Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the cold weather today, it’s really hard to start talking about summer and our beaches, especially about safety. Recently, the coroner tabled a report on the findings of a young boy’s accidental drowning on June 27, 2013, at Fred Henne Territorial Park. Within the coroner’s report, there are strong recommendations and comments about the assistance of the Royal Life Saving Society of Canada, methods that this government should be following to make our beaches safer.
Sadly, it is also mentioned that all levels of protection must be a priority and implemented before lifeguards are to be considered. My questions today are for the Minister responsible for our parks, to seek some clarity.
Within the coroner’s report, it indicates: “Life Saving Society rates the level of protection at supervised beaches from level two to eight. In the aquatic safety audit, Fred Henne beach was rated level two, meaning there is signage to communicate safety messages to beach users. Increasing the beach level to seven would involve additional training for staff and the presence of additional rescue equipment; level eight beaches, lifeguard supervision.” Can the Minister indicate to us what level is our beach for this summer? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister of ITI, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our goal is to implement the recommendations from the Life Saving Society of Alberta that would get the beach at Fred Henne and the beach in Hay River up to a level seven. We are waiting again for the review of lifeguard services, the provisional lifeguard services at Fred Henne beach that is being undertaken by the Life Saving Society as well. We should have that report back within the next few weeks, I would say. Thank you.
I do want to commend the Minister and his office for dedicating a lot of time and resources to making our beaches safer, especially in the wake of that tragedy last summer. Minister Ramsay even went on to say in this House in an oral exchange with myself on October 24, 2013, “If it’s going to make Fred Henne beach safer, there will be lifeguards at the beach next summer.” Is the Minister still committed to this statement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We need to have that dialogue with the community. We had a meeting, and I thank the Member for attending that meeting that we had at the ski club a few weeks back. We want to have some more dialogue with the community. We have had input from a number of community members on our website. The answer is still yes, if having lifeguards at Fred Henne beach is going to make that beach safer, we’ll try our best to have lifeguards there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Again, I appreciate the Minister’s ongoing commitment and steadfast resolve in being true to his word.
Minister Ramsay also went on to say on October 24, 2013, “It’s not an issue about funding and it shouldn’t be an issue of funding.” With the main estimates and ITI before the House later today, is there a budget for lifeguards for this year’s budget? Thank you.
We want to make sure we get it right. That’s first and foremost. We want to ensure we get all the information to make an informed decision. To the Member’s question about whether there is funding in this year’s budget, no, there isn’t. Our early estimates indicate that to have that service at Fred Henne Park, it would run in the neighbourhood of $120,000 to $150,000. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister bringing that number to the floor of the House. Can the Minister commit that if, indeed, we are going to move forward with lifeguards, that that number just quoted today in the House will come back as a supplementary appropriation? Thank you.
The issue of lifeguards at Fred Henne beach has never been an issue about money. I think service is going to be required there and the department will find the money. We’ll go through a supplementary appropriation if we have to. It is about having the service there, but there are a lot of other moving parts to the issue such as where do you find the trained lifeguards, where do you train them, how do you get them ready for this summer. There will be a number of challenges other than having that service at Fred Henne Park. It’s something, like I said earlier, that if they are going to make that beach safer, we’ll do our best to ensure that they’re there.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
