Province of Alberta The 28th Legislature Second Session Alberta Hansard Wednesday, March 5, 2014 Issue 3a The Honourable Gene Zwozdesky, Speaker

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The 28th Legislature Second Session Zwozdesky, Hon. Gene, Edmonton-Mill Creek (PC), Speaker Rogers, George, Leduc-Beaumont (PC), Deputy Speaker and Chair of Committees Jablonski, Mary Anne, Red Deer-North (PC), Deputy Chair of Committees Allen, Mike, Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo (Ind) Amery, Moe, Calgary-East (PC) Anderson, Rob, Airdrie (W), Official Opposition House Leader Anglin, Joe, Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre (

W) Barnes, Drew, Cypress-Medicine Hat (

W) Bhardwaj, Hon. Naresh, Edmonton-Ellerslie (PC) Bhullar, Hon. Manmeet Singh, Calgary-Greenway (PC) Bikman, Gary, Cardston-Taber-Warner (

W) Bilous, Deron, Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview (ND) Blakeman, Laurie, Edmonton-Centre (AL), Liberal Opposition House Leader Brown, Dr. Neil, QC, Calgary-Mackay-Nose Hill (PC) Calahasen, Pearl, Lesser Slave Lake (PC) Campbell, Hon. Robin, West Yellowhead (PC), Government House Leader Cao, Wayne C.N., Calgary-Fort (PC) Casey, Ron, Banff-Cochrane (PC) Cusanelli, Christine, Calgary-Currie (PC) Dallas, Hon. Cal, Red Deer-South (PC) DeLong, Alana, Calgary-Bow (PC) Denis, Hon. Jonathan, QC, Calgary-Acadia (PC), Deputy Government House Leader Donovan, Ian, Little Bow (

W) Dorward, David C., Edmonton-Gold Bar (PC), Deputy Government Whip Drysdale, Hon. Wayne, Grande Prairie-Wapiti (PC) Eggen, David, Edmonton-Calder (ND), New Democrat Opposition Whip Fawcett, Hon. Kyle, Calgary-Klein (PC) Fenske, Jacquie, Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville (PC) Forsyth, Heather, Calgary-Fish Creek (

W) Fox, Rodney M., Lacombe-Ponoka (

W) Fraser, Hon. Rick, Calgary-South East (PC) Fritz, Yvonne, Calgary-Cross (PC) Goudreau, Hector G., Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley (PC) Griffiths, Hon. Doug, Battle River-Wainwright (PC) Hale, Jason W., Strathmore-Brooks (

W) Hancock, Hon. Dave, QC, Edmonton-Whitemud (PC) Hehr, Kent, Calgary-Buffalo (AL) Horne, Hon. Fred, Edmonton-Rutherford (PC) Horner, Hon. Doug, Spruce Grove-St. Albert (PC) Hughes, Hon. Ken, Calgary-West (PC) Jansen, Hon. Sandra, Calgary-North West (PC) Jeneroux, Matt, Edmonton-South West (PC) Johnson, Hon. Jeff, Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater (PC) Johnson, Linda, Calgary-Glenmore (PC) Kang, Darshan S., Calgary-McCall (AL), Liberal Opposition Whip Kennedy-Glans, Hon. Donna, QC, Calgary-Varsity (PC) Khan, Stephen, St. Albert (PC) Klimchuk, Hon.

Heather, Edmonton-Glenora (PC) Kubinec, Maureen, Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock (PC) Lemke, Ken, Stony Plain (PC) Leskiw, Genia, Bonnyville-Cold Lake (PC) Luan, Jason, Calgary-Hawkwood (PC) Lukaszuk, Hon. Thomas A., Edmonton-Castle Downs (PC) Mason, Brian, Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood (ND), Leader of the New Democrat Opposition McAllister, Bruce, Chestermere-Rocky View (

W) McDonald, Everett, Grande Prairie-Smoky (PC) McIver, Hon. Ric, Calgary-Hays (PC) McQueen, Hon. Diana, Drayton Valley-Devon (PC) Notley, Rachel, Edmonton-Strathcona (ND), New Democrat Opposition House Leader Oberle, Hon. Frank, Peace River (PC), Deputy Government House Leader Olesen, Cathy, Sherwood Park (PC) Olson, Hon. Verlyn, QC, Wetaskiwin-Camrose (PC), Deputy Government House Leader Pastoor, Bridget Brennan, Lethbridge-East (PC) Pedersen, Blake, Medicine Hat (

W) Quadri, Sohail, Edmonton-Mill Woods (PC) Quest, Hon. Dave, Strathcona-Sherwood Park (PC) Redford, Hon. Alison M., QC, Calgary-Elbow (PC), Premier Rodney, Hon. Dave, Calgary-Lougheed (PC) Rowe, Bruce, Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills (

W) Sandhu, Peter, Edmonton-Manning (PC) Sarich, Janice, Edmonton-Decore (PC) Saskiw, Shayne, Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills (W), Official Opposition Whip Scott, Hon. Donald, QC, Fort McMurray-Conklin (PC) Sherman, Dr. Raj, Edmonton-Meadowlark (AL), Leader of the Liberal Opposition Smith, Danielle, Highwood (W), Leader of the Official Opposition Starke, Hon. Dr. Richard, Vermilion-Lloydminster (PC) Stier, Pat, Livingstone-Macleod (

W) Strankman, Rick, Drumheller-Stettler (

W) Swann, Dr. David, Calgary-Mountain View (AL) Towle, Kerry, Innisfail-Sylvan Lake (W), Official Opposition Deputy Whip VanderBurg, George, Whitecourt-Ste. Anne (PC), Government Whip Weadick, Hon. Greg, Lethbridge-West (PC) Webber, Len, Calgary-Foothills (PC) Wilson, Jeff, Calgary-Shaw (W), Official Opposition Deputy House Leader Woo-Paw, Hon.

Teresa, Calgary-Northern Hills (PC) Xiao, David H., Edmonton-McClung (PC) Young, Steve, Edmonton-Riverview (PC) Party standings: Progressive Conservative: 60 Wildrose: 17 Alberta Liberal: 5 New Democrat: 4 Independent: 1 Officers and Officials of the Legislative Assembly W.J. David McNeil, Clerk Robert H.

Reynolds, QC, Law Clerk/ Director of Interparliamentary Relations Shannon Dean, Senior Parliamentary Counsel/Director of House Services Stephanie LeBlanc, Parliamentary Counsel and Legal Research Officer Fiona Vance, Sessional Parliamentary Counsel Nancy Robert, Research Officer Philip Massolin, Manager of Research Services Brian G. Hodgson, Sergeant-at-Arms Chris Caughell, Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms Gordon H. Munk, Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms Janet Schwegel, Managing Editor of Alberta Hansard

Executive Council Alison Redford Premier, President of Executive Council Dave Hancock Deputy Premier, Minister of Innovation and Advanced Education Naresh Bhardwaj Associate Minister – Services for Persons with Disabilities Manmeet Singh Bhullar Minister of Human Services Robin Campbell Minister of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Cal Dallas Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations Jonathan Denis Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Wayne Drysdale Minister of Transportation Kyle Fawcett Associate Minister – Recovery and Reconstruction for Southwest Alberta Rick Fraser Associate Minister – Public Safety Associate Minister – Recovery and Reconstruction for High River Doug Griffiths Minister of Service Alberta Fred Horne Minister of Health Doug Horner President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance Ken Hughes Minister of Municipal Affairs Sandra Jansen Associate Minister – Family and Community Safety Jeff Johnson Minister of Education, Ministerial Liaison to the Canadian Forces Donna Kennedy-Glans Associate Minister – Electricity and Renewable Energy Heather Klimchuk Minister of Culture Thomas Lukaszuk Minister of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour Ric McIver Minister of Infrastructure Diana McQueen Minister of Energy Frank Oberle Minister of Aboriginal Relations Verlyn Olson Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dave Quest Associate Minister – Seniors Dave Rodney Associate Minister – Wellness Donald Scott Associate Minister – Accountability, Transparency and Transformation Richard Starke Minister of Tourism, Parks and Recreation Greg Weadick Associate Minister – Recovery and Reconstruction for Southeast Alberta Teresa Woo-Paw Associate Minister – International and Intergovernmental Relations

STANDING AND SPECIAL COMMITTEES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ALBERTA Standing Committee on Alberta’s Economic Future Chair: Mr. Amery Deputy Chair: Mr. Fox Dorward Eggen Hehr Kubinec Lemke Luan McDonald Pastoor Quadri Rogers Rowe Sarich Stier Standing Committee on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund Chair: Mr. Casey Deputy Chair: Mrs. Jablonski Amery Barnes Dorward Eggen Khan Sandhu Sherman Select Special Ethics Commissioner Search Committee Chair: Mr. Rogers Deputy Chair: Mr.

Quadri Blakeman Eggen Goudreau Lemke Leskiw McDonald Saskiw Standing Committee on Families and Communities Chair: Ms Olesen Deputy Chair: Mrs. Forsyth Cusanelli DeLong Fenske Fritz Jablonski Jeneroux Leskiw McAllister Notley Pedersen Sandhu Swann VanderBurg Standing Committee on Legislative Offices Chair: Mr. Jeneroux Deputy Chair: Mr. McDonald Bikman Blakeman Brown DeLong Eggen Leskiw Quadri Wilson Young Special Standing Committee on Members’ Services Chair: Mr. Zwozdesky Deputy Chair: Mr. VanderBurg Casey Forsyth Fritz Johnson, L.

Kubinec Mason McDonald Sherman Towle Standing Committee on Private Bills Chair: Mr. Xiao Deputy Chair: Mrs. Leskiw Allen Brown Cusanelli DeLong Fenske Fritz Jablonski Notley Olesen Rowe Stier Strankman Swann Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing Chair: Ms Kubinec Deputy Chair: Mr. Rogers Calahasen Casey Kang Khan Luan Notley Olesen Pastoor Pedersen Saskiw VanderBurg Wilson Young Standing Committee on Public Accounts Chair: Mr. Anderson Deputy Chair: Mr.

Dorward Allen Amery Barnes Bilous Donovan Fenske Hehr Khan Luan Pastoor Sandhu Sarich Young Standing Committee on Resource Stewardship Chair: Mr. Khan Deputy Chair: Mr. Anglin Allen Bikman Bilous Blakeman Brown Calahasen Casey Goudreau Hale Johnson, L. Webber Xiao Young

March 5, 2014 Alberta Hansard 51 Legislative Assembly of Alberta Title: Wednesday, March 5, 2014 1:30 p.m. 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 5, 2014 [The Speaker in the chair] head: Prayers The Speaker: Good afternoon, hon. members and guests. Let us pray. Dear Lord, fill us with strength to labour diligently and w ith wisdom to speak clearly. Give us courage to speak thoughtfully and conviction to act boldly without prejudice. For this we pray. Amen.

Please be seated. head: Statement by the Speaker Standing Order Amendments The Speaker: Hon. members, just before the Clerk calls the next item of business in our Routine, I want to alert you to the green sheets that you will find on your desks, which were distributed earlier by our pages. Please note that these are the amendments to the Sta nding Orders that were approved yesterday by this Assembly following approval of Government Motion 7. These amendments are relevant and are immediately applicable for consideration of supplementary estimates later this afternoon.

Thank you. head: Introduction of Guests The Speaker: Let us begin with school groups, starting with the MLA for Calgary-Glenmore. Ms L. Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my pleasure to rise today and introduce to you and through you to all members of the Assembly 40 young, energetic individuals from Nellie McClung elementary school and their escorts. The school is located in the community of Palliser and serves the communities of Palliser, Bayview, Pump Hill, and surrounding areas.

The students just finished a science fair, ar e writing and producing their own plays, and are welcoming a dance company soon to the building. This busy school offers programs of choice and activities that help build the community in Calgary -Glenmore. They are seated in the members’ gallery. I would like to ask all the guests to please rise and receive the traditional warm welcome of the Legislature. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Meadowlark or someone on his behalf. Ms Blakeman: Well, Mr. Speaker, I’m so excited about this school that I have sort of snatched the introduction away from my hon. leader.

