Alberta ping pong
Rocketing between the worst of the worst and the best of the best; Alberta politics... we've made it through another week.
This Week in AB
There was a splash; now for the ripples
Sometimes, people think my criticism is borne from “(enter party/politician) derangement syndrome”, when in fact the truth is far worse; I want every option to be so amazing that the only thing keeping me up at night is the struggle to choose one party representative over another at election time.
Because of that, I’ve really appreciated the Nenshi campaign and its focus on “why” people should support the Alberta NDP because it simply hasn’t been something that previous campaigns — and I mean the last two elections — have spent enough time talking about.
Many partisans I speak to don’t think it needs to be a conversation because “there is no other option” and “the other guy is worse”. Obviously — as an idealist who envisions a utopian setting in which I want to vote for every party because they’re all so awesome — I’m waiting for a better argument than that.
And I really don’t think I’m alone. A big-tent coalition party that catered to both progressives and conservatives, a party that began its dynasty before I was born, was gutted and replaced with something that demanded your conservative cred at the door. The other option was turning up their nose because you weren’t progressive enough to bother with.
We were called “politically homeless” yet, in rural, I get that and the feeling that I’m also a political throwaway.
In a reliably conservative riding, we get the worst of both worlds: conservatives don’t bother to reach out because they’ll be elected anyway and progressives don’t reach out because they won’t be elected anyway.
So, with an understanding of the political (dis)advantages that inherently exist in rural, I was thrilled to see that candidate Rakhi Pancholi was adding some rural stops to her tour.
I understand that everyone who is already on the team just wants people to suck it up and get on the train but both of the only two viable parties are relatively new as the “only” option. More time needs to spent on why they’re the right choice for Albertans.
I have to add that Pancholi also dropped a healthcare plan this week that is getting some rave reviews from people I actually trust on the subject: healthcare professionals. Looks like it’s a good time to be paying attention to the alternatives.
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The human cost of public service cost-savings
When my eldest was in high school, she wanted to be a social worker. My thoughts went immediately to burn out, traumatization, and their perpetual lack of resources and service funding, while only making a couple of dollars more an hour than the person asking if you “want fries with that”.
However, I also realized that we need people to do that work and she doesn’t internalize things the way I do, so, I tried to be supportive.
Luckily (for her — not for the profession), she asked one day where she could work and I told her to put her education into a search on Indeed and read through the job postings to learn more about the role.
Within minutes, she balked and cried, “I’m not going to go into debt to educate myself so I can be poor!” And that was the end of that.
Many social services are farmed out to private and not-for-profit providers because “the private sector can deliver them cheaper” (see above).
The problem with shuffling responsibilities from government to private is that bad things can happen and no one knows until someone else is available to advocate for their loved ones.
When a stroke victim was released from hospital, because he no longer required hospital-level care, it didn’t mean he didn’t require any care at all. He required the level of care available in supportive living or long term care — for which there are lengthy waitlists for placement.
Alberta has been able to skimp on investment in long term care over the years because most people don’t stay here in retirement — the alternative is they’re dying really young, so I’ll stick with them leaving — and government likes it that way because it keeps our taxpayer-funded responsibilities lower than other provinces. But I digress.
In a wheelchair, an Albertan was put into a non-accessible room, and staff of the company who obtained the contract for services dropped off fast food meals to him. This service for patient “recovery” was billed out at the bargain rate of $1,600.00 per month to the government.
$1,600.00 per month for a room, meals, and, ostensibly, some form of healthcare provision; where in actual supportive living and long term care the value is between $1,880.00 for a standard room to $2,286.00 for a private room — per month — if you can get placed.
Instead, as another hospitality owner currently providing rooms for 39 other “patients” said, the front desk staff at the location (who are presumably not healthcare professionals trying to break into the field from the front desk of a motel) are the ones providing support and service to the people who a private company drops off to them.
Health Minister Adriana LaGrange originally told reporters that “appropriate procedures were followed” for the relocation of Albertans requiring continued care. Premier Smith, a day later, had a slightly different take, saying she was “concerned there are other (organizations with government of Alberta contracts providing the same inappropriate level of care), and is calling on the public to let (the government) know”.
The icing on this cake filled with rotting leftovers is that the person who thought it was a good idea to abandon people waiting for long-term spaces to hotels with no provision for care was Danielle Smith herself, in her run for leadership of the United Conservative Party back in 2022.
It was just one of the many things she wanted Albertans not to hold against her while she was trying to get elected because back when she was just running for premier, she wasn’t really in charge and things would be totes not crazy pants if we could all just get past everything she said before.
Speaking of providing cover for things the UCP wants to do…
April 1st marks the day that carbon taxes on fuel will increase by $0.03/L for all Canadians, but Albertans will see a $0.07/L increase because the UCP has decided it would be the best day to do away with the provincial relief of $0.04/L on fuel taxes as well.
Oil has once again dropped below $80 and without oil, the provincial government cannot continue to give out tax savings. Unless you’re a corporation, of course. Your tax savings are guaranteed so long as you can afford to prop up this government.
And people say throwing more money at bad ideas doesn’t work.
Final thoughts
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