massey: Thank you, Mr. Speak er. This morning the govern- ment announced that they would make a delinquent payment on a long overd ue education account.

T he mismanagement of sc hool funding has left classrooms jammed with students and parents across the province, as w e see in the gallery, organizing to take political action. My questions are to the Premier. Why did the government stand by last September while class sizes were increased only to take very limited a ction today, some three months later, too late, after school has started? Why the delay? 2:10 Mr. Klein: Mr. Speaker, first of all, the action taken today is very substantive; it’s not limited ac tion. I’ll have the hon. minister respond. The Speaker: The hon. minister. Dr.

Oberg: Thank you very m uch, Mr. Speaker. The Lea rning Commission came down and said that we had put $298 million into education in the past two years. The arbitrated settlement was set at $260 million. Other increases in salaries over the two y ears were $37.8 million. They did say, though, that the inflation, estimated at 2 percent per year, was not funded, which was approximately $20 million. That was put in today. That was put back into the system today. Mr. Speaker, they also came and said that for children with severe disabilities there w as a short fall in f unding of appr oximately $23 million.

This is something that has been in our business plan. We have been attempting to increase the amount and indeed have done a very good job, increasing the amount of severely disabled funding at a rate of about 10 percent per year. However, they ascertained that there was a shortfall of $23 million for those children that had severe behavioural disabilities, and subsequently that was put in today. The third element, Mr. Speaker, was grade 10 credit enrollment unit funding. A s the Le gislature remembers, there were a lot of interesting things th at were being d one with th is.

We suspen ded grade 10 CEU fu nding two year s ago to g et an acc ountability framework in so that we could ensure that it was being put back in the right place, and subsequently we put that back in this morning as well. The Speaker: The hon. member. Dr. Massey: Thanks. Again to the Prem ier, Mr. Speaker . Mr. Premier, given that if every dollar were used to hire teac hers, we would still have 1,000 more students and 150 fewer teachers than we had a year ago, given today’s announcement, why do you continue to underfund education? Mr. Klein: Mr. Speaker, we don’t continue to underfund education.

We try to strike the best balance to maintain what w e t hink is probably one of the finest e ducation sy stems in t he co untry, notwithstanding some problems in certain areas, and they don’t exist in all areas. Some schools, yes, might experience a problem. Other schools are doing extremely well. Mr. Speaker, what the opposition doesn’t unders tand and what those who say that education should get all the money, those who say that healt h should get a ll the m oney, those w ho say t o spend more on infrastructure perhaps don’t realize is that we’re spending

Alberta Hansard November 18, 20031696 in excess of $20 billion. Twenty billion dollars. Instead of focusing on what we don’t have, maybe we can talk about what we do have in this province. I remember attending the opening of a n ew health facility at the Red Deer regional hospital, th e expanded emergency services and the third floor of that hospital.

The MLA for Red Deer-North was saying that she was about to embark on a trip to Bangladesh, and her doctor told her that she should get all the shots and medical attention she could because when she goes to Bangladesh, she will find that in the major city there is not even one hospital. There is only a clinic and in the whole country one doctor for the whole country, never mind a province of the country. We don’t want to be Bangladesh.

We aren’t anywhere near Bangladesh, but I’m saying that we spend more in this province on services than many countries of the world, far more per capita on health and education and infrastructure. You know, Mr. Speaker, I would like . . . The Speaker: Thank you. Perhaps we’ll be able to get back to this. The hon. Member for Edmonton-Mill Woods. Dr. Massey: Thank you. Mr.

Speaker, again to the Premier: given that the Auditor General found 6 5 mi llion educati on dollars and today the Lea rning mi nister f ound $60 millio n in a c ontingency fund, will the Premier shake the Minister of Learning by the ankles and see how much more money might be available for our schools? Mr. Klein: You know, money, money, money, money. That’s their answer. That’s how they think they get money: you turn the minister upside down and shake him. That’s how they think.

If that doesn’t work, then they look to the sky and they say, “Oh, money; O God, give us money,” and they expect it to fall from the sky. That is their approach to money, Mr. Speaker. What more can I say? The Speaker: The hon. Minister of Learning, if you want to shake this one. Dr. Oberg: Well, Mr. Speaker, I would certainly take that opportu- nity, but turning upside down really gets me very dizzy, so I won’t do that at the moment. I do, howe ver, nee d to add ress the $65 million that was raised by the Auditor General. Mr.

Speaker, the hon. member is fully aware that each and every time there is an appeal in assessment, each and every time there is a hardship case in small communities or, indeed, large communities like Edmonton, money comes from somewhere, and where that money comes from is t hat $65 million fund. A few days ago or a week ago I held in abeyance the paym ent to municipalities. That was $8 million. That is what that fund is used for. It is a onetime fund.

We have agreed with the Auditor General that the fund should be lower, down to $35 million, and indeed $30 million of the ASF funds will be included in my next year’s budget. So this money is for education; it’s for assessments and appeals. I don’t believe that the hon. member would say that you should not have any money so that no one – no one – could appeal their assessment. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Highlands. Electricity Prices Mr. Mason: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Last spring the government announced to great fanfare that it was going to get to the bottom of sky-high power bills by appointing an advisory council to look at the problem. Although the advisory council was not allowed to consider the real problem, which was high bills caused by deregulation, it was allowed to look at the real problem for the Conservative Party, which is angry voters. So it’s no surprise that the report’s recommenda- tions boil down to no more than a public r elations campaign and another round of electricity rebates just as an election comes close.

To the Minister of Energy: when will the go vernment actually get down to business and lower power bills by restoring a s ane, regulated electricity mark et i nstead of trying another round of bribing consumers with their own money? Mr. Smith: Well, Mr. Speaker, I don’t know where the hon. member has been for the last six months, but in fact electricity prices have been coming down. In a recent ruling by the Alb erta Energy and Utilities Board they reduced the transmission charge from the Aquila service network by 8.1 percent.

EPCOR has made an appli cation that has been accepted by the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board that will decrease bills by 14 percent. Deferral accounts will fall off at the end of December, which will mean a net difference of about 25 percent in customer bills. So, Mr.

Speaker, not only have we been adding generation – in fact, Alberta is the lar gest green power generation province in the dominion of Canada now – we’ve seen the price of electricity come down, we’ve seen the price of transmission start to come down, and we’re starting to s ee eve n further de creases occur on the 1st of January to the po int where pr ices will in fa ct be a bout 10 to 15 percent different from what they were in the year 2000. The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Mason: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, given that power prices have doubled since deregulation, can the minister explain why for every problem face d by Al berta consum ers, the g overnment’s solution is a PR strategy and a rebate cheque before the election? Mr. Smith: Well, you know, as the Premier said earlier, it’s just more false hoods from t he opposition, m ore preva rication, m ore mistruths, which we’ve come to expect, Mr. Speaker. In f act, the consumer mark et has as ked for consumer protection.

T hat wa s taking place in an immediate response to the Advisory Council on Electricity with the placement of the consumer advocate housed in the Department of Government Services. On top of that, the group have asked for more consumer information. We’re embarking on a consumer inform ation progra m. La stly, t he folks in the sm all business market said: we don’t have enough i nformation to make decisions about this upcoming ch ange. That change was then postponed till July of 2006.

So in each and every case where the consumer has asked f or something specific from this government for the management and handling of elec tricity restruct uring in t his provin ce, we have responded. We have responded positively. Prices continue to go down, Mr. Speaker. We still at the end of the day have no t blacked o ut. We have delivered dependable, safe, reliable electricity at a time when we’ve seen Ohio and eastern Ontario black out in some 90 million homes. Italy blacked out for 57 million homes. That’s not happening here. 2:20 Mr. Mason: Mr.

Speaker, given that the minister’s own task force report says that rebates may be the way the government wants to go to fix hi gh prices , can he tel l the House how ma ny billions his government intends to spend on electricity rebates this time to secure the government’s re-election instead of fixing the problem?

November 18, 2003 Alberta Hansard 1697 The Speaker: Hon. minister, I’m not sure that’s a question. The hon. Member for Edmonton-Meadowlark. Education Funding (continued) Mr. Maskell: Thank you, Mr. Speak er. Contr ary to what we’ve heard in here this afternoon from the opposition, I know that there are at least 74 members of this Legislature who want to applaud the Minister of Learning for his good-news announcement this morning.

From the phone calls I’ve already received, Albertans are pleased to hear that their government is providing immediate additional dollars to support kindergarten to gra de 12 educati on in support of the Learning Commission recommendation. It is a great start. I just have one question f or the Min ister of Learning : is the f unding announced today the ongoing increase in investment the commission was looking for, or is it onetime funding? The Speaker: The hon. minister. Dr. Oberg: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What was agreed to today and what was announced today was seven-twelfths of $60 million, which takes us to the f iscal year of Apri l 1. That, e xtrapolated, is $60 million over the school year. In ke eping with the hon. Spea ker’s need for brevity, yes, it will be ongoing. Energy Deregulation Mr. MacDonald: Mr. Speaker, at a standing policy committee this August Alberta Scan quoted the hon. Member for Drayton Valley- Calmar as saying this in regard to skyrocketing electricity prices: That is bound to happen if we don’t get these power bills down by the next election.

