Does anyone remember Premier Danielle Smith’s handpicked administrator of Alberta Health Services confidently predicting that wait times for surgeries in this province were about to fall and fall dramatically? NDP Opposition Health Critic Luanne Metz (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Reduced surgical wait times would be the biggest single mark of
Continue readingTag: Health care privatization
Alberta Politics: UCP’s ‘Alberta Surgical Initiative’ proves to be an expensive flop, reducing surgical capacity, failing to fix long wait times
The United Conservative Party’s “Alberta Surgical Initiative” to outsource publicly funded surgeries to private facilities is an expensive flop that has diverted resources away from public hospitals and reduced provincial surgical capacity, says a damning report released this morning by the Parkland Institute. The cover of the Parkland Institute’s report
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Horror! Danielle Smith’s news conference is interrupted for about 50 seconds by 3 mild-mannered protesters!
So, let me see if I’ve got this straight … Trucks block the streets of Ottawa in February 2022 (Photo: Maksim Sokolov/Creative Commons). The people who vociferously supported the occupation of downtown Ottawa by truckers and others blasting air horns 24/7 and spewing filth on the streets of the nation’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP plans to let private medical corporations provide some surgeries without qualified anesthesiologists in the Operating Room
I bet you didn’t know the United Conservative Party Government plans to let private medical corporations operating their own facilities perform surgeries even if the person delivering the anesthesia is not a physician specializing in anesthesiology. Alberta Health Minister Jason Copping (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Alberta political blogger and corporate and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP government announces massive health care layoffs at hastily called news conference
If you think this morning was a crazy moment for Health Minister Tyler Shandro to announce a major restructuring of public health care in Alberta, including the layoffs of 11,000 public health care workers, right in the middle of the most serious health care crisis in 100 years, you’re right.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Bill 30, the UCP’s health care omnibus bill, is bad, but not as bad as it could have been
The two most striking features of the health care omnibus bill introduced yesterday by the United Conservative Party are that it opens the door to a higher degree of privatization and two-tier health care and escalates Health Minister Tyler Shandro’s feud with the Alberta Medical Association. Neither is a positive
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Government opts to use sophomoric sarcastic tweets to counter visit by teenaged environmental activist
Apparently uncertain how to respond to news Greta Thunberg will soon visit Alberta, the Kenney Government seems to have opted for adolescent sarcasm as an appropriate counter to the 16-year-Old Swedish environmental activist’s message. “We trust that Ms. Thunberg will recognize Alberta’s leading human rights and environmental standards,” said Premier
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Summer election may be fought over sneaky clause in budget bill
Dalton McGuinty is threatening to pull the plug on his own government after the opposition parties amended his budget bill yesterday in the legislature’s finance committee. Like the Harper government budget bill, the McGuinty government inserted a large number of … Continue reading →
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