AB Today – Daily Report June 19, 2020

Quotation of the day

“The majority of my constituents in Cypress—Medicine Hat and from across our land have made clear that we must seek another relationship, as a sovereign people.”

Fair Deal panelist and UCP MLA goes further than the panel’s report in a blog ​ ​ ​ ​ post addressed to Premier . Barnes argues Alberta should seek ​ ​ ​ ​ independence if Ottawa doesn’t cede to its demands.

Today in AB

On the schedule The house is scheduled to convene on Monday at 1:30 p.m.

Thursday’s debates and proceedings Health Minister introduced Bill 24, COVID-19 Pandemic Response Statutes ​ ​ ​ ​ Amendment Act, which allows the government to carry out activities that would have been done under a public health emergency without declaring another.

Justice Minister introduced another government bill, Bill 25, Protecting ​ ​ ​ ​ Albertas from Theft Act, which aims to crack down on scrap metal theft.

MLAs debated Bill 19, Tobacco and Smoking Reduction Amendment Act, at third reading. ​ ​

Premier Jason Kenney stood in the house to speak to Government Motion 24, which ​ ​ denounces racism. Debate was adjourned soon after NDP MLA Jasvir Deol proposed an ​ ​ amendment to the motion calling for a creation of a panel to study racism in Alberta.

In the legislature Guests were welcomed back to the legislature (by invitation) as of this week. Graduate students researching education policy were introduced as guests of NDP Education critic Sarah ​ Hoffman. ​

Omnibus bill to extend certain health orders, delay annual Treasury Board report A new piece of omnibus legislation would allow the UCP government to continue its response to the COVID-19 pandemic while circumventing the need for a state of public health emergency.

A fleet of public health orders and ministerial orders that were scheduled to expire on August 14 are now being extended into next year, including unpaid sick leave provisions.

The province’s push for businesses to keep furloughed employees tied to the company also got a boost. The legal temporary layoff period was extended from 120 days to 180 as soon as the bill was granted first reading.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro’s Bill 24 also brings in some new measures, including giving ​ ​ ​ ​ post-secondary students more leeway to pay back loans and expanding daycare and other child care limits from 10 children and staff to 30.

The bill actually limits the government’s powers more than they were under the state of public health emergency, according to Shandro.

“It probably is strange to hear a minister asking for less power,” Shandro told reporters, noting an emergency state gives the province the authority to conscript people for work and expropriate property.

The bill also buys the government time when it comes to its fiscal response to pandemic by postponing the tabling of the annual spending update report from Treasury Board and Finance from June 30 to August 31. The annual infrastructure report will get the same treatment.

Pandemic-era rules from the Justice Ministry allowing legal documents such as wills and powers of attorney to be signed via two-way video conference have also been extended and could be made permanent.

NDP Health critic David Shepherd said he approved of the extension of the public health ​ ​ orders, as well as the ongoing wage top-ups for front-line health-care workers limited to a single-site.

However, he slammed the UCP for failing to correct the overreach in the controversial Bill 10 ​ that passed at the height of the pandemic. (A bi-partisan legislative committee is reviewing the law.)

The official Opposition also gave a thumbs up to the extension of unpaid workers’ leave but lamented that it does nothing to provide paid leave to ill workers. The New Democrats also questioned why there was no funding tied to the extension of job-protected leave for parents who have to care for sick children.

Today’s events

June 19 around 10:30 a.m. – Teleconference ​ Premier Jason Kenney and Transportation Minister Ric McIver will announce new funding for ​ ​ ​ ​ municipal infrastructure projects.

Topics of conversation

● As of Thursday, there were 49 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Alberta, bringing the total number of active cases in the province to 489. ○ There are 34 people hospitalized, including six in intensive care. ○ To date, 152 people have died, with another death in Edmonton.

