Eventful week
By Leela Sharon Aheer Chestermere-Strathmore MLA
Hello Strathmore! I hope you have all had an amazing week leading up to Halloween. Did you know that Halloween incorporates elements from an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain? Druids would light massive outdoor bonfires and wear costumes believed to ward off evil spirits. Halloween, or All Hallows Eve, is the day before All Saints Day which falls on Nov. 1 as designated by Pope Gregory III in the eighth century AD, and as time went on some of those traditions mixed with those of the Samhain Festival. It marks summer coming to an end and is traditionally a time when barriers between this world and the next are weaker and the spirits of the departed can walk the earth.
Please remember to watch out for the little ghosts, witches, and superheroes on our streets this Halloween.
We as Canadians all shared the pain of the families of those young people who lost their lives, those who were injured and those who were affected by the trauma of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash. There has been some misinformation about The Minister of Transportation’s legislation around the requirements for the MELT program which are stringent training requirements for our heavy truckers and bus drivers for Class 1 and 2 licenses. Just to be very clear, those stringent rules and requirements are here to stay, and we are committed to road safety.
The previous NDP government had exempted over 150,000 existing drivers, while also providing an extension for the training requirements for farmers and school bus drivers. We regret that at the same time as imposing the new requirement, the previous government made compliance practically impossible by cutting the number of driver examiners in half. Our government is moving quickly to fix this problem by hiring more examiners. Safety is paramount for our government and the Minister of Transportation will be working with stakeholders to ensure an orderly transition. Our love and compassion go to those who suffered in this tragedy, and I would like to personally thank those families who came to the legislature to express their concerns about changes and to meet with the transportation minister. I cannot pretend to begin to understand what you have endured and your presence and advocacy are greatly appreciated.
I would like to talk about Bill 17: Disclosure to Protect Against Domestic Violence (Clare’s Law) Act. This bill allows people at risk of domestic violence to be able to acquire information on an intimate partner’s previous history of domestic violence or other relevant acts. This provides real opportunities to prevent abuse. The legislation is empowering legislation that give much needed tools to access information to help make informed decisions about a potentially harmful relationship, and this could save lives. We have validated a definition of abuse as: “Domestic violence refers to abuse against spouses and dating partners in current and former relationships. Spouses are current or former legally married, separated, divorced and common-law partners. Dating relationships involve current or former boyfriends, girlfriends or other intimate relationships.”
This is important because the definition works in conjunction with other defined relationship violence in the Protection against Family Violence Act and the Residential Tenancies Act which have both helped to inform the Disclosure to Protect Against Domestic Violence Act. We are continuing to meet with our experts and folks with lived experience, and together we will start to define the regulations for the legislation. I would like to thank the Minister for Community and Social Services for her amazing work on this. We introduced Bill 17 on Oct. 16, and it has passed. The expected timeline for implementation is spring 2020.
Our government is working to expand the role of licenced practical nurses (LPNs) to allow them to work in all areas for which they are trained. We want to strengthen our publicly funded health system and part of that will include using all the skills of health professionals. LPNs can do so much more, having the skills, for example, to dispense medication and administer blood and blood products. We are so proud to get this done and to start looking at how we can use these highly trained professionals within their full scope of practice. As always, we love to hear from you.
(Leela Sharon Aheer is the MLA Elect for Chestermere-Strathmore, Minister of Status of Women and Minister of Culture and Multiculturalism)