I am very pleased to introduce to you and through you to all members of the Assembly 40 students, that are here with us today, from Annunciation school. They are here with several teachers and group leaders: Mrs. Maureen Ostrowerka, who is the grade 6 teacher; Mrs. Michelle Padilla; Mrs. Linda Girard; and Mr. Chris Koper. Sorry about the mispronunciations, anybody. I’m sure Hansard will fix it. Would you all join me, please, in welcoming these great students to our Assembly? The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Strathcona. Ms Notley: Well, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I am also pleased to rise to introduce to you and through you to this Assembly 24 visitors from the Academy at King Edwar d school, consisting of, I believe, 21 very bright and super hard-working grade 6 students. I was very pleased to be able to go the academy this September to read to a bunch of students The Story of Mouseland, written by Tommy Douglas, and I recall some really excellent discussions at the time. They are joined today by their teachers, Peter Beairsto and Maureen Munsterman, and by parent helper Leanne Howard. I would ask that they all now rise to receive the warm welcome of this Assembly.

The Speaker: Are there any other school groups? If not, let’s move on, then, and welcome the Associate Minister – Recovery and Reconstruction for Southwest Alberta, please. Mr. Fawcett: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It’s an honour today to rise and introduce to you and through you to all members of this Assembly two very important people, and that’s not just because I’m married to their daughter. My mother - and father-in- law are here today from Calgary, Ken and Heather Miller, and this is all made possible because Ken just retired a week and a half ago from 38 years as an engineer at ExxonMobil.

Heather is a public health nurse with Alberta Health Services. They’ve been a great support to me and Ashley as we’ve gone through this great journey of being an MLA, and I do want to thank them for that support as well as thank them for raising such an amazing daughter. So I would ask that they rise and receive the traditional warm welcome of this Assembly. Mr. Denis: Mr. Speaker, that’s a very hard act to follow. It’s a pleasure of mine to introduce to you and through you to all members of the Assembly a good friend of mine and a resident of the beautiful constituency of Calgary -Acadia, Dr. Jo hn Rook. Dr.

Rook is the former president and CEO of the Calgary Homeless Foundation, and as president he was responsible for overseeing the implementation of the 10 -year plan to end homelessness. He has a PhD from Oxford University and a long history of s ervice to his community. From 2004 to 2010 he was the chief executive officer of the Salvation Army community services.

He also has an extensive teaching background as an adjunct faculty member at the U of C since 2008 and an associate professor at McMaster University – he’s an incredible gentleman – and he’s also taught at Booth college as well as Ambrose University College. Dr. Rook, please rise and receive our traditional warm welcome. The Speaker: The hon. Associate Minister of Public Safety. Mr. Fraser: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my honour to introduce to you and through you to the members of this Assembly Cheryl - Ann Orr and Barb Sinosich. If they’d please rise.

These two wonderful women have had the experience with their families to experience the lo ve and passion and compassion of Wellspring Calgary. They’re here representing their big fundraising day, Toupee for a Day. It’s people like this that make Alberta great. They advocate for our communities, and really it’s what we’re built upon. I’m proud of them and proud to introduce them in this House. Thank you for coming today. If the members could give them a warm welcome, I would appreciate that. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Calder , followed by Red Deer-North. Mr. Eggen: Well, thanks, Mr. Speaker.

I’m very pleased to intro- duce to you today and through you to the Assembly my guests from the Non-Academic Staff Association, otherwise known as NASA, which represents more than 6,000 support staff at the University of Alberta. My guests and the ir team have collected

52 Alberta Hansard March 5, 2014 more than 4,000 advocacy postcards, signed by residents from all over the province, containing a simple message to restore funding to postsecondary education. I would now like my guests to rise as I call their names and receive the w arm welcome of this Assembly: Rod Loyola, Leonard Wampler, Lilian Campbell, Dennis Johnson, Donna Coombe -Montrose, and Jamie Smith. Let’s hear it for them. Thanks. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Red Deer-North, followed by Leduc-Beaumont. Mrs. Jablonski: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased to introduce to you and through you to the members of this Assem - bly some very special people. They are the family of Jon Wood, who was an exceptional young constituent of mine who was killed by a drunk driver. Jon’s family have provided these pins for members of the Assembly with the words of Jon’s favourite song: “keep your head up; keep your heart strong.” I would ask Jon’s family to rise as I call their names: Lori Church, the mother of Jon Wood; Jon’s siblings Daniel Wood, Andrea Wood, Eli Church, and Eric Church; Jon’s grandparents Jack Lotzien and Bernice Lotzien.

They are accompanied by 12 other family members and friends, who are seated in both the members’ gallery and the public gallery and have travelled from Calgary to honour the memory of Jon and hear my member’s statement. I’d ask them all to please rise and receive the traditional warm welcome of the Assembly. 1:40 The Speaker: The hon. Member for Leduc -Beaumont, followed by Edmonton-Meadowlark. Mr. Rogers: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to introduce to you and through you to all members of the Assembly Dr. Neil Cashman and Dr. Bob Gundel. Dr.

Cashman is a world-renowned neurologist and neuroscientist specializing in Alzheimer’s disease and ALS. In July 2005 he was appointed professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia, where he holds the Canada research chair in neurodegeneration and protein misfolding diseases. He’s also scientific director of PrioNet and founder and chief scientific officer of Amorfix Life Sciences. Dr. Bob Gundel is president and CEO of Amorfix, and he’s a 35-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry. Dr.

Cashman will be speaking this evening in my constituency, where he’ll be sharing the exciting news of a new test he has developed for early identification of Alzheimer’s disease. They are seated in the members’ gallery and are also joined by Mr. Roger Kotch. I’d ask my guests to rise and receive the traditional warm welcome of this Assembly. The Speaker: Let’s move on, then, to Edmonton-Riverview , followed by a repeat introduction by the Associate Minister of Recovery and Reconstruction for Southwest Alberta. Mr. Young: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is my pleasure to rise today and introduce to you and through you to all me mbers of the Assembly 14 members of Rotary International district 5370. These youth exchange students and new generation of youth are very excited to be here.

Among them are district 5370 governor Betty Screpnek; Jerome Martin, Rotary district image chair ; Merle Taylor, my president at the Glenora Rotary; Hannah Werkgarner, youth exchange from Austria; Grégoire Vidal from France, a youth exchange student there; Henriette Olesen, a youth exchange from Denmark; Christina Haltou -Nielsen, a youth exchange stud ent from Den - mark; Milja Kauppinen, youth exchange from Finland; Lindsey Lam, Rotary youth exchange awards; Bashir Mohamed, also from the leadership awards; Yvone Joubert, district 53 youth council and youth conference; Amy Smith, the Rotaract club from the University of Alberta; Abdul -Rahman Madi, the Rotaract club of Grant MacEwan; and Tempo Sabatier, Rotary youth leadership experience.

They’re all seated in the public gallery. I would ask my guests to please rise and receive the traditional warm welcome of the Assembly. The Speaker: The hon. associate minister. Mr. Fawcett: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also see up in the gallery a former councillor from the city of Calgary for ward 4 that served from 2010 to 2013. Gael MacLeod is there. I’d hope that she could stand and receive the traditional warm welcome of this Assembly. head: Members’ Statements The Speaker: Let us begin with the Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. Premier’s Travel to South Africa Ms Smith: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This week marked the sixth anniversary of the 2008 provincial election. It was March 3 – a day, I’m sure, the Premier won’t soon forget – when she was elected to this Legislature for the very first time. She’ll also recall that not long after that day she sat around the ca binet table and voted with her colleagues to give themselves a 34 per cent pay raise, courtesy of the hard-working taxpayers of Alberta. Not surprisingly, there was a backlash, a big one. Albertans were furious at the brazen entitlement of their newly elected government. After an ugly and prolonged scandal the government finally relented.

They announced they would return the money to taxpayers. Not all of it, though. After hiking their pay by more than a third, they gave back a measly 5 per cent. What was supposed to be a grand gesture of apology and contrition became yet another slap in the face to taxpayers. They knew they did something wrong. They knew they had to do something about it, but they still kept most of the money for themselves. Mr. Speaker, history is repeating itself. Yesterday the Premier announced she was going to pay back her travel expenses. Not all of them, of course. Certainly not the big one.

No, instead of giving back the $45,000 she used to get to South Africa in style, she’s giving back, coincidentally, about 5 per cent of that. She’s going to keep the rest, an amount of money that exceeds the annual salaries of nearly 4,000 of our front -line public-sector employees. I suppose all should be forgiven. Mr. Speaker, this is not leader ship. When Albertans see this kind of personal pampering and self -service in their leaders, they lose faith not only in that individual but in the political and democratic process itself.

The lasting effect of this kind of entitlement is a cynical public t hat believes the worst instead of hoping for the best. We should see the very best of our values and the very brightest of our intentions reflected in our leaders. It’s a shame this Premier has let us down. Mr. Speaker, Albertans deserve better. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Highlands - Norwood.

March 5, 2014 Alberta Hansard 53 Government Policies Mr. Mason: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Middle-class families are starting to see the truth about the entitlement and hypocrisy of this PC government. We’re living in the tale of two Albertas, where for this government and their wealthy friends and corporate donors flying first class is just a symbol for their way of life. The wealthy in this province pay less in taxes than they would anywhere in Canada. In this province wealthy Albertans can buy memberships in private health clinics to help them navigate their way to the front of the line.

But most middle-class Albert a families don’t live in that Alberta. They pay more than their fair share of taxes because of the flat tax. They can’t afford tens of thousands of dollars a year to avoid the long wait times in our h ealth care system. The cost of their electricity is much too high, thanks to the PC’s deregulated electricity market, which yet again benefits major PC donors like TransAlta while costing families more every year. Albertans want a responsible and trustworthy government. They have instead a government that can’t even be trusted to use a government plane for government business.

Albertans want a government that invests in vital public services like health and education. They have a government that erodes the qualities of those services every year. Albertans want a government that’s consistent and fair. They have a hypocritical government that freezes the wages and attacks the pensions of Albertans while wasting money on expensive travel and lavish severances. Alberta’s New Democrats will continue to fight against this hypocrisy and to fight for an Alberta that works for all of us, not just the PCs and their entourage. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Jonathon David Wood Mrs.

Jablonski: “My worst days are better than some people’s best days.” These were words that 33-year-old Jonathon David Wood spoke and lived by. A man of endless optimism, Jon could see the positive in any situation. His youngest brother said: to Jon, success wasn’t success unless you had your friends and family with you. Jon never left a man be hind. He believed everyone had something to teach him. He did everything with intensity and plenty of good humour. Jon’s song was Keep Your Head Up by Ben Howard. He used the lyrics, “keep your head up; keep your heart strong,” to lift the spirits of those around him.

It was an affirmation that everything was going to be all right. On the morning of November 2, 2013, Jon took a cab home after a night out. A short distance from his home, while stopped for a red light, Jon’s taxi was struck by an impaired driver. Jon was killed instantly. I would like to quote his mother, Lori Church. Now we are left to pick up th e pieces and go on. In a way, we all died in that taxi. We all lo st something that can never be replaced.

Ironically, though, Jon would find something positive to take from this inexplicable tr agedy, and I can hear what he’d say: keep your head up; keep your heart strong. Your worst days will be better than some people’s best days. For Jon and for our community we must find the good in this. While we believe significant reform is needed with respect to the way our society views impaired driving, our efforts will be better invested at the grassroots level, to nurture more Jon Woods, who truly care enough to make responsible decisions.

The Jon Wood memorial fund supports programs that ignite passion and caring in young people. To learn more about Jon and Jon’s fund, please visit jonwoodmemorial.com and facebook.com/celebratejon. Mr. Speaker, Jon’s life was an inspiration to all of us. Alberta lost a very special person that night. We all lost something that can never be replaced. head: Oral Question Period The Speaker: Thank you. We’ll begin in a moment, and we’ll continue with private members’ statements after question period. Let us begin with the Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. 1:50 Premier’s Travel Expenses Ms Smith: Mr.

