AB Today – Daily Report March 7, 2019

Quotation of the day

“We are calling on Ottawa to stop its navel-gazing about its internal controversies and fight back.”

Premier Rachel Notley responds to news the Chinese government is blocking a “large chunk” of Alberta’s canola exports from entering its country.

Today in AB

On the schedule The legislature will reconvene on March 18 for the government’s final throne speech before the spring election.

Jason Kenney promises to appoint a temporary minister of red tape reduction to further his job growth agenda

UCP Leader Jason Kenney announced new details about his party’s plan to reduce red tape, if elected — a continuation of the UCP’s Job Creation Strategy that Kenney first began rolling out last Friday.

According to Kenney, navigating red tape costs Alberta businesses $6,700 per employee each year — money he says could be better spent creating jobs.

The UCP leader pledged to slash the province’s regulations by one-third via a Red Tape Reduction Act (which would be introduced within weeks of election day) and to appoint a cabinet minister directly to the file.

The so-called minister for red tape reduction would be tasked with working across all ministries and agencies and with industry panels to help find regulatory savings; instituting a one-in-one-out rule that would require any new regulation be offset by the cancellation of an existing one; and pushing for the elimination of interprovincial trade barriers.

When asked by reporters about the cost of increasing the number of cabinet posts, Kenney said the new portfolio will be necessary to implement the party’s platform — but that it will not be a permanent position.

Kenney also told reporters regulations that protect health and safety will be safe from elimination.

“This is not about reducing consumer, environmental or health and safety protections, this is just about applying regulations in a smarter way,” Kenney said. “It’s an outcome-based approach.”

The UCP Leader pointed to the F grade the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) gave Alberta on its red tape report card for the past three years.

“Alberta is the only province in Canada that gets an ‘F’ for its red tape burden, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business,” Kenney said. “What an embarrassment. Whatever happened to our idea of Alberta as the free enterprise province where we get things done?”

The domain name campaign continues, with Kenney announcing the launch of a stop the red tape website where business owners can submit their “red-tape story.”

Kenney’s announcement received a round of applause from the business community, including the chambers of commerce in Edmonton and Calgary.

The proposed Red Tape Reduction Act echoes legislation introduced by Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford’s government late last year. Cutting 25 per cent of all business regulations was one of the most touted planks of Ford’s successful election platform.

While Ontario’s Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, was sold as an “open for business” measure to cut red tape, the proposed legislation scrapped business regulations relating to: toxic chemicals, employment standards, child care caps, safety in assembly plants, pawnbrokers, food safety testing, water extraction permits, wastewater treatment, private career colleges and cellphone contracts. It is currently before an Ontario legislative committee.

Following the introduction of Bill 66, CFIB raised Ontario’s red tape ranking from C+ to A-.

More from the UCP leader

Kenney says the NDP is taking comments made by UCP MLA Mark Smith at last Friday’s education debate out of context. Smith suggested education funding could be frozen under a UCP government until the budget is balanced. Premier Rachel Notley swiftly latched on and accused the UCP hurting students.

“That’s a misrepresentation that was taken out of context,” Kenney said. “I have been clear overall that if we grow the economy, we can eliminate the deficit without cutting spending.”

However, the UCP leader did not shy away from hacking away at one big-ticket item on the budget: Energy Efficiency Alberta. Kenney said the agency’s energy efficiency programs, which are funded by the province’s carbon tax, will be “gone” if his party forms government.

“This is Alberta — we don’t need bureaucrats changing our shower heads and our light bulbs for goodness sakes. What we need are jobs,” Kenney said.

He said the UCP’s campaign platform will include a “realistic plan” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

When asked by reporters about the Alberta Independence Party — an upstart separatist party hoping to gain official party status ahead of the spring election — Kennet said concerns over unfair treatment of the province should be addressed within the federation.

“Rather than separate Alberta from Canada, I want to separate Justin Trudeau from the Prime Minister’s office,” Kenney said.

Today’s events

March 7 at 10:15 a.m. – Fort Saskatchewan Federal Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains will be at the Heartland Petrochemical Complex for a funding announcement.

