AB Today – Daily Report July 4, 2019

Quotation of the day

“This is independent of elected officials. This is the proper protocol for handling matters like this.”

Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Doug Schweitzer declined to say whether he ​ ​ knows the identity of an out-of-province special prosecutor brought in to assist a criminal fraud investigation of the 2017 UCP leadership election.

Today in AB

On the schedule As of 7:30 a.m. Mountain Time, the Alberta Legislature’s Wednesday evening session was still in progress. Committee debate on Bill 8, Education Amendment Act, plods along as the NDP ​ ​ filibuster the legislation that makes good on a United Conservative Party’s campaign promise to change rules governing gay-straight alliances in schools.

Two bills could be called for third reading debate today: ● Bill 8, Education Amendment Act; and ​ ● Bill 13, Alberta Senate Elections Act. ​

The House will break for Stampede week Thursday afternoon but could return and sit until August 1, depending on the will of the government.

Government House Leader Jason Nixon had the following motion on Tuesday’s order paper: ​ ​ “Be it resolved that, pursuant to Standing Order 3(9), the 2019 Spring Sitting of the Assembly shall stand adjourned upon the Government House Leader advising the Assembly that the business for the Sitting is concluded” — however the motion was removed Wednesday.

Tuesday’s debates and proceedings The House tackled all government legislation on the order paper during Tuesday’s afternoon and ongoing evening debate.

Bill 2, An Act to Make Alberta Open for Business, which reduces overtime pay for many hourly ​ workers and changes mandatory holiday pay rules, was debated at third reading in the evening, but did not face a vote.

Bill 13, Alberta Senate Election Act, passed committee stage and was debated at third reading, ​ but was also adjourned before a vote. MLAs passed an amendment to Bill 13 that would require ​ ​ third-party advertisers that spend more that $20,000 during a senate election campaign to file an audited financial statement with the province’s Chief Electoral Officer within six months of polling day.

Bill 12, Royalty Guarantee Act, passed committee stage and third reading. It now awaits royal ​ assent. The bill freezes Alberta’s oil well royalty regime for 10 years.

Bill 8 was debated at committee stage in the afternoon and during the overnight session. ​

In the Legislature Agriculture and Forestry Minister Devin Dreeshen cooked up some beef, pork and canola on ​ ​ the legislature’s south lawn alongside industry representatives and MLAs from both parties — including Premier Jason Kenney — in support of the agriculture sectors affected by China’s ​ ​ suspension of export permits.

Government confirms appointment of special prosecutor from Ontario to assist UCP leadership fraud investigation Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General has tapped a mystery special prosecutor to work on a criminal fraud investigation into the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership race, which Premier Jason Kenney won. ​ ​

Alberta Crown Prosecution Service (ACPS) head Eric Tolppanen confirmed Wednesday that ​ ​ an agreement is in place to bring in the out-of-province help, though the prosecutor’s name has not been released.

The appointment was made at the behest of the ACPS but the individual prosecutor was selected by the Ontario ministry.

Tolppanen stressed appointment was made independently of the Alberta government.

“As this matter is with another prosecution service, ACPS is no longer involved,” Tolppanen said in a statement Wednesday. “As before, the RCMP continue to investigate this matter independently, both of government and the prosecution service.”

The prosecutor will assist the RCMP as the force investigates whether voter identity fraud occurred during the 2017 UCP race. Special prosecutors do not oversee investigations.

Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Doug Schweitzer, who came third in the leadership ​ ​ race, declined to say whether he knows who the prosecutor is. Schweitzer has maintained he respects the RCMP’s independence in the investigation.

A number of people have raised concerns about the UCP leadership contest, including Schweitzer and former Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean, who came in second to Kenney ​ ​

In February, Prab Gill, previously a UCP MLA and who sat as an Independent after being ​ ​ kicked out of caucus, accused Kenney’s leadership campaign team of using fraudulent email ​ ​ addresses assigned to legitimate party members to intercept PINs required to cast a vote for a candidate.

Gill went to the RCMP with the allegations. Both Schweitzer and Minister of Infrastructure ​ Prasad Panda have been questioned by police, though both said they are not under ​ investigation. UCP backbencher Peter Singh has also been questioned. ​ ​

The CBC has more on the specifics of the allegations here. ​ ​

A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General in Ontario confirmed the department ​ ​ has been providing advice to police during the investigation, but offered no further comment.

The Alberta NDP has led the charge in calling for a special prosecutor, arguing that since the allegations involve both the premier and the attorney general, oversight outside the RCMP is necessary.

Opposition Leader Rachel Notley wrote to the province’s deputy attorney general and ethics ​ ​ commissioner on May 2, urging them to initiate the appointment.

