Mr. Anderson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to rise in support of Bill 201 and would like to commend the hon. Member for Leduc-Beaumont-Devon for bringing such a current and relevant piece of legislation forward. The Member for Leduc-Beaumont-Devon and myself share a common thread in that we both represent communities that have an integrated fire and ambulance service in place. They mean a lot to our communities, and I'll talk about that a little bit later. This is an obvious piece of legislation that needed to be – well, it's not so obvious. If it was so obvious, it would have been done by now. Obviously, the member has done his homework and has been listening to his constituents, and I commend him for that.

Ever since I was a little boy, I was, you know, very much a fan of and looked up to firefighters, like so many people in this Chamber probably did. My uncle Aro Dudley was a Calgary firefighter. We were neighbours of him. I remember being in awe watching the show Rescue 911, if you remember that. He was on it, and he had saved some little girl from a fire. I remember very vividly just how proud I was to be related to a real-life hero. When I saw this bill come forward, he was the first person that I thought of. But there are so many stories like that, and there are just so many heroes among our firefighters today.

Section 24.1 of the Workers' Compensation Act, which this amends, specifically alludes to the integrated fire-ambulance services. It specifically says that in these cases this act covers these types of firefighters. I feel that that's really appropriate and a good thing and probably one of the reasons why this member is taking this bill through.

In Airdrie we have, as I said earlier, an integrated fire-ambulance team, EMS service, one that we are very proud of. It has become quite an issue of contention with this government in our community right now because our city council has just chosen to divest themselves of this service because of some happenings with the province.

I want to read an article into the record that was published in the local paper in Airdrie. I'm of the hope that the current minister of health will be able to assist my community in retaining our integrated service and actually reverse what has happened because of some developments with Alberta Health Services. I would like to put that into the record, and I'll do so now. The article is entitled Airdrie Emergency Services and Broken Promises and is as follows:

Many residents of Airdrie were disappointed when they heard the news the City would be divesting itself of its provincially renowned integrated fire and ambulance service.

Run by Chief Sheldon Leavitt, Airdrie Emergency Services has a sterling safety record, attracts and trains dozens of highly skilled individuals to Airdrie, and saves millions of taxpayers' dollars by efficiently integrating the use of equipment and personnel thereby limiting duplication and waste.

So why would the City feel the need to divest itself of this service? Two words – broken promises.

As a newly elected MLA, I was approached by [the] then Health Minister . . . to carry Bill 43, the Emergency Health Services Act (2008). The proposed law was to enshrine responsibility for providing ambulance services with the newly created Alberta Health Services (AHS) entity.

I immediately brought up a concern with the Minister, communicated to me by Mayor Linda Bruce shortly after taking office, that Airdrie was worried this centralization of authority might mean the end of our community's prized integrated service. I said that if the minister could guarantee me that this legislation would not interfere with Airdrie's ability to retain its integrated service, I would be happy to carry Bill 43 through the Legislature. The minister made the promise, and I, somewhat naively it turns out, took him at his word.

Roughly one year later, and to my great consternation, I received a phone call from our good mayor explaining that [Alberta Health Services] was alleging that Airdrie emergency Services was in breach of its contract with AHS, and that the demands being made by AHS were so expensive in nature, the City may be forced to divest itself of its integrated service entirely.

The stated complaint by AHS was that the integrated service was overstretched and not adequately safe. Given the unblemished safety record of the service, I found that difficult to believe. Upon further investigation, it appears a high ranking bureaucrat at [Alberta Health Services] was on a bit of a power trip, and was looking for any excuse to have AHS take over Airdrie's integrated service.

After investigating this issue, I called [the] Minister . . . explained the situation and reminded him of his pledge. I suggested that all he needed to do was rein in one or two bureaucrats at AHS and the problem would be solved. He said he would look into it but that I should not involve myself. He hired a mediator. City managers provided three options they felt would address the stated concerns of AHS. AHS declined each option and stubbornly refused to alter its original position on the issue.

Late last year, [the] Minister . . . called me with the news that mediation had failed, but that he would have communications staff at [Alberta Health Services] call me about spinning the news to my constituents as a "public safety concern." I guess he has control over that part of the bureaucracy. I crossed the floor shortly thereafter.

Now, I've asked the current health minister to meet with the city and the city staff to see if there could be something worked out to keep our integrated service. The minister has very thoughtfully agreed to do that, which I'm very grateful for. There's a lot of hope in our town right now that this sort of nightmare might be over, especially for the staff of the integrated service. If anyone looks at the Airdrie papers for the last couple of weeks, since the minister agreed to that meeting, they'll see that there is a lot of hope that something might be done. I would just ask that the minister – he's not here right now, obviously on other duties, a very busy man – when he hears of this first-hand from the city, will do the right thing and reverse a very damaging decision by Alberta Health Services.

The Deputy Speaker: Hon. member, may I just call on you. This is Bill 201 about firefighter cancers.

Mr. Anderson: Yeah. Absolutely, Mr. Speaker. As I stated earlier, the bill actually specifically addresses the integrated ambulance service, that is unique to many communities, including Leduc and Airdrie, so it's very, very relevant to the topic.

I will say this in conclusion, that I do support Bill 201 wholeheartedly.

I would conclude with another story by saying that, you know, when I was in New York late last year, I had the opportunity to visit the World Trade Center site. Across from the World Trade Center site is a church.

An Hon. Member: It's still standing.

Mr. Anderson: Yeah. It's still standing.

They based rescue operations out of that church. Firefighters from all across the world came there and were based out of there when they were going to and coming from. They would sleep right there in the graveyard that's at that church. It really had a special feeling to it, just a really special place.

I noticed that there's a pile of badges; I'd say about four feet tall. It's just a pile of badges from the different fire departments and police departments from around the world that came to serve there. There's a big kind of commemoration to it and a big photograph of it that you can see on every side of the church and then, of course, the badges in the church itself. I noticed to my excitement that the Edmonton fire department has the badge right smack on the very top. The picture just focuses right down on it, and the first thing you see is the Edmonton fire department. You know, I got to thinking about what absolutely amazing people would go all the way across North America to search and help their brethren in distress in the ruins of the World Trade Center. That was a special moment for me personally, and I think all Albertans and Edmontonians should take pride in being recognized that way.

I think Bill 201 is definitely the least that we could do to make sure that just as our friends in the fire departments across this great province are there for us when we need them, we're there for them when they need us.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Protecting Those Who Protect Us
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