Tag: Alberta

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Alberta Canada Politics

Will GSA Bill Pass in Alberta?

GSA bill, sexual orientation, Alberta
GSA bill, sexual orientation, Alberta

In Alberta parents will lose the ability to pull their children out of class when sexual orientation is being discussed if a new GSA bill passes. The new GSA bill is designed to protect the rights of sexual minorities in Alberta. The legislation is called Bill 10: The Act to Amend the Bill of Rights to Protect our Children, and it was introduced in an effort to prohibit discrimination that is based on sexual orientation while also protecting parental rights, and it provides recourse which allows a student to challenge a decision by a school board which rejects any gay straight alliance club by asking for judicial review of the decision.

According to Sandra Jansen, the Calgary-North West MLA “There shouldn’t be any roadblocks to students who want to set up gay-straight alliances in their schools and indeed the progress that we have made in this past year has been remarkable, in my opinion, with more and more GSAs being established all the time. This bill is aimed to ensure that in situations where those students aren’t supported, that the students, the parents and their advocates have a clear mechanism to challenge that position.”

The new GSA bill that protects sexual orientation in Alberta would affect the rights of parents, because the school will no longer notify parents ahead of time when sexual orientation will be discussed. According to Gordon Dirks, the Education Minister, the new GSA bill may cause some tension even in the court system. “No parent should be able to just pull their child out of class willy-nilly for no reason. Underneath this legislation, (parents) have an opportunity to express their opinion and to be heard and if they don’t agree, to appeal.” The issue of sexual orientation and GSA clubs has been very controversial, with people on both sides of the argument. Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman stated “The incremental argument is insulting. I’m sure that the black people, the Jews and the disabled people appreciated incremental progress just so that they didn’t get too many rights all at once.

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Alberta Health

Alberta Needs More Tissue and Organ Donors, New Law Helps

Alberta, tissue and organ donors
Alberta, tissue and organ donors

Alberta is looking for more people to become tissue and organ donors, and the province is also revamping the program for tissue and organ donations. Len Webber, the Calgary-Foothills MLA , introduced Bill 207 in March of 2013, and it passed in November of the same year. The goal of the act was to establish a single agency which would coordinate and facilitate tissue and organ donors an donations in the Alberta area. The passage of Bill 207, also known as the Human Issue and Organ Donation Amendment Act, made it much easier for Alberta residents to become tissue and organ donors. In the past registration clerks were not required to ask if a visitor to the counter wanted to become tissue and organ donors, but now these clerks are legally required by law to ask.

Association of Alberta Registries CEO Pamela Wilson explained “The legislation in Alberta requires that when you go to a registry office … the registry clerk will ask if you’re interested in registering your consent to be an organ donor. Those types of transactions are about eight million per year in the province of Alberta.” Tissue and organ donors are sorely needed in Alberta, and the registries do not have enough donors in the Alberta area to fill the need for donations each year. According to Wilson “44,000 doesn’t seem like a very big number, so we want to boost those numbers and get the total numbers of consent on file to be much higher. We know that the ask at the counter is having really good results — 60 to 70% of that 44,000 that have registered since July have registered because they were asked at the counter to register. They can donate their entire body to science if they want to, or they can donate any parts that are on the list. They can choose all of them or any combination there of.”

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Uncategorized

Thomas Lukaszuk Wasted Taxpayer Dollars for Roaming Charges on Personal Trip According to Documents

roaming charges, Alberta, wasted taxpayer dollars
roaming charges, Alberta, wasted taxpayer dollars

 

Thomas Lukaszuk, the contender for the Progressive Conservative leadership in Alberta, is facing hot water for wasting taxpayer dollars on roaming charges that he incurred while he was on a personal trip overseas. When questioned about it Lukaszuk stated “When you travel as a minister, you pre-plan as much as you can. When something goes sideways in Alberta, all of a sudden you’re inundated with documents. We’re talking document packages are being sent to you by data transfers. So when I came back, I dealt with executive council and I said, ‘Guys, we’re not paying this bill. Negotiate it. Bring it down because this is ridiculous,’ and they negotiated with the service provider but they couldn’t bring it down.” Lukszuk refuses to consider paying the bill himself and reimbursing the government for the roaming charges because he said i”It’s the unfortunate cost of doing business. The fact is, it was unavoidable.”

The roaming charges in question that are the root of the scandal concerning wasting taxpayer dollars. While Thomas Lukaszuk was on a personal trip to Israel and Poland in 2012 the government was billed $20,243.91 for roaming charges because Lukaszuk used 2.19 gigabytes of data while he was abroad on the trip. The reason for the trip was an invitation from the Simon Weisenthal Centre to meet with a survivor of Auschwitz. Lukaszuk defends his use of the roaming charges explaining that a large number of documents, both legal and government, were exchanged with others while we was in these two countries. The taxpayers may see it differently during the next election cycle.

 

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Uncategorized

Is Your Residential Water Meter in Alberta Upgraded Yet?

residential water meter, Alberta, Canada
residential water meter, Alberta, Canada

 

Residential water meters in the Wood Buffalo region of Alberta, Canada are in the process of being upgraded. The municipality has been issuing advisories to area residents who are located to the north of the river to ensure that their residential water meter has been upgraded, and if it has not then this needs to be done as soon as possible. Prairie Creek, Beacon Hill, and Abasand have already received the necessary upgrades, but residents of Wood Buffalo, Thickwood, Timberlea, and Dickensfield may still need to be upgraded. Staring on the 2nd of September the areas which still need residential water meter upgrades can take advantage of the complimentary upgrade service offered by the municipality. There are some exceptions though. If your home is two years old or newer then you should already have the upgraded residential water meter required for this region of Alberta, Canada.

If you own a mobile home you are also exempt from the residential water meter upgrade requirements because your water usage is calculated using a different system. According to the foreman of metering for Environmental Services, Warren Kragnes, “We are encouraging residents to have their water meter upgraded so we can monitor irregularities in water consumption, promote more efficient water use, and ensure billing is consistent. With the upgraded system, we will also be able to notify residents who have high consumption resulting from leaks or other issues that residents might not be aware of.” The upgraded residential water meter requirements in Alberta, Canada will help out homeowners as well as the municipality, because any unknown leaks or other problems can be identified and addressed.