● UCP MLA for Cypress—Medicine Hat and Fair Deal panelist Drew Barnes penned a ​ ​ ​ ​ “dissenting” opinion to the panel’s report on his blog, voicing support for Alberta’s separation if Ottawa does not capitulate to the province’s demands. The post is addressed to Premier Jason Kenney. ​ ​ ○ “While I appreciate that my colleagues on the panel do not believe that Alberta can or should raise the prospect of independence under any circumstance, I must respectfully disagree,” wrote Barnes, who was notably absent at the government’s release of the report Wednesday. “A free people must be willing to at some point of injustice without rectification, to draw a line and make a stand.” ○ The panel’s report concluded that the majority of Albertans do not believe in separation as a solution. ○ Freedom Conservative Party president Rick Northey also chimed in to call the ​ ​ report a “toothless” document designed to pacify Albertans into accepting federalism. ○ “The premier unfortunately will not stand up for Alberta,” Northey said. “It is time to put someone else in charge. It’s time for the new Wildrose.”

● The Alberta RCMP weighed in on the UCP’s support for a Fair Deal measure to create a provincial police force to replace Mounties. ○ “The safety and security of citizens has always been the number one priority of the Alberta RCMP, and it will continue to be as long as we have the privilege of being Alberta’s Provincial Police Service,” said Deputy Commissioner Curtis ​ Zablocki, commanding officer of the Alberta RCMP, adding on a pledge to ​ modernize and evolve the force. ○ The RCMP came under fire last week after video footage circulated of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations Chief Allan Adam being violently arrested over an ​ ​ ​ ​ expired licence plate tag and as part of a broader conversation on police brutality. ○ Albertans are not happy with how the RCMP redeploys its officers around the province and country and the force fails to respond to local needs, according to the Fair Deal panel report.

● The Vatican renewed its call for Catholics to divest from the fossil fuel industry on the ​ ​ fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ famous encyclical calling upon Catholics to shun fossil ​ ​ fuel companies and other businesses harmful to the Earth. ○ The Vatican's latest release calls for more stringent environmental monitoring. ​ ​ ○ One year ago Thursday, when asked about the Pope’s stance promoting carbon pricing, Premier Jason Kenney, a staunch Catholic, responded: “I don't take my ​ ​ cues on tax policies from the Pope. He doesn't have a vote in Alberta.”

● The Alberta Federation of Labour resurrected its 15 is Fair campaign to maintain the $15 ​ ​ minimum wage after Premier Jason Kenney hinted potential rollbacks could be part of ​ ​ the UCP’s economic recovery strategy during question period. ○ During the election campaign Kenney said rolling back the minimum wage is a complete “non-starter,” but this week he committed to a panel review of the NDP-era minimum wage hike. ○ The UCP’s platform promised to retain a $15 general minimum wage while studying a differential wage for alcohol servers as well as the impact of the NDP’s increase to base wages. ○ “I suspect it’s going to underscore that what the NDP did was to kill tens of thousands of jobs for vulnerable people, especially our youth and newest Albertans,” Kenney said. “Shame on them.” ○ The UCP lowered the minimum wage for youth last year.

● Alberta’s population has been on the up and up since early 2018 and continues to grow. A new quarterly population report from Statistics Canada shows the seventh consecutive net gain from interprovincial migration, with 3,123 more people moving to Alberta than leaving in the first quarter of 2020.

○ Alberta’s overall population growth has outshined Canada’s since January 1, 2019 — the province’s population grew by 92,479 people for a growth rate of 2.1 per cent. Countrywide, the growth rate was 1.8 per cent.

News briefs

NDP accuses government of attempting to sell off homes for medically fragile people ● NDP Community and Social Services critic accused the government of ​ ​ trying to privatize facilities that are home to medically fragile and disabled children and adults. ○ In an emailed statement, Community and Social Services Minister Rajan ​ Sawhney’s spokesperson Diane Carter told AB Today the ministry is exploring ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ options for alternative program delivery for residential care programs in Edmonton and Calgary. ○ “Adults and children with disabilities will continue to receive the care and services they require,” Carter said, adding that provincewide over 90 per cent of similar services are delivered by contracted service providers. ○ The ministry sent a 90-day notice of privatization to two homes in Edmonton.

