AB Today – Daily Report February 15, 2019

Quotation of the day

“The NDP promised to get big money out of politics. But they have done the opposite.”

UCP Leader Jason Kenney says he will institute a $30,000 limit on how much a donor can contribute to a political action committee, if elected premier.

Today in AB

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

Kenney announces slew of democratic reform promises ahead of UCP election readiness convention

UCP Leader Jason Kenney committed Thursday to install a series of new democratic reforms and campaign finance rules, if elected premier.

With an eye to letting voters “fire liars,” Kenney says he would enact legislation allowing recall petitions so voters can “fire their MLA in between elections if they have lost the public’s trust.”

Kenney’s rhetoric on the proposed change targets Premier Rachel Notley and her introduction of a carbon tax, which was not explicitly laid out in her 2015 campaign platform. Kenney has said Notley enacted the tax without a mandate and called it “the biggest lie in Alberta political history.”

British Columbia is the only jurisdiction in Canada with recall legislation, where it has been in place since 1991. However, no MLA has ever successfully been removed as the result of a recall campaign (one stepped down under the pressure from a recall petition). Like B.C.’s law, Kenney’s proposal would require 40 per cent of voters in a riding to sign a petition in order to remove their MLA.

“Empowering citizens to hold their MLAs to account will strengthen Alberta democracy,” Kenney said Thursday.

In Alberta, former Social Credit premier William Aberhart introduced recall legislation in 1936, but when his own constituents indicated they planned to use it to boot him out of office, he scrapped the bill in October 1937.

Recall legislation is likely to play well with Kenney’s conservative base. While in opposition, the Wildrose Party tried three times to get recall legislation passed but was unsuccessful.

In January, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation penned an op-ed in the Calgary Sun advocating for Alberta to introduce recall legislation.

Kenney also promised to cap donations to political action committees (PACs) at $30,000 per donor, citing recent large union donations to NDP-friendly PACs that he says prove Notley’s campaign finance reforms have failed to “get big money out of Alberta politics.”

He also pledged to ban unions and other organizations that are “legally affiliated” with a political party from running a PAC or paying for third-party advertising. Kenney referred to this plank as “closing the ‘AFL loophole,’” a reference to the Alberta Federation of Labour’s well-funded pro-NDP ad campaigns.

Kenney also committed to: ● Setting a fixed election date; ● Allowing UCP members to have free votes in the legislature; ● Banning floor-crossing (instead an MLA would be forced to resign and run in a byelection for their new party of choice); ● Requiring a referendum on any future carbon tax; ● Ending partisan government advertising; ● Reinstating elections allowing Albertans to nominate their own Senators; and ● Improving decorum in the House.

The UCP will hold an election readiness conference at the Edmonton Expo Centre this weekend. The event will include campaign training for candidates and a keynote speech from UCP Leader Jason Kenney on Saturday evening.

Topics of conversation

● Auditor General Doug Wylie is investigating ties between the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) and the not-for-profit International Centre of Regulatory Excellence (ICORE), which was founded by AER’s former president and CEO, Jim Ellis, the Globe and Mail reports. ○ Per the Globe, Ellis launched ICORE in 2017 (while he was still AER chief) to advise energy regulators in other countries on best practices for managing the sector. However, Ellis also established a for-profit corporation under a similar name the same year. ○ The allegations remain murky, but unnamed current and former employees told the Globe Ellis diverted staff and resources from AER to (the non-profit version of) ICORE. ○ Wylie is apparently not the first Alberta watchdog to investigate ICORE — according to documents obtained by the Globe, Public Interest Commissioner Marianne Ryan has been digging into the alleged corruption since a someone blew the whistle last year. ○ Wylie’s retirement took effect January 31. He would not respond to questions from Globe reporters on the story.