Speaker, yesterday we pressed the Premier to pay back the money she recklessly overspent on a trip to South Africa. We pointed out that her trip was in no way consistent with the government’s expense policy. After question period the Premier agreed to pay back some money but not for the South Africa trip. Instead, we learned that the Premier admits to five other flights which don’t fit the rules. To the President of Treasury Board: when did he give the Premier and her senior staff a blanket exemption from following the government’s expense policy? Mr. Horner: We’ve never given such exemption, Mr. Speaker.

Ms Smith: Well, Mr. Speaker, the Premier has now admitted that she doesn’t follow the government’s travel, meal, and hospitality expense policy. My question again is to the President of Treasury Board, whose department controls the government air fleet. Did he know that the Premier was usi ng government airplanes for her family vacations, and why didn’t he do anything about it? Mr. Horner: Mr. Speaker, I think the Premier has answered these questions repeatedly, both in this House and in the scrum.

Members of cabinet, members of government, and, in fact, even members opposite that used to be in government have used government aircraft to get to the 90 per cent of communities in our province that are not served by commercial aircraft. They’ve used the government aircraft to get to meetings where there was a timeliness issue, which the Premie r has done as well, and in fact they have used it when family is accompanying them to government functions and nongovernment functions. It is a normal course. We’ve been doing it for a long time, not just this Premier but Premiers before her as well.

Ms Smith: They didn’t use it for family members. The expense policy states, “Claims should be able to withstand scrutiny by the Auditor General of Alberta and members of the public.” It is obvious that many of the Premier’s claims will not stand up to that scrutiny. Will the Premier do herself a favour and do the right thing and pay back the $45,000 for the South Africa trip? Ms Redford: Mr.

Speaker, I had a long conversation yesterday with reporters, with people who ar e my constituents, and I talked about exactly what I talked about in the scrum yesterday, which was that after some of these questions came to light in January, I did ask my office to take a look at what had happened in the two and a half years since I became Premier. As soon as I was made aware of that information, I set the record straight and dealt with that issue. You know, the steps th at we took yesterday to ask the Auditor General to look at out-of-province flights, the work I’ve

54 Alberta Hansard March 5, 2014 asked the president to do is consistent with the work that we need to do to ensure that Albertans have confidence in the system. The Speaker: The Leader of the Official Opposition, for your second main set of questions. Ms Smith: Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Premier did indeed write to the Auditor General and asked him to review the use of govern- ment airplanes. A review isn’t needed. He’s already done the work. In 2004 the Auditor General said that the airplane use policy wasn’t as clear as it should be.

He was worried that the fleet would be used inappropriately unless the rules were clarified, but he did make it clear that “family members may not travel on government aircraft unless it is the minister’s spouse invited to an event.” Someone in the cabinet must have known that the rules were being broken. Why didn’t anyone speak up? Ms Redford: Well, Mr. Speaker, I travel an awful lot around this province, and one of the things that people often do when they introduce me is that they introduce me as Alberta’s first woman Premier. I’m also the first Premier who is a mum.

Last year, just to remind the hon. member, in Committee of Supply when the Executive Council budget was reviewed, I mentioned the f act that there are flights that I take my daughter, Sarah, on – my husband will not fly on the plane because of exactly this sort of thing – and the hon. Leader of the Opposition said: well, we wouldn’t want to interfere with that because we know that that ’s important. So now I’m confused. Ms Smith: The Premier also said in that exchange that she pays personally for family flights, which turned out not to be true, did it?

In 2005 the Auditor General again raised concerns about the absence of policy regardi ng the use of government planes, but he was told by the government that ultimately members of Executive Council are accountable for their use of aircraft. My question is for the cabinet. The Auditor General says that you are account - able. Was no one aware of this abuse of the air fleet, and why did no one tell the Premier to change her ways? Mr. Horner: Well, I’m not sure who the hon. member was directing the question to, but as the ATS falls under my purview, Mr. Speaker, I will again reiterate what has been said here.

The Premier has instructed the Auditor General to review not only what we have done but what has happened since his review in 2004 and 2005. As I recall – and I’ve not gone back and read it in detail – the Auditor General did believe that hav ing that fleet at that time was a useful use of the planes because we need to be able to reach Albertans, talk to Albertans. Frankly, Mr. Speaker, Albertans want to see the Premier in their communities, they want to see the cabinet in their communities, because that’s what reaching out to Albertans is all about.

Ms Smith: Yes, but the Auditor General didn’t want to see anyone abusing it. The fact is that no one wants to speak up. No one wanted to tell the Premier that what she was doing was wrong. The Prem ier has now banned all out -of-province flights on government planes for everyone, not just for herself. This leaves Albertans wondering if the problem goes further than the Premier. Are there other PC ministers that are jetting across the country on personal business? Anyone else want to fess up? Ms Redford: Mr.

Speaker, I find it incredible that in this hon. member’s member’s statement she talked about people losing confidence because of trust and circumstances that, quite frankly, this hon. member throws out there month after month and year after year to suggest inappropriate behaviour, which over and over again independent offices of this Legislature have said have not been the case. So I guess we will continue to see this. We certainly want to deal with the issue. I have heard what Albertans said. I took responsibility, apologized, have taken steps, and will continue to do that.

The Speaker: The hon. leader for your third main set of questions. Ms Smith: And that, Mr. Speaker, is why this Premier has 20 per cent approval ratings. Family Care Clinics Ms Smith: Yesterday the Health minister brushed off some serious questions about the state of health care in Slave Lake. While the causes of Slave Lake’s problems are complex, there is no doubt that the struct ure and organization of the family care clinics are making the situation much worse.

Doctors don’t like family care clinics because they include gag orders in their contracts and have resulted in an unfair assignment of tasks within the clinics. Is the min ister reviewing the way family care clinics are run so that communities like Slave Lake are not left in the lurch? Mr. Horne: Mr.

Speaker, we certainly are reviewing the many successes of the family care clinic model across the province as well as the PCN model, and I’m happy to tell you that in the case of Slave Lake since the family care clinic opened, there has been a very significant reduction in nonurgent patients in the emergency department of that hospital. People in Slave Lake are getting health car e closer to home. They are getting it at hours that are convenient to them. They are enjoying the benefit of many other health professionals who have not previously been available to them to support their health care needs.

This is the biggest success story in health care in Alberta. Ms Smith: It’s an imaginary success story, Mr. Speaker. In big cities like Edmonton and Calgary doctors who don’t like a family care clinic have alternatives, and so do their patients, but when the minister puts a family care clinic into a small town and it goes wrong, it can disrupt all of the health care in that community. That is exactly what is happening in Slave Lake. Will the minister admit that family care clinics as currently designed are not the right solution for Alberta’s small towns? Mr. Horne: Mr. Speaker, the hon.

Member for Lesser Slave Lake has done an excellent job of representing her constituents on this matter, and what she has told me is that they are extremely pleased with the quality and access of health care that they have, particularly compared to the state of health care after the fire only a few years ago, when there was only one doctor. What is not imaginary is that this opposition will stop at nothing to politicize health care in this province. They tr eat health care as if it’s political currency, and every time they do so, they demean the very front-line workers who deliver care to the rest of us.

The Speaker: Hon. members, we’re almost getting to the point where you can actually hear the question being asked and you can actually hear an answer being given, but these additional conversations that continue to go on across the bow are really out of place. If need be, I will step in and I will shut some of you

March 5, 2014 Alberta Hansard 55 down, and that’s just how that’s going to be. It goes for both sides. So let’s listen attentively now to the next question, the third and final one from the leader. Ms Smith: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m certainly not blaming the hon. Member for Lesser Slave Lake for the Health minister’s mistakes. This experiment in delivering family medicine in a new way has resulted in Slave Lake losing its anesthesiologist, its operating room, the use of its dialysis unit, and its maternity ward. Health care for the residents of Slave Lake has never been worse.

Will the minister explain why any small town should be willing to take the risk of bringing a family care clinic into their community if this is the result? 2:00 Mr. Horne: Well, Mr. Speaker, there are many reasons why communities all across this province are asking for family care clinics. They’re asking for the roles of their primary care networks to be expanded.

It has to do with things like the fact that 50 per cent of patients in Slave Lake have now been screened for common health risks, things like colorectal cancer and heart disease. [interjections] This is a model that represents our Premier’s commitment and her vision to expand health care to Albertans. It is a rejection of cheap political tactics that are aimed at dividing health care workers, particularly doctors in this province, who are also working very hard to expand this model of care. Mrs. Forsyth: Why don’t you read the other stats, too? The Speaker: Are you done, Calgary-Fish Creek? Thank you.

Let us move on. Edmonton-Meadowlark, first main set of questions. Cabinet Travel Expense Policy Dr. Sherman: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Premier is trying to change the channel on Travelgate by pleading guilty to a lesser charge of $3,100 for a family friend. But Albertans really want her to pay back for wasting $45,000 of their hard-earned tax money and not hide behind the Auditor General. The Premier’s South Africa expense is completely indefensible, and it gets worse. She billed the taxpayers $20,000 for her executive assistant alone.

To the Premier: was it absolutely necessary for you to bring your EA along, or was this just another perk you expected your inner circle to get paid for by the Alberta taxpayer? Ms Redford: Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday, the work that I do as the Premier of this province involves a lot of different things, and there are a lot of people who work in my office to support me in that work. One of those people is my executive assistant. My executive assistant travels with me. You know, the day that we learned the unfortunate news of the flooding in southern Alberta starting, I was on my way back from New York.

I spent an awful lot of time dealing with issues of government at that time . I certainly appreciated the support of my staff in Edmonton, my staff in Calgary, the public service, and my executive assistant, who was travelling with me in New York. That is simply the way that work happens, and I’m grateful for it. The Speaker: Thank you. The hon. leader. Dr. Sherman: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All leaders here have EAs that work with us. But let’s pretend for a moment that it was necessary for the Premier’s EA, or shall I say her briefcase carrier, to travel to South Africa.

There is still the matter of the cost of his first-class flights to and from South Africa, $20,000 first class. That’s more than my expenses for the entire year alone as leader of an opposition party. To the Premier: why should taxpayers shell out so much money for your assistant to fly first class to and from South Africa when he could have flown economy for a fraction of the cost? Ms Redford: You know, Mr.

Speaker, I am very proud of the fact that 18 months ago we put in place travel and expense policy guidelines that are transparent to the people of Alberta so that everyone knows how the expenses related to the operations of government take place. At that time you will remember that the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said that not only our disclosure policy but our travel and expense policy was – let’s say it together – the gold standard for this country. What I will tell you is that we do work, that it does involve expenses, that there are rules in place.

We follow those rules, and I look forward to another question from the hon. member. The Speaker: Thank you. Dr. Sherman: Mr. Speaker, they do have a really good expense policy, and the funny thing is that it’s public: first class for them and third class for Albertans. The last time a cabinet minister abused taxpayer dollars on inappropriate travel expenses, not only did the Premier make her pay it back, she fired her from her post. Now the very credibility of this government is being degraded and the reputation of every government member on this side. To the Premi er. You’re the leader of the province.

Will you just do the right thing, please? Just pay 45,000 bucks back, and let’s move on to other topics, please. Ms Redford: Mr. Speaker, I remember at the beginning of January saying to people that we needed to do better. I took responsibility. I apologized. We’ve taken steps to ensure that the Auditor General can continue to have the open access that he always has on these issues. In fact, we’re very much looking forward to moving on. I was at the mayor of Edmonton’s state of the city address today. He’s looking to the future. He’s moving on. I think the hon. member was there. Let’s talk about that.

The Speaker: The hon. leader of the ND opposition. Mr. Mason: Thanks very much. To the Premier: given that the Auditor General has already examined the policy with regard to government aircraft and he specified that family members other than spouses attending official events should not travel on a government aircraft, was she aware of this policy when she booked the trips for which she repaid the money yesterday? Ms Redford: Mr. Speaker, we know what the Auditor General said about government aircraft in 2005 and 2006.

