Alberta NDP Leadership candidate Kathleen Ganley is committing to extensive consultation with Alberta’s disability community and to work in partnership to introduce and pass long-needed accessibility legislation.
Accessibility legislation already exists in British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan.
“Accessibility legislation is a critical part of building an economy that works for everyone,” Ganley said. “Alberta is falling behind the rest of the country and that’s unacceptable — people need to be able to live barrier-free and contribute to their community.”
There is also existing federal accessibility legislation passed in 2019 that sets a goal for making Canada barrier-free by 2040. The law specifically relates to barriers involving the federal government’s facilities, services and more — specific examples include air travel, television and radio services, banking and more. Ganley said, pending consultation, Alberta’s legislation would follow similar provincial bills in other provinces and apply to provincial buildings and services.
In 2022, Statistics Canada found that 8 million Canadians report having at least one disability and roughly one-in-five reported that to be the case specifically in Alberta.
“Under the UCP, supports and programs for disabled Albertans have been cut repeatedly and community members have made it clear to my team they no longer feel they have a vote or representation in the provincial government,” Ganley said. “I’m going to change that.
“We will restore funding and critical programs and we will work with the disability community to pass comprehensive accessibility legislation as quickly as possible and have the disability community lead implementation across Alberta.”
Kathleen Ganley is running a leadership campaign focused on building an economy that works for people. You can read more about her and her ideas at TeamGanley.ca.