What Animals Think And Feel

Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel by Carl Safina is a generously descriptive investigation of the biological and behavioural similarities between human and non-human animals as they relate to consciousness. The author follows longtime wildlife researchers at their work and interviews them about the history of their research and the animal behaviours they've observed over decades. The book is split into three sections, each following a different species: elephants, wolves, and orca/dolphins, with research on other animals referred to throughout. The author uses the behaviours they observe as evidence, along with neurobiological similarities, to build an honest and convincing argument for widespread animal cognition and consciousness.

I found this book when I came across excerpts from one of the researcher's accounts of a particular wolf that lived an interesting life in Yellowstone. The wolf is called Wolf 21 and you can probably find these excerpts yourself. It's a beautiful account of a strong, merciful, and loving animal. I'm curious about the conscious experience and thoughts of other animals (Animals and Psychedelics by Giorgio Samorini is another good book). I wonder how animals with very different sense organs, like dolphins, form the world in their mind. I wonder what it is about certain individuals that makes them well-liked by others. I wonder if other animals feel ecstasy or reverence. I wonder what their lives are like and reading about, for example, how elephants live with other elephants makes me feel happy and connected. It's a thoughtful and enriching book.

Legislation passed by Alberta NDP 2015-2018

Below is a list of every bill the NDP passed since winning the 2015 Alberta election along with a short description of what the bill did. The bills I think are most substantive are highlighted and catagorized, followed by all remaining bills listed chronologically by session.

Nearly all the information comes from the legislature website and the government news search

Table of contents
Economy
Environment and Energy
Elections
Education
Health
Rights
Legislation not highlighted above

Economy

Progressive tax and corporate tax - Bill 2 (2015)

• Eliminates Alberta’s 10% flat tax and introduces a progressive taxation system with five rates of personal income tax up to 15% for income above $300,000
• Increases corporate tax rate from 10% to 12%

Minimum wage increase - Employment Standards Regulation

Increased Alberta's minimum wage from $10.20 in 2015 to $15 by the end of 2018 as well as eliminated the differential minimum wage rate for alcohol servers. The government has a summary page that explains how minimum wage works, the reasoning for increasing the wage and links to research on the effects of increasing minimum wage here: https://www.alberta.ca/alberta-minimum-wage-changes.aspx. When first discussing increasing the minimum wage the minister said that the formula for increases, based on the consumer price index and average weekly earnings was inadequate. I couldn't find what formula will be used from now on but I've heard that a relative formula linked to the average wage, specifically 40% of an area's median wage or 60% of the mean, is a good one to go with. The added benefit of such a relative formula is no longer needing to campaign on minimum wage increases.

Budget 2016 - Bill 17 (2016)

Introduced the Alberta Child Benefit (ACB) and enhanced the family tax credit (AFETC). ACB is paid out 4 times/year and in combination with the federal child benefit cut child poverty in Alberta from 2015 to 2017 in half to 5% (Stats Can recommends caution with Alberta's data for persons under 18 but it makes sense given the anti-poverty effects of child benefits: https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2018/11/29/a-child-allowance-would-be-very-effective-at-poverty-reduction).

• Fully funds enrolment growth in public schools
• Increases operating grants to universities, colleges and post-secondary institutions
• Extends tuition freeze for a second year
• Doubles investments in affordable housing to almost $900 million. The funding also funds housing in support of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
• Allocates $365 million for continuing care
• Allocates $3.5 billion to build and modernize schools, including $500 million for additional school projects in future capital plans
• Helps municipalities address their infrastructure needs with $9 billion in funding, primarily though MSI grants. In addition, nearly $700 million is allocated for flood recovery and protection.
• Lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in Canada
• Invests in new green infrastructure and helps to grow Alberta’s renewable energy industry

Act to End Predatory Lending - Bill 15 (2016)

A payday loan is a loan of $1,500 or less that has a term of 62 days or less. There are more than 30 payday loan companies operating more than 220 branches in Alberta.
The legislation:

• Reduces borrowing fees from $23 to $15 per $100 borrowed, making it the lowest rate in Canada
• Allows borrowers to repay loans in instalments, rather than all at once
• Requires lenders to refer borrowers to financial literacy resources
• Prohibits lenders from directly soliciting potential customers
• Includes all fees in calculating cost of borrowing
• Prohibits lenders from charging a fee to cash a cheque for a payday loan
• Prohibits lenders from soliciting, negotiating or concluding an agreement for another form of credit with a borrower while a payday loan is outstanding

AISH and Income Support increases - Bill 26 (2018)

Increases the benefits of AISH and Income Support recipients and indexes the rate of the benefits to the Consumer Price Index. Also increases savings limit for eligibility criteria for AISH child allowance to 100,000 from 3,000 and for AISH personal benefits to 5,000 from 3,000.

AISH trusts - Bill 5 (2018)

Allows AISH recipients, families, and guardians to set up trusts to provide for persons with disabilities without negatively affecting a person's eligibility for the AISH program

Act to Modernize Enforcement of Provincial Offences - Bill 9 (2016)

• Ends the outdated process of jailing individuals to enforce tickets for minor infractions. Albertans will not be arrested for failing to respond to their ticket, nor will they face jail time for failing to pay a fine for a minor infraction.
• Ends the practice of issuing warrants for unpaid fines for minor infractions such as not shoveling a sidewalk or not paying a transit fare. Instead, these infractions would be enforced using other civil measures, including restriction of motor vehicle registry services, filing writs against property, and garnishing wages, bank accounts, income tax refunds and GST rebates.