One of the reasons we’ve asked him to review the policies now is because we think it is important for issues to evolve. I’ll tell you, quite frankly, that one of the evolutions in this province is that you have a Premier who has a 12 -year-old daughter, and because of that we’re going to continue to balance everything we can to make sure that I am able to do my job to the best of my ability, that I’m able to spend time with my family. It has never been my intention and never will be my intention to in any way trick the taxpayers of Alberta.

56 Alberta Hansard March 5, 2014 Mr. Mason: Mr. Speaker, there are thousands of government employees who are women, who have families, and who are not allowed to bring their children to work. Why does the Premier believe that she is so entitled that she can do it when the employ - ees that work for this government are not allowed to do so? Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, one of the fundamental values of Albertans are family values.

When you’re elected to government, whether you’re an MLA or cabinet minister or Premier . . . [interjections] If you’re an MLA, a cabinet minister, or Premier, one should not have to abandon their family to do their job, and when there’s an extra spot . . . [interjections] Speaker’s Ruling Decorum The Speaker: Speaking of families, speaking of childre n, how do you think what you just did carried out there amongst Albertans that we’re serving? I don’t think it was very adultlike, and I would think that most of you would agree with me that it wasn’t.

So, please, let’s show some decorum that is filled with the dignity which this institution, this House, is usually known for. Mr. Deputy Premier, would you conclude your remarks, please. Cabinet Travel Expense Policy (continued) Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When a member of this government is travelling on government business on a government aircraft and there’s an extra seat that you can take a family member along to participate with you, why would you not do that?

Why would you not take the time with your family, involve your family in the public service that you’re doing, set the example for your family in terms of how you give back to the community in every way that you can? The Speaker: Thank you. The hon. ND leader for your third and final question. Mr. Mason: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, again, it’s the tale of two Albertas: one rule for this government and their cronies and another rule for the rest of us. Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General is an officer of this Legis - lature, not the Premier’s personal adviser.

She’s asking him to tell her how to be ethical and prudent with Albertans’ money. She shouldn’t have to ask. To the Premier: why do you have to depend on the Auditor General to tell you what Albertans expect you to understand already? Ms Redford: Well, Mr. Speaker, based on the last two and a half years of experience in this House I’m pretty sure that if I hadn’t asked the Auditor General to do it, the opposition would have demanded that I did. We are very happy to take the advice of someone who is an independent officer of this House and not, as the hon. member suggests, my personal adviser. That’s ridiculous.

The Speaker: Okay. The first five main questions are done with, so now no

preambles, please, to your supplementals. Electricity Market Investigation Mr. Anglin: Yesterday we learned that the associate minister of electricity is confident in the ability of the Alberta Utilities Commission to adjudicate the serious allegations of electricity price-fixing. Today we lear ned that the AUC may hold these proceedings behind closed doors, in secret, excluding the public. Will the government exercise its authority and guarantee that these proceedings will be held in public and not behind closed doors? 2:10 The Speaker: The hon. minister. Ms Kennedy-Glans: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I must caution this member to make sure that we do not do anything in this House to prejudice the outcome of this decision. It’s up to the Alberta Utilities Commission to determine how th ey hold these investigations and the hearings. That is in their discretion. It’s not up to the government of Alberta to direct the AUC on how those proceedings will be held. Thank you. Mr.

Anglin: Given that the minister stated today and yesterday that sh e didn’t want to prejudice the outcome of the proposed AUC hearing and given that the allegations levelled by TransAlta imply the AUC may have acted incompetently and possibly illegally in addition to the MSA, how can the AUC possibly adjudicate a proceedi ng without bias when the proceeding itself may implicate the AUC? Ms Kennedy-Glans: Mr. Speaker, I had a little bit of difficulty following around in that loop of discussion, and I would really encourage this particular member to participate in law school.

I know we’ve had this conversation before. He seems very, very interested in this. The Alberta Utilities Commission has very clear rules. This is not unusual, for specialized tribunals like this to hear decisions. We do it with securities regulations all the time. Mr. Anglin: Mocking thousands of Albertans – there are enough lawyers.

Given that millions of Albertans are victims of electricity price gouging and given the seriousness of these allegations levelled by both sides in this dispute, if the govern ment will not ask the RCMP to investigate, will the government protect Albertans, recuse the AUC, and have another independent judicial body adjudicate this process? Ms Kennedy-Glans: I’d like to remind this member that protecting consumers is a priority of this government, and making sure that we protect the integrity of this market-based electricity system is in all of our interests.

If this particular member has claims that he would like to assert to the RCMP, I encourage him to do that. I would do the same if I had that. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Edmonton-Mill Woods , followed by Chestermere-Rocky View. Public Transit Funding Mr. Quadri: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The big -city mayors have repeatedly called on the provincial government to provide addi - tional funding to support new LRT projects. To the Minister of Municipal Affairs: can he please tell us what is being done to support public transit in urban centres? The Speaker: The hon. minister. Mr. Hughes: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, as we know, th e larger municipalities, in fact all municipalities, require stable, predictable funding in order to invest in these major undertakings. The municipal sustainability initiative will provide $11.3 billion to municipalities over the life of the program. Many municipalities

March 5, 2014 Alberta Hansard 57 have already allocated over $1.5 billion to transit projects through MSI. The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Quadri: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the same minister. It is my understanding that many municipalities may have already committed their future MSI dollars to other projects. Are there any other provincial programs available to municipalities that could help them fund these transit projects? Mr. Hughes: Well, Mr. Speaker, in addition to MSI – my colleague could perhaps speak about this – the Ministry of Transportation also has a program called GreenTRIP.

This program, obviously, provides direct funding to transit pr ojects. You know, I also, together with the Premier and her other colleagues, was at the state of the city speech today by the mayor of Edmonton. He said that Edmonton is worth investing in, and I couldn’t agree more. Edmonton is worth investing in. The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Quadri: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We just heard the Minister of Municipal Affairs cite the GreenTRIP program. Can the Minister of Transportation tell us whether the city of Edmonton can count on a program like GreenTRIP for the southeast expansion of the LRT line?

The Speaker: The hon. minister. Mr. Drysdale: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve always supported Alberta municipalities when it comes to transportation infra - structure. GreenTRIP is a big part of our building Alberta plan, and we’re committed to fulfilling our commitment by 2020. Mayor Iveson has done his job. We talk on a regular basis, and he’s promoting the LRT. So far GreenTRIP has approved funding for public transit projects in 15 Alberta municipalities, totalling more than $1 billion. Mathematics Curriculum Mr. McAllister: Mr.

Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Education insulted 7,500 concerned parents and teachers who signed a petition when he dismissed concerns about his new wishy-washy, edubabble curriculum, which abandons the basic fundamentals of learning. So let’s flip the switch. The following questions don’t come from me; they come from Albertans. Cristian Rios, a mathematician at the University of Calgary, says that the new system is upside down, that it creates chronic confusion and an aversion to everything mathematical in students.

Minister, ignore and insult me when I ask you these questions, but what do you say to experts like Mr. Rios? Mr. J. Johnson: Mr. Speaker, I thought I said yes to his question yesterday. He had asked me; I said yes. It sounds like they can’t take yes for an answer. Mr. Speaker, the other point that I made yesterday – and they were a little loud, so maybe not everybody heard it. We pay very close attention. We’re very interested if even one parent or one Albertan has an issue with any aspect of the education system.

The petition that we got, the meetings that we’ve had, the feedback we get from postsecondary, parents, industry, anyone are going to be well thought of and are going to be taken into account as we’re doing new curriculum changes, which happens on an ongoing basis. Mr. McAllister: Mr. Speaker, it would be wonderful if what he said actually matched his actions, but it does not. Given that Donna Nixon, a math teacher in St.

Albert, says that your new system has made it so that some of our grade 7 students can’t even do basic addition and subtraction, never mind multiplication or division, why do you think, Minister, that you know better than experts like Ms Nixon? Mr. J. Johnson: Mr. Speaker, I certainly do not think that. That’s why we want to take all of these considerations into account. We look at the research from around the world, we look at best practices, and we look at the international exams that just came back. The hon. member said sometime ago, I think, that our results had declined by 32 per cent.

This was in this House on December 4. Well, if you’re looking for evidence that we have a math issue, there it is right there. Mr. McAllister: I’d give the minister a zero, but I know his government doesn’t like zeros. Considering that Jacqueline Fern, a math teacher in Red Deer, said that due to your new system students from grade 6 to grade 12 have absolutely no concept of basic math skills and pleaded with you directly to stop this bureaucratic disaster, can you again explain why you know better than Alberta parents and teachers? Minister, you’re not listening to what Albertans are telling you. Mr. J.

Johnson: Mr. Speaker, I think what this member is saying is just sim ply offensive, and it echoes what he said on December 4: “We have really hit the skids.” Our education system is fantastic. The international tests attest to that. In the international tests, as a matter of fact, it’s in the area of basic math that our ki ds excelled, and the researchers tell me that they nailed it. The problem solving and when you’re trying to apply those concepts to complex situations are where we fell down. We are making changes to the curriculum, and we are listening, but I expect that they won’t be happy with that either.

Speaker’s Ruling Decorum The Speaker: You know what happens every time I have to intervene? I take away a few seconds from your time to ask questions. I have to then do something about it because I’m not going to put u p with this. I’ll tell you right now; I’ve told you before. If I see another outburst from any of the four caucuses, then you lose the next question on the rotation period, and I will strictly enforce that. I’ve had enough for today, okay? So, please. No more. That’s it. You’ve hit the top. The hon. Member for Calgary -Hawkwood, followed by Calgary-Buffalo. Wellness Initiatives Mr.

Luan: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Alberta’s population grows and ages, rising health care costs will definitely test the resilience of our health care. According to Wellness Alberta over 90 per cent of our health care budget is spent on the treatment and management of chronic diseases, and many of those are preventable. My question is to the hon. Associate Minister of Wellness. Are there any efforts by our government to undertake a wellness approach, to fundamentally transform our strategy on health care and wellness? The Speaker: The hon. minister.

58 Alberta Hansard March 5, 2014 Mr. Rodney: Well, thank you very much, and thank you to the hon. member for his advocacy of wellness. Mr. Speaker, you know very well that we have wellness champions clear across Alberta, and I applaud all of their eff orts to promote wellness and also to prevent chronic disease and injury. This obviously increases quality of life while decreasing health care costs and taxes. Wellness requires financial and personal human investment, and everyone has a role to play. Our government, I’m proud to say, is a leader when it comes to wellness.

We’re the only jurisdiction in this country with a provincial wellness strategy and with a special focus on wellness that our office is honoured to provide. 2:20 The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Luan: Thank you. To the same associate minister: will the government be able to guarantee stable and long -term funding for wellness foundations, or are we going to leave our champions in this area to struggle to find their own resources? The Speaker: The hon. minister. Mr. Rodney: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We approach wellness in many ways here in Alberta.

Our government continues to advance, first of all, numerous partnerships which complement our signifi - cant investments in primary care, that are designed to promote wellness and early intervention. We also fund and support healthy eating and active living as well as mental wellness in schools and workplaces and community settings. There are many initiatives: nutrition guidelines for children and adults, Healthy U, Alberta healthy school community wellness fund, Communities ChooseWell, ever -active schools, Premier’s award for healthy workplaces, Uwalk, just to name a few.

Please visit, everyone in Alberta, healthyalberta.com for a gold mine of wellness initiatives. Mr. Luan: A last supplemental question. I heard a long list of things happening. Is this really making a difference to Albertans’ lives, or is it not lip service? Mr. Rodney: I’ll tell you that folks in a couple of categories would definitely beg to differ. For instance, the Alberta Cancer Prevention Legacy Act created a $500 million endowment fund that provides $25 million every year for 25 years to support cancer research, prevention, and screenin g.

