AB Today – Daily Report March 4, 2020 Quotation of the day “It’s refreshing to see a little bit of truth.” NDP deputy leader Sarah Hoffman reacts to Premier Jason Kenney telling the Calgary ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Sun that his government’s spending cuts over three years amount to 14.1 per cent, not the ​ 2.8 per cent he had been citing. Today in AB On the schedule The house will convene at 1:30 p.m. The following government bills could be debated at second reading: ● Bill 1, Critical Infrastructure Defence Act; ​ ● Bill 2, Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Amendment Act; ​ ● Bill 3, Mobile Home Sites Tenancies Amendment Act; ​ ● Bill 4, Fiscal Planning and Transparency (Fixed Budget Period) Amendment Act; and ​ ● Bill 5, Fiscal Measures and Taxation Act, which is related to budget implementation. ​ MLAs continue to debate budget estimates at committee, starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday’s votes and proceedings Finance Minister Travis Toews tabled Bill 5, Fiscal Measures and Taxation Act, which passed ​ ​ ​ ​ first reading. Committees this week Budget estimates will be heard at committee this week in the Rocky Mountain Room and ​ ​ Parkland Room on the second floor of the Federal Building until Thursday. Premier watch Premier Jason Kenney chaired a cabinet meeting Tuesday where ministers were briefed by ​ ​ chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw on COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. On Monday, ​ ​ Hinshaw announced the province is advising those who have travelled to Iran to self-isolate for 14 days. There have been no confirmed or probable cases of the virus in Alberta. Kenney also appeared on CTV’s Power Play to talk about the economic impact of the ​ ​ ​ ​ coronavirus. On Monday evening, Kenney met with the Advisory Council on Alberta-Ukraine Relations. Finance minister introduces bill to amend five acts, change education and post-secondary rules as part of budget implementation The Alberta government tabled plans to amend five separate pieces of legislation on Tuesday, with major changes to education and post-secondary funding on the way. Finance Minister Travis Toews tabled Bill 5, Fiscal Measures and Taxation Act, which — ​ ​ ​ ​ among other things — will require school boards and charter schools to obtain permission from the province before spending their reserve funding for the next two years. The change precedes the planned introduction of a new cap on the amount of funding that boards can keep in reserves. The government has not determined the size of that cap. As of August 31, 2019, Alberta school boards had just under $364 million in reserves. The new legislation would also change how the government and school boards bargain with teachers, giving the finance minister final say on the employer-side bargaining board. The Alberta Teachers’ Association agreement with the province expires on August 31, 2020. “We’ve been very clear there is no provision for wage increases,” Toews told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday. The Act will amend the Public Education Collective Bargaining Act. The Teachers’ Employer ​ ​ Bargaining Association was set up in 2016 by the previous NDP government with eight government representatives and six trustee representatives. The UCP is adding one trustee representative. He said changes to the board structure will lead to efficiency. The changes also move final authority to ratify agreements to the government-majority board instead of the 61 school board trustees. The board will also get to determine who and when to give a fee for operations of the TEBA. It also shifts the authority over the act from the Education Minister to the president of the Treasury Board and finance minister. Education critic Sarah Hoffman said school boards will be dipping into reserve funds more than ​ ​ ever to offset cuts by the government. “Last year, Jason Kenney and the UCP couldn’t move quickly enough to get rid of oversight of ​ ​ school fees charged to parents — they said school boards can charge whatever they want,” Hoffman said. “This year, in Bill 5, the Fiscal Measures and Taxation Act, the Minister is making it clear that school boards require her approval before spending any of their reserve funds.” She told reporters the move was to prevent boards from spending money, which would look like a deficit on the provincial government’s balance sheet. Hoffman said that is in contrast to when boards charge parents fees, which is accounted for as revenue, Hoffman said. Fifteen per cent of post-secondary funding to be tied to performance Among the new changes, Alberta's 26 post-secondary institutions will have to sign three-year deals with the province that will tie 15 per cent of their funding to performance measures as of April 1. Post-secondary institutions are in the middle of negotiations with the government as to what their targets under the new performance measures will be. The new funding model replaces the Campus Alberta funding model, which gives grants based, in