Home builder licensing - Bill 12 (2017)

Introduces a home builder licensing program so builders have to pass a set of minimum qualifications, which currently they don't have to do, to build a home and secure warranty coverage. Also sets up an online registry of licensed home builders.

Environment and Energy

Climate leadership implementation act - Bill 20 (2016)

• Sets in law Alberta’s carbon levy and carbon levy rebate
• Ensures revenue from the carbon levy is invested into actions that address climate change
• Establishes Energy Efficiency Alberta, the provincial agency that will develop and deliver provincial-scale energy efficiency and small scale renewable programs and services
• For some information about carbon taxes: https://ecofiscal.ca. The short is they work but aren't the only climate change policy required.
• Most recent emissions data is for 2016, which doesn't speak much to the tax's results yet but this report from 2017 mentions its lack of negative economic effects: https://d36rd3gki5z3d3.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Alberta-Carbon-Pricing-Report-EDC.pdf?x84918

Oil Sands Emissions Limit Act - Bill 25 (2016)

• Limits oil sands greenhouse gas emissions to an annual maximum of 100 mega-tonnes. There is currently no limit on oil sands emissions, either by facility or industry-wide.
• A $30/tonne carbon price will be applied to oil sands facilities based on results already achieved by high-performing facilities
• The limit will apply to in-situ sites, mine sites, processing plants, primary production, enhanced recovery and experimental schemes, and buildings, equipment, structures and vehicles associated with those sites
• It's a start, could be better. Information about the limit and some problems with it here: https://www.parklandinstitute.ca/five_things_to_know_about_albertas_oil_sands_emissions_cap

30 by 30 renewable energy - Bill 27 (2016)

Creates the framework to meet a firm target of 30 per cent of electricity used in Alberta coming from renewable sources such as wind, hydro and solar by 2030. Includes interim targets and periodic reviews. The Alberta Electric System Operator has results of the first three electric auctions here: https://www.aeso.ca/market/renewable-electricity-program/rep-results. A fourth auction for 400MW is scheduled for 2019.

Petrochemical diversification - Bill 1 (2018)

Encourages processing of resources in Alberta. Also initiates a partial upgrading program.

Electric Utilities Amendment Act - Bill 34 (2016)

• Comes to agreements with companies to phase out coal by 2030 and also to settle the PPA disputes
• Implements a ban on the door-to-door sale of energy products

Electricity rate cap - Bill 16 (2017)

Caps regulated electricity rate at 6.8 cents per kilowatt hour for the next four years. This is meant to shelter people from price spikes that can happen. In the past six years, the Regulated Rate Option has:

• been as high as 15.3 cents per kilowatt hour and as low as 2.7 cents
• increased month-over-month by as much as 65 per cent, or $28 for the average residential bill
• depending on the month, resulted in the average residential consumer paying as little as $20 for their electricity or as high as $90

Capacity energy market transition - Bill 13 (2018)

Transitions electricity utilities from an energy-only market to a capacity market. In an energy-only market generators are only paid for the electricity they generate and sell to the market. In a capacity market there is adequate electricity generation available on the grid to ensure that demand can always be met. A capacity market:

• protects consumers from volatile price swings
• ensures Albertans continue to have a stable, reliable electricity supply
• supports Alberta’s transition from coal generation to renewable energy

This bill also:

• provides specified penalties for energy service providers that violate rules intended to protect consumers
• enables small-scale and community generation

An Act to Ensure Independent Environmental Monitoring - Bill 18 (2016)

Would officially move the environmental monitoring, evaluation and reporting functions once led by the Alberta Environmental Monitoring Evaluation and Reporting Agency (AEMERA) back into government, based on a review of the arm's length organization that identified the fragmentation of scientific capacity within government and the diversion of dollars away from front-line monitoring and science and into administration. In addition, there were rocky relationships with First Nations and with other levels of government.

Municipal Property Assessed Clean Energy programs - Bill 10 (2018)

Gives municipalities the option to establish a PACE program that allows home and business owners to make energy efficient improvements (solar panels, high-insulation windows and high-efficiency heating and cooling systems) without paying up front but rather through property taxes. PACE programs have been active around the US and Canada for years and based on their results In North America, every $1 million in PACE project spending has resulted in at least 15 new jobs and $2.5 million in economic output.

Indigenous consultation - Bill 12 (2016)

Repeals Bill 22, a bill that placed a levy on industry to increase funding for indigenous communities to engage in consultation activities. Many First Nation felt they weren't adequately consulted and were in opposition to the bill. This bill repeals that one with the intention to consult with indigenous people on a better consultation process for development that affects them.

Elections

Renew Democracy - Bill 1 (2015)

Bans corporate and union donations to provincial political parties in Alberta

Fair Elections Financing Act - Bill 35 (2016)

• Introduces an aggregate contribution limit of $4000 per individual. This limit would apply to any combination of parties, constituency associations, candidates, by-election candidates, leadership contestants and nomination contestants. The limit would replace the current maximum contribution of $15,000 per individual each calendar year and double in an election year.
• Introduces campaign spending limits for the first time. For political parties, the limit would be $2 million. In an electoral division, there would be a spending limit of $50,000 for each individual candidate’s campaigns.
• Sets spending limits on election advertising by third parties. The limit would apply from the dropping of the writ to the close of polls and would be set at $150,000, of which no more than $3,000 could be used to support or oppose candidates in a particular electoral division.

