by Werner Patels
It is at moments like these that Albertans, even those who were short-sighted enough to vote for him last March, are beginning to think that premier Ed Stelmach should have stuck to his knitting and remained the pig farmer that he is, because a politician, or premier, he sure isn't.
The Calgary Health Region (CHR), the administrative body and unit that is responsible for running the public healthcare services in and around Calgary, has warned of a deficit that could easily exceed $100 million. In fact, year after year, the CHR has incurred massive deficits.
As it turns out, the problem is not only due to mismanagement inside the CHR, but also to a flawed formula used by the provincial government for distributing public funds to the various health regions across Alberta.
The health region in Edmonton, even though the city's population is smaller than Calgary's, receives over a $100 million more in funding a year than the CHR. The premier and his Tories say that hospitals in Edmonton have to deal with more complex conditions and treatments than those in Calgary, which is why, they claim, this unbalanced formula and approach are absolutely justifiable. Among the more "complex conditions" they cite are patients from outside the Edmonton region (or, possibly, even from outside the province) that receive treatment there.
That part does not make any sense at all. Why do Albertans and/or Edmontonians have to pay for out-of-region or out-of-province patients? And even if Edmonton insists on accepting these cases, why should Calgarians die in the hallways (or broom closets) of their hospitals as a result?
No one begrudges Edmonton its healthcare funding, but cutting Calgary short is simply not fair or in the spirit of public healthcare because this situation has effectively created a two-tiered healthcare system – one for Edmonton, the platinum plan, and another for Calgary, the tin plan. Canadians are trapped inside their universal healthcare system and are not allowed to bypass it even if they have the money to do so. It therefore falls to the government to ensure that all those services are available whenever, wherever and however they are required by those in need of medical attention.
Apart from the flawed formula, there is something much more sinister afoot: Stelmach's hatred of Calgary. The former pig farmer is from the rural north, and right after taking over as leader of the Tory party, his actions made it very clear that Calgary could fall off the face of the earth for all he cared. It was only because of the looming provincial election and highly negative polling numbers in Calgary and across southern Alberta that Stelmach paid some perfunctory lip service to the demands from Calgarians – most notably, from Calgary's mayor, Dave Bronconnier.
But after "winning" the election (with only 22% of all voters casting ballots for Stelmach's Tories), Stelmach is slowly but surely dropping his campaign mask and showing his true and real self again. He is playing a very dangerous game. Canada is already one of the most dysfunctional countries in the world, with every province and territory pulling in different directions and always threatening to break apart the country, so the last thing anyone needs is a premier creating a feud and fissures between the two halves of Alberta.
The saddest aspect of it all is that this will be remembered as one of the several daggers that killed universal health care. The writing has been on every single hospital and doctor's office wall. With ballooning costs, an ever widening shortage of doctors and nurses, an aging population that will require even more medical care than ever before, and the usual cases of mismanagement and political games played by the powers that be, it is just a matter of time before public health care implodes in Canada.
Calgarians, in particular, the closest thing to red-blooded and strong-willed Americans we have in Canada, will not tolerate this kind of treatment and disrespect for too long – especially if their health and lives are at stake. Unless Stelmach is sent back to his pig farm in northern Alberta and unless the healthcare mess is finally ironed out, people will start circumventing the public sector, regardless of whether the law allows it or not. Once this happens, Canadians can kiss their beloved universal healthcare system bye-bye.
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