AB Today – Daily Report March 6, 2020 Quotation of the day “No one will have their deeply held beliefs dismissed as ‘stinking albatrosses’ under Erin O’Toole’s leadership.” ​ ​ Premier Jason Kenney endorses Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Erin ​ ​ ​ O’Toole, and jabs at CPC hopeful Peter MacKay’s remark that outgoing leader Andrew ​ ​ ​ ​ Scheer’s socially conservative views were a “stinking albatross” for the party. ​ Today in AB On the schedule The house will break for a constituency week and will return on March 16. Thursday’s votes and proceedings NDP Justice critic Kathleen Ganley introduced a private member's bill that would bar elected ​ ​ officials from interfering in investigations into their own political parties, such as when the United Conservative government fired election commissioner Lorne Gibson last year. ​ ​ Bill 202, Conflicts of Interest (Protecting Rule of Law) Amendment Act, gives greater definition ​ to what constitutes a conflict of interest. MLAs continued to debate budget estimates. In the legislature Speaker Nathan Cooper gave up his chair to Angela Pitt in recognition of International ​ ​ ​ ​ Women’s Day. Premier watch Premier Jason Kenney endorsed Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Erin ​ ​ ​ ​ O’Toole. Kenney had previously suggested former interim leader Rona Ambrose or former MP ​ ​ ​ John Baird would make the best leaders of the party after Andrew Scheer announced his ​ ​ ​ resignation. Kenney made the endorsement the same day CPC leadership hopeful Peter MacKay was in ​ ​ Edmonton. A day earlier, Mackay held a campaign stop in Calgary and was photographed with Prab Gill and Happy Mann, two former UCP members who are connected to the investigation ​ ​ ​ of the UCP leadership race. Kenney also met with addictions treatment facilities staff from Oxford House and Poundmaker’s Lodge. Supervised consumption services review finds ‘a system of chaos,’ claims socioeconomic harm around all sites except Edmonton A government review of supervised consumption services (SCS), ordered by the United Conservatives shortly after they took office last year, found the services have led to increases in crime and collected inaccurate overdose data. The eight-person committee tasked with reviewing the socioeconomic impact of SCS released ​ its 294-page report in Calgary on Thursday, painting a bleak picture of the sites. “What we heard was a wakeup call,” Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jason ​ Luan said at a news conference. ​ Luan noted allegations of improper management of funds at the ARCHES-run Lethbridge site, and said provincial auditors have been called in to investigate, but refused to comment further on the allegations. While the committee, headed up by former Edmonton Police chief Rod Knecht, was supposed ​ ​ to focus on the socioeconomic impact — such as crime and needle debris — of SCS sites, the report accused centres of misreporting data on “adverse events” such as overdoses. The report claims that while there were no deaths at the sites, death rates increased in their immediate vicinity. There are currently seven SCS sites across the province, in Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge. There are proposals for three more sites, one each in Red Deer, Medicine Hat, and Calgary. According to the report, Edmonton was an outlier in reporting benefits from the sites. All other communities said SCS had had a negative socioeconomic impact in the area of the sites. Knecht said there was “de-policing” in Edmonton as officers said they felt they could not go in and arrest users, which led to an influx of drug dealers. He said it put officers in a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario. The Edmonton Police Service responded with a statement of their own, saying the sites save lives and that they will continue to work to keep users and the surrounding communities safe. While the centres were set up to address the opioid crisis, the committee spoke about the behaviour of methamphetamine users with aggressive behaviour. Luan said there was an absence of referral to treatment and a “system of chaos” at SCS sites in Alberta. He said his government is moving towards a treatment-based continuum of care, but stopped short of saying whether he would shutter any of the sites. NDP Mental Health and Addictions critic Heather Sweet, who was a social worker prior to being ​ ​ elected, said the committee was set up to deliver a report with a predetermined outcome. “This government is moving away from talking about the opioid crisis and responding directly to methamphetamines, which is also an issue in the province, but is not a rationale to say supports and services being offered at SCSs are not sufficient,” Sweet said. Today’s events March 6 at 7:30 a.m. — Red Deer ​ ​ Agriculture and Forestry Minister Devin Dreeshen will speak at the Alberta Beef Industry ​ ​ Conference at the Cambridge Red Deer Hotel and Conference Centre. March 6 at 9:30 a.m. — Morinville ​ ​ Premier Jason Kenney and Infrastructure Minister