part, on previous enrolments. This will be enacted by shifting post-secondary funding from Comprehensive Institutional Plans to Investment Management Agreements, the UCP government’s planned funding instrument for outcomes-based funding. “Our overall plan is to slowly reduce reliance on provincial government funding within our post-secondary institution system,” Toews said. “We will be encouraging post-secondary institutions to be entrepreneurial. To take advantage of opportunities they’ve had in the past and will have in the future to raise own-source revenues and to really strengthen the institutions as a whole.” Toews said the government has eliminated public reporting of provincial funding for individual institutions in this year’s budget. Previously, the province provided a breakdown by institution of Campus Alberta grant funding. Lastly, the proposed legislation will allow post-secondary institutions to sell or lease land and borrow money through a ministerial order, rather than requiring the approval of the entire cabinet. “We’re in a transition period right now,” Toews said, adding more details are forthcoming. Other changes Amendments to the Tourism Levy Act will add a four per cent tourism levy on short-term rentals ​ ​ such as Airbnb and VRBO, something hotel rooms and other traditional accommodations already have. The bill also includes a housekeeping item that clarifies that universal life insurance policy cannot be used as a stand alone investment or deposit account. Today’s events March 4 at noon — Edmonton ​ ​ Premier Jason Kenney, Health Minister Tyler Shandro and Alberta Health Services president ​ ​ ​ ​ and CEO Dr. Verna Yiu will make an announcement at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute ​ ​ at the University of Alberta hospital around the surgical wait times initiative. March 4 at 12:30 p.m. — Edmonton ​ ​ The Alberta Federation of Labour, United Nurses of Alberta, Health Sciences Association of Alberta and Canadian Union of Public Employees, and representatives from 20 other private and public sector unions will make an announcement about the next phase of their “fightback” campaign. The announcement will be made at the Health Science Association of Alberta office. March 4 at 1 p.m. — Plamondon ​ ​ Laila Goodridge, parliamentary secretary for the Francophonie, will speak at the ​ Franco-Albertan flag raising at the Centre Culturel Philip-Ménard. Topics of conversation ● Premier Jason Kenney told Calgary Sun columnist Rick Bell the cuts in the budget are ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ actually 14.1 per cent over three years — not the 2.8 per cent figure often cited. ○ Bell said Kenney consulted his phone for the number from University of Calgary economist Ron Kneebone. The 14.1 per cent number is lower than under former ​ ​ premier Ralph Klein, who cut 29.7 per cent over three years from 1993 to 1995. ​ ​ ● An Angus Reid Institute survey shows Premier Jason Kenney’s popularity fell below the ​ ​ ​ ​ majority, with 47 per cent approving of the premier, down seven points from January. ● Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Marilyn Gladu was in Red Deer on ​ ​ Tuesday. ○ Gladu reiterated her belief that the federal Conservatives should try to force an ​ ​ election as soon as October 2020, which fellow leadership contestant Peter ​ MacKay has also advocated for. ​ ● The Consumer Choice Centre issued a news release, saying the new vape tax brought in under Budget 2020 will lead to more black market vaping. ○ David Clement, CCC’s Toronto-based North American affairs manager, said the ​ 20 per cent tax on vaping products will push people to the cheaper black market. ● A CBC fact check finds the NDP’s claim of 50,000 jobs lost since the UCP government ​ ​ brought in the corporate tax cut is an exaggeration. ○ Statistics Canada states there are 36,000 fewer workers for both full-time and part-time from January to June based on the Labour Force Survey statistics. ● Speaker Nathan Cooper posted a video about Chester Reynolds, grandfather of ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds, who was an MLA for Stettler from 1940 until 1944. ​ ​ ○ Prior to becoming an MLA, “Ches” was a stallion inspector. News briefs NDP ask auditor general to investigate change of dates to income support payments ● NDP Finance critic Shannon Phillips and NDP Community and Social Services critic ​ ​ Marie Renaud wrote a letter to Auditor General Doug Wylie, asking him to investigate a ​ ​ ​ recent change in date for provincial benefit payments. ○ The NDP alleges that moving the payment dates for Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped to the first day of each month, instead of a few days before, was done to fudge budget numbers. ○ Budget 2020, which also contained the third-quarter fiscal update for 2019-20, claims a $63-million decrease in expenditures for the Ministry of Community and Social Services, reflecting a change to benefit payment dates. ○ The NDP argues this has no material effect on actual spending and that it was a political decision.