After Premier Danielle Smith’s disappointing $100 Dani Dollars initiative flopped with nearly everyone on Wednesday, Alberta’s United Conservative Party (UCP) pushed forward on Thursday with its earlier plan to privatize public health care by allowing doctors to charge patients for faster access to surgeries.
Many voters are likely to be upset by this news as well, but at least it doesn’t come across as laughable. This change could genuinely jeopardize the future of public health care in Alberta and potentially across Canada.
The UCP seems frantic and angry in its recent barrage of announcements, almost as if they’ve realized voters are starting to notice their actions and aren’t pleased, despite the governing party’s polling numbers holding steady for now.
There’s also an ongoing RCMP investigation into a troubling contracts scandal that has plagued this government since they dismissed the CEO of Alberta Health Services in January 2025 after she expressed concerns about illegal activities she discovered. It certainly sounds like the Mounties might have a solid lead.
This chaotic situation makes it challenging to keep track of what’s happening, which could benefit the government as it rolls out a genuinely concerning policy like yesterday’s announcement about dual public and private billing for certain surgeons starting in September.
In their press release, the government framed this drastic change as an initiative “to improve access, expand care options for Albertans, and attract and retain physicians by offering more flexibility in how they practice while maintaining publicly funded care.”
However, this is likely to backfire. Not only does this policy seem to violate the Canada Health Act-which could lead to significant funding penalties from the federal government-but it will also pave the way for profit-driven U. S. healthcare companies and their harmful practices due to Canada’s international trade agreements.
“There is absolutely no evidence that this will increase capacity or shorten wait times,” said Friends of Medicare Director Chris Gallaway following yesterday’s press conference. “It just creates a way for wealthy individuals to bypass queues while everyone else waits longer or goes without.”
“In fact, as Albertans have repeatedly seen, this government’s failed privatization strategy has already reduced public capacity for life-saving surgical care,” Gallaway stated.
Of course, that seems to be exactly what they want. The logic behind private care relies on long wait times affecting those who can’t afford it. So we can expect that if the UCP stays in power, wait times will only continue to rise.
Nevertheless, Surgical Health Services Minister Adriana La Grange assured in their press release that “we have built strong safeguards and only allowed specified surgeries to protect access to the public system. We will closely monitor dual practice and make changes if needed to ensure shorter waits, more choice and better access for Albertans.”
Her news conference included comments from Henry Fung, an eye surgeon from Red Deer who claimed that “health care needs business principles to make it flourish.” But flourish for whom is something worth questioning.
Premier Smith and La Grange continue claiming their approach is inspired by European systems. However, that’s misleading; health policy researcher Andrew Longhurst pointed out that “the Alberta government is guilty of ‘drive-by’ comparisons that decontextualize the complex interactions between public and private financing as well as public and private delivery of services,” he wrote in a report in February.
What UCP’s policy aims at-and what allows doctors dual practice-is essentially bringing America’s healthcare crisis into Canada where it’s harder to eliminate once established.
Meanwhile, when First Nations chiefs from Treaties 6, 7, and 8 voted unanimously on Tuesday asking the RCMP whether Premier Smith’s backing of a separation referendum this fall amounted to treason under criminal law definitions, Smith responded angrily with her supporters backing her up.
When asked about it during her Dani Dollars announcement Wednesday, Smith snapped back saying “I think it’s disgraceful. I think it’s disgraceful that any government wanting respect would make such serious accusations against another.” She added that she would advise treaty chiefs “to check themselves.”
In a social media post yesterday, former Wildrose Party MLA Bruce Mc Allister-now director of Smith’s Calgary office-launched a fierce attack against these chiefs criticizing them over conditions in their communities while accusing them of having “the gall” to critique his boss.
Also on Wednesday evening country music artist Corb Lund shared his disappointment regarding Premier Smith’s decision not keeping her promise about his Water Not Coal petition making it onto October’s ballot if enough signatures were gathered.
Things took a turn when Lund along with volunteers submitted over 200,000 signatures to Elections Alberta on June 11. Now it looks like Premier Smith’s support for direct democracy doesn’t cover petitions blocking coal mining operations backed by Australian billionaires-even if those mines pollute water all the way down Hudson Bay.
“I’m deeply disappointed and shocked by the premier’s decision today,” Lund expressed in his statement. “After over 200 thousand Albertans signed onto Water Not Coal petition-with months dedicated canvassing-it feels unacceptable being told our petition won’t go on ballot due supposedly missing some June 1 deadline.”
“I personally met with premier May 11,” he recalled. “At no point did she mention any June deadline whatsoever. In fact throughout our signature collection efforts she often stated publicly if we got enough signatures then our question would appear on ballot.”
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