Alberta’s strategy for tobacco-free futures aims to prevent and reduce and protect Albertans from the harms of tobacco and tobaccolike products as well as second-hand smoke. Mr. Speaker, there are so many other examples, that you know more than most folks. There’s a long way to go, but as long as we have the best choices made by individuals and the creation of a society that makes the healthy choice the more attractive and easier choice, we’re on the right track. The Speaker: Thank you. Electricity Pricing Mr. Hehr: I didn’t get to ask today’s question yesterday, so let’s try again.

TransAlta Corporation was criticized last week for alleged manipulation of the electricity market, but they cite documents that show the government may have the most serious explaining to do. To the minister: when the MSA adopted policies and procedures allowing economic withholding, in other words price gouging, was it implementing government policy, or if it wasn’t, why did the government not step in to stop Albertans from being gouged on their power bills? Ms Kennedy-Glans: Again, protecting the consumer is a first priority. The Market Surveillance Administrator is well qualified, Mr.

Speaker, to examine these situations. They have experience in this kind of issue, and they are doing their job. It’s up to us to let them do their job. Mr. Hehr: Well, Mr. Speaker, I don’t know if the minister is listening to the question very closely, so I’ll try it again. When the MSA adopted policies and procedures allowing economic withholding, in other words price gouging, was it implementi ng government policy, or if it wasn’t, why did the government not step in to stop Albertans from being gouged on their power bills?

Ms Kennedy-Glans: The MSA was reviewing a policy regulation in consultation with lots of different organizations and compani es. The Alberta Utilities Commission has the mandate to provide oversight of that, as they have been doing and continue to do. Mr. Hehr: Mr. Speaker, again I’m not getting a clear answer. Was the MSA implementing government policy when it wrote in their directives that they would allow for the economic withholding or price gouging that led to Alberta consumers paying increased prices on their power bills?

Ms Kennedy-Glans: Again, I will repeat and caution this member that we will not prejudice the outcome o f this case. The Market Surveillance Administrator is carrying out its functions. It’s very Wild Westish in the extreme and speculative to suggest what the member is suggesting here. Social Innovation Fund Mr. Bilous: Mr. Speaker, with Bill 1 this governm ent signalled that they will implement social impact bonds, a failed U.K. austerity scheme which outsources the delivery of crucial social services. The truth about these bonds is summed up well by the leader of the U.K. Official Opposition.

The government is, quote, cynically attempting to dignify its cuts agenda by dressing up the withdrawal of support with the language of reinvigorating civic society. End quote. Can the Minister of Finance explain why instead of funding programs for Alberta’s most vulner able citizens, he proposes to fund wealthy investors who will profit from the misery of others? Mr. Horner: Well, Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, the hon. member must not have been present or did not hear my speech on Bill 1 last night in this House. He would have then realized that Bill 1 is in addition to what is our normal operating budget.

In fact, what the endowment is set to do is to do things that are outside the normal operations of government, to do things that would be innovative, to try to solve some of these complex problems. I would suggest that the hon. member might want to talk to people like the Edmonton Community Foundation and some of the not - for-profits, who are eagerly awaiting the ability to try some of these innovative ideas. Mr. Bilous: Eagerly awaiting stable, predictable funding. Mr.

Speaker, given that we’ve seen this government’s attempts to undermine the public sector and cut funding to nonprofits, all part of privatization by stealth, and given that stable, predictable funding for public services is the number one priority for

March 5, 2014 Alberta Hansard 59 Albertans, why is this government pursuing an unproven scheme that will allow investors to profit off Alberta’s most vulnerable? Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, first of all, it’s a very narrow

interpretation of a soc ial innovation fund to say that it’s all about social impact financing. However, that’s not to say that one shouldn’t keep an open mind to every different way of financing social operations. We have issues, social issues, in this province. We have a social policy framework put in place. What we need to do is get the community to embrace those issues, to step forward into those issues, and make sure that every Albertan has a chance to succeed. Social impact financing is one way and only one part of the social innovation fund. Mr. Bilous: So the minister is basically summing up.

They are going to privatize social services. Given that in 2011 the Premier promised to implement social impact bonds and given that in 2012 she promised to end child poverty in five years, for some reason this government is only keeping one of those promises, the one that benefits wealthy investors and endangers the services which lift children out of poverty. To the Premier: why? Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, it’s absolutely absurd to suggest that wealthy finances are going to get more wealthy off social impact bonds.

Social impact bonds, or social impact financing, is a way in which investors can show social conscience and then use their money in a social way in the community and take a lower return but benefit the community. Again, the social innovation fund is about so much more than just social financing. It’s about how we bring innovation to the social agenda, and that’s an extremely important initiative for this government and this province. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Cardston -Taber-Warner, followed by Red Deer-North. Small-business Regulations Mr. Bikman: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This out -of-touch PC government seems to be ignoring the impact of overregulation on the lives of A lbertans. During the recent red tape reduction week Albertans shared horror stories about battles with bureaucracy as they tried starting or growing their small businesses. Recently a constituent of mine received some Transportation department tickets. Whe n he complied with one set of rules, he was fined because it made him offside on another set, a new set. When he changed, he was fined again for breaking the first set of rules. What is the minister doing to eliminate this kind of dysfunctional overregulation?

The Speaker: The hon. minister. Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member for Strathcona-Sherwood Park just recently completed a consultation with small businesses across the province. One of the things that small business is telling us is that what they want is access to good information, to be able to understand regulations, and to be able to comply easi ly with regulations. They recognize that regulations are important to the operation of a society.

However, we have made a commitment to reduce and eliminate unnecessary regulations and, certainly, to clarify and ensure that we don’t have regulations operat ing on each other. So I would very much appreciate getting those types of ideas because we often hear about overregulation, but we don’t hear the specifics about what we can do about it. The Speaker: Hon. member, first supplemental. Mr. Bikman: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be glad to share that information with the minister. Thanks for the opportunity.

What tangible, concrete evidence can the minister table in this Legislature that demonstrates that real action is in fact being taken on reducing red tape and this kind of counterproductive dysfunction for Alberta businesses? 2:30 Mr. Hancock: Well, Mr. Speaker, I believe it was the Canadian Federation of Independent Business that published a statement recently that Alberta was the best place in Canada to do business, and I think that businesses continue to indicate that as well. But we can always do better.

Rather than simply this broad generali - zation that seems to happen time after time – and I’m not saying that this hon. member is saying it, but generally speaking, we say that red tape and regulations get in the way. We need to start specifically addressing those regulations that should be reviewed to see whether they still make sense, whether they’re still necessary, whether they’re understandable, whether they can be complied with easily. Those are the things we commit to do, and every time someone wants to bring a regulation into effect, they can go onto the website or . . . The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr.

Bikman: Thank you again, Mr. Speaker. Will the minister commit today to acting on the 2012 Red Tape Reduction Task Force report: Focusing on What Matters by implementing an integrated strategy for systematically making life and businesses simpler and more cost-effective for all Albertans? Mr. Hancock: Mr.

Speaker, I’m pleased to say that it is my job each and every day to work systemically to make it easier for businesses to do business in this province, to reduce red tape or regulations where they’re no longer necessary or where they’re not easily com pliant, and to ensure that it’s easy to do business within this province, within the necessary regulations with respect to environment, transportation, and those things which also make our province a safe place to live.

So it’s that balance between appropriate regulations appropriately enforced and constantly reviewing to see if they’re still relevant and needed and getting rid of them when they’re not. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Red Deer-North, followed by Little Bow. Prescription Drug Coverage Mrs. Jablonski: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There has been a considerable amount of discussion in the media about potential changes to the drug plan for seniors, and as a consequence seniors in my constituency expressed concerns. They’re very worried that they will have to choose between prescription drugs and food on the table.

Seniors today are very happy with the seniors’ drug plan now and wonder why it’s being altered. My question is to the hon. Minister of Health. What changes are being made to the seniors’ drug plan? The Speaker: The hon. minister. Mr. Horne: Well, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Indeed, seniors in Alberta and other Albertans who are part of other programs enjoy some of the most comprehensive drug coverage in Canada, and I can assure the House that they will continue to

60 Alberta Hansard March 5, 2014 receive that. The gov ernment will not be proceeding with income testing for patient contribution towards drug costs as had been announced, but what we will be doing is continuing our drive to ensure that we have the lowest drug prices in Canada, both those paid by the taxpayer and those paid by employers and Albertans. We will be continuing to consolidate the 18 programs currently across government to achieve administrative efficiencies. This is good news for Albertans and for taxpayers. Mrs. Jablonski: To the same minister: wh at’s the timeline in making these changes?

The Speaker: The hon. minister. Mr. Horne: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Well, I’ll certainly have more to say on this after the provincial budget is tabled in the House tomorrow. This is going to take some ti me. As we’ve explained before, the consolidation of 18 programs in various ministries across government is a complex process. Part of this work involves creating a common formulary, or drug benefit list, so that Albertans enjoy a consistent level of covera ge.

The other part of this work is that Alberta will be continuing to lead the charge to urge the federal government to work with us as provinces and territories to develop a national catastrophic drug program. Mrs. Jablonski: To the same minister: what reassurances can I give my constituents and all Alberta seniors that they will not be adversely impacted by these changes? Mr. Horne: Well, Mr. Speaker, the hon. member can certainly assure her constituents and all Albertans that they will continue to get the prescription drugs they need in a program that continues to be the best in Canada.

We are looking at ways, as I’ve said, of improving the delivery of programs; reducing redundancy by consolidating the 18 drug and supplementary benefit programs; continuing to push for lower drug costs, not for just this province but for all of Canada; and, of course, making sure we’re doing all we can to extend drug coverage to those Albertans who currently do not have that. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Little Bow, fol lowed by Edmonton-Riverview. Rural Seniors’ Transportation Needs Mr. Donovan: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Monday’s throne speech was full of promises from this PC government, and you can always be assured that the opposition and Albertans will be holding you accountable. The government has consistently failed to provide adequate protection and care for seniors. For rural seniors access to essential services in large cities is largely based on an individual’s ability to drive.

In light of the throne speech’s recommitment to aging in place and what this government is going to do with transportation needs to help our rural seniors, to the Associate Minister of Seniors: have you considered providing stable funding for handibuses in rural communities? Your first question. The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Quest: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for the question, hon. Member for Little Bow. Yes, my first question in this House. Mr. Speaker, our seniors in this province are the ones that are responsible for the q uality of life that we have today.

We enjoy that quality of life because of all the hard work that they’ve done on our behalf, and we’ll continue to do that. With respect to the member’s question on transportation I do not have an answer for him today. But we’re, of course, always open to any discussion, any ideas that make life better for seniors in Alberta. The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Donovan: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m always open to discussions also with the minister.

Can this Associate Minister of Seniors help me understand how he intends to address aging in place without a competent plan to tackle transportation needs for all seniors in Alberta, not just the ones living in the cities? Mr. Quest: Mr. Speaker, our commitment to seniors for accom - modations in this province has been to add 5,000 new spaces over five years, and we’re actually on track for that right now. The intent is for our seniors to be living in the communities or close to the communities that they’ve spent their lives in. They c an live in these facilities as couples. They’re close to their families.

That’s been our target. With respect to transportation this is often done in co-operation with the municipalities and local volunteer groups, and we’ll continue to support that. The Speaker: The hon. member. Final question. Mr. Donovan: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Minister. Would the minister be willing to meet with the commu - nities of Hays, Vauxhall, and the MD of Taber and the county of Vulcan to help establish a sustainable program that would allow all seniors to have access to handibuses in rural Alberta? Mr. Quest: Absolutely, Mr. Speaker. The Speaker: The hon.

Member for Edmonton-Riverview , followed by Calgary-Fish Creek. First Responder Communications System Mr. Young: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since 2011 the province has allocated almost $400 million to a public service radio network called the Alberta first responder rad io communications system, or AFRRCS. Since that time the scope has been limited by eliminating any data capability, limiting it to only police services. The project was originally set to be completed in February 2014. To the Minister of Justice and Solicit or General: when will the project be completed? The Speaker: The hon. minister. Mr.

