Government House Leader Jason Nixon (CHAT News File Photo)

By rdnewsNOW staff

Greater clarity and coordination

Amendments coming to Alberta’s Emergency Management Act

Apr 7, 2020 | 11:41 AM

The provincial government says amendments to the Emergency Management Act will make things easier and more clear between different levels of government during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The province will give notice of its intentions to the legislature today.

The government says the amendments were developed in consultation with the cities of Edmonton, Calgary and Red Deer, and will help the province effectively respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. All three cities have declared a state of local emergency in response to the pandemic.

Amendments to the Emergency Management Act include:

• Allowing states of local emergency to last for 90 days;
• Providing clear language that it is an offence to be non-compliant with orders made under states of local or provincial emergency;
• Clarifying that the minister has the power to modify a state of emergency without terminating it; and
• Clarifying that a provincially declared state of emergency can be for a pandemic in general, and not just for pandemic influenza.

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“Our province is facing a truly unprecedented situation. As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, so does the need to strengthen our response efforts,” says Minister of Municipal Affairs Kaycee Madu in a release. “This includes listening to our municipal partners and making amendments to the Emergency Management Act that work for both local and provincial governments. We are all in this together, and we must work together to protect Albertans.”

The Emergency Management Act was amended on March 20 to allow local and provincial states of emergency to exist at the same time, helping communities and the province effectively respond to disasters.

Prior to the amendment, a provincial state of emergency nullified a local state of emergency, taking some powers away from local officials.

Bill 3 will also be debated this week to give more protections to mobile home residents. Government House Leader Jason Nixon said the legislation will give residents and landlords of mobile home communities access to the Resident Tenancy Dispute Resolution services.

“We also want to ensure that mobile home tenants are placed on equal footing with other renters in terms of dispute resolution, to give them added confidence in the stability of their housing status during this difficult time,” says Nixon.

The government will also be working on Bill 8, the Protecting Survivors of Human Trafficking Act.

The new legislation will include a variety of measures including allowing government to create an annual day – Feb. 22 – to bring awareness to the issue of human trafficking, standard definitions of human trafficking and sexual exploitation and a statutory tort allowing victims of trafficking to sue their traffickers.

(With file from CHAT News Today)