What will happen is a Liberal government will be elected and they will take back the power industry. [interjections] Laugh a t your own me mber if y ou want. My questions today are to the Premier. How does the government expect to manufacture consumer confidence in energy deregulation when you can’t even convince the members of your own caucus that it’s a good idea? Mr. Klein: Well, y ou know, the re’s one thing I can convince members of my ow n caucus of. I can conv ince them that the Liberals aren’t going to be the government; I’ll tell you that for sure.

You d on’t need to be a rocke t scientis t to figur e that out, M r. Speaker. The reason the y are n’t going t o get elected is that they fee d Albertans a lot of m isinformation. Misinf ormation. Their w hole platform, again, is predicated on what I call the five Cs, those kinds of things that create anxiety. They try to c reate an atmosphere of crisis. They try to create an atmosphere of conflict. They create an atmosphere of controversy and conflict and confrontation and chaos. That is their whole strategy. Mr. Speaker, if t he truth be known, electricity rates a re falling. More competition has come onstream.

As I said before, we’ve had more generation than we’ve ever had before. We have cogeneration projects that we’ve never seen before. Just west of the area where the hon. Leader of the Opposition lives, in Pincher Creek, we see the emergence of wind power, probably one of the largest wind farms, if not t he lar gest win d farm, in Canada. In the north we see cogeneration in the area of the petrochemical plants around Joffre and Prentiss. We see tremendous cogeneration. We see cogeneration starting to develop now as i t relates to agriculture.

We see the develo pment now – very intense, and it’s going to be v ery, I think, topica l and perhaps controve rsial – of coal b ed metha ne and the a mount of power that we’ll be able to generate from that gas. Clea n coal technology is now being developed to generate more power. Mr. Speaker, those are the good stori es, and tha t is the k ind of information that the Liberals in their absolute desperation to get us fired refuse to tell the public. Instead, they depend on misinforma- tion and untruths. Mr.

MacDonald: Speaking of misinformation, why is this govern- ment con tinuing to spe nd $3 million of consumers’ money on a propaganda campaign from the Public Affairs Bureau to convince us that energy deregulation is what we want when in reality we know that it has not worked and will not work? Mr. Klein: I would rather spend no money at all, but sometimes you have to spend money to combat the absolute misinformation – the misinformation – and the untruthful propaganda that’s being put out by the Liberals. Mr.

Speaker, I don’t like to spend this money, but they force us to through their program and their aggressive campaign of conflict and controversy and confusion and chaos. We don’t like to do that. If they would start to t ell the truth and be responsible, then we wouldn’t have to spend those kinds of dollars. Mr. MacDonald: Then to the Premier, Mr.

Speaker: would it not be cheaper for the Premier’s office to click onto altaliberals.ab.ca to see what a real electricity policy looks like instead of spending valuable tax dollars going to London to try to find an affordable and reliable electricity policy because the government knows they currently do not have one? Mr. Klein: It is precisely their web site that is the problem. That is the web site that is full of propaganda, that is full of misinformation, Mr. Speaker. Those seven people over there have no policy to develop. They have no responsibility for the development of policy.

All they do is sit around and dream up ways of trying to frustrate the government. They are so desperate, Mr. Speaker – so desperate – to do something to get recognition, to get noticed. When you ask who any member of the Liberal Party is, the majority of Albertans couldn’t name any of them. S o they are so desperate that they put up web sites, that they spread misinformation, that they issue press releases. They do everything that they possibly can to discredit the government. Well, guess what? The people of this province elected 73 of us and only seven of them. The Speak er: The hon.

Mem ber for E dmonton-Castle Downs, followed by the hon. Member for Edmonton-Centre. Education Funding (continued) Mr. Luk aszuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker . The f inal report of Alberta’s Commission on Learning identified an existing shortfall in funding . . . [interje ctions] Obvious ly, the opposition is not interested in education, but I’ll continue. The report has identified a shortf all in funding f or Albert a’s kindergarten to grad e 12 educati on syste m. The comm ission recommended that the province invest an additional $90.6 million to meet the current needs.

Today the government announced that this recommendation has been accepted and acted on. We know that there will be priority funding for education. That’s a definite step in the right dire ction. My question is t o the Ministe r of Le arning.

Alberta Hansard November 18, 20031698 When ca n we expect this additional funding to be available and making an actual difference in the system? The Speaker: The hon. minister. Dr. Oberg: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for asking that question. Earlier on this year, in July, there was $30 million that was put into the operation and maintenance budgets for school jurisdic- tions. This was part of the dollars that the Learning Commission had identified.

Today I had the opportunity to make an announcement that seven-t welfths of $60 m illion would be put in, whic h is i n keeping with our fiscal year, for a total of $60 million for the school fiscal year , which starts Septem ber 1, for a total of around $90 million. Also what was recommended by the Learning Commission is that the funding formula be enacted. I am taking that through the processes in our business plan, a nd I hope to have announcements on that in the spring. 2:30 The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Lukaszuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My first supplemental is also to the Minister of Learning.

When will the minister be address- ing the Commiss ion on Learni ng’s other recommendations, f or example classroom sizes? Dr. Oberg: Well, Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member fully knows, we take it through our pr ocesses. It has been through standing policy committee, and a significant number of the Learning Comm ission recommendations have been agreed to. There were two that were thrown out, and there are about another seven or eight that have been looked at that need more review. Class size was one of those that was looked at, and hopefully we’ll be able to have announcements on that soon.

But it does have to go through our process, will have to go through cabinet and caucus, and then hopefully we’ll be able to make some final announcements. The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Lukaszuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question, also to the Minister of Learning: will additional dollars be made available in implementing these recommendations? Dr. Oberg: Mr. Speaker, there are a considerable amount of dollars that are needed fo r the Learnin g Commission. The L earning Commission has estimated close to $600 million over the next five years.

We are looking at this in term s of our busi ness planning process, and I anticipate that many of those dollars will actually be included in our business planning process, and I’m working towards that end. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Centre, followed by the hon. Member for Wetaskiwin-Camrose. Long-term Care Accommodation Rates Ms Blakeman: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are to the Minister of Seniors. If a fee increase for long-term care was so desperately needed for so long, why didn’t this government raise it during the budget debate or before the end of session? Mr. Woloshy n: Mr.

Speaker, the fee increase wa s needed, was implemented at the appr opriate time, and was arrived at when the proper discussions were held between the government, lo ng-term care associations, and other operators. So whether it was during the budget debate or at any particular time is quite irrelevant. The Speaker: The hon. member. Ms Blakeman: Thank you. Again to the same minister: given that Alberta legislation requires landlords to give 90 days’ notice of a rent increase, how can the minister justify raising rents more than 42 percent in most long-term care centres with only 44 days’ notice? Mr. Woloshyn: Mr.

Speaker, the point of the matter is that about 10,000 of the 14,000 people in care are on some form of government program or other. The people who are on the seniors’ benefits plan received their su pplementary benefit cheques in the m ail prior to them needing to forward the increase. The p articular process that we’re using ended up ensuring tha t seniors i n lon g-term car e facilities, most of them, the o nes who are on the progra m, would now ha ve the sa me ki nd of resi dual incom e which t he lod ge occupants have. That process w as no t in there before.

We also ensured that they had free cable as part of the package, that they had incontinence supplies, unlimited bathing, and laundry bracelets. After the increa se we are stil l the provinc ial jurisdiction with the second lowest rates in the whole country. Only Quebec is lower. The Speaker: The hon. member. Ms Blakeman: Thank you. My final question to the same minister: what is this government going to do to defuse the financial bomb that has caused major damage to middle-income sen iors with t his increase? Mr. Woloshyn: Mr.

Speaker, a part of the proces s was also the assurance that no individual, senior or not, would lose their right to be in the fa cility, would be un necessarily transferre d. We’ve implemented a proce ss wh ereby any individual who is impacted unfairly would first go to the operator, and if they can’t resolve the situation with the operator, then they come to Alberta Seniors and we intercede on their behalf. This process has been working very, very well. The operators have gone on to work with the families to ensure that the people are working within their income limits.

I must repeat that nobody, senior or not, who is i n a facility w as moved unnecessarily or was impacted to the point that it was unfair, and if they do have a problem, I ’d ask the mem ber to ensure that they forward their problem to us, and we will work with them to resolve the issue with the operators. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Wetaskiwin-Camrose, followed by the hon. Member for Edmonton-Riverview. Methamphetamines Mr. Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Police across Alberta are warning that the spread of methamphetamines is a growing threat to our communities.

W e have i ncreasing reports of meth bust s and meth-related crime. The drug is said to be showing up with greater frequency, and police a nd others blam e meth use for i ncreased violence a nd rising cr ime in our areas. My quest ions are to the Solicitor General. A dark pi cture is being painted about this drug and its effects. What kind of threat does this province face from this illegal drug? The Speaker: The hon. minister.