Denis: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. We do expect the project to be fully completed in the next two years. Just so the member knows, of 332 sites there are 57 that are complete, and 107 are on their way to completion. This is also a very important project for rural communities, specifically our first responders throughout the four corners of this province. The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Young: Thank you. To the same m inister: given that API3 was eliminated from the budget last year, what is this govern - ment’s plan to enable information sharing amongst Alberta’s police services and the RCMP? Mr.

Denis: Well, Mr. Speaker, this member has been no fan of API3 at all. In fa ct, I had frequent meetings with him last year in

March 5, 2014 Alberta Hansard 61 which he had wanted API3 to be completely taken away. I actually took his advice along with several others, and we decided to move the hardware into other areas and act in the interest of the taxpayer as always. Mr. Young: To the same minister or the Minister of Municipal Affairs: are there police services in Alberta or municipalities that are asking for this system today? Mr. Denis: Well, Mr. Speaker, again, this is a very important program for all of our first res ponders throughout all of Alberta, particularly in rural Alberta.

We have regular meetings with our contractors but also with the individuals that will be served by this particular program. I’m very confident that we’re on the right track and that within the next couple of years we’ll be fully onside and that our first responders will have the best possible radio system throughout the entire province. The Speaker: The hon. Member for Calgary-Fish Creek, followed by Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock. Public Safety Legislation Mrs. Forsyth: Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Last fall Albertans were saddened to hear of the death of Quanto, an Edmonton Police Service dog who was killed in the line of duty. At the time the Minister of Justice stood with all Albertans in their outrage, saying: police dogs are almost like another police officer. For people who require service dogs because of hearing or sight issues, service dogs are an important part of their very well-being. The minister pledged to strengthen the Service Dog Act to include penalties for those who harm or kill service animals. In fact, he said that he’d like to have it for this spring session.

Minister, when are you going to table it? 2:40 Mr. Denis: Well, Mr. Speaker, I know that this member uses a service dog, and I welcome her input in this particular area. I’ve had meetings with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and also the police. We want to ensure that we get this done right the first time.

But, more importa ntly, I’m also looking forward to what the federal government is doing because the federal government mentioned Quanto’s law in its throne speech a couple of months ago, and we will con tinue to work with our federal counterparts and see if we need to do anything provincially depending on what the federal government decides to do on a national basis. The Speaker: The hon. member. Mrs. Forsyth: Thank you. Minister, you used the excuse for not proclaiming my Mandatory Reporting of Child Pornography bill, and you then blamed the feds, and it’s four years later.

Given that Saskatchewan has provincial penalties for those who commit violence against service animals, when will you bring the same protection for service dogs to Alberta? Mr. Denis: Mr. Speaker, I wish to remind this member that had we proclaimed her bill, there would be less protection for children in this province. The Speaker: The hon. member. Mr. Anderson: Point of order. Mrs. Forsyth: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Given her mandate to champion efforts to protect Albe rtans from issues of family violence and sexual exploitation, w ill the Associate Minister of Family and Community Safety, who I know loves children, com- mit to ensuring the Mandatory Reporting of Child Pornography Act is proclaimed into law? Ms Jansen: I would like to thank the member for her question, and I would also like to thank the member for her service in this area and her input in the last little while. These are areas that I’m proud to say that we are fully committed to. We’ve held two round-tables in the past six months on child sexual abuse.

We are committed to putting together a sexual violence framework. I have asked for the member’s input on that. That topic and all those topics will be a part of our sexual violence framework. I welcome the conversation that we will have in the near future. The Speaker: Hon. Member for Airdrie, your point of order was noted at 2:41. I think we’re done, then, are we? Okay. In 30 seconds from now we’ll resume with Members’ Statements, starting with Calgary-Glenmore. head: Members’ Statements (continued) The Speaker: The hon.

Member for Calgary-Glenmore for a private member’s statement, followed by Barrhead-Morinville- Westlock. Toupee for a Day Ms L. Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today is Wellspring Calgary’s Toupee for a Day. Toupee for a Day was begun as a means of providing visible support to those who are living with cancer and those who love them. Each multicoloured toupee represents a different type of cancer. Today participants will wear their toupees to raise money and awareness for Wellspring Calgary.

Wellspring was founded in 2007 and provides support, resources, and programs for anyone living with cancer as well as added support for their loved one s. Programs offered by the charitable organization are free of charge and do not require referral. It’s the only charitable organization of its kind in western Canada. The volunteers that work tirelessly to support the needs of those suffering from cancer as well as their family and friends, including Cheryl-Ann Orr and Barb Sinosich, who were with us in the members’ gallery today, make Wellspring Calgary a successful organization.

On Monday, March 3, the PC caucus, including our Premier, donned toupees and took a group photo in support of this important cause to gain awareness for Toupee for a Day, and I believe it’s all over the social media networks as we speak. Mr. Speaker, organizations such as Wellspring Calgary are crucial to building even stronger and healthier communities in Alberta in several locations. We llspring builds in Alberta warm and welcoming communities that ensure that no one will have to face cancer alone. I encourage all my colleagues to raise awareness for Toupee for a Day. Thank you very much. The Speaker: The hon.

Member for Barrhead-Morinville- Westlock, followed by Drumheller-Stettler.

62 Alberta Hansard March 5, 2014 Agriculture Literacy Week Ms Kubinec: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to share with you that March 2 through 8 is the third annual Agriculture Literacy Week in Canada. Alberta is part of Agriculture in the Classroom Canada, a national organization of provincial ag in the classroom programs. Through this organization the provinces work collaboratively to develop curriculum-appropriate education materials for teachers and students. Learning about agriculture and how food makes its way to our tables every day is the foundation of this educational approach.

Agriculture Literacy Week will see classrooms of students participate in activities to l earn about, connect to, and understand this important industry. Some of the educational in itiatives these organizations offer include All about Food , which is a series of materials that includes a teacher’s guide, student activities, and information about farm safety; and a favourite of mine, The Real Dirt on Farming, which is a reference manual with students’ questions answered by farmers from across Canada. Mr.

Speaker, agriculture is that largest sustainable industry in Alberta and accounts for a record $9.2 billion in exports. There are more than 40,000 farms in Albert a, and the industry employs over 75,000 people. Today’s youth are tomorrow’s agricultural entrepreneurs. We know that it is an important part of our rural de- velopment to engage today’s youth and new farmers in continuing and growing the legacy of Alberta’s agricultural sector. The government of Alberta is proud to recognize Agriculture Literacy Week.

We extend our thanks to the organizations that are working with industry and educat ors on these important programs for Alberta’s youth. I would encourage you all to go to YouTube and look up the video Long Love This Land . It is an ATB video that gives you a lot of information. It’s inspiring. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Speaker: Thank you. The hon. Member for Drumheller-Stettler. Acute Health Care in Consort Mr. Strankman: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2011 the government temporarily shut down acute-care beds in Consort because of a lack of physician services.

The bed closure was supposed to be temporary, but the months have turned into years. I stood in this House and raised this issue in March of last year. I was assured that the government would work with the commu- nity to get this facility reopened. Again in May of last year I stood in this House and addressed this issue with the Health minister. Unfortunately, the minister responded with: “The decision around matching physician supply with the ability to open acute-care beds is more complex, of course, than simply the availability of physicians.

There are many other support staff that are needed.” However, that is not what was promised to the community of Consort, which has met all of the requirements put on them by this government. Yet Consort continues to wait for a timeline concerning the reopening of their acute-care beds. The community of Consort has gone out and recruited the doctors and even built them new homes in an effort to reinstate these life-saving acute-care beds promised by this PC government. In response, their efforts have been answered with nothing more than excuses.

Unfortunately, excuses do little to help the people in need of emergency care. Anothe r promise made, another promise broken. head: Introduction of Bills The Speaker: The hon. President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance. Bill 3 Securities Amendment Act, 2014 Mr. Horner: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased to rise today to introduce Bill 3, the Securities Amendment Act, 2014. Members will note that this was originally introduced as Bill 42 last fall. This bill was originally introduced in November but did not pass before the fall session was concluded.

Bill 3 will further modernize, harmonize, and streamline Alberta’s security laws as part of the ongoing collaborative reform of Canada’s securities regulation. Bill 3 focuses on over-the-counter derivatives and the harmonization of derivatives regulation in Canada. As members of this House may recall, the lack of transparency with this type of investment was cited as a contributing factor in the global financial crisis in 2008.

Bill 3 creates a statutory framework for the regulation of over-the- counter derivatives, providing th e Alberta Securities Commission with the authority to make rules such as mandating central clearing, trade reporting, electronic tradi ng, solvency, and other conduct requirements for those trading in derivatives. Provincial and territorial regulators will be en couraged to agree on a harmonized approach to regulating derivatives capable of being adopted across Canada. Bill 3 is an important step in that direction. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [Motion carried; Bill 3 read a first time] The Speaker: The hon.

Member for Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock. 2:50 Bill 4 Estate Administration Act Ms Kubinec: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to request leave to introduce Bill 4, the Estate Administration Act. The bill continues the work of the succession law project by modernizing and reorganizing the Administration of Estates Act, the Devolution of Real Property Act, and substantive rules from the surrogate rules. The current estate administration law is not easily accessible or understandable.

There is little guidance to help personal represen- tatives understand their role and responsibilities in their dealings with a deceased person’s estate. Bill 4 is intended to make the laws dealing with estate administration more modern, user friendly, and easily accessible. It will make it easier to understand the role of the personal representative in carrying out the final intent of the deceased. It is intended to reduce delays and costs for personal representatives, beneficiaries, and their advisers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker: Thank you. [Motion carried; Bill 4 read a first time] The Speaker: The hon. Deputy Government House Leader. Mr. Olson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move that Bill 4, the Estate Administration Act, be move d onto the Order Paper under Government Bills and Orders. [Motion carried]

March 5, 2014 Alberta Hansard 63 The Speaker: The hon. Member for Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock once again. Bill 201 Agricultural Pests (Fusarium Head Blight) Amendment Act, 2014 Ms Kubinec: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I request leave to introduce another bill, Bill 201, the Agricultural Pests (Fusarium Head Blight) Amendment Act, 2014. Bill 201 would amend this act, setting Fusarium graminearum levels for Alberta seed and feed at .5 per cent. Currently there is a zero-tolerance Fusarium level in effect for seed produced across the province.

This zero-tolerance level puts Alberta farmers and producers at an economic disadvantage compared to other jurisdictions like Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Ensuring that Alberta farmers and producers get a fair price for their seed is integral to the g overnment’s plan to maintain a competitive economic future for all Albertans. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [Motion carried; Bill 201 read a first time] The Speaker: The hon. Member for Calgary-Fish Creek. Bill 202 Independent Budget Officer Act Mrs. Forsyth: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am honoured to rise to introduce for first reading Bill 202, the Independent Budget Officer Act. It’s no coincidence that I am tab ling this bill the day before the provincial budget is to be read. My colleagues on this side of the House and I fully expect tomorrow’s budget to continue to baffle Albertans as it is broken apart in ways that are so difficult to comprehend. It saddens me, Mr.

Speaker, that a Premier who campaigned on open acc ountability and transparency has repeat- edly broken that promise and changed the most comprehensive budgetary reporting as was introduced under the leadership of Premier Ralph Klein. Bill 202 seeks to remedy this going forward by providing an opportunity to members and to the public to receive government financial information and budget estimates through an independ- ent third party that reports directly to the Legislature. I believe that the independent budget officer will allow all members of this Assembly to better represent their constituents.

As a result, Alber- tans can expect a more responsible and accountable government. I look forward to the debate on this bill. [Motion carried; Bill 202 read a first time] head: Tabling Returns and Reports The Speaker: The hon. Associate Minister – Recovery and Reconstruction for Southeast Alberta. Mr. Weadick: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s a pleasure to rise today and table the appropriate number of copies of 176 letters from my constituents. These letters speak to the concern and opposition to a proposal by Goldenkey to drill exploratory wells in the urban areas of my constituency.

