AB Today – Daily Report October 27, 2020 Quotation of the day “When you throw fuel on the fire, you’re going to get burned.” Alberta Union of Provincial Employees president Guy Smith speaks at the picket line of a ​ ​ wildcat strike. Today in AB Written by Catherine Griwkowsky On the schedule The house will reconvene at 1:30 p.m. The government could call any of the following items for afternoon and evening debate: ● Bill 35, Tax Statutes (Creating Jobs and Driving Innovation) Amendment Act; ​ ● Bill 36, Geothermal Resource Development Act; ​ ● Bill 37, Builders’ Lien (Prompt Payment) Amendment Act; and ​ ● Bill 38, Justice Statutes Amendment Act. ​ Monday’s debates and proceedings UCP MLA Peter Singh introduced Bill 205, Genocide Remembrance, Condemnation and ​ ​ ​ ​ Prevention Month Act, which was granted first reading. MLAs debated UCP MLA Tany Yao’s Bill 204, Voluntary Blood Donations Repeal Act, at ​ ​ ​ ​ committee of the whole stage. In the evening, MLAs continued second-reading debate on Bill 35, Tax Statutes (Creating Jobs ​ ​ and Driving Innovation) Amendment Act, which brings in new innovation incentives and officially lowers the corporate tax rate. Bill 36, Geothermal Resource Development Act, was also debated at second reading. ​ Labour relations board rules health-care strike illegal Health-care support workers at roughly two dozen health-care facilities across the province who walked off the job in a wildcat strike were ordered back to work yesterday evening. The Alberta Labour Relations Board ruled the strike action illegal and ordered the strikers, represented by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), to report for their scheduled shifts or face enforcement by a court order. Finance Minister Travis Toews said he was pleased the strike was ruled illegal. ​ ​ “Those involved in this illegal action will be held accountable," Toews said earlier in the day. In a statement released late last night, the AUPE said it was communicating the order to all ​ ​ members “to cease and desist their wildcat strike” and return to work. Support workers took to the picket lines in protest of Alberta Health Services’ move to cut or privatize 11,000 jobs, mostly in laundry and food services. “AUPE members won support from across Alberta for their heroic stand, and proved once and for all that health-care staff is more than doctors and nurses,” read the union’s statement. Anger growing for months Earlier in the day, AUPE president Guy Smith, speaking outside the Royal Alexandra Hospital, ​ ​ said workers’ anger has been growing for months. “The recent announcement by Health Minister Tyler Shandro of 11,000 jobs being cut in the ​ ​ middle of a global deadly pandemic was the last straw for them,” Smith said. The extent of the strike included all general support staff at the Westlock Community Health Services and upwards of 100 workers at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Glenrose Hospital and Foothills Medical Centre. The AHS claimed the job action led to some surgeries being postponed. “Patients will be contacted directly if their appointments are affected. Visitors may be limited at some sites depending on the level of strike action,” AHS said in a statement yesterday. ​ ​ Other unions backed strikers Major health-care unions professed their support for the striking support staff ahead of the Labour Board ruling. The Health Sciences Association of Alberta, which represents 27,000 workers including lab techs, said its members would not cross the picket lines. “The blame for any disruption to patient care that may occur today needs to land squarely at the feet of Jason Kenney and the UCP,” HSAA president Mike Parker said in a news release on ​ ​ ​ ​ Monday. The United Nurses of Alberta, which is also weighing potential job action, said its members would not take on the work of other unionized staff. Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan backed the strikers, saying “someone has ​ ​ to stand up to Kenney and the other ideological bullies in the UCP.” NDP Leader Rachel Notley also blamed Kenney for introducing “illegal pieces of legislation” ​ ​ targeting workers’ rights. “The wildcat strikes occurring across Alberta are deeply concerning,” Notley said in a statement, adding that “patient safety must always be the top priority.” Today’s events October 27 at 9 a.m. — Virtual ​ ​ The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada will begin virtual public hearings into the joint review ​ ​ panel’s assessment of the Grassy Mountain coal project. October 27 at 9 a.m. — Edmonton ​ ​ The UCP cabinet will meet in the Windsor Room of the Federal Building. October 27 at noon — Edmonton ​ ​ Alberta Union of Provincial Employees is planning a rally at the legislature to protest the privatization of care homes for people with disabilities. Topics of conversation ● Alberta confirmed 1,440 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, 480 cases on average per day. There were 364 new cases on Friday, 572 on Saturday and 504 on Sunday. The number of active cases grew by 826 to 4,477. There are now 118 people hospitalized (up four), including 16 in ICU (up two). Seven new deaths were reported, bringing the total to 307. ○ Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said the rising case counts ​ ​ are putting a strain on other Covid response efforts, including contact tracing. ○ Now, the province will be sending out notifications to event organizers if there is a confirmed positive case associated with a gathering. Hosts will then be responsible for passing the information onto attendees. ○ The Covid positivity rate in Edmonton has grown to more than four per cent (epidemiologists consider three per cent dangerously high). ○ Calgary now is reminiscent of Edmonton a few weeks ago. “The warning bell is ringing; I want all of us to hear its call,” Dr. Hinshaw said. ○ Gatherings in those cities will be capped at 15 people for the next month. Calgary will also implement the voluntary masking and cohort measures Edmonton has been following. ○ Meanwhile, up to 30 per cent of non-urgent surgeries have been postponed. ● Inmates at the Calgary Correctional Centre who have tested positive for COVID-19 have been moved to solitary confinement, CBC reports. ​ ​ ○ Amid an outbreak that has led to at least 65 cases, inmates with the virus told CBC they are living in “filthy” conditions and are put in “the hole” normally reserved for rule-breakers. ● All of the UCP MLAs deemed closed contacts of Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard ​ have tested negative for Covid. ○ Transportation Minister Ric McIver and UCP MLAs Angela Pitt, Peter Guthrie, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ and Nathan Neudorf received negative tests but will stay in isolation along with ​ ​ Premier Jason Kenney. ​ ​ ○ Once the required 14-day isolation period is up on Thursday, MLAs can return to work in person. ● The Alberta Energy Regulator ordered Tamarack Acquisition Corp. to pay $80,000 after the company pled guilty to a charge under the Water Act. ​ ​ ○ Tamarack did not record the amount of groundwater water withdrawn for well drilling operations near Veteran, Alberta, between January 2017 and April 2018. ○ Of the $80,000 penalty, $78,000 will be used to educate landowners on requirements for industry use of water. ● UCP MLA Drew Barnes, a proponent of separation, argued in his blog that “an ​ ​ independent Alberta would be less landlocked than a provincial Alberta.” ○ Barnes posits that B.C. would become Canada’s proverbial “East Prussia” because Arctic permafrost and muskeg would make building a highway to circumvent Alberta “untenable.” News briefs UCP 'prioritizing jobs for Albertans’ by restricting Temporary Foreign Worker program ● Labour and Immigration Minister Jason Copping and Jobs, Economy and Innovation ​ ​ Minister Doug Schweitzer announced the province will drop “the vast majority of ​ ​ occupations” from the Temporary Foreign Worker program. ○ This follows a deal with Ottawa through the Agreement for Canada-Alberta Cooperation on Immigration. ○ The province anticipates the change will make 1,350 jobs available to Albertans, although a number of sectors, including agriculture, tech, emergency response and caregiving are not included. ○ Current temporary foreign workers will not be affected. ● Meanwhile, Copping and Schweitzer introduced two new immigration streams that aim to attract “international job creators and skilled professionals” to the province. ○ The first, the International Graduate Entrepreneur Immigration Stream, will give international graduates of Alberta universities the opportunity to stay in the province if they have plans to start a business venture. ○ The second, the Foreign Graduate Start-up Visa Stream, will aim to attract graduates from “top U.S. universities and colleges” who want to start businesses in the province. Funding announcements Water treatment, flood prevention infrastructure funding rolls in ● Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna announced $107.5 million was ​ ​ approved for eight water treatment and flood mitigation projects in the province. That includes a new flood barrier along the Bow River in Calgary and two new drinking water wells in Siksika Nation. Question period NDP grill government over labour relations ​ ● NDP Leader Rachel Notley led off question period by asking about the wildcat strike ​ ​ over AHS’s proposed 11,000 job cuts in health care. ○ “Exactly which member of the UCP brain trust over there is surprised that these workers have had enough and are finally standing up for themselves?” Notley asked. ● Finance Minister Travis Toews responded that he was disappointed by the illegal ​ ​ strike action. ○ “I’m calling on all health-care workers to get back to work,” he said. NDP Health critic David Shepherd and Health Minister Tyler Shandro also traded personal ​ ​ ​ ​ barbs in the exchange over health-care cuts. Shepherd read from an ad from British Columbia that is attempting to lure Alberta physicians out west. “Is anyone surprised B.C. is willing to welcome them with open arms?” Shepherd asked. In response, Shandro called Shepherd the “Roger Stone of Alberta politics,” referring to the ​ ​ U.S.