An Airdrie City Councillor is looking to the provincial government to make changes to legislation so door to door salesman are easily recognizable.

Allan Hunter wants the changes after a terrifying incident for two Airdrie girls when three men came to their house posing as door to door salesmen.  The girls didn't open the door to the persistent ringing of the door bell.  They then heard a window breaking and went upstairs to hide as the men stole items from the home.  

Hunter says he's spoken to Shaye Anderson, the Minister of Municipal Affairs for Alberta who has promised he'll speak to Stephanie McLean, Minister of Service Alberta to see if existing legislation that bans door to door furnace sales has enough teeth to make a difference.

"They'll look at what that legislation does and doesn't do and give us the ability to change that outcome.  What we're looking for specifically is, if in fact you have to have a business license and photo ID to offer anything for sale in Alberta, what does that look like across the province and if it's supposed to be in place now, why isn't it being enforced."

Hunter uses the example of Telus and Shaw Cable.  "When they show up at your house they have a lanyard and a photo I.D. on it.  So if you were to look out your window you'd be able to see that this individual has this thing.  We want to make sure that legislation doesn't take away the ability of legitimate business people to come and ply their wares and do their business in municipalities across the province.  These individuals (in the Airdrie home incident) made it appear like it was legitimate.  If they were wearing a lanyard that had their picture on it, you'd be able to see clearly who they are."

Hunter is looking for the province to say if the existing legislation is strong enough, or if more is needed.  "We'll look at the legislation, tell us what teeth we do have or don't have, can we tighten it up and can we make it just a little more difficult for people like this to do these types of things."  

The Airdrie Councillor does want to make it clear that he isn't looking to ban door to door solicitation.  "You've got your Girl Guide cookies, you've got all kinds of fundraisers.  I don't think we need a society that bans everything, but we need to be a society that says we're going to look at it from time to time, make sure that we have the tools in place to make sure we all feel safe."

Hunter says Minister Anderson understood his concerns and spoke about how traumatized the family must be.  He promised to address those concerns.  "We've said we're going to work together to make them feel safer, everybody on that street feel safer and everybody in Airdrie feel safer."

Questions, comments or story ideas? Email us at news@discoverairdrie.com