Well being care in Alberta is transferring confidently into the Nineties!
The United Conservative Social gathering (UCP) authorities led by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is about to convey the province’s well being care system again to the long run with an enormous infusion of recent purple tape, identical to the previous purple tape.
It’ll be a lot just like the Nineties you’ll be able to have a good time New Yr’s 1994 on January 1!
As an alternative of Alberta Well being Companies (AHS), the most important provincial well being care company in Canada created in 2009, there might be new well being care boards, new bureaucrats to workers them, and masses and a great deal of chaos to convey the convey the whole system nearer to break down!
And the expense – it’ll be fabulous! Actually billions of {dollars}, most probably. Some consultants are going to get very, very wealthy. A few of them are likely already getting wealthy as we put together to fully restructure a system that we’ve simply spend a decade and a half and one other billion or so fully restructuring.
Nicely, one factor might be completely different: all these streams of purple tape will lead straight again to the premier’s and well being minister’s workplaces, which can now make all of the province’s well being care selections. That ought to work out nicely.
Anyway, Premier Smith and Well being Minister Adriana LaGrange, her Mini-Me on the well being file, have promised for months to do one thing to immediately repair the intractable issues dealing with well being care in Canada, so one thing dramatic needed to be achieved.
By no means thoughts that what they’re proposing received’t assist with the elemental downside dealing with well being care – the worldwide scarcity of well being care professionals, particularly physicians and nurses. In reality, it’s virtually sure to make it worse in Alberta.
And the elephant within the Working Room, after all, is that that is additionally about wreaking revenge on AHS particularly for its enforcement the general public well being measures throughout the pandemic that so irritated the UCP’s QAnon-influenced base, particularly the Take Again Alberta faction that now dominates the social gathering.
Why, you might marvel, do we all know this already if the federal government isn’t going to announce it till later at this time?
Nicely, as a result of the NDP revealed one of many foundational paperwork of the federal government’s massive plan for well being care yesterday – a slide present ready for the provincial cupboard that was leaked by an unknown whistleblower to the Opposition. The Canadian Press confirmed later that the slides are the true factor,
The discharge of the slide deck, the NDP’s information launch, and the questions requested by Opposition MLAs within the Legislature yesterday definitely rained on the parade of puffery the federal government deliberate for its announcement at this time that it’s about break up AHS into easy-to-privatize chunks.
Because the slides clarify, heavy spin and paid promoting might be required to steer the general public this received’t be one other costly catastrophe with “potential to fragment care supply” and “danger of service disruption/failure,” to cite one slide.
In Query Interval, past the premier’s assertion she is “100 per cent dedicated” to the plan as proven within the slides, LaGrange instructed MLAs (and by extension the remainder of us) to attend for at this time’s announcement.
So we now have no selection, I’m certain readers will agree, however to toss apart the hallowed journalistic dedication to steadiness and go along with the NDP press launch in the meanwhile.
“Smith’s long-promised breakup of Alberta Well being Companies is generally a switch of AHS capabilities into the Authorities of Alberta underneath the direct supervision of the well being minister and premier,” the NDP information launch summarizes. “There isn’t a plan to maneuver decision-making exterior of the 2 main cities. As an alternative of regional boards, there might be 4 new authorities bureaucracies for persevering with care, acute care, major care, and psychological well being and dependancy.” (Emphasis added.)
So, the discharge quotes Opposition Chief Rachel Notley, “any UCP members who cheered for extra rural or native decision-making in well being care at their AGM this weekend are about to seek out out they’ve been brutally double-crossed by Danielle Smith.”
Along with the huge new forms described within the recordsdata, the UCP plan will add seven new businesses with impenetrably bureaucratic new names like “Integration Council,” “Centre of Restoration Excellence,” and “Procurement and Programs Optimization Secretariat.”
What’s lacking, as Notley identified, is that “there are not any new medical doctors, no new nurses, no new paramedics, no new nurse practitioners and no new LPNs on this plan.”
“There might be whole new workplace flooring crammed with individuals at computer systems attempting to determine what the heck the UCP desires from them,” she stated. “I strongly suspect lots of these people will skip this altogether and easily pursue their well being care careers in different provinces.”
“We’re heading down a really harmful path once we enable politicians to determine on medical therapy strategies,” Notley added. “We have now large, radically disruptive change, placing Albertans’ lives in danger. … Sufferers are pressured to navigate 13 new businesses the place there was once one. Rural communities get completely no new decision-making powers and no new medical doctors, both.”
“Well being care employees simply desperately need some assist and a few extra individuals working beside them. As an alternative, they’re dealing with one more onslaught of chaos from the UCP,” stated Notley, who additionally requested, who advantages? “The one one that advantages from that is Danielle Smith, who provides herself sweeping powers to succeed in into any a part of our well being care and override medical professionals.”
Nicely, we’ll see this morning how the federal government tries to spin this.
The UCP has scheduled an “embargoed information convention,” an oxymoronic idea, at 7:30AM There might be one other public newser at 9AM, after the members have had an opportunity to follow their solutions, at 9AM The NDP will maintain its personal information convention at 11.
UCP to dump ethics commissioner, chief electoral officer
By no means thoughts well being care, the UCP additionally plans to eliminate its ethics commissioner, who not too long ago authored a crucial report about Premier Smith’s interference within the justice system on behalf of a political ally, in addition to the province’s chief electoral officer.
Marguerite Trussler and Glen Resler might be gone when their phrases expire on Might 24, the Globe and Mail reported yesterday. Each have been appointed by earlier Progressive Conservative governments, which from the attitude of the Take Again Alberta cabal that now controls the UCP, might make them worse than New Democrats. They are going to definitely get replaced by people extra simpatico with the TBA worldview.
Danielle Smith will share stage with Tucker Carlson, it doesn’t matter what
Questioned within the Legislature yesterday about her plan to look on stage with far-right American bloviator Tucker Carlson, identified for advocating the violent overthrow of the Canadian federal authorities, Premier Smith made it clear she received’t be lacking the chance to hob-nob with the MAGA movie star simply due to his loudly expressed racist, Islamophobic, white supremacist, homophobic, anti-vaccine, and anti-Canadian views.
This appears on model, truly, as Ms. Smith seems to share lots of Mr. Carlson’s opinions, along with her previous profession as a right-wing discuss radio bloviator.
Actually, Ms. Smith has superior a separatist “sovereignty” agenda. And Mr. Carlson has described Canada as a dictatorship and opined that “I’m fully in favor of a Bay of Pigs operation to liberate that nation.” (Alert readers will recall that the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 didn’t end in a change of presidency in Cuba, however no matter.)
Mr. Carlson additionally complained vociferously when Mars Inc.’s M&M’s advertising spokescandies have been redrawn to get rid of characters carrying spike heels and hooker boots. “The corporate added overweight and distinctly frumpy lesbian M&M’s,” he complained. “M&M’s is not going to be happy till each final cartoon character is deeply unappealing and completely androgynous, till the second you wouldn’t need to have a drink with any one among them.” I suppose it didn’t happen to him that the unique cartoon characters may need been … in drag!
Good to know our authorities is working with critical individuals to, nicely, to do no matter critical issues they’re doing.
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