Miscellaneous election regulations - Bill 32 (2017)

• Imposes a spending limit of $150,000 on political PACs and other third parties, of which no more than $3,000 could be used to support or oppose candidates in a particular electoral division
• Unless they are volunteers or individuals making an eligible political contribution, third parties would not be allowed to incur expenses to sell memberships, fundraise or collect information about voters in support of a party, candidate, nomination contestant or leadership contestant
• Creates an election commissioner to enforce these rules
• Adds 1 more advance voting day and any advance polling station can be used
• Sets up mobile polls at shelters and support centres and allows the set up of mobile polls at post-secondary institutions, work camps, correctional institutions and other public buildings
• Residents no longer have to live in province for six months before voting
• Restricts partisan government advertising during election period

Lobbyist transparency - Bill 11 (2018)

• Restricts lobbyists from giving money, gifts or other benefits to public office holders that would place a public office holder in a conflict of interest
• Require lobbying activity be reported regardless of who asked for the meeting or made the first call
• Require individuals or groups who lobby government on behalf of their employer or business to register this activity after 50 hours of lobbying in a year, including preparation time
• Prohibit contingency fee payment arrangements to ensure lobbying is done objectively
• Include grassroots communication in the definition of lobbying to reflect modern lobbying practices

Associated political parties - Bill 16 (2018)

• Extends $2 million spending limit on registered political parties to associated parties as well. Prevents using a multi-party structure to campaign for the same candidate to bypass the spending limit.
• Increases the fine for exceeding the spending limit from $10,000 to $100,000. Also now requires parties to include campaign contributions in quarterly reports to elections Alberta.

Municipal elections - Bill 23 (2018)

• Applies the various election finance reforms made for provincial elections to municipal elections
• Lowers contribution limits to $4,000 province-wide for municipal elections, as well as $4,000 for school board elections
• Reduces the campaign period from the four years to one year and limits fundraising and contributions to only that period
• Closes the fundraising function loophole that allows candidates to raise funds without disclosing their donors
• Requires communities of more than 5,000 to hold advance votes, which would provide more opportunity for residents to cast ballots
• Establishes a future regulation that would set campaign spending limits for municipal and school board elections, following stakeholder consultations
• Requires campaign disclosure statements from all candidates, including self-funded candidates

Education

School fee elimination - Bill 1 (2017)

Eliminates school fees for instructional supplies or materials and fees for bussing to the student's designated school, about 25% of total fees charged to parents. Also creates a new regulation that the government can use to control school fees.

Gay Straight Alliances - Bill 24 (2017)

• Requires all publicly funded schools to create welcoming, caring and respectful policies and to make them publicly available
• Strengthens the minister’s ability to ensure every school complies with the law
• Protects the privacy of students that join a GSA or QSA
• Protects the establishment of GSAs from political interference
• Ensures principals help students create a GSA or QSA in a timely manner

School Amendment Act - Bill 28 (2017)

• Paves the way for new professional standards for principals and superintendents
• Authorizes the minister to establish standards for education service agreements between First Nations and school boards to help close the achievement gap for Indigenous students
• Specifies that students must be five years of age by December 31 of the school year to join kindergarten
• Revises the process for establishing a separate school district, reducing confusion and building more support for the school district within communities
• Ensures the government can provide clear and updated transportation eligibility criteria before the 2018-19 school year

Health

Amends the Public Health Act to attempt to increase immunization rates - Bill 28 (2016)

Would facilitate more efficient:

• Collection of student enrolment information to help identify students with incomplete immunization records
• Contact with parents of students who do not have complete immunization records to:
  • request immunization information
  • provide information on the benefits of immunization and the risks of not immunizing if needed
  • explain current policy that requires not immunized students to stay home in the event of an outbreak
• Parents of students with missing immunization information will be asked to:
  • provide the student’s immunization record
  • complete or update missing immunizations
  • provide a letter indicating a medical exemption has been granted, or
  • sign a form indicating they choose not to immunize their child

Abortion access zone - Bill 9 (2018)

• Creates 50m access zones around abortion clinics resticting protest, intimidation, interference, or recording of patients, doctors or staff
• Allows doctors and service providers to request a 160m zone for their home and 20m zone for their office

Drinking water transfer - Bill 20 (2017)

Approves two inter-basin water transfers from the the North Saskatchewan river to the hamlet of Mallaig and Whitefish Lake First Nation to provide them with reliable drinking water. Part of fulfilling a commitment to UNDRIP.