Prasad Panda will make an announcement ​ ​ ​ ​ about the UCP’s capital plan at the St. Kateri Tekakwitha Academy. March 6 at 10 a.m. — Edmonton ​ ​ Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women Minister Leela Aheer will speak at an ​ ​ International Women’s Day brunch at The King’s University. March 6 at 1:30 p.m. — Fort McMurray ​ ​ Parliamentary secretary for the Francophonie Laila Goodridge will speak at the ​ ​ Franco-Albertan flag raising at Centre Communautaire Scolaire Boreal. Upcoming events March 7 at 8 p.m. — Calgary ​ ​ Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women Minister Leela Aheer will speak at the Alliance ​ ​ Cameroon’s International Women’s Day celebration at Montgomery Community Hall. March 7 at 7 p.m. — Calgary ​ ​ Premier Jason Kenney will host a fundraising evening of Pints and Politics at the Bull & Finch ​ ​ Bridlewood. March 8 at 10 a.m. — Calgary ​ ​ Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women Minister Leela Aheer will speak at the ​ ​ International Women’s Day celebration at the Sikh Society of Calgary Gurudwara. At 2:30 p.m. she will speak at the Girls Lead: A Toolkit for Supporting Girls’ Leadership and Activism launch at the Calgary Central Library. At 3 p.m. she will speak at the International Women’s Day seminar at the Baitun Nur Mosque. March 8 at noon — Plamondon ​ ​ Parliamentary secretary for the Francophonie Laila Goodridge will speak at the Cabane à ​ ​ Sucre at Centre Culturel Philip-Ménard. Topics of conversation ● The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear an appeal from five applicants hoping to turn over the approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. ○ Energy Minister Sonya Savage said the project is not out of the woods yet, ​ ​ warning “illegal protests and blockades” continue to be a concern. ○ “The same well-funded and organized groups involved with the protest camps, sabotaging of public infrastructure, and the shutdown of Canada’s railway will stand in opposition to future major infrastructure projects — especially oil and gas,” Savage said in a statement. ○ “This type of unrest has serious ramifications on not just Alberta’s economy, but all of Canada’s. These protestors do not speak on behalf of First Nations, but actually stand in the way of First Nations becoming true partners in prosperity. The rule of law must be maintained so that these projects can be completed on time and on schedule.” ● Alberta announced its first presumptive case of COVID-19, also known as coronavirus, on Thursday evening. The patient is a woman in her 50s, who it is assumed got the virus while on a cruise ship in California last month. She is currently in isolation in Calgary and is expected to recover. ○ Earlier in the day, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer, ​ ​ acknowledged concerns from physicians who said they aren't getting enough information on the role primary care will play in response to the outbreak. ○ “This is a concern, and we will work to ensure that our communications and coordinated planning efforts reach all health-care providers who will be impacted by COVID-19,” Hinshaw said in a statement. ○ “Since January, Alberta Health has been working with Alberta Health Services (AHS) and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA), among others, to provide information and guidance to physicians on the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation,” she added. “Department staff are meeting weekly with all key health professional colleges to ensure they are aware of the planning underway and to get their assistance in sharing important information with their members.” ○ Meanwhile, NDP Health critic David Shepherd is among those who has asked ​ ​ the government to suspend its changes to physician compensation while the province deals with the coronavirus outbreak. ● Environment and Parks Minister Jason Nixon is denying the province ever planned to ​ ​ sell provincial parks off to municipalities, First Nations or non-profit groups after outrage over the plan. ○ Nixon released a statement on Facebook and spoke to reporters on Thursday, ​ ​ saying the reference to a “sale” was not of Crown land, but of other park assets. ○ A news release from Nixon’s press secretary Jess Sinclair sent on February 29 ​ ​ stated: “Sites identified are mainly small and under-utilized provincial recreation areas that would become vacant public land. Work is underway to determine if some of these facilities and areas could stay open under a public lands management model. Through prospective sale or transfer to First Nations or entities such as a municipality or non-profit, these sites could continue to provide important economic and recreational benefits to local communities.” ● Alberta’s energy war room got a dishonourable mention in the Canadian Taxpayers ​ ​ Federation‘s provincial category of the Teddy Waste Awards. ○ The war room, a.k.a the Canadian Energy Centre, got a mention for the unknown amount of money spent on a logo, which was found to be plagiarized and had to be redone.