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AB Today – Daily Report December 1, 2019

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AB Today – Daily Report December 1, 2019 AB Today – Daily Report December 1, 2019 Quotation of the day “Come hell or high water, Alberta will get a fair deal.” United Conservative Party Leader and Premier Jason Kenney addresses supporters during ​ ​ his keynote at the UCP AGM on Saturday night. Today in AB On the schedule The house is scheduled to convene at 1:30 p.m for private members’ business. This was slated to be the final week of the fall session, but a motion to extend the session beyond Thursday is on the order paper. If it passes, there will be a constituency break next week. There are four private member’s bills that could be called for debate: ● UCP MLA Roger Reid’s Bill 206, Workers’ Compensation (Enforcement of Decisions) ​ ​ ​ ​ Amendment Act, could be debated at third reading; ● UCP MLA Mark Smith’s Bill 204, Election Recall Act, could also be debated at third ​ ​ reading; and ● UCP MLA Matt Jones’ Bill 205, Human Tissue and Organ Donation (Presumed ​ ​ ​ ​ Consent) Amendment Act, could be debated at second reading. If passed, it would make Alberta the second province with presumed consent for organ donation. Finally, MLAs could also vote on whether or not to accept a committee report on Dan Williams’ ​ ​ contentious Bill 207, Conscience Rights (Health Care Providers) Protection Act. The ​ ​ committee’s report recommends the bill not proceed in the house. There are four government bills remaining on the order paper: ● Bill 20, Fiscal Measures and Taxation Act; ​ ● Bill 21, Ensuring Fiscal Sustainability Act; and ​ ● Bill 29, Municipal Government (Machinery and Equipment Tax Incentives) Amendment ​ Act, are all at committee stage. Bill 26, Farm Freedom and Safety Act, is at third reading. ​ Committees this week The Standing Committee on Public Accounts will meet tomorrow morning to discuss the Auditor General’s report on the Alberta Energy Regulator’s activities surrounding the International Centre of Regulatory Excellence. In the legislature On Sunday, health-care workers and members of the Crohn’s and Colitis Canada Edmonton Chapter rallied against the government’s proposed move to swap drug coverage from biologics to biosimilars, which the group says should only be done on the basis of doctor/patient choice. Health Minister Tyler Shandro says the switch was designed to save money, but ​ ​ representatives from the Crohn’s and Colitis organization say the pharmaceutical company that manufactures biologics is willing to match the price on biosimilar drugs. Premier watch Premier Jason Kenney spoke at the 2019 Bennett Jones World Cup Business Forum in Lake ​ ​ ​ Louise on Friday before heading to Calgary for the UCP’s annual general meeting. Kenney is in Toronto today for the first meeting of the Council of the Federation since the October federal election. The premier also has meeting on the docket with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa next ​ ​ week. He will be joined by a “ministerial delegation.” UCP informs unions it is slashing thousands more public sector jobs Public sector unions in Alberta learned of massive layoffs on Friday, with up to 5,900 full-time jobs on the chopping block over the next three years, including 2,500 Government of Alberta positions. The United Nurses of Alberta (UNA), Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) and Health Sciences Association were told of the cuts in letters sent from Alberta Health Services (AHS) Friday. According to AUPE, thousands of full-time positions at AHS will either be cut or contracted out to private providers, including housekeepers, laundry attendants and administrative assistants in the health sector. The UNA also said 750 registered nursing (RN) and psychiatric nursing positions will be affected, but is worried more cuts are to come. “From the tone of what we were told, we believe this is only the first wave of layoffs affecting RNs represented by UNA,” said UNA president Heather Smith in a news release, adding that ​ ​ “there are also clear indications that AHS plans to shift many of the costs of health care onto Albertans who require treatment.” According to AHS lead negotiator Raelene Fitz, the letter the organization received from the ​ ​ government said job cuts will come from attrition until March 31, 2020. Beginning April 1, jobs will be slashed through collective agreements. Collective bargaining is already underway with some unions, while others are due for negotiations in the spring. Finance Minister Travis Toews said unions were notified of the planned cuts last week as a ​ ​ “requisite step” in the bargaining process. The status quo is not sustainable when it comes to government spending, according to Toews, who cited the MacKinnon report. “This means that some difficult but necessary decisions are required to ensure available funding is directed to the front-line services Albertans need most,” Toews said. “These could include changes to staffing levels, aligning resources to areas where need is greater, as