March 7 at 1 p.m. – Edmonton The United Conservative Party will announce proposed legislation to support domestic violence survivors at the UCP headquarters.

March 7 at 1 p.m. – Edmonton Transportation Minister Brian Mason will announce projects approved for funding under the Alberta Community Transit Fund at the Centennial Garage.

March 7 at 5 p.m. – Calgary Premier Rachel Notley will host a cocktail reception for legal and business professionals with tickets ranging from $250 to $1,000.

March 7 at 7 p.m. – Edmonton Labour Minister Christina Gray will host a mix and mingle fundraiser at a private residence.

March 7 at 7 p.m. – Banff The NDP will host a house party fundraiser at a private residence in Banff.

Topics of conversation

● Randy Kerr is out as the UCP candidate for Calgary Beddington. He is being replaced by Josephine Pon, the runner up in the riding’s nomination race. ○ In a statement, UCP executive director Janice Harrington said the party removed Kerr as a candidate after he was not “forthcoming” about donations he made to former leadership candidate Jeff Callaway’s leadership campaign. ○ “To be clear, the Party is not making any allegation against Mr. Kerr regarding the legitimacy of his contribution to the Callaway Leadership, nor against Mr. Callaway or his campaign,” Harrington said. “This is not the Party’s role to judge, and the Party does not in any way oversee financial contributions to leadership campaigns.” ○ Kerr was a co-campaign manager for Callaway’s leadership campaign to which he also donated $4,000, according to reporting from the CBC. ○ Last week, Callaway’s other co-campaign manager Cameron Davies received $15,000 in penalties from the elections commissioner for two counts of obstructing an investigation.

● Alberta Party MLA Karen McPherson announced she will not seek re-election this spring. McPherson was elected as an NDP MLA for Calgary—Mackay—Nose Hill but left the NDP caucus in October 2017, saying the increasing polarization in Alberta politics required more voices in the centre. McPherson sat as an Independent for less than a month before joining the Alberta Party. ○ McPherson said she is leaving politics to support her mother during her battle with lung cancer and to focus on her own personal struggle with mental health. She also used her outgoing statement to shine a light on the need for more women in politics. ○ “I very deeply believe our society can only be improved by the increased participation of women, of all perspectives, in the political arena, but I find that the commitment required of public servants is beyond my capabilities right now,” McPherson wrote in a statement released Wednesday.

● Documents obtained by the Financial Post reveal six oil companies have been in talks with the province to secure funding for heavy oil upgrading projects. In February 2018, the province announced $1 billion in funding — $200 million in grants and $800 million in loan guarantees — for partial upgrading projects with the goal of reducing the amount of diluted bitumen being shipped through pipelines. The province hopes upgraded bitumen will be able to flow through pipelines without blending agents. ○ The six companies on the shortlist seen by the Post are Suncor Energy Inc., Husky Energy Inc., MEG Energy Corp., Fractal Systems Inc., Greenfire Oil and Gas Ltd, and Value Creation. (Value Creation already received a $440 million loan guarantee from the province in January for a proposed partial upgrading plant near Edmonton.) ○ The UCP has called on the NDP not to sign any new contracts ahead of the spring election.

● Press Progress, a registered third-party advertiser and NDP-friendly news outlet, fanned the flames of controversy surrounding UCP Leader Jason Kenney’s leadership win with revelations that the accounting firm that oversaw the voting process had familial and financial ties to the UCP and Kenney’s campaign. ○ The UCP has defended itself against allegations of voter fraud by stating the voting process in the leadership campaign was audited by a third-party that found no evidence of vote tampering. ○ According to Press Progress, that audit was conducted by Dorward & Co., a firm founded by UCP candidate for Edmonton—Gold Bar and Kenney supporter David Dorward and now owned by his son Spencer Dorward, a frequent financial donor to the UCP. ○ The integrity of the leadership vote was called into question by fellow UCP leadership contender and former Wildrose leader Brian Jean in 2017 and later by ex-UCP MLA Prab Gill, who alleges Kenney’s campaign team utilized an offshore server and fake email accounts to divert UCP members’ votes to Kenney.