There is incredible concern by our community, by our city council, and by our chamber of commerce, and I’m here tabling these letters today. Thank you. The Speaker: The hon. Deputy Government House Leader. Mr. Olson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Pursuant to Standing Order 59.01(3) I’m pleased to table the re quisite number of copies of the

schedule for the 2014 main budget estimate debates. Thank you. The Speaker: Hon. Member for Edmonton-Centre, did you have one? Ms Blakeman: Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In fact, I have two tablings today. The first is from Melissa Kehler, and she is quite concerned about access to psychological services, believ- ing, rightly, that the mental health needs of Albertans are not being met, particularly because th e services of psychologists are not funded under provincial health plans, and is urging the government to take more action. The second is a letter I received from Lori Germaine.

She’s a youth support worker who accompanied a youth into the Alberta Works office and was quite appalled at the belittling, degrading, oppressive, and appalling interrogation she felt the youth received, and she details that in her submission. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Speaker: Are there any other tablings? Sorry. Cardston- Taber-Warner, my apologies. I ha ve you on the list. I just over- looked it, so go ahead. Mr. Bikman: I won’t take it personally, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

I have the requisite number of copi es to table of a letter sent to me by Cliff Bullis of Jay’s Towing Service, commenting on an accident that occurred about a week or so prior to the sending of the letter, expressing concern about the hazard that it is to be a tow truck operator and wondering if we can’t look at this and perhaps find a better way to alert the public to the dangers that add to the hazards that tow truck operators are working under. Thank you.

The Speaker: Seeing no others, I am pleased to rise and table five copies of the page biographies for the Second Session of the 28th Legislature, spring 2014. I encourage you to have a look at our pages. Hon. members, it is just about 3 o’clock, so we can squeeze this in. There is one point of order that was raised by the Member for Airdrie, that came up during a response to a question, the response being given by the Solicitor General. I’m not sure if this is more a clarification point or what, but let’s hear what you have, then. Calgary-Fish Creek. Point of Order Factual Accuracy Mrs. Forsyth: Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am, I guess, troubled to rise on a point of order. I’m going to use the citation, if I may, of 23(h), (i), and (j), “u ses abusive or insulting language of a nature likely to create disorder.” I honestly am troubled, quite frankly, by the answer that I received from the Minister of Justice and Solicitor General when I asked him the question about the child pornography bill. I think his answer was that the bill would be making children more unsafe.

I guess I want to first of all remind the minister exactly what was contained in the bill, that “any person who has reasonable a nd probable grounds to believe that a representation or material is child pornography shall immediately report the matter to a reporting entity.”

64 Alberta Hansard March 5, 2014 3:00 You know, Mr. Speaker, I have a reputation, if I may, in this House from the 21 years that I’ve served in this House for the work that I’ve done on the protection of children. I’ve spent the entire 21 years of my career protecting children in this province. I’m deeply hurt and deeply saddened on behalf of Albertans and all the children that I have helped for this minister to say that it makes children more unsafe.

I need to remind the minister that I brought forward the PCHIP legislation, w hich was the Protection of Children Involved in Prostitution Act, which, if I may say, was the first in North America. We have literally pulled hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of children off the street that have been involved in prostitution. I brought the first Amber Alert to Canada, to this province and then took it right across this country as the minister. And I can go on and on about some of the things that I’ve done in regard to protecting children in this province.

When I brought forward the mandatory reporting of children involved in prostitution, if I recall – and I will have to go back to Hansard – I think this minister stood up and spoke in support of this particular legislation. You know, I have asked him repeatedly about the fact of the importance – as a previous minister of the Crown you don’t always have to wait for the federal government to do something. It’s always a good initiative to kind of take the lead, that we’ve always been proud of in this particular province, on the protection of children involved in prostitution.

He could have used the excuse on the .05 legislation that the federal govern- ment has under the Criminal Code .08, that kind of thing.

I guess that for me and on behalf of the people that serve in this Chamber and, for that matter, Albertans and all of the children that have been involved in child pornography – and I know full well that this minister in his position, quite frankly, because I was in that position as Solicitor General, sees horrific things come across his desk in regard to the horrendous, awful things that are happening to children in this province in child pornography, so I’d ask him to withdraw his remarks. The Speaker: Hon. Minister of Justice, do you wish to clarify? Mr. Denis: First of all, Mr.

Speake r, I, like this member, will never apologize for standing up for children’s safety. I thank her for the past work that she has done, but my comments were true and accurate, and I will quote directly from a legal opinion that I’ve received from an independe nt lawyer as part of the Alberta Justice department on October 1, 2012: (

a) The limited use that may be made of this information [is concerning]; and (

b) The lack of a prohibition on letting the suspect know they have been reported, thus giving the suspect an opportunity to destroy the evidence. That is their legal opinion about Bill 202. The opinion goes on, Mr. Speaker, to indicate that proclaiming Bill 202 into force would lead to legislation that would create a mandatory reporting scheme that would cre ate information that would be difficult for law enforcement agencies to use. Perhaps most importantly, it would allow [Internet service providers] to circumvent federal data retention rules and prohibition from notifying the suspect. Mr.

Speaker, with res pect, I do appreciate this member’s com - mitment to children’s safety, but at the same time, proclaiming her bill would provide less protection for children in Alberta. [interjections] The Speaker: Okay. You know full well that points of order should not be taken as an opportunity to prolong debate on this matter. We’ve had a former minister, now the private Member for Calgary-Fish Creek , indicate her comments. They are on the record clarifying the work she did and her intentions in that regard.

We have the Minister of Justice’s opinion plus an opinion he solicited from outside, and I believe we’ve heard enough on this matter. It’s a point of clarification, two different versions of the same story, if you will, and we’re just going to move on. That concludes the Routine. Let us go on to Orders of the Day. head: Orders of the Day head: Consideration of His Honour head: the Lieutenant Governor’s Speech Ms Kubinec moved, seconded by Mr. McDonald, that an humble address be presented to His Honour the Honourable the Lieutenant Governor as follows. To His Honour the Honourable Colonel (Retired) Donald S.

Ethell, OC, OMM, AOE, MSC, CD, LLD, the Lieutenant Gover - nor of the Province of Alberta: We, Her Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Legislative Assembly, now assembled, beg leave to thank Your Honour for the gracious speech Your Honour has been pleased to address to us at the opening of the present session. [Adjourned debate March 4: Mr. Barnes] The Speaker: The hon. Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. Ms Smith: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Monday’s throne speech was an opportunity for the Premier and her PC government to hit the reset button on several fronts and lay out a positive and achievable vision for Alberta’s future. Now, I always enjoy throne speech day because of all of the ceremony of the day, and maybe it’s because I’m feeling so warm about having participated in that as an observer that I’m going to start with some positive things that I liked about the throne speech. It r eally shouldn’t be all that surprising that we’re able to find a few things that we agree with. The hon.

Member for Calgary-Fish Creek explained how the negotiation goes between a government and our Lieutenant Governor when it comes to issuing the throne speech. It’s a bit of a negotiation where he finds in the government’s agenda the things that he agrees with. Now, I know that the Lieutenant Governor, His Honour, is an honourable man. I have found many areas of common agreement with him, and I think he articulated several things in the speech that we can all agree Alberta should aspire to. I don’t think that many of the concepts that were enu- merated in the throne speech are of a partisan nature.

I think that all of the caucuses can agree on certain asp ects of it; for instance, asserting Alberta on the world stage. The government and the Premier well know that when she is travelling abroad, we support the efforts that she’s doing to represent Alberta’s interests. We just have an issue when she travels ab road on personal travel and tends to bill that to the taxpayer. But when she does her work on the international stage representing Alberta’s interests, we’re very supportive of that. I noticed that the throne speech mentioned twice that Alberta is the lowest tax jurisdiction.

It mentioned that we’ve got the most jobs and the highest incomes, but it was the fact that it mentioned twice that we are the lowest tax jurisdiction that gives me some hope that the government has turned away from some of the initial types of comments they were making when this Premier first came into the position when she talked about reviewing the Income Tax Act and seemed to suggest she’d be looking at a whole new range

March 5, 2014 Alberta Hansard 65 of additional taxes. Plus, as we ’re going into a discussion about big-city charters, I can take some comfort that because the lowest tax jurisdiction was mentioned twice, that may be an indication that the government might be interested in following our approach of better revenue sharing as opposed to giving new taxation powers. I also noticed in the throne speech that they mentioned my old boss the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in acknowledging that Alberta has the friendliest small-business environment.

I think we can always aspire to do better and that we should continue to lead the country. I think my colleague from Cardston-Taber-Warner identified some areas that were slipping. Particularly on the regulatory front , it certainly would have been nice to see, as there has been in previous throne speeches, some mention to reducing the regulatory red tape and paperwork burden on our small-business community.

One thing that warmed the cockles of my heart: the idea that they were finally, finally, finally going to commit to reducing spending to less than inflation plus population growth, something that the MLA for Airdrie has been a tireless proponent and advocate for for many years in his alternative budget and budget recommendations. It finally sunk in , Mr. Speaker, that this is the kind of approach you need to take. In an environment where you have volatile revenues, you actually need to keep a handle on spending.

I’ll congratulate the government if, indeed, they actually end up committing to and implem enting that the way we had expected that they would. I did also acknowledge and think it’s very important that the throne speech acknowledges that we need to take seriously the issue of aboriginal consultation. I, of course, have demonstrated how serious I take this issue as I am the critic for Aboriginal Relations.

I notice today that Jim Prentice has been seconded to work with Enbridge and the other pipeline companies and proponents of the Gateway proposal to be able to try to work as an advocate and intermediator between the different parties to try to get a pipeline proposal approved with our First Nations commu- nities. I think it’s a very positive step, and I’m looking forward to seeing how that develops. The issue of new flood mapping. Once again, this is something that we have been advocating since the weeks following the flood. We had wished that the government would have done it in the right order.

Instead of arbitrarily identifying communities that needed to have flood payout, we would have preferred to see flood mitigation measures, new flood mapping, and then see the compensation follow from that point. They’ve got it backwards, but at least they’re committing to th at in this throne speech, and we’ll see how that ends up playin g out. I think we have a huge opportunity to make sure that this does not fall off the radar as it has in previous years. After the flooding of 1995 and the flooding of 2005 there were recommendations that never got acted upon.

I think in this case where the two hardest hit ridings were the ridings of the Premier and the Leader of the Official Opposition, it guarantees that we’re going to be able to keep the pressure on to make sure that we see some action on this. I’m sure that the Premier is receiving the same phone calls that I am, and I’m hopeful that this time we’re actually going to see the government take the actions they need to take to be able to protect our communities in southern Alberta. 3:10 I’m glad as well to see a renewed commitment to ensuring that our friends in rural Alberta are supported.

I’m so proud of my caucus colleagues from Little Bow, Strathmore-Brooks, Cypress- Medicine Hat, Lacombe-Ponoka, and Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre. They went on a grain tour over the weeks leading up to session to be able to hear directly from farmers the impact that the disruption in rail service was having on their businesses and gave some fantastic feedback, which we intend to continue to press the federal government to take action on.

I’m glad that this is an issue that is on the government’s radar screen as well, in addi- tion to issues such as country of origin labelling, more education in home communities through distance learning, and completing the last mile of broadband Internet access. In addition, the new relationshi p with cities a nd other munici- palities has been an issue that my colleague from Calgary-Shaw has been an outspoken advocate on. We’ve put forward a proposal, which I hope the government takes a close look at.

As ideas go, this would be one we wouldn’t be upset if they stole because we think that this is exactly the kind of new relationship and partnership that we need to have with our m unicipalities to recognize their area of autonomy, recognize their status as another order of government, and give them the long-term stable funding they need to be able to meet the needs of their community. There are some whoppers in the throne speech that I do have to address. One of the lines, “building nothing would sacrifice Alberta’s future,” is clearly not an option.

