MLA Marie Renaud says she plans to table a bill this fall that could make Alberta more accessible to those with disabilities.
St. Albert’s two MLAs will head back to the Alberta legislature next week as the Legislative Assembly begins its fall session.
Premier Danielle Smith telegraphed several items on the assembly’s agenda earlier this fall through a series of videos, promising controversial changes to the Alberta Bill of Rights and regulations on transgender students in schools.
St. Albert MLA Marie Renaud said those two topics haven’t come up at all in her conversations with residents, most of whom were more concerned about jobs, housing, affordability, and education.
“This is the UCP attempting to divide and stir up hate,” she said.
“Ultimately, we just want every child to be safe.”
Rights and trans kids
Smith has said the province will change Alberta’s Bill of Rights this fall to make it so that Albertans have the right to make their own choices regarding vaccinations and medical decisions, to not be deprived of property without due process, and to legally own and safely use firearms.
She has also promised to require parents to opt in to any sex or gender-related education at school, and to restrict the ability of trans youths to access hormone therapies, change their names or pronouns at school, and (in the case of transgender women) compete on women’s sports teams — measures St. Albert gender and sexual minority researcher (and now senator) Kristopher Wells has warned will put trans youth at greater risk of suicide.
University of Alberta constitutional law professor Eric Adams said two of these changes would have little impact on Albertans. Property rights are already protected under other laws, and firearms are regulated by both the federal and provincial governments (meaning the federal government could, for example, still ban certain types of firearms).
Adams said the proposed shift to opt-in sex ed would affect a huge swath of Alberta’s students, as it could mean students whose parents don’t opt in to lessons on, say, LGBTQ rights, could walk out the door whenever a teacher raises the subject.
“If that’s the case, I think there are going to be possible constitutional challenges,” he said, as this would treat some classes of people different from others in violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ clause on equality rights.
Adams said the proposed vaccine-related right would affect health care and the ability to require health care workers to be vaccinated.
Local priorities
Renaud said she planned to table the Accessible Alberta Act this fall as a private member’s bill. Modelled on the federal Accessible Canada Act, the bill, if passed, would commit the Alberta government to ensuring its agencies, policies, and programs are accessible to everyone, regardless of physical or mental ability. It would create a framework within which to make such changes and require regular reports on progress.
“Alberta is one of the last places not to have this framework,” Renaud said, and she hoped its passage would make Alberta more accessible.
Renaud acknowledged that private member’s bills typically have slim odds of passage, but hopes the UCP will support this one.
Renaud said she will also lobby the province to address Alberta’s shortage of educational assistants, long wait times for surgeries and seniors care, and ongoing shortage of family doctors.
In an email, Morinville-St. Albert MLA Dale Nally said he planned to table amendments this fall that, if passed, would create a dispute resolution tribunal under the Condominium Property Act, modernize freedom of information and privacy laws, and require the province to pay contractors within certain time limits set under the Prompt Payment and Construction Lien Act.
The Legislative Assembly resumes sitting Oct. 28.