Rights

Farm worker health and safety - Bill 6 (2015)

• Extends Occupational Health and Safety regulations and mandatory Workers’ Compensation Board coverage to employees of farming operations
• Exempts farm and ranch owners and their families from the bill

Gender discrimination - Bill 7 (2015)

Adds gender identity and gender expressions as prohibited grounds of discrimination to Alberta Human Rights Act

Public sector striking - Bill 4 (2016)

Eliminates Alberta's public sector strike prohibition to conform to supreme court ruling that it interfered with collective bargaining

Academic staff striking - Bill 7 (2017)

To comply with a supreme court decision that guaranteed Canadian workers the right to strike while maintaining essential public services this bill:

• Extends the right to strike to academic staff associations and graduate student associations
• Creates postdoctoral fellows associations and extends the right to strike to postdoctoral students
• Extends lockout provisions for post-secondary institutions
• Requires post-secondary institutions to negotiate essential services agreements
• Brings to an end compulsory arbitration where contracts and costs are delivered by an arbitrator

Labour code updates - Bill 17 (2017)

• Updates labour code with first major changes in 30 years
• Allows workers five days of job protected sick leave or short-term care of family member
• Allows 16 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave for long-term illness
• Allows job protected leave for victims of domestic violence
• Updates youth employment with min age of light work at 13 with restricted hours
• Enforces banked overtime of time and a half and 30 minute rest periods every 5 hours
• Restricts paying disabled employees less than minimum wage
• Restricts wage deduction for things like dine-and-dash
• Creates an administrative penalty system to punish delinquent employers

Child intervention system improvements - Bill 22 (2018)

• First Nations will automatically be notified about all private guardianship applications involving children believed to be from a particular Fist Nation
• No longer allows private guardianship applications for children in care under the Family Law Act without requiring a mandatory home study and cultural connection plan
• Financial supports will be tied to the child rather than the guardian
• Replaces the criteria that caseworkers should keep in mind with a set of 13 interconnected considerations with culture being a central theme
• Increases the emphasis on child safety and well-being as a top priority for courts and caseworkers
• Enacts new guiding principles to help make Indigenous involvement a fundamental component of the system
• Enacts strict public reporting requirements, including reporting every death, injury and serious incident within four days
• Implements a mandatory all-party reviews of CYFEA every five years

Private member's (ex-NDP) domestic violence tenancy - Bill 204 (2015)

Amends residential tenancies act to allow victims of domestic violence to end their leases early without penalty

Assault claim limit removal - Bill 2 (2017)

Previously a civil claim from an assault had to have been started within two years from when the person knows of the incident. This act removes that time limit. Specifically on the following types of claims:

• sexual assault
• sexual misconduct involving a minor, intimate relationship or dependant
• non-sexual assault involving a minor, intimate relationship or dependant

Age discrimination - Bill 23 (2017)

To comply with a court order age is added to Human Rights Act as prohibited discrimination. Seniors only housing is still allowed. Age-restricted condos given 15-year transition period. Age-related benefits such as minors and seniors discounts still allowed. Ameliorative programs like employment programs for indigenous youth protected.

Legislation not highlighted above

First Session

Interim funding before budget - Bill 3 (2015)
Reverses funding cuts made to education, health care, and human services by the previous government before the 2015 election

Fiscal Planning And Transparency - Bill 4 (2015)
Enforces 15% debt-to-gdp ratio [Note: later eliminated, bad idea anyway]

Public sector Compensation Transparency Act - Bill 5 (2015)
Expands sunshine list to include employees of public agencies, boards, commissions, post-secondary institutions and health service entities whose earnings are more than $125,000/year

ATA collective bargaining - Bill 8 (2015)
Restructures collective bargaining between the government, teachers, and school boards for matters that affect teachers province-wide. A new organization called the Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association (TEBA) will enable representation from both the Alberta Government and school boards in negotiations with the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA).

Budget 2015 - Bill 9 (2015)

• 15 per cent increase in capital spending over the next five years to build and repair schools, hospitals and roads
• An investment of $34 billion over the next five years to support modern, efficient infrastructure
• A new Ministry of Economic Development and Trade to expand Alberta’s access to foreign and domestic markets
• $120 million over two years (starting in 2016-17) for new long-term care spaces
• $90 million over two years (starting in 2016-17) to expand public homecare
• $10 million annually to support mental health services
• Increased support for seniors’ health care, including drug, dental, optical and supplemental health benefits
• Approximately 380 more teachers and 150 more support staff added to the education system
• More support for students with special needs in the form of educational assistants and other classroom supports
• A new school nutrition program
• A $45 million annual investment to reduce the burden of school fees for families, beginning in 2016
• New funding for the Family and Community Support Services program
• New annual funding of $15 million to support women’s shelters
• Increased support for people with disabilities, child intervention, child care, and homeless and outreach supports
• A five dollar per carton increase to the tobacco tax
• A five per cent increase to the liquor markup
• A four-cent increase to the locomotive fuel tax
• A one percentage point increase on insurance premium tax rates

Second Session

Job creation and diversification - Bill 1 (2016)
Allows ministers to establish programs that that focus on supporting working people and job creators, attracting investment and diversifying Alberta’s economy

Interim funding before budget - Bill 2 (2016)

Supplementary funding before budget - Bill 3 (2016)
Provides extra money ($100 million) for education, labour, seniors and housing, parks and a few more areas

Seniors' Home Adaptation and Repair Act - Bill 5 (2016)
Increases funding for low income home repair grants program and expands low-interest home-equity government loan program with consumer protection regulations included

Financial Securities update - Bill 6 (2016)
Updates definitions for financial securities

Electoral Boundaries Commission - Bill 7 (2016)
Allows the electoral boundaries commission to form earlier so that it can be redrawn before the next election and clarifies what population information they can use. Necessitated due to previous early election call.

