Friday Focus: Calamities Ahead

As COVID deaths and hospitalizations rise, Danielle Smith is planning to clean house at Alberta Health Services and replace its management with a political commissioner who answers only to her and her cabinet. 

Kenney and the UCP kept Albertans in the dark about AHS and its management during the pandemic, so it’s not easy to judge their performance in the face of a unique situation. But Smith’s reasons for replacing them are rooted in anti-science conspiracy theories and an appeal to the fringe segments of society.  Removing the AHS board en masse will only create more chaos. 

Front-line workers tell us our healthcare system is in crisis. UCP mismanagement and COVID-19 have led to backlogged surgeries, a family physician shortage, and longer wait times for ambulances and in emergency rooms. Mass firings and politicized decision-making are only going to make things worse. 

Danielle Smith is not a shock-jock radio host anymore. Her inane and even insane ideas are going to spread more than misinformation now. They’re going to spread chaos and COVID. This will worsen our healthcare crisis and undo the sacrifices Albertans made during the peaks of the pandemic. 

Mass firings of public servants will not help Albertans. Moves like this go beyond disagreements or differences of ideas. It is a fundamental erosion of the norms that allow for stable government. As Alberta Liberals, it’s up to all of us to push back. We all need to get involved. 

One way to do that is to participate in our policy development process. Our convention is on December 10th but the deadline for submitting policy proposals is November 3rd. If you want to learn more about how to get involved click here. 

Thank you for your continued support. Together, we’re going to bring some sanity back to Alberta politics. Please pass this message on to your friends and families.

Sincerely, 

John Rogeveen

Interim Leader