November 18, 2003 Alberta Hansard 1699 Mrs. Forsyth: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The hon. member brings up a good question and one that he is well aware of, suffering from meth in hi s own const ituency and as the chair of AA DAC. Yes, meth is a problem in this province, and it’s an increasing problem. It’s not only hitting the urban areas, but we’re seeing it in rural areas such as the hon. members’ ridings, Drayton Valley, Wetaskiwin, all sorts of areas. Meth is a very highly addictive drug, and we need to get on this problem.

I recently came back from the States, and I have come back with some really good information in my mind on how to dea l with the situation. Prior to going to the States, Mr. Speaker, I put together an intergovernmental working group that brought together representa- tives from Health, Environment, Children’s Services, Agriculture, and Learning, and we are well ahead of the problem. The States was very, very impressed with how far ahead we are instead of behind on the particular problem. The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Johnson: Thank you.

I h ave critics saying that not enough is being done to conf ront the drug problem, s o what pla ns and strategies are in place to tackle it? Mrs. Forsyth: Well, Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my first answer, Alberta is ahe ad of t he problem. In our visit to the States they indicated to us that they felt they had been hit by a huge truck when trying to deal with it and playing mental gymnastics in their brain all the time. As I explained earlier, we have put together an intergov- ernmental working group, and it is working very well.

We’ve got all the ministers responsible engaged, and we’re also meeting with the College of Pharm acists on Friday and tryi ng to deal w ith the situation on some of the drugs. We are also push ing the f ederal government to make some changes to legislation federally and get on top of the situation. Mr. Johnson: My final supplemental. Can the minister tell us what controls there ar e on buying crys tal me th ingredi ents, including common cold medicines and other products, in drugstores? Mrs. Forsyth: Mr. Speaker, another good question.

I think one of the things that we have to be conscious about is the chemicals that are used in the production of meth, and they can change all the time. As I indicate d, I’m m eeting w ith the Colleg e of Pharm acists t o discuss some of the things that Aus tralia is doing that ar e very innovative in regard to the control of Sudafed and some of the things that the States is doing. I’m looking forward to the meeting with the College of Pharma- cists. My idea in meeting with them is to listen to what they have to say about how w e can deal with the situation. T hey’re best in the know about that.

We need to have the federal government again step up to the plate and put some restriction on the precursors that go into the making of meth, and we need to be on top of this because the ingredients can change just like a cook can change a recipe. Health Care Labour Relations Dr. Taft: To the Minis ter of H ealth and W ellness: will he tell Albertans how many health care dollars that could have been spent to shorten waiting lists or to fund MRIs are instead being needlessly spent by the provincial health authorities to run TV, print, and radio ads opposing the nurses? Mr. Mar: Mr.

Speaker, what I can speak about is remarkable things that have happened in our health care system in the last 12 months. We have worked on all aspects of the Mazankowski reform. We’ve improved accessibility. We’re working hard at improving access. We have the first electronic health records in the country. We have electronic wait li sts on the Internet. We ha ve ou r Hea lthy U campaign, that has resulted in

part in educating Albertans on how to look after themselves, how to improve their health habits in terms of their eating and their exercise. Our tobacco reduction strategy has resulted in 44 ,000 few er smok ers in the province, i ncluding the Minister of Energy, and 11,000 fewer youth smokers. We’ve got an AMA agreement that’s moving forward on primary health care. The accomplishments are numerous within the last few months. We’re moving forward on it. Of course, Mr. Speaker , r egional he alth authoriti es have their responsibility to deal with nurses in their negotiations.

I expect them to do so in a fair and appropriate way. Nurses are n ot r estricted either from making public advertising for the position that they wish to bring forward. It’s only appropria te that the employer have the same opportunity. 2:40 Dr. Taft: The answer completely avoided the question. Maybe he didn’t hear it, so I’ll repeat it. Will the minister tell Albertans how many health ca re dollars are being spent by pr ovincial health authorities to run TV, radio, and print ads opposing the nurses? Mr. Mar: Same question, same answer, Mr. Speaker. Dr.

Taft: It’s an attitude that’s going to lead to confrontation. So to the Minister of Human Resources and Employment: has this government made any preparations for the possibility of job action on the part of nurses over the current contract dispute? Mr. Dunford: The nurses and the employer in this c ase both act professionally, and we e xpect them t o co ntinue to do so, Mr . Speaker. The issues are there on the table. They’ve been directed to go back to the negotiating table.

In the meantime, I have completed my responsibility in terms of the minister in reacting to an applica- tion for a compulsory arbitration board. So we have those situations in place. We all hope, of course, that none of that will be required, that the two parties will get to the table, the two parties will find an agreement that’s acceptable to both of them, and then we just move forward in the ref orm of health care, w hich is so ne cessary in this province. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Strathcona, followed by the hon. Member for St. Albert. Education Funding (continued) Dr. Pannu: Thank you, Mr.

Speaker. The Tory government forced school boards to lay off more than 1,000 teachers over the summer, resulting in overcrowded classrooms throughout the province and the withdrawal of services and programs needed by high-needs children. Today, approaching the half way point of the school ye ar, the minister expects school boards to repair t he dama ge that the government caused by its refusal to prop erly fund education. My questions are obviously to the Minister of Learning.

How can the minister justify waiting until almost halfway through the school year to announce some additional funding when he know s the damage was already done and it will be difficult for school boards to rehire the 1,000-plus teachers they were forced to lay off just a few short months ago?

Alberta Hansard November 18, 20031700 Dr. Oberg: Well, fi rst of a ll, Mr. Speak er, I think that the hon. member should take a look at the school calendar, which consists of 10 months. They have been there for about two and a half months, almost three months, so there certainly is a considerable amount of time. Quite frankly, the school boards are the ones that have the greatest interest. The hon. member was there, and, Mr. Speaker, you know, I could have been mistaken, but I th ink they even gave a standing ovation for this announcement today. The Speaker: The hon. member. Dr. Pannu: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the same minister: why did the gover nment ignore all year long the pleas of school boards, teachers, parents, and others for properly funded schools only to act today like a knight in shining armour rescuing the damsel in distress? Dr. Oberg: Well, Mr. Speaker , the intere sting thing about this economy in Alber ta i s that w e have r eceived more doll ars in our economy because we’ve been very fortunate with oil and gas revenues. Treas ury Boar d gave m e the abili ty to m ake som e announcements today because we did ma nage to have some extra funds available, and I thank Treasury Board for doing that.

I believe that putting this money back into t he education system at this time is a huge step forward. The school boards applauded it, and there was a considerable amount of excitement at the sc hool boards’ convention toda y, M r. Speake r, and I think that we ’re looking forward to some absolutely great t hings happening in the school system in Alberta. Dr. Pannu : Mr. Speake r, my t hird question is to the Deputy Premier. Why is it that as w e get closer to an election, the v ast majority of pro blems t he government is trying to fix a re the ve ry problems of its own making? Mrs. McClellan : Mr.

Speake r, I don’ t think there really was a question in that. I think it was an assumption which was very clearly unfounded and erroneous. On the various issues that the member has referred to, this government has responded in a number of ways. On th e iss ue of educ ation we made i t very clear – a nd in fact I believe it was this government that set out the Learning Commission. I think it really was. It was this government, and we said that when we received the report from this Lea rning Commission, we would respond in an appro priate way.

When w e received the L earning Commission report, the minister very clearly said that this is an important document, that there are some very important recommen- dations in it, some 96 or 98 recom mendations, and that w e would give all of those recommendations very serious consideration. I use this as an example of this government responding. Today the Learning minister responded to the most urgent of the funding areas and gave the assurance to the A SBA that we would continue to consider those recommendations and respond in an appropriate time. The Speaker: The hon. Member for St. Albert.

Anthony Henday Drive Mrs. O’Neill: Thank y ou, Mr. Speak er. I unders tand t hat the southeast leg of Edmonton’s ring road, the Anthony Henday road, is being built using the private/public partnership model. My question is to the Minister of Transportation. Could the minister please tell this House why that P3 model is being used for this very important project rather tha n the norma l way of fina ncing a ri ng road or a project of this magnitude? The Speaker: The hon. minister. Mr. Stelmach: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The stretch of ring road which the hon. member referred to as the southeast portion goes from Calgar y Trail n orth to co nnecting high way 216, a nd that particular stretch has many structures. There a re a few railw ay flyovers, a number of interchanges, and just the sheer complexity of that

part icular stretch of road is conducive to a good P3 projec t because it will enable the industry to apply all kinds of innovation to this particular stretch of road. Mrs. O’Neill: My second supplemental is to the same minister. I also understand that the contractor who will be resp onsible for the construction of thi s road wi ll have c ontrol over i t for the next 30 years and will essentially recoup his or her costs over the 30 years through the payment by the government. So my question, again, is: is the P3 model simply another way of long-term financing under a different format? Mr.

Stelmach: The model put forward is to design, build, finance, and maintain for a 30-year period. Very clea rly, there will be a contractual obligation to the successful proponent of this particular project over a period of 30 years to repay the costs put in by, I would say, a group of different companies that have come together to fund and maintain this particular stretch of road. There’s nothing hidden here with res pect to the obligation we hav e. That will be dul y recorded, just like any other obligation we have, by this government. Mrs. O’Neill: My last supplemental is to the same minister.

