Legislative Assembly of Alberta the 27Th Legislature First Session
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Legislative Assembly of Alberta The 27th Legislature First Session Standing Committee on Resources and Environment Thursday, September 4, 2008 1:02 p.m. Transcript No. 27-1-3 Legislative Assembly of Alberta The 27th Legislature First Session Standing Committee on Resources and Environment Prins, Ray, Lacombe-Ponoka (PC), Chair Swann, Dr. David, Calgary-Mountain View (L), Deputy Chair Berger, Evan, Livingstone-Macleod (PC) Boutilier, Guy C., Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo (PC) Calahasen, Pearl, Lesser Slave Lake (PC) * Drysdale, Wayne, Grande Prairie-Wapiti (PC) Elniski, Doug, Edmonton-Calder (PC) ** Griffiths, Doug, Battle River-Wainwright (PC) Hehr, Kent, Calgary-Buffalo (L) Mason, Brian, Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood (NDP) McQueen, Diana, Drayton Valley-Calmar (PC) Oberle, Frank, Peace River (PC) Webber, Len, Calgary-Foothills (PC) * substitution for Frank Oberle ** substitution for Diana McQueen Bill 23 Sponsor Mitzel, Len, Cypress-Medicine Hat (PC) Support Staff W.J. David McNeil Clerk Louise J. Kamuchik Clerk Assistant/Director of House Services Micheline S. Gravel Clerk of Journals/Table Research Robert H. Reynolds, QC Senior Parliamentary Counsel Shannon Dean Senior Parliamentary Counsel Corinne Dacyshyn Committee Clerk Erin Norton Committee Clerk Jody Rempel Committee Clerk Karen Sawchuk Committee Clerk Rhonda Sorensen Manager of Communications Services Melanie Friesacher Communications Consultant Tracey Sales Communications Consultant Philip Massolin Committee Research Co-ordinator Stephanie LeBlanc Legal Research Officer Diana Staley Research Officer Rachel Stein Research Officer Liz Sim Managing Editor of Alberta Hansard Transcript produced by Alberta Hansard September 4, 2008 Resources and Environment RE-25 1:02 p.m. Thursday, September 4, 2008 Ms Dean: Thank you, Mr. Chair. What I wanted to discuss today Title: Thursday, September 4, 2008 RE was the issue of how the committee wanted to handle the submis- [Mr. Prins in the chair] sions it has received on Bill 23. It’s entirely up to this committee as to how it decides to deal with these submissions and whether it The Chair: Well, good afternoon, everyone. I’d like to call the decides to make them publicly available, and by publicly available meeting of the Standing Committee on Resources and Environment I mean whether the submissions would be available on the commit- to order, seeing that it’s 1 o’clock. What I’ll do is welcome tee’s external website. everybody. It’s good to see everybody back from the summer. I see Now, we all have a general awareness of the principles in the that we have most people back, anyway. What I’ll do is ask Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. I would like everyone to introduce themselves around the table, and for the ones to point out that although the Legislative Assembly Office itself is that are substituting for regular members, just indicate that on the a public body under that act, the Assembly and the committees, record. We’ll start over on this side here with Pearl. technically speaking, are not public bodies, so again it’s up to the committee to determine how it wants to handle its documents. There Ms Calahasen: Pearl Calahasen, MLA for Lesser Slave Lake. I’m are, however, relevant concerns from this legislation that we feel you here representing Frank Oberle. should be apprised of and that should inform your consideration of what submissions or what parts of submissions should be made Mr. Mason: Brian Mason, MLA for Edmonton-Highlands- public. Norwood. I have to say that with respect to the subject matter before you, namely weed control, some of these issues aren’t that relevant, but Ms Dean: Shannon Dean, Senior Parliamentary Counsel. I would like to just walk you through the different categories of information that may be considered for severing. Last year the Dr. Massolin: Good afternoon. I’m Philip Massolin. I’m the policy field committees approved resolutions that addressed how its committee research co-ordinator, Legislative Assembly Office. submissions would be handled. Again, these aren’t binding precedents, but we would like you to just be aware of what happened Ms Staley: Diana Staley, research officer, Legislative Assembly last year. Office. First, where there was personal information contained in a submission – and by personal information I mean something beyond Ms LeBlanc: Stephanie LeBlanc, legal research officer, Legislative the name of the author of the submission: identifiable information Assembly Office. such as e-mail addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, and so on – it would be our recommendation that this information be severed Mrs. Kamuchik: Louise Kamuchik, Clerk Assistant, director of from the submission before it’s