well as finding alternative ways to deliver services that would keep jobs in the Alberta economy.” Fitz’s letter notes the government’s “operational best practice” review is only in its early stages and it does not know “the extent of any potential impacts to the workforce at this time.” NDP Health critic David Shepherd accused Kenney of breaking the public health guarantee — ​ ​ a pre-election campaign promise he signed in February. “This premier tried to claim it was fear and smear when we accused him of cutting front line nurses and health workers. Today, Albertans can see the so-called ‘smear’ was just the truth and the real fear is in the eyes of every Albertan relying on quality public health care,” Shepherd said. The NDP plans to call an emergency debate on the layoffs this week. The Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) said up to 1,000 frontline positions could be ​ ​ cut or contracted to private providers, including lab workers. This does not include jobs that will be eliminated via the privatization of hospital transfer ambulance services, which the HSAA says the UCP is also mulling. HSAA president Mike Parker criticized Premier Kenney for “dumping such dramatic shifts to our ​ ​ public health-care system” while he was in Calgary for the UCP’s annual general meeting, calling him an “underhanded coward.” “Once again this premier is announcing critical decisions that impact Albertans while he is out of the public limelight,” Parker said, alluding to the government’s move to fire the election commissioner while Kenney was in Texas on a trade mission. The AUPE provincial executive and local chapters will meet this week to determine next steps. Party faithful energized at United Conservative Party AGM, protestors demonstrate outside Alberta’s United Conservative Party saw about 1,600 members convene in Calgary over the weekend, where they voted on motions and heard from conservative leaders at the party’s first AGM since its resounding election victory earlier this year. Following an introduction by Laureen Harper, and an electronic dance music remix of the ​ ​ party’s “Strong and Free” campaign song, party leader and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney ​ took the stage Saturday evening for an hour-long speech that received multiple standing ovations. Buoyed by resolutions passed earlier in the day, Kenney renewed his call for a “fair deal” within the Canadian federation. With the federal government set to convene this week for the first time since the October election, Kenney set out a laundry list of priorities for his upcoming dealings with Ottawa. These include getting a guarantee on the completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion pipeline project; increasing the $60 per person cap on Ottawa’s Fiscal Stabilization Program; obtaining approval for carbon capture tax incentives; securing the repeal of federal Bill C-48 and mitigation of Bill C-69; and allowing Alberta’s TIER program ​ ​ ​ ​ to qualify as a provincial carbon tax. Kenney repeated a favourite catchphrase of Ontario Premier Doug Ford — “promise made, ​ ​ promise kept” — 17 times. He told supporters that, of 374 platform commitments the party made during the 2019 provincial election, the government has implemented 92 and work is underway on 56 more. Referencing a tweet in which one reporter complained about the barrage of information the UCP has been dishing out to the media, Kenney said he loves that kind of criticism and claimed, “you ain’t seen nothing yet.” In his speech, he also referenced Alberta’s suicide rate, saying it is 50 per cent higher than ​ ​ Ontario’s. On Sunday, Kenney joined his cabinet colleagues for a bear pit session, where audience members asked questions of the government. Embattled CPC leader receives warm reception in Calgary Rumours of a mass walkout swirled ahead of Conservative Party of Canada Leader Andrew ​ Scheer’s speech on Friday, but the CPC leader was well-received. ​ Scheer told delegates he was disappointed by October’s federal election result, where his ​ ​ party came in second in the seat count to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. ​ ​ However, he warned against in-fighting within the conservative movement — several prominent conservatives have criticized Scheer’s leadership in recent weeks, including former Conservative campaign director Jenni Byrne, former Conservative senator ​ ​ Jean-Guy Dagenais, Premier Ford’s election advisor Kory Teneycke, and Ontario Proud ​ ​ ​ and Canada Proud founder Jeff Ballingall. ​ ​ UCP members pass resolutions favouring privatized health care On Saturday, UCP members also tackled a fleet of proposed resolutions related to policy and governance. Those in attendance voted against a motion that made compliance with the Canada Health Act mandatory, but voted in favour of opening the door to more privately provided health care. A controversial policy resolution to bring in a voucher system for education narrowly passed, but Education Minister Adriana LaGrange told The Star she has no plans to implement it.
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