Highlights from the fall Legislature sitting

Time flies. It’s a bit of an overused statement, but boy does it ring true. And the older we get, the more applicable it seems. As you prepare for what I hope will be a wonderful Christmas season for you and your family, I thought I’d bring you up to speed on a few of the highlights from the fall Legislature sitting.
The session came to a close at roughly 2:00am on Thursday, December 6th.
This happened just shortly after they had passed Bill 45 – the Public Sector Services Continuation Act and Bill 46 – the Public Service Salary Restraint Act. The government limited debate on these Bills to a mere 2 hours each. In effect the bills terminate legal rights of arbitration so they can force their preferred deal upon workers without good faith negotiation. If representatives do not comply with their demands, the Government will implement an imposed wage freeze for the first time in our province’s history. Immediately after the shortened debate, both bills were passed by the government majority, despite our efforts to reason with them.
Earlier in the fall session, Our Wildrose team lead the charge and managed to thwart Bill 28, legislation that would have given power to the Alberta government to jail or fine elected municipal counsellors for failing to comply with mandatory growth boards. It was draconian at best and our efforts, along with some intense push back from municipal leaders forced them to amend this bill.
As education and advanced education critic, I once again had my hands full holding government to account.
Do you remember all the election promises made on the education front? So many have been broken, it’s hard to keep track. Perhaps the most troubling was the government’s commitment to build 50 new schools and renovate 70 more this term. They knocked on doors and promised that’s what they would do. Well I did some digging, and to my knowledge, not one of those projects has been started. They’ve made countless announcements and had more photo ops than Justin Bieber, but not ONE has been started. Now if it takes about three years to build a school, it’s pretty safe to say their election promise was nothing more than a big blast of hot air meant to sway your vote at the polls. It’s sad really, because there is a desperate need for schools in Alberta. Class sizes are ballooning, our kids are on stages, in hallways, and gymnasiums, but not one school has been started by this government. This is troubling.
They also broke a promise to our local school board. The government pays the lease for the facility at Prince of Peace School. Before the election, they sent Rocky View School Board a letter promising to continue paying the lease, recognizing the tremendous value of the school, not to mention the fact there is no room for kids anywhere else these days. Well guess what? True to form after the election, they sent another note stating that the financial situation had changed and they wouldn’t be making the full payment. Imagine signing your mortgage and then phoning the bank awhile later to tell them you couldn’t make the full payment because times had changed financially?! We all know how that would go over. Yet somehow, remarkably, this government not only gets away with it, but they think it is OK. Thanks to Rocky View School Board for stepping up and finding the money.
And one more highlight ….er…low light from the fall session. Remember the investigation by the ethics commissioner into the Premier’s awarding of a 10 billion dollar tobacco lawsuit to her ex husband’s law firm? Well, the results came back, and the ethics commissioner found no fault. Now this is the same government-appointed commissioner who decided it was OK for a defeated PC cabinet minister to be hired back into his former department (despite specific legislation against this practice without a one year cooling off period) because he was quote: “part of the government family.” Yes, you are correct. It smells. What’s worse is they dropped the report on our desks the day they ended session so she wouldn’t have to answer for it in question period.
Yes it was an interesting and troubling session on many levels, but rest assured that my colleagues and I were very busy asking tough and fair questions on your behalf.
Now that session is over, I’m very much looking forward to spending some time in the constituency. There is much to do locally and large as the riding of Chestermere – Rocky View is, I enjoy getting around and helping where I can.
On a personal note, Ally and I picked out a nice balsam fir at the tree lot at the Chestermere recreation centre today. I left the decorating to the girls so I could head to the office and write this column.
It really is a great time of year. I hope you spend it with the people you love. And one piece of advice, enjoy every minute of it, because time really does fly!