● AB Today obtained a copy of a cease and desist letter sent to Gill from Kenney’s legal counsel last week. In the letter, Kenney’s lawyer Steven Dollansky says Gill could be in for a defamation suit if he does not retract the statements he made about Kenney’s leadership campaign’s alleged vote tampering. ○ The letter gives Gill three days from the date it was received to issue the retraction, as well as an apology. It was sent on February 25. ○ “As an elected MLA we have the privilege to say the truth and not be sued,” Gill said on a Wednesday edition of 630 CHED’s Ryan Jespersen Show, adding that he considers the lawyer letter and Unite Alberta’s incognito Twitter video of him to be intimidation tactics.

● Premier Rachel Notley released a statement in support of the province’s canola growers Wednesday afternoon following news the Chinese government is blocking exports of the crop from Richardson International Ltd. ○ Notley called on Ottawa to “stop its navel-gazing about its internal controversies and fight back” against the Chinese government’s ban, which is widely seen as political retribution for the arrest of Huawei Technologies CFO Meng Wanzhou by Canadian officials last December. ○ Richardson International exports 30 per cent of Alberta’s canola. ○ “We need certainty — and now, more than ever, we need Ottawa to be in Canada’s corner,” Notley said Wednesday.

● Former U.S. president Barack Obama discussed the future of Alberta’s oil and gas industry during a ticketed event in Calgary Tuesday, saying the sector provides good jobs now, but the science behind climate change is “indisputable.” ○ “If you are a practical person and you, let’s say, work in the oil and gas industry right now and it provides a great living, and you feel like you’re providing a great service. This is critical to the global economy, and you take great pride in your work — you should,” Obama said. “But understand that we’re going to have to make some choices one way or another. And either we’re going to do it intentionally and thoughtfully and seriously, or it will happen to us. And by the time it happens to us, it may be too late. And that, I think, is how we have to think about it.”

● Experts say the delay to the Enbridge Line 3 construction project will cause “turmoil” in an already struggling market, CBC reports. ○ Scotiabank Commodity economist Rory Johnston released a report Monday suggesting even more oil-by-rail capacity will be needed thanks to the project’s extended timeline. ○ Premier Rachel Notley told reporters on Tuesday she will not extend the oil production curtailment as a result of the anticipated one-year construction delay.

● As part of its multi-year transition to becoming an officially recognized university, Red Deer College has selected the name Red Deer University to be its future namesake.

News briefs — Governmental Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services Alberta Health Services and the Alberta Association of Midwives reached a three-year agreement that includes expanding midwifery services into rural and Indigenous communities, boosts compensation for care during pregnancy and a grows in the number of midwives in the province.

The agreement is set to expire on March 31, 2022. Negotiations will reopen in the contract’s final year.

The agreement is the latest in a series of contracts signed with workers in the province.

This is the latest is a slew of successful collective agreements signed by the governing NDP. The province signed its sixth and final major public service contract when it concluded negotiations with the province’s auxiliary nursing care staff represented by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees on January 3. It also achieved successful agreements with the Alberta Teachers’ Association, the Health Sciences Association of Alberta and the United Nurses of Alberta.

Funding announcements Treasury Board and Ministry of Finance ● Finance Minister Joe Ceci announced $15 million in funding for two new flood resilience projects in Calgary Wednesday. These include a permanent flood barrier to protect the city’s downtown area and a stormwater separation project for the community of Sunnyside-Hillhurst. ○ In July 2013, Calgary and other communities including High River were hit by the worst flooding in the province’s recorded history. ○ Five people died and the damages were estimated at $5 billion. ○ The government has committed to spending $43 million on flood reduction across the province this year.

Ministry of Transportation ● Transportation Minister Brian Mason announced $20 million to build three new safety rest stops — one on the QEII between Calgary and Edmonton and two along the Yellowhead highway west of Edmonton.

Nominations Alberta Liberal Party ● Claire Wild was acclaimed as the Liberal candidate for Edmonton—Rutherford.

AB Today is written by Catherine Griwkowsky, reporting from Alberta's legislative press gallery.

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