Province Implementing New Measures
Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk
MLA for Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville
What great weather we are having, just in time for Halloween! I hope you all had a safe and spooky Halloween!
Our government is hard at work this session, implementing new measures to make life easier for Albertans.
We will be privatizing driver exams for Class 4, 5, and 6 licenses – providing quicker access to more road tests across the province. With the new system, Albertans will be able to book passenger vehicle road tests directly with local registry agents or through a new online system starting December 1st for tests to be conducted after January 5, 2021. This will repair the damage done when road tests were nationalized by the previous government, a move that caused half of the province’s driver examiners to leave the system and increased wait times significantly.
Another important piece of legislation, Bill 37 – the Prompt Payment Amendment Act, was introduced in the legislature last week and proposed changes to address the issue of prompt payment within the construction industry. This includes prohibiting ‘pay-when-paid’ clauses, a new mandatory adjudication process to address non-payment, and establishing a 28-day payment timeline. The construction industry is a multi-billion-dollar sector that creates thousands of jobs across Alberta. That is why we are ensuring prompt payment to limit the risk of non-payment in this essential industry, supporting jobs and families who rely on them. We are acting to protect vital jobs in the construction sector that are essential to Alberta’s economic recovery. Alberta’s government will continue standing up for our key industries and protecting the jobs of Albertans who work within them.
Additionally, Alberta’s government introduced Bill 35: Creating Jobs and Driving Innovation Amendment Act, which looks to advance Alberta’s recovery Plan by accelerating the Job Creation Tax Cut and introducing the Innovation Employment Grant. We are accelerating the Job Creation Tax Cut a year and a half ahead of schedule, slashing our corporate tax rate from 11 percent to 8 percent. This is coupled with the Innovation Employment Grant which rewards companies that increase research and development spending. These measures will make Alberta the most attractive place in Canada to invest in technology and innovation, and it will make Alberta one of the most competitive business jurisdictions in North America.