What assurances can you give this Assembly that there will be some cost savings in this project? Mr. Stelmach: The process, Mr. Speaker, is twofold. One, we go through what is called a request for qualification. That essentially is where companies interested in this particular proposal will for a fee of $250 have a look at the proposal , the plan, and they will come forward by the end of December, the beginning of January. We will assess whether the proposals coming forward have merit and that the companies are suf ficient to carry th is pr oject thro ugh.

Once we shortlist that through Treasury Board, which the outside committee chaired by Mr. Tim Melton will review, we will decide on who will then go to the next stage, which is a re quest for proposals. U pon that, we will assess the proposals, and as I said many times before, if the project brings about savings, which I believe it will, then we will go ahead w ith it. If there ar e no saving s, then w e won’t go ahead with it, simply put. The Speaker: Hon. members, in thirty seconds from now I’ll call upon the firs t o f the hon. members to participate in Members’ Statements.

Might we revert briefly to Introduction of Guests? [Unanimous consent granted] 2:50head : Introduction of G uests (reversion) The Speaker: The hon. Member for Drayton Valley-Calmar. Rev. Abbott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to

November 18, 2003 Alberta Hansard 1701 rise today and to introduce to you and through you to the members of this Assembly a constituent of mine, a registered nurse who lives in Thorsby, Alberta, and practises in the great town of Breton, where I lived for many years. I would ask that Anita Ashmore please rise and receive the traditional warm welcome of this House. head : Members’ Statements Hazel McGregor Mrs. Gordon: Today I stand before this Assembly to recogni ze a longtime, well-known resident of Lacom be, a great lady, Haz el McGregor.

Hazel w as recently pre sented with the Dore en Befus award as this year’s most outstanding self-advocate for adults with developmental disabilities, an award sponsored by the PDD Central Alberta Community Board. Hazel exemplifies in her daily life many of the same wonderful qualities that Doreen Befus, a former resident of Michener Centre, possessed. Hazel has a zest for life equal to none. Always smiling and happy, she enthusiastically embraces her various volunteer tasks with zeal.

She has long been a mentor for persons with developmen- tal disabilities and is without a doubt one of Lacombe’s most active volunteers. She assi sts regularly with an exe rcise program at the Lacombe senior citizens’ lodge and always helps out with the many special occasions they hold: Valentine’s Day, Easter tea, et cetera. Hazel has now lived independently and proudly in her own suite, her home, for over a year, and it is no surprise that she has become a natural s upport for many of her neigh bours within the building.

She continually offer s her tim e, providing companion ship and emotional reassurances to those experiencing difficulties. Hazel has a phenomena l memory. She can rem ember the most interesti ng things abou t peo ple: wh ere th ey’re from, te lephone numbers, addresses, and birth date s; no problem. She know s everyone, and most know her. Thank you and congratulations, Hazel. You are most deserving of this award. Lacombe and the people who live in Lacombe are much better off because of you. Allan and I are bot h very proud of y ou and feel privileged to call you a friend. Family Violence Mrs. Jablonski: Mr.

Speaker, what do you say to a little boy who tells you that his daddy is going to kill him? Daddy had said tha t many time s before, and it wa s not consider ed to be an im minent threat. On Friday, September 26, of this year three-y ear-old Alex Fekete told a frie nd t hat his daddy was g oing to kill him and his mother. On Sunday he and his mother, Betty Fekete, were murdered by his father in the lobby of their Red Deer apartment. Josif Fekete then killed himself. This is a tragic story of family violence. Even more tragically, there are other stories like this one.

Last November Grant Harder killed his two-year-old son, Cole, and himself. This is the horror of family violence. Family violence is ever ybody’s business, and that is why t his government has dedicated itself to stopping all forms of fam ily violence in Alberta. Earlier this month the hon. Premier of Alberta announced the family violence roundtable. The roundtable will take place in the spring and will involve representatives from numerous interested parties. Statistics show that th is roun dtable is necessary.

Twenty-five percent of all women in Alberta have experienced partner violence or abuse in the past five years. This is the highest rat e of any province in Canada. Children ar e victim s in 23 perce nt of all assaults reported to police. In 25 percent of these, family members commit the offence. While nine of 10 victims are women, we cannot forget abuse tow ards husbands and fathe rs and elde rly f amily members. Family violence is about power and control, aided and abetted by drugs and a lcohol. It eats away at the hea lth and we ll-being of victims.

It erodes the foundat ions of our c ommunities, and it destroys lives. Family violence is our business, and we need to do all we can to stop it. T his Assembly must encourage Albertans to take steps to stop family violence. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Stu Hart Ms Kryczka: Mr. Speaker, on October 16, 2003, Stu Hart, Calgary patriarch, wrestling legend, and a constituent of mine in C algary- West, passed away at the age of 88 years. Stu was born in Saskatoon in 1915. He pl ayed football for the Edmonton Eskim os and in 1940 bec ame dom inion wres tling champion.

Stu t hen serve d in the Royal Canadian Navy and later embarked on a truly successful wrestling career. In 1948 he married Helen Smith of New York City. They moved to Calgary in 1952, raised 12 children, founded Stampede Wrestling, and contributed to numerous charities throughout western Canada. Desiderata, included in the funeral program, was written in 1927 and describes Stu so well. Go placidly amid the noise and the haste , and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Stu was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame & Museum and in recent years was a proud recipient of the Order of Canada and the Queen’s golden jubilee award. Also from Desiderata: Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune . . . And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Stu will be fondly remembered by his 10 surviving children and their spouses, by 35 grandchildren and one great-grandson. He was predeceased by his dear wife, Helen, two sons, Dean and Owen, one grandson, Matthew, and son-in-law Davey Boy Smith. H e will be sadly missed by his pets and all whose lives he touched. To Stu’s family and f riends who are mourning the great loss, remember Desiderata. Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy. Rest in peace, Stu Hart. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Strathcona. Education Funding Dr. Pannu : Thank you, Mr . Speaker . When the governm ent reported another m ultimillion dollar budge t surplus in J une, pink slips were being handed out to more than 1,000 teachers across the

Alberta Hansard November 18, 20031702 province. As students returned to the classroom this fall, these 1,000 teachers as well as hundreds of other support staff were missing from Alberta’s classrooms. These missing tea chers and staff can m ean only one t hing: over crowded cla ssrooms and f ewer s ervices for children with special needs. The Edmonton public school board recently reported its class size numbers, and the results are frankly shocking. Over one-quarter of K to 3 childr en ar e in clas ses of 25 students or m ore.

When you consider that the Learning Commission recommended an optimum size of 17 stude nts in K to 3, t his government’s Learning ministry should hang its head in embarrassment. It’s not like the governm ent wasn’t warned. Throughout t he spring Legislature sess ion the New Democrats along with sc hool boards, parents, teachers, and students the mselves warned that the government’s refusa l to properly fund our schools would have devastating consequence s. The T ory gov ernment ignore d these warnings, and the unf ortunate re sults are now plain to see .

Six weeks ago the Learning Commission put a lie to the g overnment’s repeated claim s that s chools are not being underfunded. The commission identified $90.6 million of shortfalls which, until then, the Minister of Learning had denied even existed. Today, literally at th e 11th hour, this government underwent a conversion o n the ro ad to the bal lot box. Whi le the dolla rs an- nounced today are desperately needed, m uch damage has alrea dy been done to our children and the education system. This damag e will be difficult to repair and should never have occurred in the first place.

This government has much to answer for, Mr. Speaker. Albertans will not soon forg et its callous disregard for the well-being of our children in our K to 12 education system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. 3:00head : Present ing Pet itions The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Highlands. Mr. Mason: Thank you, Mr . Speaker.

I would li ke to pres ent a petition signed by 1,0 03 Alberta ns petit ioning the Legislati ve Assembly to urge the government of Alberta to “introduce legislation declaring a mora torium on a ny fut ure e xpansion of Confined Feeding Operations, with a view to phasing out existing operations within the next three years.” head : Notices of Motions The Speak er: Hon. Opposition H ouse Lea der, on Octobe r 8 I received correspondence from the Leader of the Official Opposition advising that he was going to be rising today under Standing Order 30. Do I take it that this is not forthcoming now? Ms Carlson: Yes, Mr.

Speaker. That was withdrawn. The Speaker: Okay. The hon. Member for Edmonton-Strathcona on a Standing Order 30 notice. Dr. Pannu: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the announcement this morning by the Learning minister that the government is providing school boards with some additional dollars to at least partly repair the damage caused by its earlier refusal to properly fund education and given that members of this House will have an opportunity to debate the supplemen tary esti mates when they come be fore this Assembly, I’m withdrawing my Standing Order 30 re quest for an emergency debate this afternoon.

The Spe aker: The hon. Mem ber for Edm onton-Riverview on a notice. Dr. Taft: Yes, Mr. Speaker. I give notice – you can help me here – of a point of privilege against the Minister of Infrastructure. Thank you. head : Intro duc tion o f Bills The Speaker: The hon. Member for Bonnyville-Cold Lake. Bill 49 Public Lands Amendment Act, 2003 Mr. Ducha rme: Thank you, Mr. Spea ker. I request leave t o introduce Bill 49, the Public Lands Amendment Act, 2003. Mr.