I’m not sure why this line would appear in the government’s throne speech. It’s pretty clear that none of the parties repres ented in this Legislature, none of the caucuses have a build-not hing agenda. If you look at our plan for 10 years – investing in infrastructure, $50 billion, and doing it debt free – we recognize th at building infrastructure is a core government function, a core business of government.

It is unfortunately the government opposite, that has had such wild variation in infrastructure spending and the lack of certainty that they’ve given to our partners in postsecondary education, health care, education, munici palities, and other areas, that has created this level of uncertainty. We cl early need to have a new funding model to be able to ensure that we can build all the infrastructure that we need when we need it without going into debt.

The throne speech also said that the government “will stay true to its word and be there with the education, health care, and infrastructure [that Albertans] need.” Once again I have to question the kind of examples that they brought forward, touting family care clinics when the Slave Lake example has shown that the family care clinic being implemented is an absolute disaster and is actually reducing the services in our small-town commu- nities.

I would hope that the Health minister would take seriously that lesson and, rather than forge ahead with a failed plan, that he would do the proper consultation with our physicians to make sure that he’s not putting any other small communities at risk. The acknowledgement of highwa y 63. We’re pleased that the Transportation minister finally di d put that on a faster timeline, but it’s a bit of a stretch to say that the highway 63 project is going to be completed in full and on time. As my colleague from Calgary-Shaw pointed out, it’s about 10 years late.

In fact, when the new announcement came out that they were going to finally prioritize this, my colleague from Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills pointed out that the construction was taking place at a snail’s pace. The Calgary Herald decided to actually map out: if construction had started and a sna il had started at the same time that this project was proposed, which would have gotten further faster? The snail would have move d along further and faster than the government did on this project. So it’s a bit rich for them to claim that it actually was in full and on time.

We’re pleased that they finally did end up fast-tracking it after all of the delays. I think this would be a wonderful service to our friends in Fort McMurray and absolutely essential in supporting the economic growth up there.

66 Alberta Hansard March 5, 2014 The issue of education: to ignore the full -scale parent and teacher revolt that is taking place over the new math and to forge ahead anyway despite the fact that there is all of this push -back, 7,500 individuals signing a petition, and I predict it’s going to be several thousand more before they’re done. The fact that this government is so tone -deaf that they don’t realize they’re going too far too fast on a flawed mode l I think is something that should be very worrying for parents.

The argument that they made, that they froze MLAs’ pay following a cut: well, let me tell you my recollection, Mr. Speaker. I recall passing the Major report here, and MLAs at that point were making $144,000 per year. By the end of that year the Members’ Services Committee, the PC members anyway, voted for an increase, and then we were making $156,000 a year. By the old math that’s an 8 per cent increase, but under the new math I guess it’s whatever the Premier says it is.

So I would have to say that the fact of the matter is that that’s another whopper in the throne speech, and I think it’s unfortunate that the government is trying to push forward false information to the public. I just wanted to call that out. In addition, we already see that they’re hedging their bets on the new school promise. We all recall the promise in the last election of 50 new schools and 70 more modernizations before the 2016 election. Well, I’ll point you, Mr. Spea ker, to the question yesterday from my colleague from Lacombe-Ponoka .

All there is on the Blackfalds site is a PC-branded Building Alberta sign and a couple of posts. That’s what the promise for a new school in Blackfalds looks like, no shovels in sight, a nd I can tell you that that’s what we’re hearing all around this province. When the Education minister says that we’re going to see all of these schools built before the next election, why, isn’t that interesting? The throne speech said that it’s going to be built over the next three years. Well, three years would take us to 2017, which would actually be after the next election.

So I’m just going to put it out there that my guess is that the government is just using this as an election ploy and that they don’t really have any intention of meeting the objective of getting these projects built before the next election. Just a prediction, but I may as well put it out there since it was mentioned in the throne speech.

In addition, they talk about a new framework for renewable energy, something that the Member for Rimbey -Rocky Mountain House-Sundre has been talking about for some time, but I’ve got to say that when you’ve got a Market Surveillance Administrator catching a company manipulating the market to boost prices artificially, not just once but for a second time, you have to wonder about whether the government is truly committed to putting consumers first. We just simply aren’t seeing it. A Canada free trade zone. This came out of the blue. I’m not sure where this came from.

It’s the idea of reducing internal trade barriers. I think that’s not a bad idea, but sometimes I have to say, Mr. Speaker, that I get the impression that the Premier thinks she’s the Prime Minister rather than the Premier of Alberta. I f I were Premier of Alberta, I would focus on getting the New West Partnership right because the two most important relationships that we have right now are with our neighbour to the east, Saskatchewan, led by Premier Brad Wall, and our neighbour to the west, led by Premier Christy Clark, and I have to say that those two are fellow travellers on the Conservative side of things.

You would think that there should be an amazing partnership between our three provinces to be able to move aside all of the trade barriers that we have that are preventing the free flow of trade and goods across our borders. It seems to me that this is the partnership the Premier should be focusing on getting right, and I have to say that it appears to me that when you read stories ab out the relationship between our Premier and some of these others being frosty, I think this is the area that she needs to do a little bit more work on.

The throne speech also bragged about the agreements with teachers and doctors but mentioned nothing about the blind -side hit that’s coming to our front -line public-sector unions with new pension legislation that is taking place this fall unilaterally. I have to say that it is not our AUPE front-line workers who are the problem when you’re looking at gove rnment overspending. As they pointed out when the sunshine list came out showing how many workers are making over a hundred thousand dollars per year, it was only 88 of the 22,000 AUPE workers who were on that sunshine list, and those were scientists.

Most of the people who were on that sunshine list were political appointees, senior managers, not the folks who are down in the trenches doing the front-line work. In addition, they have pointed out as well that 4,000 front -line AUPE workers earn less than $4 5,000 a year, so you can imagine how they’re feeling when they’ve been watching the debate in the Legislature this week, to see that the Premier continues to refuse to pay back $45,000 for a single trip, when that’s how much they make in a single year. Now they’re being asked to have wage austerity for the next four years.

Since the government doesn’t seem to even want to acknowledge our front-line workers let alone thank them, let me stand and thank our front -line workers with the AUPE for the incredible w ork that they’re doing on behalf of all Albertans. So now we have the biggest whopper of all in the budget. The government is going to live within its means and balance the budget.

Well, I have to say that when you look at the supple - mentary estimates that we’re going to be debating, albeit there are hundreds of millions, billions of dollars in there because of flood relief, there is also $700 million of additional spending increases that have nothing to do with the flood relief effort, 700 million additional dollars that this government is asking for, which I find a bit peculiar because in the throne speech they bragged about the fact that they have already had 375 programs reviewed, that they’re two-thirds of the way through the results -based budgeting process, and they’re asking for $700 million more. 3:20 Wasn’t the whole purpose of the results -based budgeting process to find efficiencies in certain places so that the money could be moved from low -priority areas to high -priority areas?

If that’s the cas e and they are continuing to ask for more money, having gone two-thirds through that budgeting process, I would have to say that results -based budgeting is not something you should be touting as a success. It’s actually turning out to be a pretty big failure. The other thing that we’re seeing as well is this strange action that the government is taking to try to pretend that they’re saving more. But they’re not really saving more; they’re saving through borrowing.

They’re borrowing to save money so that they can spend more money on corporate welfare programs through the various different endowment funds that they’re creating. We as a party do not support subsidies to private corporations, and we’ll be watching the kind of decisions the government makes in h ow they allocate these dollars. We saw through the years of late 1980s and the early 1990s, before Mr. Klein came in and fixed things, that there were billions of taxpayers’ dollars wasted on failed diver - sification efforts.

I fear that the government has started us down a track of taking a very similar flawed approach. On balance I’d have to say that the throne speech offered Albertans little assurance that the Premier’s government has Albertans’ best

March 5, 2014 Alberta Hansard 67 interests at heart. It gave no in dication of a change in approach. The speech was very disappointing in many ways. To truly understand this throne speech, we should step back to the 2012 throne speech. We’ve now had two years to see whether or not any of the high ideals actually translate into meaningful government action. There are a c ouple of things that I think indicate whether or not we should have some optimism in looking at the issues that are raised in this throne speech.

In the 2012 speech this government promised to “deliver and fulfill a clear, focused, target-driven mandate.” Albertans were supposed to know where the province was headed and how much progress was being made. This government claime d that it would be true to its promises. You know, I have to tell you, Mr. Speaker, that I can’t think of a single promise that th is government has kept let alone being true to its promises more generally.

We were told that the government would “bring new fiscal discipline to budgets so they deliver the outcomes Albertans wa nt in a financially sensible way.” The government bragged a bout its fiscally conservative beliefs. Well, here we are today, two years later, and we have an absolute fiscal mess. I have to tell you that we had to go to the extreme measure of holding a press conference to give the media a tutorial on how to interpret the government’s budget numbers.

When you cannot actually have on budget day any kind of con- sistency from opposition parties or advocacy groups or any kind of commentator even being able to figure out what the debt or deficit number is, that’s not a probl em with the anal ysis; that’s a problem with the way the government is presenting the books. We had to go through and talk about what an operating surplus is versus what a consolidated operati ng surplus or deficit is because the government’s definition of a consolidated surplus or deficit is different than what accountants would look at as a consolidated surplus or deficit.

We also know that it’s impossibl e to say that you’re running a surplus and then still take out billions of dollars worth of debt. This is what puts the lie to th e argument that the government is putting forward. We are going to be racking up billions of dollars worth of additional debt. We are going to have hundreds of millions of dollars in additional interest charges. I think this is important. I’m not sure if the government is thinking about the way in which debt and finance ch arges impact their ability to deliver on their operational promises.

If we follow down the track that the government outlined in last year’s budget, we’d be looking at $17 billion worth of debt by 2016, $600 million worth of finance charges. Where are those dollars going to come from? Let’s remember last year: $147 million they gutted out of postsecondary because they were looking, scrambling to try to find ways to make their defici t look less bad than it was; $42 million cut out of persons with developmental disabilities programs, causing absolute chao s and near devastation on the front lines of providing services for our most vulnerable.

Those are in combination less than $200 million. Where’s this govern- ment going to come up with $600 million to pay those finance charges? That, I think, is the aspect that they’re not considering when they try to argue to Albertans that borrowing billions of dollars has no additional cost. It has a massive cost, and it pulls dollars away from the things that Albertans value in being able to hire front-line teachers, nurses, correctional officers, social workers, and so on.

We were also told in that throne speech in 2012 that the new Associate Minister of Accountability, Transparency and Trans- formation would usher in a new era of transparency and accountability. There would be a new Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, whistle -blower legislation, and world- class conflict-of-interest legislation. Well, instead, what we’ve seen is a FOIP review act that has a process that is the most flawed review process in Alberta history. Normally you actually have members of the opposition involved in that process. They’re choosing not to do that this ti me.

Our whistle-blower protection legislation is classic Orwellian doublespeak. What we’ve seen in practice is that its main function is to protect the government from whistle-blowers. We saw this when my colleague from Innisfail-Sylvan Lake went public with the whistle-blower who found that there was $10 million worth of new computers stuffed into a storage room for a year and a half and becoming obsolete rather than being deployed by Alberta Health Services. These are the kinds of things that we need to have come forward so that we can find some of the solutions to these problems.

But it’s very clear that that’s a dramatic example of how our whistle-blower legislation just isn’t working. Instead of world-class conflicts of interest legislation, this Premier has had to deal with some of the most serious conflicts of interest allegations in Alberta history, including one where she has been at the centre. This government’s record on its promises is nothing to be proud of. The program this government delivered over the last two years from the last throne speech was not clear, it was not focused, and it was not target driven.

I have already talked about some of the promises in this throne speech, some of the concerns that we have with health care. We’ve got incredible concerns that they have made no practical movements on being able to correct the proble ms that we see in health care, particularly in seniors’ care. We keep getting told that issues are going to be addressed, yet the 100-kilometre rule still exists, we still have seniors who are getting only one bath a week, we still have seniors who are not being fed home-cooked meals, and we still have instances of seniors su