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Bill 60 – Health Professions Amendment Act (Committee of the Whole)

Ms Blakeman:

Yes. Thank you very much. Just two points that I wanted to raise in connection with Committee of the Whole debate on Bill 60, the Health Professions Amendment Act, 2009. The first is noting the expanded practice scope for midwives and how delighted I am to see the continuing progression of this profession in being able to have its services readily available to Alberta women and their families.

My association with this goes back to 1989 with the Advisory Council on Women’s Issues and the recommendation that that council made to, in fact, this government that midwives be recognized as a profession, which indeed we see here; that they be registered; that there be a professional scope of practice that would be recognized, and in fact that’s happened; and thirdly, that their costs be covered under health care, and that has happened recently. So it’s a pretty exciting time there, and I’m pleased to see the ability to “teach, manage and conduct research in the science, techniques and practice of midwifery” added into their scope of practice.

The second thing that I noticed was the concept of a technician level being added under the pharmacy section. I’m aware of a condition that we created in the Health Professions Act some time ago that we were not able to address in a satisfactory manner. It’s coming back before this House again currently in the form of some petitions that members have been presenting to the House on behalf of constituents, and that is the profession of massage therapy.

What we have in that profession is, essentially, two levels. One is a massage therapist, who has spent a considerable amount of time in training and also in a practicum situation. They’ve put in – and I’m sorry; I don’t remember the exact number of hours – thousands of hours, let’s say 2,000 hours, of practice.

Mr. Liepert:

Twenty-two hundred.

Ms Blakeman:

Twenty-two hundred is the higher level? Okay. Then there’s a secondary level of people offering massage services. It’s what I tend to refer to as sort of the EvelineCharles spas or the spas that you find at the Westin or the hotels, which is sort of a relaxation massage, and those that were able to offer those services and charge for them, in fact, had taken a lesser amount of training.

So we had two levels, and when the Health Professions Act came before us to look at massage, we only accepted the upper level. Now, of course, you have the petitions from members saying that we need to be able to grandfather in all the people that did the secondary level of training and soon will not be able to charge for their services because that’s what all of this professional oversight is about. You know, once you’re accepted as a profession, you can hang out your shingle, and people know that there’s a certain amount of training and practice that lies behind that, and they can trust in that. It’s a protection device that the government offers.

The issue that has come to me repeatedly, partly because I’m the MLA for Edmonton-Centre, is that we have a number of people who are working in the sex trades who have trained and qualified in that secondary level of training for massage, and therefore they’re absolutely certified. It’s not allowing the municipalities to be able to distinguish in any way when they are trying to restrict or rezone massage parlours or people that are offering massage services as a loss leader to bring customers in.

This is partly our fault in the provincial Legislature and partly on the doorstep of the city, but it has become a difficulty, particularly for the city people to deal with. They have no ability to distinguish, and therefore they must allow the business licence to be granted. Therefore, the businesses can start there, and they have no way of stopping them. As we work our way through this, I’m hoping that we can be alive to the situation that we’ve created and hopefully address it in a way that will be helpful for those that are trying to plan their communities and to the city officials that are trying to have some control over and assist those people in doing that.

Thanks for the opportunity to just put that little nudge on the table, and again thank you for the expanded scope for the practice of midwifery. We are all very excited about having that available to us in Alberta.