● Supporters of Ottawa’s carbon backstop program had their day in Saskatchewan court Thursday, with the federal government’s lawyers arguing it has authority to impose carbon pricing because climate change is a matter of national concern. ○ The federal government and nine interveners in favour of its policy, including representatives from the B.C. government, environmental groups and the Assembly of First Nations, provided testimony to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal on day-two of the legal challenge.

● A truck convoy promising to bring its pro-energy industry message to the federal government departed from Red Deer yesterday and is scheduled to arrive in Ottawa on next Tuesday. ○ The “United We Roll” convoy will head across the country in protest of federal bills C-48, Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, and C-69, Impact Assessment Act, and policies oil workers view as an attack on their industry.

○ A separate group — Rally for Resources — also planned a convoy to Ottawa, but organizers cancelled because of United We Roll’s ties to the Yellow Vest movement and its anti-immigrant views. ○ The United We Roll convoy has a protest planned on Parliament Hill on February 19.

● Alberta Party House Leader Greg Clark ran the numbers and now says the new caucus funding formula approved by the members’ services committee this week is worse than he originally thought.

● The United Conservative Party sent a Valentine’s Day greeting to Premier Rachel Notley and the NDP, but it was no love poem. ○ The party’s official Twitter and Instagram accounts spread a graphic with the line, “Roses are red, violets are blue, call the election. And let us choose!” The note was addressed to the NDP, “from Albertans.”

● Former Wildrose Leader Brian Jean announced the birth of his daughter Annabella Frances Jean on February 13. Jean and his wife Kim Jean announced the pregnancy on Facebook Live a month ago. ○ In the announcement, Jean also talked about wanting a better future in the province for his soon-to-be born daughter.

● Ex-UCP MLA Prab Gill sent a letter to RCMP “K” Division deputy commissioner Curtis Zablocki, outlining criminal activities he alleges took place during the 2017 UCP leadership race. ○ The letter claims Jason Kenney’s leadership campaign team assigned fraudulent email addresses to UCP members it signed up so it could control their voting access. ○ Gill claims he was told about the thousands of fraudulent off-shore email addresses by a member of Kenney’s team early in the leadership race and, once the voting period commenced, asked by a volunteer to vote on behalf of a short list of members. ○ Gill was ousted from the UCP party after allegations of ballot box stuffing related to his own nomination race. Gill quit caucus, but later denied the allegations. ○ UCP executive director Janice Harrington told the Edmonton Journal safeguards were in place to prevent voter fraud and a private contractor was hired to manage the party’s voting technology.

Today’s events

February 15 at 9:30 a.m. – Edmonton Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell will host two Grade 5 classes at Government House to celebrate National Flag Day.

February 15 at 1 p.m. – Calgary Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips will announce a “historic” solar power contract at the McDougall Centre.

February 15 at 2:30 p.m. – Red Deer Alberta Culture and Tourism Minister Ricardo Miranda will meet with his federal, provincial and territorial ministerial counterparts to discuss a national strategy to make sports more safe and inclusive.

February 15 at 5 p.m. – Edmonton Morinville—St. Albert NDP candidate Shawna Gawreluck will host a “coffee party” fundraiser at a private home.

Weekend events

February 15 - 17 – Edmonton The UCP will hold its election readiness conference at the Edmonton Expo Centre. UCP Leader Jason Kenney will give a keynote speech to party faithful at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

February 16 at 1 p.m. – Calgary The Green Party of Alberta will hold a candidate preparation workshop.

February 16 at 2:30 p.m. – Edmonton The Alberta Party Riverview and Glenora campaign office will hold its grand opening.

February 16 at 7 p.m. – Calgary The Alberta NDP will host an election readiness event at the Genesis Centre. February 16 at 7 p.m. – Edmonton Anju Sharma, the Alberta Party candidate for Edmonton—Mill Woods, will host a Valentine’s Day dance at the Council of India Society in Edmonton.

February 15 - 23 – Red Deer The the 2019 Canada Winter Games will be held in Red Deer. The city will welcome 340 athletes to participate in 19 events.

