Get ready for the new two-tier medicine! Real doctors for the rich; Internet apps of the rest of us. Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro (Photo: Government of Alberta). You think I’m kidding? Wednesday night, I found an email in my inbox from Telus Corp., the corporate monstrosity based in the
Continue readingTag: Alberta Medical Association
Alberta Politics: With COVID-19 in Alberta, Health Minister Tyler Shandro caves to docs on ‘complex billing’ battle
As Lyndon B. Johnson famously explained, in politics, chicken poop can turn over night into chicken salad. Those weren’t exactly the words used by the late United States Senator from Texas, Senate Majority Leader, Vice-President and then, in tragic circumstances after Nov. 22, 1963, Democratic Party President of the United
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Community transmission of COVID-19 seen in Alberta; all classes cancelled; no layoffs of health workers — for now
Community transmission of COVID-19 is now taking place in Alberta as numbers of cases grew by 17 over the past 24 hours to 56, Premier Jason Kenney told the province’s daily briefing on the local spread of the global pandemic today. Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw said seven
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Coronavirus pandemic? What a peculiar time for the health minister to pursue a fight with Alberta’s physicians
Hey! It’s Friday the 13th in the age of the coronavirus. Are you feeling lucky? Apparently Tyler Shandro and Tara Jago are. Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw (Photo: Screenshot of Government of Alberta video). Leastways, Alberta’s heath minister and his “issues manager” were yesterday when, global coronavirus
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Talks between Alberta’s docs and government, which went off the rails on Valentine’s Day, are back on again
A big fight with Alberta’s doctors might have seemed like a good idea when the United Conservative Party’s strategic braintrust came up with the plan a few weeks ago. But that was then. This is now. With the docs primed for action, their constitutional lawyers loaded for bear, full-page advertisements
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Kenney to Edmonton: Drop dead!
When the New York Daily News published its famous FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD headline on Oct. 30, 1975, all president Gerald Ford had done was deny a federal bailout to Gotham, which was nearly bankrupt. It shows the power of a great headline that Oct. 29, the day President
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP launches blitzkrieg on physicians as health care in Alberta returns to its normal state of chaos
If you’ve been operating under the misapprehension the United Conservative Party is just the latest version of the Progressive Conservative Party that ran Alberta from 1971 to 2015, yesterday’s blitzkrieg attack on the province’s 11,000 physicians should disabuse you of that notion. No, this crowd is unique in the history
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Arbitrator’s decision awarding 1% pay increase to some AUPE members undermines UCP austerity arguments
An independent labour arbitrator yesterday awarded unionized Alberta government employees and health care support workers a modest 1-per-cent pay increase for 2019. Having gone into wage-reopener negotiations in the final year of their current collective agreements seeking much higher pay increases ranging from 6.5 to 7.85 per cent, the Alberta
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It turns out the UCP’s dream of grabbing the Canada Pension Plan won’t be as easy as it would like you to believe
How much of the United Conservative Party’s radical project to transform Alberta into a dystopic firewalled statelet, most of the details of which were revealed by Premier Jason Kenney for the first time at Preston Manning’s Red Deer clambake on Saturday, was predicated on a Conservative victory in last month’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Are secret mandatory government bargaining orders the new face of public-sector labour relations in Alberta?
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and his government moved yesterday to impose big changes on public sector bargaining in Alberta, not to mention a host of other areas. They’re sure to unleash a flood of litigation. There’s enough stuff embedded in the Harper-Government-style omnibus budget legislation introduced to the Alberta Legislature
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Lobbyists, agencies, government-funded ideological front groups face setbacks in wake of Alberta’s Orange Wave
PHOTOS: The Alberta Legislature Building as it transitions to Orange from Blue. Whatever will the lobbyists do? Below: NDP-connected federal lobbyist Robin Sears and Conservative-associated Alberta lobbyist Hal Danchilla. WANTED: Someone – anyone! – willing to work for major national lobbying firm in Alberta. New Democratic Party connections essential! Orange
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: It’s Really Not About Access to Private MRIs
The dapper Dr Theman stands unfazed in a thicket of microphones and TV cameras and repeats for the umpteenth time that proposed changes to the doctors’ Standards of Practice will not, repeat, not, shut down private MRI and CT services—these private clinics fall through a gap in the legislation and
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A(nother) Trip to the Mayo: The Power of Seamless Connections
For the record, the Soapbox family is not crazy about going to the US for medical care, but our eldest daughter (let’s call her “Missy”) has some serious health issues (I blame it on Mr Soapbox’s gene pool) and her GP refused to book the necessary appointments with specialists because—get
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Count on it: Alberta’s doctors got more than the government’s press release indicates
Dr. Michael Giuffre jots down the Alberta Medical Association’s wish list before yesterday’s agreement with the provincial government. Actual AMA negotiators may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne, Advanced Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk. It will take a while to sort out what really happened in
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Redford to docs: There’s no raise, and you’re not getting it!
The Alberta Progressive Conservative position on negotiations with the doctors explained. Yes, we’re just as confused as you are. Below: AMA President Michael Giuffre. Premier Alison Redford. Every day, it just gets weirder and weirder. The day before yesterday, we’re told, Alberta Premier Alison Redford waded into her health minister’s
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Redford government floats risky scheme to impose contract on teachers
An Alberta Teachers Association member gets ready to give an important lesson to the Redford Government. Alberta teachers may not be smiling quite as broadly as illustrated if the government imposes a contract on them by legislation. Below: Education Minister Jeff Johnson. Trapped in a no-deficit, no-tax-increase cage of its
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Is Premier Alison Redford’s bitter fight with the docs about money, or control?
Who’s in change here? Progressive Conservative MLAs get ready to supervise the work of an Alberta Health Services medical team while Alberta voters look on. Health officials, physicians and electors may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: AMA President Dr. Michael Giuffre; a space invader Is the increasingly bitter fight
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Bill C-377 can be just the start – let’s shine a light on some corners that are really in the dark!
The ideal Canadian workforce, Harper Conservative style. Below: Social conservative B.C. MP Russ Hiebert. Well, you can’t fight a call for transparency, so why bother? I say, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em! The so-called Conservative Party of Stephen Harper quietly whipped its troops in the privacy of their
Continue readingAlberta Diary: What’s wrong with the Alberta Medical Association’s message? A technical primer
The executive of the Alberta Medical Association, shown here, may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: the offending advertisement. With contract talks between the Alberta Medical Association and the provincial government back on again, after a fashion, a polling firm is out there now trolling to see how voters are
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Docs call health minister liar, liar, scrubs on fire, but their ad fails to persuade
The docs’ advertisement. Below: AMA President Dr. Michael Giuffre. The Alberta Medical Association, the province’s most powerful trade union, has gone back to the familiar ground of buying newspaper advertisements to call Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne and the Progressive Conservative government led by Premier Alison Redford a bunch of
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