posted on our external site. The House services. reason is that it would just be too readily available in the public domain. Ms Sales: Tracey Sales, communications consultant with the The second category of information that should be given special Legislative Assembly Office. consideration is identifiable information about a third party. Now, with respect to the submissions on Bill 23 I don’t think that that is an Ms Friesacher: Melanie Friesacher, communications consultant issue. It has come up with some of the other committees where with the Legislative Assembly Office. they’re dealing with mental health issues or guardianship issues. Again, if the issue were to come up, we would recommend that the Mr. Griffiths: Doug Griffiths, MLA for Battle River-Wainwright. third-party information be severed because the third party, obvi- ously, has privacy rights. Mr. Berger: Evan Berger, MLA, Livingstone-Macleod. Another situation where information should be severed, in our view, is if the author of the submission has requested that the Mr. Elniski: Doug Elniski, MLA, Edmonton-Calder, filling in for submission not be made public. Diana McQueen. Finally, there are a few other categories. For example, sometimes there is potentially defamatory information in a submission. It Mrs. Sawchuk: Karen Sawchuk, committee clerk. would be prudent not to have this publicly available. It would be our position that the Assembly and the committee are likely protected The Chair: Thank you. I’m Ray Prins, MLA for Lacombe-Ponoka. with respect to any sort of lawsuit surrounding defamation, but it The next thing on our agenda is Approval of Agenda. I think would not be prudent to make public or post potentially defamatory everyone has it in front of them. If it’s okay or if it’s not to be statements about an individual. revised, we’ll ask for a motion to approve that. That’s made. All in The last category would be material that may be considered favour? That’s carried. Thank you. offensive. This didn’t come up last year. It is coming up with Then we’ll go to the meeting minutes from July 9, and everyone respect to one of the other committees. For example, a submission has them as well, I believe. Could we have a motion to adopt those may contain profanity. Again, we’re just looking for direction to minutes as circulated? Once again, there’s a motion on the floor. sever those excerpts from the submission. Any comments or questions? All in favour? That’s carried. Thank The overarching principle here is protection of personal informa- you. tion. I think that’s the most relevant information that should be That brings us all the way to number 4, Handling of Submissions. severed from your submissions. Again, the first question that you I believe that possibly Shannon Dean has some comments that she have to decide is whether the submissions should be made publicly would like to make prior to moving into that topic. Go ahead, available and then take it from there. Shannon. I’ll turn it over to you, Mr. Chair. RE-26 Resources and Environment September 4, 2008 The Chair: Thank you very much. Ms Dean: Mr. Chair, given the nature of the submissions that you Before we go on, I believe there’s a member on the telephone line. have before you, I think that the motion that the committee needs to Is that correct? consider is simply giving direction with respect to severing the personal information, and I think that will cover what you need to Mr. Hehr: Yes. Good afternoon. It’s Kent Hehr, Calgary-Buffalo. cover. The Chair: Thank you very much, Kent. Welcome. The Chair: Pretty well everything, yeah. Okay. Is someone willing Another member, Len Mitzel, just joined us. Welcome. Len is to make that motion? Pearl is making that motion. the sponsor of the bill, so you’re most welcome to be at the table. Ms Calahasen: I make the motion that Mr. Mitzel: Thank you very much. we sever anything to do with personal information and anything to do with the privacy rights. The Chair: Great to have you here. Now, we’ve just heard some comments from Shannon about the Ms Dean: Other than that, the submissions would be made public. submissions. Are there any questions or comments to her regarding these issues? The Chair: Yes. Correct. That’s agreeable to everybody? Everyone in favour? Opposed? I see none or hear none, so that is Mr. Mason: I have no difficulty with the personal information, but carried. when it comes to drawing the line between, you know, things that Another thing that came up during the time that we were receiving are offensive and things that are not, it raises a question for me, and submissions is that there were a couple of stakeholders that have the question is: who makes the decision? requested an extension to this deadline for the submissions because they missed the deadline, I guess. They’re asking if we could extend The Chair: I guess that’s a good question. Do you have an answer that.