Fair trading act amendment - Bill 8 (2016)

• Increases government oversight of delegated regulatory organizations created under the FTA by establishing the ability to review their conduct
• Authorizes the Minister to issue orders related to such a review
• Dismisses board members or employees if an order is not complied with

15% debt-to-gdp removal - Bill 10 (2016)
Does some legislation housekeeping amendments but also eliminates the 15% debt-to-gdp ratio

Alberta Innovate merger - Bill 11 (2016)
Merges the four Alberta Innovates corporations into one to make it simpler for researchers to interact with and to save some administration money

Veterinary technologist representation - Bill 13 (2016)
Allows veterinary technologists to participate and vote on the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association's governing council and disciplinary committees. There are approximately the same number of practicing veterinary technologists as veterinarians in Alberta and 98% of them are female.

Health profession expansion - Bill 14 (2016)
Adds physician assistants and medical diagnostic sonographers to the Health Professions Act, making them closer to being regulated professions in Alberta

Traffic safety - Bill 16 (2016)
Phase 2 of the Traffic Safety Act review that began in 2012. Nine amendments that clarify regulations on transportation operations, enforcement, transportation network companies, rules related to impaired driving and address minor inconsistencies in current legislation.

Reform of Agencies, Boards and Commissions Compensation Act - Bill 19 (2016)
An independent, compensation consulting firm will advise government on developing standardized compensation frameworks based on a review of comparable jurisdictions

Modernized Municipal Government - Bill 21 (2016)
Proposes changes to the Municipal Government Act now that four year review is done. Mainly focused on collaboration between municipalities to deliver services. The changes will have a great deal of consultation before being finalized.

An Act to Provide for the Repatriation of Indigenous Peoples’ Sacred Ceremonial Objects - Bill 22 (2016)
Introduced but not passed to signal commitment to engage First Nations and Métis leaders to secure critical input and advice on this piece of legislation. The Bill is intended to reinforce the validity of past repatriations and to allow for the development of regulations for the return of sacred ceremonial objects to all First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities.

Housekeeping - Bill 23 (2016)
A bill of various housekeeping that had everyone in government agreed on

Forest fire prevention - Bill 24 (2016)
Implements proactive policies to help prevent forest fires before they start:

• strengthens penalties to help deter abandoning campfires or burning during fire bans
• simplifies the process to restrict activities when fire conditions are hazardous
• improves authority to stop actions that interfere with firefighting
• improves disposal requirements for potentially hazardous forest debris

Ukrainian-Canadian Heritage Day - Bill 26 (2016)
Establishes Ukrainian-Canadian Heritage Day to be on September 7

Vital statistics - Bill 29 (2016)
Amends the Vital Statistics act to:

• Prepare for a third marker on vital records for those who do not identify as male or female, making Alberta the first jurisdiction in Canada to amend its Vital Statistics Act
• Clarify that parents may choose any last name for their child
• Enable a future online birth registration system that would save parents time and nearly $460,000 over four years

Tax credit and development fund - Bill 30 (2016)

• Establishes Alberta Investment Tax Credit - 30% tax credit for investments made in small businesses between 2016 and 2019
• Enables the government to establish for-profit investment funds that invest equity in locally owned businesses recognized for their positive social, economic, and environmental returns to communities

Agency consolidation - Bill 31 (2016)
Dissolves 3 agencies that were targeted in budget 2016 to consolidate the work and save money

Credit union expansion - Bill 32 (2016)
Expands the services credit unions can offer and allows businesses to become members

Housekeeping - Bill 33 (2016)
A bill of various housekeeping that had everyone in government agreed on

Off-highway helmets - Bill 36 (2016)
Makes helmets required for use of off-highway vehicles based on feedback from a survey

Electoral Boundaries funding - Bill 37 (2016)
Funding for Electoral Boundaries Commission


Third Session

Bans paid blood donations - Bill 3 (2017)
The World Health Organization recommends blood donations be collected from unpaid donors and paid blood donation is already banned in Ontario and Quebec

Funding for fire fighting and green infrastructure - Bill 4 (2017)

• Provides money to the fire fighting of the Wood Buffalo wildfire
• Many transfers of funding from Environment and Parks to capital funds in other departments, which are all or nearly all capital projects for green infrastructure around the province

Interim funding - Bill 5 (2017)
Funds the government until the budget is debated and passed. The budget wasn't ready before the start of the fiscal year.

School councils - Bill 6 (2017)
Replaces Local School Board Committees with elected school councils in the Northland school district, which encompasses remote northern Alberta communities (95% First Nations or Metis), based on consultations from the communities

Municipal Government Act - Bill 8 (2017)
Implements proposed changes to the act

• Augments relationship between municipalities and indigenous communities including a notification requirement
• Allows neighbouring municipalities to collaborate on infrastructure
• Strengthens collaboration between school boards and municipalities
• Empowers municipalities to enact parental leave policies

Agriculture commissions - Bill 9 (2017)
Agricultural commissions are organizations that provide services and help regulate sectors of the agriculture industry. These commissions charge service fees when products are sold to help fund them. Before 2009 these charges could either be refundable or non-refundable. In 2009 they were forced to be refundable at the request of a member but with this act they are back to being the commission's choice with a members plebiscite.