Speaker, these amendments will allow our government to deal swiftly and effectively with instan ces of noncompliance on public lands involving industrial roads and respond to in creased demand within the agri cultural indus try to allow some bi son grazi ng on public land. Thank you. [Motion carried; Bill 49 read a first time] The Speaker: The hon. Government House Leader. Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speake r. I mov e that Bill 49 be moved onto the Order Paper under Government Bills and Orders. [Motion carried] The Speaker: The hon. Member for West Yellowhead. Bill 50 Wildlife Amendment Act, 2003 Mr.

Strang: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I request leave to introduce Bill 50, the Wildlife Amendment Act, 2003. These amendments will make the act more effective in a number of areas including enforcement and administration. These additional enforcement tools wil l help discour age illegal activities to bett er protect and manage wildlife. Thank you very much. [Motion carried; Bill 50 read a first time] The Speaker: The hon. Government House Leader. Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speak er. I move t hat B ill 50 be moved onto the Order Paper under Government Bills and Orders. [Motion carried] The Speaker: The hon.

Member for Whitecourt-Ste. Anne. Bill 51 Natural Resources Conservation Board Amendment Act, 2003 Mr. VanderBurg: Thank you, Mr. Speak er. I re quest leav e to introduce the Natura l Resources Conservation Board A mendment Act, 2003. I’m bringing this act forward on behalf of my colleague the hon. Minister of Sustainable Resource Development.

November 18, 2003 Alberta Hansard 1703 Amendments to the Natural Resources Conservation Board Act are needed to clearly separate the quasi-judicial function of the board from its administrative function. Changes are also needed to clarify financial controls, membership of the board, and the unbiased nature of the appeals. Thank you. [Motion carried; Bill 51 read a first time] The Speaker: The hon. Government House Leader. Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would move that Bill 51 be moved onto the Order Paper under Government Bills and Orders. [Motion carried] head : Tabling R eturns and R eports The Speaker: The hon. Minister of Community Development. Mr. Zwozde sky: Thank y ou, Mr. Speak er. I r ise to day in my capacity as th e mini ster responsible for sport in Alberta and as a proud Edmontonian to table the appropriate number of copies of a letter of congr atulations that I’ve sent to H ugh C ampbell and the 2003 Grey Cup champions, the Edmonton Eskimos. Congratulations to all of them. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Banff-Cochrane. Mrs.

Tarchuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As chair of the Standing Committee on Legislative Offices I’d like to table five copies of the 2002-2003 annual report of the Auditor General of Alberta. Thank you. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Red Deer-North. Mrs. Jablonski: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’m tabling five copies of a petition with 5,255 signatures that states:

Whereas the Michener Centr e Administrative Building is a beautiful old landmark with provincial historic significance, and

Whereas despite the recent fire it is still structurally sound, We the unde rsigned reque st that the building be re paired and restored. Thank you. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Centre. Ms Blakeman: Yes, please. I have five tablings today, Mr. Speaker. I’ll go through them quickly. The first is the appropriate number of copies of a postcard campaign from the summer called Stop Picking on Seniors, around the long-term care rate increases. The second tabling is five copies of a letter from Mrs. B. Kay in Edmonton protesting the government’s increase of long-term care facility fees.

Next is an e-mail from Margaret Griffith, who has a mother in care in rural A lberta. She herself is worki ng in the U.S. and has seen firsthand the devastation of seniors becoming bankrupt from paying for long-term care. The next e-mail is from Deanna Summy, who too k her husband out of long-term care and brought him home but is concerned about the lack of respite care available to her. Finally, a letter from a constituent, Michael James , who writes with some pa ssion about the situation of teachers and clas sroom overcrowding in Alberta and notes that the government is playing with people’s lives.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Gold Bar. Mr. MacDonald: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have two tablings this afternoon. The first one is a letter and a following petition from the Social Justice Commission to the hon. Premier of the government of Alberta. This is in regard to the level of benefits for persons on SFI, AISH, and other income support programs, and they indicate that it should be raised a minimum of 20 percent in the budget for 2003-04.

The second tabling that I ha ve this afternoon is five co pies of a document that I was delighted to get earlier in the fall, and this is the Alberta Public Affairs Bureau request for proposal 03-02. Thi s is this campaign that’s going to convince Albertans they should like electricity and natural gas energy deregulation. Thank you very much. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Strathcona. Dr. Pannu: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got two tablings today.

The first one is appro priate copies of a do cument showing huge increases in class sizes in Edmonton public schools due to this government’s failure to properly fund education. 3:10 The second document, Mr. Speaker, is a news re lease issued by the Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools dated November 13, 2003, regarding the discovery by the Auditor General of surplus funds in Alberta Learning’s account and calling for immediate distribution of these funds. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Highlands. Mr. Mason: Thank you very m uch, Mr. Speaker.

Today I am tabling a secre t leake d draft re port of the Advisory Counc il o n Electricity dated September 2003 showing that the only answer the government has to higher power bills is more spin and rebates. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Rutherford. Mr. McClelland: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to table a letter from a constitue nt, Nancy Hamil ton, in which she raises several observations concerning the Learning Commission. Thank you.

The Speak er: Hon. mem bers, pursua nt to secti on 4(2 ) of the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act I’m pleased to table with the Assembly the a nnual rep ort of the Chief Electoral Officer for the calendar year 2002. Pursuant to sec tion 46(1) of the Conflicts of Intere st Act I’m pleased to table with the Assembly the annual report of the Ethics Commissioner that cove rs the peri od April 1, 2002, to March 31, 2003. The Spea ker: The hon. Mem ber for Edm onton-Riverview on a Standing Order 15. Privilege Contempt of the Assembly Dr. Taft: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Perhaps I should begin by distributing some material to the members.

Alberta Hansard November 18, 20031704 I rise today under Standing Order 15(2) on a question of privilege or further a nd in the alte rnative c ontempt o f the House. Mr. Speaker, the issue involved with this case of contempt goes back to the spring sitting and largely to the question period of May 15 and my exchang e with the Minister of Infrast ructure. I n fact, the particular Hansard is on everyone’s desk right now, and they can follow along on page 1674. May on page 108 defines contempt.

Any act . . . which obstructs or impedes . . . any Member or officer of such House in the discharge of his duty, or which has a tendency, directly or indirectly, to produce such results may be treated as a contempt even though there is no precedent of the offence. There are certain instances which have historically been identified as issues of contempt. One such instance is misleading the House. May on page 111 states, “The Commons may treat the making of a deliberately misle ading sta tement as a conte mpt.” T he word “deliberately” protects the occasional lack of up-to-date information a member might have.

However, this is not the case on this issue. When questioning t he Minister of Infr astructure, as outlined in Hansard, I asked, “Does the Department of Infrastructure have in its possession any lab result s that speak o f toxic m old at the former Holy Cross hospital?” The minister’s answer did not directly deal with the question I posed. He quoted a specific line instead and an e-mail which he had in his hands, and he then seemed surprised when he was asked by you to table this e-mail. The e-mail is on the top of the documents that are being distributed.

I hope that you have been given some of this material yourself, Mr. Speaker. It was at this point, after he was unexpectedly asked to table the e- mail, that I asked the supplemental question, “Is the minister saying that his department has n ever had posse ssion of pos itive tests for toxic mold at the Holy Cross Hospital?” In response the minister replied, “The fact is that when we were looking at locations to house the Court of Appeal, the Court of Appeal asked Mr.

Tang Lee to do an air quality test, and clearly, as this shows, the tests w ere never completed.” And the “this” in his quote was referring to the e-mail that he was holding in his hand. Well, Mr. Speaker, as everyone here who has that in their hands can see, attached to t he e-mail and referenced in its text were two attachments. The first was the test results for bac teria, and the second was test results on fungi and bacteria. The e-mail stated, and this was not mentioned by the minister: “Enclosed is the report from the Microbiological laboratory that was completed on October 24, 2001.

The XL file is for bacteria and the Word file is for the fungi and bacteria.” It is absolutely clear that the minister did in fact have the test res ults at his disposal. In the words of the e -mail, “The report from the Microbiological laboratory . . . was completed on October 24, 2001,” completed a year and a half before I asked the question. The minister’s response that “the tests were never com- pleted” was clearly an attempt to mislead the House. They had been completed for over a year.

The documents that I have tabled today will bear this out and show that the department had full knowledge that the tests were completed. I am mindful of what Maingot stated on page 234 of his work: “It must be shown that the Member was obstructed in his work relating to a proceeding in Parliament.” Mr. Speaker, the infraction occurred in question period. The document which is leading to the raising of this case of contempt was tabled under the daily Routine.

The entire case occurred within the proceedings of this House, and it involves a simple but crucial statement of fact: what did the minister know, and when did he know it? If members of this Assembly can’t have confidence in this sort of a nswer, our work is indeed prof oundly compromised. Mr. Speak er, I n ow wish to draw to your attention additional corroborating evidence. As you’ve s uggested, copies have been available to all members, and I invite them to follow along. This is correspondence involving the Department of Infrastructure specifi- cally on the issue of toxic mold tes ting at the Holy Cr oss.