News briefs — Non-governmental

NDP launches “fact-based” website targeting Jason Kenney’s social conservative record

NDP House Leader Brian Mason announced the launch of an NDP-run anti-Jason Kenney campaign website Thursday that details Kenney’s voting record on abortion, LGBTQ rights, health care privatization and tax breaks for high-income earners.

“Given that the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, Albertans deserve to know these and other truths about Mr. Kenney before they choose their next premier,” Mason said.

“The Truth About Jason Kenney” website contends Kenney has “spent his entire career trying to restrict access to abortion and roll back women's rights” and “led a cruel and dehumanizing campaign against LGBTQ Canadians.”

Mason said in addition to the website, there will be a digital ad campaign.

Funding Announcements

Province to fund Telus World of Science expansion ● Premier Rachel Notley re-announced $12 million in cash for the expansion and modernization of Edmonton’s Telus World of Science. ○ The funding was earmarked in the 2018 budget. ○ The expansion will add more than 2,000 square metres of new gallery space that will include an arctic gallery and a new “science garage.”

Appointments and Employments

Clerk of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta ● Merwan Saher, who served as the province’s auditor general for eight years, was appointed clerk of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. ○ Saher will be only the eighth person to serve in the role. ○ He replaces Robert Reynolds, who served as clerk from April 2016 to September 31, 2018.

Alberta Human Rights Commission ● Nancy Henderson was appointed as director of the Alberta Human Rights Commission for a five-year term.

Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta ● James Robert Farrington will be paid on a full-time basis instead of a per diem to reflect that he is now a full-time master in chambers of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta.

Labour Relations Board ● Ayla Akgungor was appointed vice-chair of the Labour Relations Board for a three-year term.

Alberta Energy Regulator ● Linda Coady was appointed board member of the Alberta Energy Regulator, effective July 1 for a term expiring June 30, 2024. ● Edward Euen Whittingham was appointed board member of the AER for a term expiring February 11, 2024.

Energy Efficiency Alberta ● Carissa Browning was appointed board member of Energy Efficient Alberta until April 30, 2022.

Lobbyist registrations

If you are looking for further information on any lobbying registry, it is all public and easily searchable here.

Consultants who registered as lobbyists from February 8, 2019 – February 14, 2019

● Sally Housser, Brent Kossey, 1689986 ALBERTA LIMITED carrying on business as Navigator o Clients: Cisco Systems Canada Co.

● Yonathan Sumamo, Sean Casey, Tara Mazurk, Jason Ennis, Global Public Affairs o Clients: Banff Center for the Arts and Creativity

● Candice Laws, Global Public Affairs o Clients: Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Canada

● Yonathan Sumamo, Global Public Affairs o Clients: Book Publishers Association of Alberta

● Christopher Ghazouly, Alberta North Projects Ltd. o Clients: Titanium Corporation

● Kyle Larkin, Impact Public Affairs o Clients: Intellectual Property Institute of Canada

● Brad Lavigne, Amber Ruddy, Counsel Public Affairs Inc. o Clients: Canopy Growth Corporation

● Ramiro Mora, CWell Consulting Inc. o Clients: Insurance Bureau of Canada

● Sandie Price, Sandie Price o Clients: Arts Habitat Edmonton

● Lee Funke, Torque Communications o Clients: Westmoreland Coal Company

Organizations that registered in-house lobbyists from February 8, 2019 – February 14, 2019

● Alberta Wheat Commission ● Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors ● Association of Alberta Registry Agents ● 7-Eleven Canada ● Egg Farmers of Alberta ● Alberta Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association ● GlaxoSmithKline Inc. ● Canadian Beverage Association ● Alberta Seniors Communities & Housing Association (ASCHA)

● Nauticol Energy Ltd. ● Alberta Canola Producers Commission ● Husky Energy Inc. ● AstraZeneca Canada Inc. ● Desjardins General Insurance Group ● Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc.

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

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