Budget 2017 - Bill 10 (2017)

• 24 new and modernized schools across Alberta
• $400 million over four years to help get a new hospital built in Edmonton
• 200-bed long-term care facility in Calgary for people with complex care needs
• Twinning of the Highway 15 Bridge near Fort Saskatchewan
• New court house in Red Deer
• New arrangement with the federal government to bring clean, reliable drinking water to First Nations communities
• Royalty credits for new petrochemical plants
• Modelling a new program for craft distillers
• New investment fun for Indigenous businesses
• Cuts the small business tax rate by one-third
• Hires Crown prosecutors and addresses long-standing backlogs
• Cuts salaries, golf club memberships and other perks for some of the highest paid CEOs at government agencies
• Amalgamates or cuts 26 agencies, boards and commissions

Public sector whistleblower protection - Bill 11 (2017)

• Entitles whistleblowers to remediation if they suffer a reprisal from their employer for reporting a wrongdoing. If there has been a reprisal, the Labour Relations Board would decide what form of restitution should be made to the whistleblower and enforce compliance.
• Ensures more detailed public reporting from the Public Interest Commissioner, including specific findings and results of investigations
• Allows the Public Interest Commissioner to investigate a wider variety of wrongdoings, including some forms of mismanagement, bullying or abuse of human resources
• Protects whistleblowers from reprisal from the moment they approach their supervisor about a wrongdoing
• Extends protections to more employees, including staff in the offices of the Premier and ministers

Investment regulatory organizations - Bill 13 (2017)
Strengthens the power of two contracted investment regulatory organizations:

• Empowers both organizations to compel attendance and the production of evidence during investigations and hearings
• Shields them from civil liability

Orphan wells - Bill 14 (2017)
Allows the government to lend the Orphan Well Association $235 million to speed up reclamation of orphaned wells. Repaid over 10 years through existing orphan fund levy on industry.

Federal tax alignment - Bill 15 (2017)

• Amends tax legislation to align with changes to federal tax legislation
• Prevents repayment of carbon rebates after death of family member (by changing min quarterly amount to be $25 instead of $100 so the full year amount isn't pre-payed). Same applies to Alberta Child Benefit and AB family employment tax credit.
• Extends political contribution tax credit to leadership campaigns and nomination races
• Closes a loophole that allowed large businesses to take advantage of the lower small business tax rate by using certain business structures

Child and youth advocate - Bill 18 (2017)
Mandates the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate to review the death of every child under 20 who received child-intervention services within two years of their death as well as regular six month reporting to legislature on status of reviews

Fuel pre-payment - Bill 19 (2017)
Among other safety measures, enacts pre-pay requirements for fuel stations because five workers have died and three were injured from gas-and-dash in the past three years

Dissolving agencies - Bill 21 (2017)
Dissolves 19 public agencies as part of 3-phase review started in 2015. These are agencies that are no longer operating or whose work can be done more effectively elsewhere.

Long-term care councils - Bill 22 (2017)
Guarantees residents and families of long-term care and licensed supportive living facilities with four or more residents the right to establish self-governing councils. Operators will be required to work with them on quality-of-life concerns.

Forestry organizations - Bill 25 (2017)
Merges two regulatory orgs, College of Alberta Professional Foresters and College of Alberta Professional Forest Technologists, into one, Association of Alberta Forest Management Professionals

Cannabis act - Bill 26 (2017)

• Sets the minimum age for purchase and use at 18
• Establishes provincial offences for anyone under 18 who possesses five grams or less of cannabis
• Gives AGLC the mandate to oversee distribution, compliance and enforcement of the cannabis retail system in Alberta
• Establishes authority to set regulatory guidelines and licence requirements for private cannabis retailers
• Bans co-location of cannabis sales with alcohol, pharmaceuticals and tobacco sales
• Operates online cannabis sales
• Establishes restrictions around where cannabis can be smoked and vaped in public
• Establishes authority to further regulate advertising, labelling, and promotion of cannabis if required after federal regulations are established

Conflicts of interest - Bill 27 (2017)

• Extends conflict of interest rules from elected representatives to board members and employees of 136 public agencies
• Requires board members and employees to conduct themselves impartially, disclose real and apparent conflicts of interest and place restrictions or limitations on:
• acting in self-interest or furthering private interest
• acceptance of gifts
• concurrent employment or other offices
• Additional requirements would be applied to CEOs of significant agencies, including:
• disclosure of financial information to the Ethics Commissioner
• restrictions on holding stocks and other securities
• a 12-month cooling off period following employment with a public agency to prevent CEOs from benefiting from decisions they made

Impaired driving - Bill 29 (2017)
Aligns drug impaired driving law with alcohol impaired driving laws

OHS and WCB - Bill 30 (2017)
Changes based on a government review of OHS and an independent review of WCB
Workers’ Compensation Board changes:

• Establishes an independent Fair Practices Office that helps Albertans navigate the WCB system
• Establishes a Code of Rights and Conduct that outlines the rights of workers and employers
• Removes the maximum insurable earnings cap of $98,700 per year
• Improves benefits for:
• surviving spouses and children when a worker is killed on the job
• young workers who sustain a long-term injury that affects their career opportunities
• Improves retirement benefits for injured workers
• Provides an option for interim relief while decisions are under review and appeal
• Provides greater choice for injured workers in selecting health professionals
• Enhances coverage for psychological injuries, including PTSD
• Requires employers to continue providing health benefit programs to injured workers under existing coverage for one year after the date of the injury
• Establishes an Occupational Disease and Injury Advisory Committee that would review occupational diseases, and provide advice on emerging trends in medical science
• Continues to allow the WCB to determine how the Accident Fund is used
• Introduces an obligation for employers to support the “return to work” of workers who suffer injuries and illnesses in their workplaces