I’ve selected only a few examples, and I will move through them quickly. I ask members to follow along. The cover is the e-mail that was tabled by the minister confirming, as you can see with the attachments, that, in fact, the test results were included. The next page is an e-m ail from San dy Fishe r of the government of Alberta to Tang Lee simply arranging a meeting and a tour of the Holy Cr oss. There’s an import ant time line at w ork here that unfolds the story of this case, Mr. Speaker. The next page, numbered 7 at the bottom, is from J.A.

Fruman, Adelle Fruman, with the Department of Justice – this is th e government – to Tang Lee , CCed to the Department of Infrastructure. I will not read it all, but it does emphasize the importance of this issue. Dear Sandy: Thank y ou for show ing Just ices Co nrad, Pa perny and me th e leasehold space in Holy Cross Hospital today. Then she goes on to d escribe her reaction to the tox ic mold. She says: I would like to document my health concerns about the premises.

During the visit today, I suffered respiratory and other problems: my throat closed, I had chest congestion and pain; I experienced a bad headache; my eyes burned and my vision was blurred; and I became dizzy. More than 12 hours have elapsed since the visit, an d I continue to suffer from a number of these symptoms. She goes on to say: I appreciate that Professor Lee will conduct extensive air quality testing, mould speciation and l aboratory analysis over the nex t 4 weeks, to determine whether the Ho ly Cross . . . has s uperior air quality.

Moving on to the next page, July 15, 2001, correspondence from Professor Lee to t he Department of Inf rastructure. It’s a long document. I’ll just draw members’ and your attention to points 7, 8, and 9, which outline, in fact, the detailed plans for the testing of air quality and molds , and actua lly it s ubsequently explains : “Our examination of the building will commence on Wednesday, July 18.

Air samples will be taken including those requiring laboratory tests.” We’ll proceed a couple of more pages to the one numbered 10 at the bottom, dat ed July 15, from Tang Lee to somebody who was working with him on the tests. He says in the first sentence, “I just sent a propos al to Sandy Fisher about conducting a n air quality assessment on the Holy Cross” and goes on to explain that. The next e-mail, July 17, 2001, again from Professor Lee to Adelle Fruman of Alberta Justice. He says: I sent our proposal to Sandy Fisher this last weekend on examining the Holy Cross Hospital site.

Not hearing from him, I arranged a meeting with Sandy this morning to discuss our involvement. At this meeting, he assured me that I will obtain permission to proceed with the examination . . . And he continues. A couple of more pages, numbered 17 now on the b ottom right- hand corner, to Tang Lee from one of his staff, July 24, 2001. Then it also involves one of the staf f actually doing the testing. You’ll notice the subject: bacterial report and Holy Cross update. The analyst is about half way through the bacterial reporting. She should be able to finish it off later today.

The Aspergillus identifi- cation should be coming through today as well. Then he goes on and says: Also, we have cleared out the HP C strips for your [Holy Cross] project. There are a lot of TNTC strips. That means “too numerous to count.” It appears that what is growing on the . . . strips is primarily mold -

November 18, 2003 Alberta Hansard 1705 which is fairly common when you encounter areas with high mold concentrations. We move on to correspondence again concerning these tests, July 25, 2001. I’d just refer to the final sentence from Professor Lee: I e- mailed the previous too numerous to count results to Sandy Fisher, who is with Alberta Infrastructure, about Holy Cross. 3:20 The next page, numbered 19, from Tang Lee to a staff member of Alberta Infrast ructure.

Subj ect: prel iminary lab re sults. “As requested, I am sending a quick note to you that I received from the microbiologists that there are a lot of mould spores at the Holy Cross hospital.” He goes on: “With this preliminary result, I am concerned about the air quality and its suitability to the sick occupant of Court of Appeal. The next p age, num bered 20, f rom Ta ng Lee back to A delle Fruman. Subject: Holy Cross mold spores. Tang Lee says in this e- mail: I was asked by Sandy Fisher to keep him posted as to any prelimi- nary findings on the Holy Cross.

As such I just sent him this brief note from the micr obiologist. I t appears there is a lot of mould spores in the hospital . . . and that they are growing so rapidly on the samples that the microbiologist cannot even count them. The mould growth is covering each other as it fi ghts to g row in the nut rient solution. Moving on, a q uick res ponse from Sandy, a n employ ee of Infrastructure, to the prof essor re preliminary la boratory results: “Thanks Tang.” Moving on. August 26, 2001, from Tang Lee to Sandy Fisher of Infrastructure: “Hello, San dy.

We just r eceived the mic roorgan- ism . . . results a nd the Holy Cross has a lot of m oulds including Stachybotrys . . .” whi ch is a v ery da ngerous m old “. . . in the kitchen area.” It goes on. I will summarize very briefly here: “The other areas also have moulds and we expect that the fungi genuses would turn out to be species with associated mycotoxins.” I will not go through the rest of the p age exce pt to draw your attention to the bott om where the staff person from Alberta Infrastructure wrote on August 24, 2001: “Hi, Tang . . .

I am looking forward to seeing your report and recommendations particularly on the Holy Cross. I’ll call you next week. Kind regards.” Now I’ve moved to page 35. From Ta ng Lee to San dy Fisher, Department of Infr astructure. Subject: i nterim

summary. “Hello Sandy. Here is an interim

summary of our examination.” This is a very long e-mail, so I will move people ahead two more pages to that numbered 37, the lower part, to

(4) Holy Cross Hospital Southeast wing, the second paragraph. Remember that this is an e-mail going to Alberta Infrastructure. It says: It is cle ar th at ther e are mould spores throu ghout th e faci lity including Stachybotrys, Penicillium, and Aspergillus. We expect that the fungi genuses would turn out to be species with associated mycotoxins, but we did not r eceive authority to pro ceed with the next level of species identification. Then on the follow ing page , numbere d 38, it say s: “Mould samples inside the e xterior w alls we re so concentrated t hat it overgrew the samples.

The mycologist wrote TNTC (too numerous to count) on several samples.” Page 39, fr om Alberta Infra structure to Tang L ee, August 30, 2001: “Hello Tang. Th ank y ou for th is. It confi rms my own expectations. Sandy.” The subject was the interim

summary. I’m near the end, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate your patience. Page 41, e-mail correspondence concerning the testing to Tang Lee from The Stookes, which is an e-mail account of somebody working on the testing: “Hello Tang. I am still not sure from Sandy’s reply if we are proceeding to speciation on the Holy Cross site.” Remember that Sandy works at Alberta Infrastructure. It’s important to note here that they already knew the genus of the mold. The next page, 43, is again from one of the people working on the test to Tang Lee. Subject: interim

summary. Hi Tang, I reached Mike and he will proceed with speciation to a max of $2000. I asked him to do a mix of speciation on the ground and 7th floors [at the Holy Cross] and to concentrate on only the Penicillium and Aspergillus genuses (and of course the Stachybotrys). It seems clear from this e-mail that they were given the go-ahead. The last page, page 44, from Tang Lee to the owner of the Holy Cross, Mr. Peter Wong. Subject: air quality.

Hello Peter: I just received the microorganism results back from the microbio- logical lab and received permission fro m Alberta Infrastructure to proceed with speciation to go beyond the genus. Now, Mr. Speaker, all our time is short. I have got far more detail than this which I don’t need to bring forward. It se ems absolutely clear to me, black and white, that this department and this minister’s department knew of the lab test results, had them in their possession at the time I questioned him, and probably had them in his posses- sion long before that. So, Mr.

Speaker, let me wrap up by saying this: the e vidence is compelling. The De partment of Infrast ructure d id inde ed have detailed evidence, including lab test results, confirming dangerously high levels of toxic mold at the Holy Cross more than two years ago. I can come to no other conclusion than that the minister misled the Assembly on an important question of fact. My request to the minister is simple.

First, will he please admit that his de partment did in fac t have la boratory results s howing unacceptable levels of toxic molds at the Holy Cross, and second, will he please apologize to th is Assembly for his actions? Barring that, Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to move a subsequent motion. Thank you. The Speaker: Hon. Minister of Infrastructure, are you prepared to make a statement today, or, in light of this information forthcoming, do you want to wait until tomorrow? Mr. Lund: Mr.

Speaker, since I wasn’t able to follow the rationale, if there w as some, from the hon. member, I’m going to tak e the advantage of getting Hansard and reviewing the whole thing an d will respond tomorrow. Dr. Taft: A point of clarification, Mr. Speak er. The m inister’s office was provided yesterday with all the ma terial that members have had. Thank you. The Speaker: I take it then, hon. minister, that tomorrow you’ll be prepared to be in the House. Mr. Lund: That’s affirmative. The Speaker: Am I advised t here woul d be a ny other m embers wanting to participate in this? Okay. Come back tomorrow then.