Question period

NDP continues minimum wage questioning

● NDP Leader asked the premier to apologize for lying in the last ​ ​ election when he said he would not reduce the minimum wage. ○ “If you won’t commit to protecting the minimum wage here and now — and I beg you to do that — will you at least apologize for the fact that the UCP lied to Albertans in the last election?”

● Premier Jason Kenney responded by saying her question is answered in the UCP’s ​ ​ election platform — which said the NDP’s decision to increase the minimum wage would be reviewed. ○ He followed up accusing Notley of being in denial about the jobs crisis she created while she was in the premier’s chair. ○ “She and her NDP government drove this province into the most protracted period of economic stagnation in its history since the 1930s, in part, yes, because they killed tens of thousands of jobs for vulnerable people — entry-level people, folks at the margins of the labour market, young people and single moms — whose jobs were taken away by a 50 per cent increase in wage rates in the middle of a recession. They were wrong to do so. That’s why we’re working to get the economy back on track.”

Other NDP questions NDP MLAs also asked about the cost of pulling out of the Canada Pension Plan, the privatization of care homes for medically fragile people, the handling of the COVID-19 outbreak at meat-packing plants, Green Line LRT funding, cuts to athletics programs at universities, rural physicians leaving their communities, relief for Calgarians whose property was damaged by hail and economic recovery for female workers.

UCP friendly questions UCP backbenchers asked about the Fair Deal panel report, road test booking, a return to classrooms, encouraging health innovation and support for small business.

Lobbyist registrations

Consultants who registered as lobbyists from June 12, 2020 – June 18, 2020

● John Szumlas, FJS Consulting ​ o Clients: Bee Clean Building Maintenance Ltd. ​

● Diana McQueen, DMC Consulting ​ o Clients: Wapiti Gravel Suppliers ​

● Farid Foroud, Elan MacDonald and Brian Senio, Global Public Affairs ​ ​ ​ o Clients: Entos Pharmaceuticals ​

● Brian Senio, Glenn Monteith and Elan MacDonald, Global Public Affairs ​ ​ ​ o Clients: Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation ​

● Jordan Pinkster, Global Public Affairs ​ o Clients: Michelin North America (Canada Inc.); Red Bull Canada Ltd. ​

● Brian Senio, Yonathan Sumamo and Elan MacDonald, Global Public Affairs ​ ​ ​ o Clients: Brazeau County ​

● Shayne Saskiw, Jonathon Wescott, Pascal Ryffel, Philippe Johnson and Votham ​ ​ Jennifer Anastasiadis, Alberta Counsel ​ o Clients: Bigstone Cree Nation ​

● Jason Ennis, Jordan Pinkster, Elan Macdonald and Brian Senio, Global Public ​ ​ ​ Affairs o Clients: Prince Rupert Port Authority ​

● Jordan Pinkster, Elan MacDonald and Farid Foroud, Global Public Affairs ​ ​ ​ o Clients: Amazon.com, Inc. ​

● Brian Senio, Jason Ennis and Elan MacDonald, Global Public Affairs ​ ​ ​ o Clients: International Paper ​

● Elan MacDonald, Brian Senio and Melissa Carvalho, Global Public Affairs ​ ​ ​ o Clients: MacLab Development Group ​

● Brian Senio, Doug Noble, Danielle Cruz, Rachel Wenger and Justin Smith, Global ​ ​ ​ Public Affairs o Clients: Gibson Energy ULC ​

Organizations that registered in-house lobbyists from June 12, 2020 – June 18, 2020

● Lime Technology Inc. ● International Union of Operating Engineers, Local Union No. 955 ● The Canadian Institute for Biological Carbon ● Western Canadian Shippers' Coalition ● TC Energy Corporation ● Insurance Bureau of Canada ● Premier Tech Ltée ● Nature Conservancy of Canada (Alberta Region) ● International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 424 ● Nutrien Ltd. ● Canadian Medical Association ● BASF Canada Inc. ● ConocoPhillips Canada Resources Corp.