Member Miyashiro: I ask the minister: was anyone consulted prior to making the decision to cut funding, or was it just another deliberate, unilateral decision to inflict pain on people with disabilities and their families?

Member Miyashiro: Given that high-wall mining involves mining coal seams of an open-pit mine, meaning there needs to be an open pit before high-wall mining can begin ... to the minister: if there’s no open-pit mining and there’s no technical way to extract eastern slopes coal without it, does he agree that there cannot be any open-pit coal mining on the eastern slopes?

Mr. Jean: We’re going to do a great job on protecting Albertans, the water, the air, the animals, human life.

Member Miyashiro: This government claims Alberta’s coal modernization initiative will ban open-pit mining in the foothills and keep selenium out of our water. It will prohibit mountaintop removal mining and require that any new mining must use techniques that prevent adding selenium to waterways. Albertans remain skeptical. They’ve seen the realities with Teck in B.C., who spent billions to remove selenium from water and failed. They know the coal is under the mountaintops and the best way to get at it is to dig it out. To the minister of energy: what is the difference between mountaintop removal mining and open-pit mining?

Mr. Jean: I thank the member for the question, Mr. Speaker. Albertans are very curious and are concerned, and that’s why they know that this government is going to do a better job than the former NDP government was trying to do and certainly better than the B.C. government is doing with coal mining in B.C.

Ms Phillips: The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team has recommended criminal charges against Lethbridge police officers who targeted me when I was a minister. I am grateful that ASIRT undertook a fulsome investigation and found what I’ve known for years, that my records were accessed in 2018 for no lawful purpose other than political intimidation.

The years that led up to ASIRT’s findings have been a bit rough on me. I know people think I’m strong. I’ve been the face of some tough files in Alberta and nationally, and that is true. I have a reserve of all the strength in the world for building a better world with my NDP colleagues, but I was not prepared for how hard the years-long grind of trying to get a bit of police accountability has been on me, my family, and my love of political life. The LPS did incredible harm to my career and my reputation. They’ve never shown accountability or responsibility.

It also has a profound and important effect on democracy. In particular, these findings of criminal behaviour by sworn officers send a message to progressive people who might want to participate in politics: in Lethbridge you might be a police target for your views. The threat that law enforcement may violate a citizen’s right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure if they don’t like that citizen’s politics is intolerable in a free and democratic society.

The lesson for the community and for Albertans is that we have still not seen accountability for the LPS, and at some point we have to send the message that police intimidating elected officials or anyone else is intolerable.

At this point none of it’s over, but I do want to issue some words of thanks to Lisa Lambert, my assistant, who has endured all of this with me in my constituency office; to Geoff Braun, my partner – it hasn’t been easy on him either – to my kids and my mom, who helped me with the legal bills; and to the Member for Calgary-Mountain View for all of her support and friendship.

Ms Phillips: On the weekend the Finance minister told a national TV audience that his UCP government doesn’t have a precise plan to move ahead with a referendum on gambling with Albertans’ pensions by pulling out of the CPP; the Finance minister is going to consult his feelings. And then just a couple of days ago the Premier said that it will be a confluence of inputs, whatever that word salad means. The UCP’s plan to gamble with our retirement security is based on feelings and vibes. Albertans are not sold. A referendum campaign, that the government will lose badly, sounds like my kind of fun, so when is the date, Minister?

Mr. Horner: They know a lot about word salad on that side of the House. I’ll give them that. I would say that there are many ways that we’re going to be able to gauge the interests of Albertans to proceed with this.