Employment & Immigration Policy

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Albertans deserve access to good jobs and safe workplaces.

The Official Opposition has clear priorities for employment and immigration in the province:

  • Ensure that Alberta’s workers have access to the skills development services and academic upgrading programs they will need to succeed in an increasingly knowledge-based economy and society.
  • Provide temporary income support benefits that are fair and equitable to Albertans who have lost their jobs as a result of the economic crisis.
  • Lobby the federal government to rectify imbalances in the Employment Insurance (EI) program that disadvantages out-of-work Albertans.
  • Redirect Alberta’s immigration focus away from the flawed temporary foreign worker program by expanding access to the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program.
  • Expand the Employment Standards Code to include protections for farm workers and adopt a farm safety program to promote safety in the farming community.
  • Conduct a thorough, long-overdue review of the Alberta Labour Code to ensure that Alberta’s labour relations system properly protects collective bargaining rights.

Employment & Immigration Responses & Questions

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07 December 2011

Farm Worker Exemptions from Labour Legislation (December 6)

Dr. Swann: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s now exactly one year since two farm workers were electrocuted on the job east of Edmonton. No occupational health service, no fatality review has been done, nor were they done on the two other electrocutions in the past four years on farms.

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05 December 2011

Labour Relations Code Review (December 1)

Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government recently had two Edmonton lawyers quietly conduct a review of the Labour Relations Code at the urging of a coalition of antiunion employers in the construction sector.

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02 September 2011

Statement from David Swann on the Labour Day Weekend

The Labour Day weekend is a time of transition and remembrance, a time to celebrate families and friends, a time to commemorate the workers who have improved our quality of life and fought for human rights.

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02 June 2011

Stricter COR guidelines just a first step

Edmonton – Alberta Liberal Employment and Immigration Critic Harry Chase gives the Official Opposition credit for pressuring the government into doing the right thing yet again, this time with regard to workplace safety.

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01 June 2011

Chase welcomes minimum wage hike

Calgary – Official Opposition Employment and Education Critic Harry Chase is glad to see that the government has finally increased Alberta’s minimum wage, but regrets the nearly year-long delay in implementing the change and the lower wage for workers who serve liquor. 

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10 May 2011

Workers’ Compensation for Injured Transit Driver (May 9, 2011)

Mr. MacDonald: Thank you. Tom Bregg continues to heal from the brutal assault which occurred on December 3, 2009, while operating a city bus for Edmonton Transit System. 

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29 April 2011

Occupational Health and Safety (April 28, 2011)

Ms Pastoor: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday we learned of yet another serious Calgary incident of falling work debris. Fortunately, no workers or the general public were injured. 

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29 April 2011

Memorial to Fallen Workers (April 28, 2011)

Mr. MacDonald: Thank you. Today on this National Day of Mourning I would like the Premier to please commit to building a permanent, visible monument that can be seen from this Legislative Assembly so that all members of this House are reminded each and every day of the year of what happens when our occupational health and safety laws are not enforced. 

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