Friday Focus: Hiding Deaths from Government Failures

The Alberta government has recently stopped tracking deaths linked to healthcare wait times—a shocking decision that raises serious questions about their commitment to transparency and accountability.

Long wait times for vital medical care already cost lives. Patients and families across Alberta know this pain all too well. Instead of addressing the problem head-on, the government has chosen to hide the evidence. Without this critical data, how can we measure the true impact of delayed care? How can we improve when the facts are swept under the rug?

This lack of transparency undermines trust in our government. It hinders our ability to fix problems. If you don’t measure it, you can’t monitor it or audit whether it’s effective.  Changes aimed at reducing wait times and saving lives must be guided by accurate and honest information—not by avoiding hard truths.

The UCP-run government’s desire to avoid transparency has also recently been criticized by the privacy commissioner. Bill 27 creates broad exceptions to FOIP requests for information about government, including discussions involving “political staff”, adding yet another layer of obscurity.

Our government needs to reinstate the tracking of deaths linked to wait times immediately. Albertans deserve to know the full scope of the situation. Lives depend on real solutions, not political cover-ups.

We need to face our problems, not hide them. Let’s demand better for Alberta and build a better Alberta.