Alberta opposition parties end boycott of NDP's child care panel

Alberta's opposition parties have called off their boycott of the NDP's review of the government's child intervention system. 

The Wildrose, PCs, Liberals and Alberta Party have agreed to revised terms of reference for an all-party panel, which they say will speed up the review and allow them to participate.

"All the opposition together were concerned that the panel was one, not going to be focused enough to be able to make changes fast," Jason Nixon, Wildrose MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre told CBC News. It was a concern that revisions to the plan have alleviated.

"We believe that we need action as fast as possible on this file," Nixon said.

Initially, the opposition parties said they would boycott the panel unless changes were made to the makeup and terms of reference. They called it a 'sham vehicle of a government bent on whitewashing.'

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"We are pleased to see all members of the legislature coming together to address challenges facing our child intervention system," Human Services Minister Irfan Sabir said in a statement Thursday. 

The truce comes exactly two weeks after Sabir refused to heed opposition calls to resign over the handling of an investigation into a death of a child in kinship care. Instead, the minister announced the creation of an all-party panel to look into problems within the system. 

The NDP was criticized for calling yet another review of the system, after six reviews had been done in eight years with intangible results. The opposition now says the panel will review the recommendations from the previous panel as a priority.

 The opposition parties also said they now have "received assurances" that the panel will include whistleblower protection for front-line workers who want to speak out about sensitive information.

"We don't have exactly the wording that we would like to see, but we have the minister's commitment to make sure that it happens," Nixon said.

But one key thing that hasn't changed is the makeup of the panel. The opposition parties had argued the panel was stacked in the NDP government's favour. The new terms of reference still call for two outside experts, five NDP MLAs plus Sabir, and one MLA from each of the four opposition parties.

Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark said he would have preferred to have an equal number of opposition MLAs on the panel.

"Of course we wanted all the changes that we proposed last week," he admitted. "But that's life, we're not always going to get everything we want."

Added Clark: "I think this panel is going to be significantly improved over what was proposed." 

 The calls earlier this month for Sabir to resign as Human Services minister were due to delays in getting a report to the RCMP on the death of a four-year-old child known as Serenity, who was in kinship care.

The handling of the case triggered heated debate during the fall legislature sitting.

Serenity had been living with relatives on a central Alberta reserve when she was airlifted to the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton with severe brain trauma.

She was on life support until she died in September 2014.

The panel will write a report within the next eight to 10 weeks, with recommendations on how to improve Alberta's child intervention system.