Occupational Health and Safety changes:

• Enshrines the three basic rights of workers in Alberta’s legislation:
  • The right to refuse unsafe work. The proposed changes protect workers from any form of reprisal for exercising this right, including loss of compensation or benefits.
  • The right to know. The proposed changes ensure workers are informed about potential hazards and have access to basic health and safety information in the workplace.
  • The right to participate. The proposed changes ensure workers are involved in health and safety discussions, including participation in health and safety committees.
• Mandates joint work site health and safety committees for workplaces with 20 or more employees
• Requires employers with between five and 19 workers to have a health and safety representative in the workplace
• Clarifies roles and responsibilities of workplace parties for health and safety
• Protects workers from workplace violence and harassment
• Protects workers from loss of wages or benefits on worksites subjected to stop work or stop use orders or while safety improvements are being made
• Requires employers to report “near miss” incidents to OHS
• Expands the ability of the courts to impose creative sentences, such as providing funding for research on preventative medicine or health and safety training programs
• Requires the government to publish more information collected during compliance and enforcement activities, including the results of OHS investigations
• Requires OHS laws be reviewed every five years to ensure they remain relevant to modern and changing workplaces

Consumer protections - Bill 31 (2017)

• Bans ticket purchasing bots
• Introduces strong rules for car buying and standards for car repair
• Institutes licensing and disclosure and ad requirements for high-interest lenders
• Institutes fee disclosure and approval before veterinary care
• Transitions the Alberta Motor Vehicle Industry Council to a public agency with ministerial oversight
• Creates a consumer bill of rights
• Requires consumers to be informed and to consent to contract changes
• Disallows clauses preventing negative reviews
• Allows government to publicly release info about charges, convictions and other actions taken under the act

Electoral divisions - Bill 33 (2017)
Accepts and implements the Electoral Boundaries Commission's recommendations to create three new electoral divisions

Housekeeping - Bill 34 (2017)
A bill of various housekeeping that everyone in government agreed on

Private member's non-consensual intimate images bill - Bill 202 (2017)
Creates a tort law that protects all Albertans against nonconsensual sharing of intimate images

• The victim does not have to prove they have suffered a financial loss to sue
• Courts may impose other conditions such as no-contact orders, restricting the Internet, and other such injunctions that courts can and sometimes do approve
• If the distributor were to post this intimate image online where they charge for viewing a video or an image, the profits shall be awarded to the plaintiff
• Gives principals the right and obligation to suspend students found to be sharing images

Private member's disabilities advocate bill - Bill 205 (2017)
Establishes an advocate for Persons with disabilities that would report to and advise the minister of community and social services

Private member's adoptive parent advertising bill - Bill 206 (2017)
Makes it legal to advertise that you are a prospective adoptive parent online. Specifically would allow the publication of an advertisement by a licensed adoption agency publicizing the profiles of prospective adoptive parents.

Private member's radon awareness and testing bill - Bill 209 (2017)
Requires ministry to produce materials for radon awareness and to encourage Albertans to test homes for radon and requires child care centres to show that they have tested in order to renew or receive a license

Private member's silver alert bill - Bill 210 (2017)
Creates a silver alert system modelled after the amber alert for when a senior or other adult with cognitive impairment, a mental disorder, or a medical condition making them vulnerable goes missing


Fourth Session

Video game tax credit - Bill 2 (2018)
Introduces an interactive digital media tax credit. Other provinces already have similar incentives.

Interim funding before budget 2018 - Bill 3 (2018)
Interim supply while budget 2018 is written

Extra funding before budget - Bill 4 (2018)
Amounts necessary for the government to conduct business and fulfill its commitments for the current fiscal year. The additional amounts mainly relate to support for the municipal sustainability initiative, wildfire disaster recovery and emergency assistance, child intervention, child care subsidy and supports, persons with disabilities and assured income for the severely handicapped, employment and income support, the provincial share of the agricultural insurance premium and indemnities, compensation increases for Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the justices of the peace, and the Alberta production grants.

Update for cannabis - Bill 6 (2018)
Gaming and liquor act updates to prepare for cannabis legalization:

• Prohibits naming and branding cannabis retailers and products with terms and symbols that have medical connotations such as “therapeutic” or “medicinal”
• Increases the maximum administrative fines for infractions of the Gaming and Liquor Act and regulation from $200,000 to $1 million
• Allows a court to rely on a law enforcement officer’s ability to infer that a product is cannabis based on its packaging, labelling or smell, for the purposes of offences under this act, mirroring the current practice for alcohol and tobacco
• Creates an offence to enable enforcement against an owner or operator of a premises who allows smoking or vaping of cannabis where it is prohibited, similar to existing rules for alcohol and tobacco
• Enables the legal blending and infusion of liquor products in an effort to modernize liquor policies

Local food council + organic food - Bill 7 (2018)

• Establishes a local food council which would identify options to help address challenges affecting growth in the local food sector
• Adopts the Canadian Organic Standard for organic foods produced and marketed in Alberta

Emergency management update - Bill 8 (2018)
Ensures:

• Municipalities have up-to-date emergency plans and programs that are regularly reviewed and exercised
• Elected officials and municipal employees are trained for their roles and understand their responsibilities
• Responsibilities and functions of municipal emergency advisory committees and emergency management agencies are clear
• Regional collaboration agreements with other municipalities are clear

Alberta export restrictions - Bill 12 (2018)
This is the BC retaliation bill. Gives the government authority to, if necessary, require any company exporting energy products from Alberta to obtain a licence. Export restrictions could be imposed on pipelines, as well as transport via rail or truck.

