St. Albert MLA Marie Renaud wrapped a marathon week in the provincial legislature with an appearance before the St. Albert Rotary Club on Friday, Dec. 6.
“It’s been a long week,” she said, after the Alberta legislature fall session adjourned on Dec. 4. “There’s been some long nights.”
Renaud provided a review of some of the bills the government passed in the session, including the updates to the Alberta Bill of Rights.
Renaud called the bill “somewhat performative in the way it was introduced,” noting the ban on mandatory vaccine mandates it includes was “fine” while pointing out Alberta has never had such a mandate. “It’s somewhat symbolic and sending a message,” she said, adding she thought Premier Danielle Smith’s leadership review at the United Conservative Party convention in early November “had something to do with it.”
Renaud also remarked on the trio of bills the government passed concerning transgender persons, including banning sex reassignment surgery or hormone treatment for gender dysphoria for minors, requiring schools to notify parents if a student asks to use a different name or pronouns and obtain parental consent if the student is 15 or under, and restricting transgender female athletes from competing against biological women.
“Like all bills, they’re usually pretty big, and there’s often some good things in a bill, and some things that are somewhat questionable, and maybe some things that you don’t like. All three of those bills had pieces that were some good, some not so good.”
Renaud noted her constituency office received hundreds of messages from constituents expressing concerns about the legislation.
“That’s been hard to hear,” said Renaud.
“My hope is nobody will be harmed by these bills, but again, that remains to be seen.”
Renaud also spoke to the government’s freedom of information reform bills, which split the previous legislation into two laws, one governing protection of privacy and the other freedom of information.
“It’s a little bit more complex,” said Renaud, who added that while the legislation did need updating, she is concerned it will make it “a little more difficult” for people to get information, pointing to the province’s Information and Privacy Commissioner’s letter explaining the dangers of the new legislation to Albertans.
“I think Albertans should be somewhat concerned,” said Renaud. “One of the foundations of our parliamentary democracy is that you have access to information; I think this stops that flow a little bit.”
Renaud also raised concerns about the government’s partial de-indexing of some social benefits from inflation, including the low-income seniors benefit for seniors earning less than $30,000 in annual income, as well as Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH).
Renaud noted those two benefits had been de-indexed from 2019 to 2023, then re-indexed to inflation shortly before the 2023 provincial election. The Financial Statutes Amendment Act passed this fall indexes those benefits to a maximum of two per cent per year and gives the cabinet the option to eliminate increases altogether.
“Two per cent doesn’t really cut it,” said Renaud. “These are folks just struggling to deal with the cost of living.
“By de-indexing, certainly [the province] will save some money, but at what cost?”
Renaud also spoke to her private member's bill to create accessibility legislation for the province, which was drawn by lottery to be tabled in the legislature this fall.
Alberta is the last province after PEI to have accessibility legislation, which would establish standards to identify, remove and prevent barriers in education, procurement and the built environment in provincial areas of jurisdiction, with a vision of being “barrier-free” by 2040, said Renaud.
Private member's bills don’t often pass, but “It is my hope that it’ll be good enough” to do so, she said.
“I’m a partisan person, but this piece of legislation is not partisan.”
Rotarians asked Renaud about the debate in the legislature surrounding the government’s move banning vote tabulators in municipal elections.
“We did not hear any scientific proof or any data that supported this move,” said Renaud. “We heard speculation, we heard anecdotal stories, perhaps from our friends to the south, but we did not hear anything local.
“I would suggest there was before the leadership review and after the leadership review,” said Renaud, noting that legislation, along with the Bill of Rights and transgender-related legislation, was all tabled prior to Smith’s leadership review in November.
“I think this was a bit of conspiracy theory and showmanship.”
Renaud said she expects the legislature to be back in session by February in order to present a budget by Feb. 28.