Hon. members, just before I call Orders of the Day, today was a unique day in the history of this Legislative Assembly, when for the first time anybody who had the Internet could receive a video feed of the Alberta Legislative Assembly, anywhere in the world, to watch question period. Now , there appe ar to ha ve bee n a few little technological glitches, but get this: the technological glitches came from overload o f a high number of accesses to the w eb site. S o

Alberta Hansard November 18, 20031706 considering that there’s absolutely no makeup in this Assembly and everything is live, this must make good television for some. head : Orders of t he Day head : Government Bills and Orders head: Second Reading Bill 36 Environmental Protection and Enhancement Amendment Act, 2003 [Adjourned debate April 28: Mr. Broda] The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Ellerslie. Ms Carlson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will move forward, then, with my comments on Bil l 36. I had ex pected someone from the government side to proceed.

This is a bill that’s been on our Order Paper for some time, and we see some minor kinds of changes coming forward. 3:30 The key objectives of the bill are allowing for electronic reports of substance releases. It adds specific references to codes of practice in the act, which has long been an issue that’s been debated inside and outside this House. It eli minates the 25-year limit to issuing environmental protection orders for sites that have been granted reclamation certificates, and there is some g eneral housecleaning. This is a bill that we will be supporting, Mr. Speaker.

While these changes are quite different in how they amend the act generally and they have to be dealt with, I believe, separately, generally speaking, they improve the legislation. When we talk about electronic reporting, currently what happens is that if a person releases a substance that ma y cause an adverse effect, it must be reported to the director “in person or by telephone.” Of course since that legislation was brought forward, the electronic age has taken over most of our lives.

There is no allowance for them to report by manner such as e -mail, so the amendment attempts to include that, and we support that. It’s a good idea. The second is the codes of practice. Many people have concerns about these codes of practice. The bill de fines them as documents “governing an activity or activities or a portion of an ac tivity or activities that is adopted or incor porated pursuant to secti on 38.” What that means rea lly for us is that there will be codes that prescribe standards for common practices.

According to the ministry these codes of practice have already been used for some time, but they are included this t ime, spec ific references to them in the bill. We hope that the intent is for clarity’s sake, but what we have found is that the re has been som e concern over time that the codes of practice are not strict enough or don’t have to be adhered to, that, in fact, often it would be better if we had regulations instead of codes of practice.

Before we ge t to comm ittee, I’m hoping that w e can g et som e answers to questions that I’ve heard outside this House and that really should be answered at this point in time. The first is: what is the compelling reason for moving this particular amendment at this time? Can the minister or some designate tell us what the substan- tive difference is between what can be achieved with regulations and what can be achieved with the code of practice? This is an answer that I would like to be quite specific so that we can send it out to a number of people who have been asking us this.

In more detail can they give us what the specific advantages of a code of practice are in this circumstance over regulations? It does nee d to be clar ified, I believe, for the purposes of this bill. One of the othe r parts of the bill is the limitation to issuing t he environmental protection orde rs. According to w hat we’ve heard from the ministry the current regulations indicate that an EPO cannot be issued longer than five years after a reclamation certificate has been issued. What this does is it releases the person or the company responsible for the s ite from all envir onmental liability after five years.

That’s, I think, obv iously to all of us in this Assembly not long enough. We recurringly find cases where there are problems with reclamation sites after a five-year time period. So can we know why the minister has decided that 25 years was not a good period of time? We just would like to have clarification there in terms of why the time change. I think I will keep my sectional analysis on this particular bill until we get to the committee stage and until we have some of the answers to the questions asked, but unless something unusual comes out of those answers, this look s like a bill, Mr.

Spea ker, that we will be supporting at this particular time. The Speaker: Hon. members, under S tanding Order 29(2)(

a) we now have five minutes available for questions and a nswers to the just-heard-from speaker. So wi ll there be questions? I take it that there are none. Then to recogni ze the nex t speake r, the hon. Mem ber f or Edmonton-Centre. Ms Blakeman: Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker. I jus t wanted to put a few com ments on the record on Bill 36, Environmental Protection and E nhancement Am endment A ct, 2003.

Ove r the summer break I received a very thoughtful but impassioned letter from a young constituent who was really concerned about pollution and environmental controls and wha t was being do ne to ke ep th e planet safer. It brought home to me that we have a new generation coming up who accepts without qu estion that the government is responsible for ensuring environmental protection of land, water, and air. They don’t expect to have to argue with the government to get it; they expect the government to provide it and to be a steward and an overseer to make sure that that’s happening.

This bill is certainly not going to solve all of those problems, but as my hon. c olleague from Edmonton-Ellerslie has alr eady men- tioned, it does bring forward a couple of things that are useful, like the electronic reporting for substance release, the references to the code of pract ice, and e liminating the 25-y ear lim it for is suing environmental protection ord ers for sites that have been granted a reclamation certificate. That’s the one that interests me most in the context of this young man’s concerns.

I continue to look and to press the government to be vigorous in monitoring and eval uating our envi ronment. Pa rt o f my l ong- standing complaint was with the downsizing of officers whose very job it was to do that, to be out there on the ground, so to speak, in water, testing the air to make sure that all was going as it should and that the environment was protected to the full extent and doing the evaluation if it wasn’t. I think what we have learned in the last 50 years or so is that environmental damage has a very long, long half- life, and for that rea son I ’m pleased to see a li mit being lifted.

Frankly, I don’t think w e fully unders tand ho w long it can t ake various kinds of poison to be worked out of, for example, water or earth. So the need for vigorous environmental protection is, I think, obvious to me, and certainly it was to this young guy. We’ve had an imbalance in this province where there was a bias in favour of what the industry wanted and what was convenient for the industry. I think that is slowly, achingly slowly being corrected, and we’re moving back towards a balance between a fairly free rein for industry to operate as it chooses and some reasonable limits that

November 18, 2003 Alberta Hansard 1707 are placed on industry, particularly where it comes to environmental protection. So I appreciate the work that is being done, and I continue to say: you need to do more. On behalf of the young man that wrote to me, I’m glad I was able to raise those points and continue to raise those expectations with the minister. Thank you very much. The Speaker: Standing Order 29(2) is available to all members. Then I take it I should call on the Minister of Environmen t t o close the debate. 3:40 Dr. Taylor: Thank you, Mr. Speak er.

I’d l ike to thank the hon. members opposite for their support, and I’ll try to answer a couple of their questions. One was that five years is not long enough for a reclamation certificate to be in effect and that after the five-year time period it would revert to the owner of the land and the government of Alberta, so we are m oving to 25 years. In fact, I w ill bring an amendment in Committee of the Whole that changes the tim e that companies are res ponsible from five years to 25 y ears. So w e’re moving in that direction, Mr.

Speaker, and once that amendment comes forward, I hope the House w ill agree to it and we’ll move forward. We have discussed it with industry over the summer, and industry is in agr eement with it. We had some persuasive dis cus- sions with them, and they have agreed, particularly the oil industry. In regard to moving from regulations to a code of practice, what we’re talking about there, Mr. Speaker, is moving from a regulatory approval process to a code of practice. We’re not moving away from regulations.

Codes of practice will be in the regulatory process, but what we ar e say ing is that for cer tain com mon prac tices – f or instance, a grav el pit, y ou know, out side a wa tercourse, there’s a code of practice that can apply to that because it’s the same kind of development whethe r i t hap pens in you r con stituency or in my constituency. So what we want to establish are codes of practice which will be a regulation that says th at if you’re going to develop a gravel pit, these are the steps that you must take.

Rather than going through the complete regulatory approval process, which takes the company a lot of time and money and Environment a lot of time and money, we’ll have a code of pra ctice that in reg ulation s ays: th is is h ow you develop; these are the steps you have to do to develop a gravel pit. As I said quite clearly, that would not be in a watercourse but just on dry land. We’ve got a number of these common practices that up till now have had to have a long re gulatory approval pr ocess, and we ar e moving these common practices to codes of practice. I want to be very clear again, Mr.

Speaker, that they will be governed, they will be monitored, and they will be part of our regulatory system. As I said a minut e ago, we will be br inging some amendments forward at Comm ittee of the Whole, and at th e pre sent time I’m pleased to move second reading. [Motion carried; Bill 36 read a second time] Bill 37 Climate Change and Emissions Management Act [Adjourned debate April 28: Mr. Broda] The Speaker: The hon. Member for Redwater. Mr. Broda: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m very pleased to be here this afternoon and reopen debate on Bill 37, the Climate Change and Emissions Management Act.

In my discussion today I would like to begin by touching on the Kyoto protocol and the need for a made-in- Alberta plan when it come s to tack ling the is sue of e missions reduction. While this government has committed itself to reducing greenhouse gases and tackling the problem of climate change within our province, we have also clearly said that we do not believe that the Kyoto protocol is the right solution for Alberta, Canada, and the environment. [Mr.

Shariff in the chair] The Kyoto protocol in its current form requires Canada to undergo a 30 percent reduction in the current outpu t of greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2012. Without a doubt, committing to such unrealistic targets and deadlines will have an extrem ely negative impact not only on the economy of Alberta but also of Canada as well. The approval of the protocol, Mr. Speaker, will undoubtedly result in our resources and products becoming less competitive on the global m arket due to ri sing prices.