Instead the decision to appoint an out-of-province special prosecutor was made by ACPS, which, according to Tolppanen, it began exploring on May 30.

Today’s events

July 4 at 9 a.m. – Edmonton ​ ​ ​ The UCP’s Treasury Board committee will meet in the cabinet room of the legislature.

July 4 at 3 p.m. – Edmonton ​ ​ ​ The UCP legislative review committee will meet in the cabinet room of the legislature.

Topics of conversation

● Project Reconciliation says its $6.9-million bid to buy into the existing Trans Mountain pipeline and the expansion could be ready next week. The Indigenous-led group is ​ ​ angling to buy a majority stake in the pipeline, offering $4.6 billion for 51 per cent ownership of the pipeline expansion and $2.3 billion for an identical stake in the existing pipeline. ○ “There’s real momentum towards Indigenous ownership,” Delbert Wapass, ​ ​ founder and executive chair of Project Reconciliation, said in a news release. “It’s exciting to see support is growing in governments and among Indigenous people. There is a pipeline to reconciliation and we should take it.”

● ATB Financial’s The Owl put out a special Fourth of July report highlighting exports from ​ ​ ​ ​ Alberta to the United States, the province’s biggest trading partner. ○ Of Alberta’s merchandise exports, 87.5 per cent, or $103.3 billion, went to U.S. buyers in 2018.

● A Red Deer Alberta bar owner told CBC a controversial piñata of Prime Minister Justin ​ ​ ​ Trudeau strung up by the neck was “just in fun.” ​ ○ "We were putting together the Canada Day party and I said it'd be funny to make a Justin Trudeau piñata. We filled it with money, candy and little notes of things he promised. It was all just in fun," Rob Newell told CBC. ​ ​

News briefs — Non-governmental

NDP introduces amendments to Bill 8 NDP MLAs held a news conference with LGBTQ activists on Wednesday, laying out plans to table three amendments to Bill 8 they say would increase protections for gay-straight alliances. ​ ​

The first amendment the NDP plans to propose would strike down the “homophobic” and “transphobic” policies of 28 private schools that did not comply with NDP-era education law. When in office, the NDP had pledged to strip these schools of public funding last month if they did not update their policies and codes of conduct to reflect LGBTQ rights.

“If the premier doesn’t accept this amendment he will prove once and for all that he’s just as homophobic as Mark Smith and John Carpay,” NDP LGBTQ critic Janis Irwin told reporters. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

The NDP also have an amendment to re-introduce a deadline for gay-straight alliances to be formed at the request of students and another to add employment protections for LGBTQ staff and teachers.

The latter amendment is aimed at UCP MLA Mark Smith. In 2015, when he was a member of ​ ​ the Wildrose Party, Smith wrote a position paper arguing that Christian schools should be able to fire teachers over their sexual orientation.

“Right now, our goal is to make it less terrible,” Hoffman said of Bill 8. ​ ​

Education Minister Adriana LaGrange spoke to reporters ahead of the debate, saying she ​ ​ hasn’t seen the amendments yet, but welcomed the NDP’s suggestions.

“We’re going to do our due diligence and have a look at every amendment that comes forward and really have that robust conversation and discussion,” LaGrange said.

Question period

NDP lead-off Truth about the province’s finances

● Official Opposition Leader Rachel Notley asked the premier to apologize for providing ​ ​ inaccurate statements to Albertans on the state of Alberta’s finances.

● Premier Jason Kenney countered by saying it is time for the NDP to apologize. ​ ​ Funding for non-compliant private schools

● Notley asked whether 28 private schools that are not compliant with the current law that prohibits overtly homophobic and transphobic school policies will still receive public funding, despite the NDP’s June 30 deadline to cut off funding for non-compliance.

● Kenney stated, unlike the NDP, the UCP believes in pluralism, diversity and religious ​ ​ freedom. “They don’t seem to have much regard for religious freedom as it’s expressed in this province’s long tradition of school choice,” Kenney said of the Opposition.

Other NDP questions NDP MLAs also asked about natural gas tax relief, concerns from Autism Calgary that students are being suspended because there aren’t enough aids to assist in classrooms, abandoned oil and gas well liabilities, screen production grants, building rural hospitals and protecting funding for Legal Aid.

UCP friendly questions UCP MLAs asked about the rural crime strategy and the cost of creating a provincial police force rather than relying on RCMP contracts (the UCP says it will be consulting on the possibility this summer), consultation on land-use decisions, the plan for Alberta’s version of Clare’s Law, the tax credit for shallow gas producers, and fostering job creation.