Water utility consumer advocate - Bill 14 (2018)
Adds water utility to the purview of the Utility Consumer Advocate (helps consumers with disputes with utilities). Also allows the advocate to aggregate past issues of utilities and display a company's overall compliance record online.

Budget 2018 - Bill 15 (2018)

• Invests $1 billion for partial upgrading over eight years beginning in 2019-20
• $500 million in royalty credits beginning in 2020-21 for a second phase of the Petrochemicals Diversification Program
• $500 million in loan guarantees and grants for a Petrochemical Feedstock Infrastructure Program
• Extends the Capital Investment Tax Credit, which already supports more than $1 billion in private-sector capital projects, and the Alberta Investor Tax Credit
• Funds 3,000 new post-secondary technology spaces over the next five years and new scholarships to support technology and other emerging sectors like life sciences, clean technology and health innovation
• Continues capital investment in health facilities, including the Calgary Cancer Centre and the new Edmonton hospital
• Funds hundreds of new continuing care beds
• Fully funds enrolment growth in the K-12 education system and reducing school fees
• Extends the post-secondary tuition freeze for the fourth year
• Creates 4,500 additional affordable child-care spaces through the Early Learning and Child Care Centre Program
• Reviews the Persons with Developmental Disabilities Program to ensure it provides the right supports
• Continues the salary freeze on non-union public-sector employees
• Cuts salaries and eliminates bonuses for some of the highest paid executives of Alberta’s agencies, boards and commissions
• Keeps the size of the Alberta Public Service flat
• Keeps health spending growth below population growth plus inflation
• Tightly manages discretionary spending across government in areas such as travel, conferences and hospitality

Tax statutes - Bill 17 (2018)
Administrative changes to the Alberta Corporate Tax Act and the Alberta Personal Income Tax Act

Housekeeping - Bill 18 (2018)
Miscellaneous housekeeping bill

Tuition and fee regulation - Bill 19 (2018)

• Gives the minister the ability to regulate tuition and mandatory non-instructional fees to ensure fairness and predictability for students
• Caps each institute's average tuition and apprenticeship fee increases to the consumer price index

Securities regulation updates - Bill 20 (2018)
Various securities regulatory system enhancements including whistleblower protection, a regulatory regime for benchmarks, and protections for securities commission staff to prevent them from being compelled to testify in third party proceedings

Act to Protect Patients - Bill 21 (2018)

• Enables Alberta’s regulatory colleges under the Health Professions Act to cancel practice permits in instances of sexual abuse and suspend them in instances of sexual misconduct
• Requires colleges to create public websites that list health professionals’ discipline history for sexual abuse and misconduct
• Requires that colleges provide funding for treatment and counselling for patient survivors
• Health professionals found guilty of a regulatory offence would be barred from reinstatement for at least five years

AMA Statutory representation - Bill 24 (2018)
Provides the Alberta Medical Association with statutory representation for physicians in Alberta. Doesn’t change existing processes between government and the AMA. Doesn’t give the AMA new powers or abilities.

Canyon Creek hydro dam - Bill 25 (2018)
Authorizes construction of a hydro dam at Canyon Creek

Public-sector pensions - Bill 27 (2018)
Changes three public sector pension plans to a joint governance model that comprises nominees from employee and employer sponsor organizations to govern each plan

Common-law property division - Bill 28 (2018)
Extends property division rules in the Matrimonial Property Act to common-law partners. Also allows applications for child support for adult children with disabilities or illnesses.

Public service collective bargaining - Bill 29 (2018)
Amends the Public Service Employee Relations Act to:

• Remove exemptions prohibiting five classifications of employees from participating in collective bargaining. The proposed changes bring Alberta in line with the rest of the country.
• Repeal provisions, which undermined employees’ abilities to bargain fairly with their employer
• Move non-academic staff at post-secondary institutions under the Labour Relations Code. This change would provide more consistency to the post-secondary sector and ensure all employers and employees have the same rights and responsibilities.

Mental Health Services Protection Act - Bill 30 (2018)

• Creates a new College of Counselling Therapy to regulate counselling professionals and protect the titles of counselling therapist, addiction counsellor, drug and alcohol counsellor and child and youth care counsellor
• Requires residential substance-use treatment facilities to be licensed empowering the province to enforce minimum standards and address complaints

Housekeeping - Bill 31 (2018)
A bill of various housekeeping that had everyone in government agreed on

City Charters Fiscal Framework Act - Bill 32 (2018)
Provides Edmonton and Calgary with infrastructure funding tied to provincial revenues, meaning they would share in Alberta’s future revenue growth

Long-term care registry - Bill 203 (2018)
Creates an online registry with basic information about long-term care institutions