Fur thermore, our energy- consuming indu stries would f ace increased prices, which in turn would make them uncompetitive, and unreasonable emission targets could render the oil sands projects economically uncompetitive. Current and future investors will no doubt be discouraged by the new restrictions placed upon our economy and will choose to invest their capital in Alberta’s major energy competitors such as the U.S., Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Mexico.

Unlike Canada none of these nations is bound by the rules and regulations of the Kyoto accord, thus g iving them a comparative economic advantage over Alberta and, u ltimately, Canada itself. As a result, Mr. Speak er, Canada could experience a loss of 450,000 jobs, a substantial rise in income tax rates, a hundred percent increase in electricity costs, a 60 percent increase in natural g as costs , and the pric e of ga soline reaching over $1 per litre. Not only that , Mr.

Speak er, but Cana da would a lso have to purchase $2 billion to $6 billion worth of credits each year, resulting in not only higher energy prices but also no significant reduction of global emissions. The reason for this is because some of the biggest sources of credi ts under the protocol will be to the na tions of the former Soviet Union, which are currently still some of the biggest polluters in the wor ld.

The re ason for this discrepancy is because when th e Kyoto was ne gotiated i n the early ’90s, the ec onomic output of these nations was far greater than it is today, which allows these nations to have a surplus of credits. Under Kyoto Canada will have to purchase the emission credits from these countries while no reduction of current levels of greenhouse gas emissions will actually take place. Furthermore, the protocol is not a fair or equally binding agreement.

Even thoug h Canada puts out only 2 pe rcent of the world’s greenhouse gas em issions, the economic risk to Ca nada would be four times that of the European Union and 10 times that of Japan. I believe, Mr. Speaker, that we can do much better, and this is why this government has intr oduced Bill 37. This bil l embodie s the initiatives outlined in the Albertans and Clim ate Change: Taking Action plan, and I believe it to be a credible and superior alternative to the Kyoto protocol.

It represents a made-in-Alberta environmen- tal strategy which is designed to address the issues of climate change in a manne r that is e nvironmentally e ffective and eco nomically responsible. Our strategy focuses on improving energy efficiencies, enhancing how our current technology is used to control industrial emissions, investing in new and economically f riendly sources of energy, and improving our emission management for today and the future.

Alberta Hansard November 18, 20031708 The people of Alberta have ent rusted this government with t he task of the management and protection of our prov ince’s environ- ment and n atural resources. Bill 37 w ill reinf orce Al berta’s jurisdiction with regard to these matters and will help us to challenge the federal government if the Kyoto protocol threatens to erode our jurisdictional rights. Furthermore, this legislation is only the latest in terms of a long succession of many sound environmental policies pursued by this government.

It i s important to note that over the past decade Alberta h as established itself as the le ader in the reduction of gr eenhouse gas emissions in Canada. Up to this date studies estimate that we have been able to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 22 percent compared to 1990 levels and that we were als o on our wa y to reducing our emissions by a f urther 26 perc ent below 1990 levels by 2005. Unlike the Ky oto protocol, Mr.

Speaker, Bill 37 e nables us to continue these efforts by focusing on real reductions in realistic time frames, investing in our domestic technology and research, working with our stakeholders and partners, seeking out new and improved energy effi ciencies a nd conserva tion strate gies, and leading by example. Even after the plan is i mplemented and a pproved, the province will continue to work in partnership with other provincial govern- ments, the federal government, industry sectors, municipalities, other energy-consuming sectors, the a cademic c ommunity, and a ll Albertans.

U nlike the Kyot o protocol Al bertans and Climate Change: Taking Action is not a rig id and inflexible strategy. It is inclusive and flexible and remains open to new ideas others may have, leaving us room for continuous improvement. 3:50 The intention of this plan is to balance the economic and environ- mental goals of Albertans and all Canadians as well. It will accom- plish these challenges by focusing on reducing emissions per unit of output rather than on absol ute reduction as outlined i n the Kyoto. Alberta’s strategy focuses on achieving realistic and rational targets for emission reductions.

More specifically, under the plan Alberta expects to cut its emissions by about 20 me gatons per year by the year 2010. By the year 2020 Alberta expects to cut up to 60 megatons, or 50 percent , of gre enhouse gas emissions below the 1990 levels. This government has com mitted itself to meeting the long- term challenges in the fie ld of gre enhouse ga s emis sions. Bill 3 7 represents only the beginning of a 50-ye ar initiati ve designed to dramatically decrease the output of carbon em issions in thi s province.

We’ll continue to improve the energy conservation and efficiencies in our province by leading extensive initiatives including municipal building and streetlight retrofits, energy labeling, adoption of new tec hnologies, a nd reducing ba rriers to low-input power generation. This piece of legislation, Mr. Speak er, enables us to w ork with industry, including the oil and gas sectors, in order to establish effective new ways of measuring, monitoring, and verifying carbon emissions in our province.

Bill 37 will also allow us to establish a framework for an e mission trading system which will enable the industry sectors to trade emission units while working to reduce their greenhouse gas outputs. In order to ens ure compliance within the various industry sectors, the Alberta government will create financial and other types of penalties for nonparticipation. It will also enable us to introduce a provincial management fund which w ill help our indus try se ctors reduc e their em issions and invest in our province’s energy conservation, energy efficiency, and technology.

The significance of this fund is that it will allow us to retain and utili ze our funds to achieve far more tangible and long- lasting results, funds which under the Kyoto protocol we would have to spend on a bogus emission credit system. In conclusion, unlike the Kyoto protocol Alberta’s approach to emission reduction is far superior because i ts emission figures are realistic, the time frame give n to the industry or industry sector is reasonable, and the plan is flexible and open to new and up-to-date ideas.

Unlike the Kyoto protocol the Albertans and Climate Change: Taking Action plan will not be looked upon as another NEP but as another intelligent and successful initiative by a government which is in touch with reality, a government which cares about the wishes and the well-being of its people, the economy, and the environment. As a result, Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues today to vote in favour of Bill 37. Thank you. Ms Carlson: Mr.

Speake r, in respons e to Bill 37, t he Clima te Change and Emissions Management Act, which is really a remake of the old Bill 32 that we saw in the year 2002, there’s so much silliness involved in this bill and in the first speaker’s response to it that I hardly know where to start. Every once in a while we see bills come through this Legislature that are real propaganda pieces on behalf of the government, and this is one of tho se kinds of bills.

This bill should’ve been, I believe, withdrawn over the summer and, if required at all – I never believed in the first instance it was ever required – remade in a way that kept up to date w ith th e changes that we’ve seen over the past f ew months, and we s aw that emphasized b y the co mments from the Member for Redwater. He’s two steps behind the rest of the world on where this issue ha s moved to, and it’s really unfortuna te. I believe he needs to get a new speechwriter, someone who can update his material as required.

We’ve seen lots of chang es happ en wi th regard to federal legislation and with regard to what this government could or should be doing at th is pa rticular time with regard to climate change and emissions. You know, industry has moved forward on this particular issue. These guys are being left in the dust as legislators. Even their own departments have moved forward on this particular issue and have had brought forward and come up with many good ideas and solutions and ways to easily be able to implement the targets, not just barely or maybe meet the targets. But not this government.

They like to hide behind all these old, archaic ideas and bash and bash and bash instead of taking a look at how they could be facilitating and moving forward on the issue. You know, a good example of how out of touch they are is that when we first started talking about climate change and how to reduce CO2 emissions, I brought into this Assembly the 10 easy steps that everybody could easily acc ommodate in their everyday lif e and certainly got la ughed at for most of them.

Since that time period, about two y ears ag o, we hav e seen m any of thos e steps now promoted by the Minister of Environment and several other ministers in this Assembly and national programs go out that have moved the whole nation forward. Not the least of those and probably the easiest is to turn your car off ins tead of letti ng it idle i n a varie ty of situations: when you’re pick ing up the kids from school, when you’re sitting at a long red light, when you’re caught in a traffic jam, all those k inds of instances.

We have seen, af ter bringing that forward into this House and having all of these government members laugh at it and say how silly that would be, that it’s been instituted by many people in t his p rovince and is a very, very positive step forward. It’s one of the ways that this government could have been showing some leadership instead of bringing in more cumbersome legislation that doesn’t really address the issues. What we see here with Bill 37 is really just a r emake of the old Bill 32 , where they’ve crossed out a fe w of the table of contents

November 18, 2003 Alberta Hansard 1709 items and got rid of some of the most offensive whereases and then just dusted off that bill and brought it back, and in fact it was never necessary to do. We had many organizations give us feedback and give the government feedback on how any changes that needed to be done with this particular bill could have easily been done within the framework that’s already been established within the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act. Nearly every element that they wanted to achieve could have been done there. Of co urse, the one problem was where the gove rnment asserted that their natural resource ownership gave them jurisdiction over

Document details

Collection	Alberta — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	20031118
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	L25 S3 20031118 1330 01 han.pdf
Language	en
Format	json
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	cb4fb7e870198f607a56c997c49e450b9bde4385

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