AB Today – Daily Report February 4, 2020
Quotation of the day
“It’s clear they want to move to more American-style private profit in our public health-care system.”
NDP Health critic David Shepherd expresses concern over privatization strategies recommended in the Ernst and Young review of Alberta Health Services.
Today in AB
Premier watch Premier Jason Kenney was pleased after the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission voted to approve Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline project, which will replace the current pipeline running from Wisconsin to Edmonton and add capacity.
“This is critically important because when we get that additional 380,000 barrels of shipment capacity on stream, that means we should be able to keep our energy market in balance,” he said in a video posted to Twitter.
Kenney — who is spending the week in Montreal and Washington, D.C., on business — also confirmed on Twitter that his government will bring forward legislation in the spring to allow citizens to force a referendum on important issues. He made the announcement in response to a column in the Edmonton Sun from Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s Alberta director Franco Terrazzano.
Alberta Health Services review says province could save up to $1.9 billion through reforms, but conditions apply A review of Alberta Health Services (AHS) released Monday says the province could dramatically decrease its health-care spending if it reconfigures hospitals, reforms clinical services and overhauls how it compensates health-care providers.
The review, conducted by Ernst and Young (EY), proposed 57 recommendations for improvement and 72 money-saving measures.
Among the big ticket recommendations in the report is the potential for the province to save up to $146 million by outsourcing housekeeping, laundry, non-emergency transportation and food services in hospitals, and up to $100 million is proposed in savings by reducing the number of procedures that lack “clinical value,” such as hernia surgeries.
However, Health Minister Tyler Shandro immediately rejected two of the reports recommendations: closing some rural hospitals and consolidating urban trauma centres.
Shandro is giving the AHS superboard until May 13, or 100 days, to deliver a report on implementing recommendations from the $2-million review. The report must address plans for outsourcing contracts to the private sector, reducing compensation for frontline workers and reconfiguring underutilized hospitals.
Achieving $1.9B in savings is a stretch goal John Bethel, national health-care leader with EY, cautioned that while the recommendations have a gross potential savings of $1.5 to $1.9 billion, those numbers are not likely to be achieved.
In order to reach $1.9 billion in savings, all of the review’s recommendations would have to be implemented immediately. The extensive costs associated with implementing the proposed changes are not factored into the projection.
On the revenue side, the review suggests the province could offset some health-care costs by charging more for private hospital rooms and allowing advertisements in public health facilities.
Hospital ‘reconfiguration’ Alberta currently has 83 community hospitals, and according to EY, 36 do not meet the threshold for sustainability while five should be considered for closure.
The report suggests converting underutilized hospitals in rural areas into long-term care homes or urgent care centres.
When asked for specifics about reconfiguring hospitals, Shandro told reporters those decisions would be up to AHS.
Contracting out services The report recommends several privatization initiatives, including outsourcing and the potential sell-off of Capital Care and CareWest.
NDP Health critic David Shepherd said the devil will be in the details of implementation. He noted some of the recommendations were already underway under the former NDP government, but said others are cause for alarm.
“There is some language that’s concerning when it comes to recommendations — ‘optimize staffing levels’ and ‘work with independent partners’,” Shepherd said. “There are references to alternative delivery models, which is classic conservative language for job losses and wage cuts, which could particularly hurt rural Alberta.”
Recommendations from EY include outsourcing lab testing and health information management.
Shandro declined to confirm whether job losses in the health-care sector were on the horizon, saying this aspect of the reform would be addressed once the AHS determines its implementation plan.
Unions, public health advocates weigh in Shandro was not shy about the government’s plan to bring forward arguments made in the EY report to the bargaining table as its negotiations continue with various health-care unions, a similar strategy to the one employed by the UCP following the release of the MacKinnon report.
United Nurses of Alberta president Heather Smith said the release of the review was akin to the government negotiating in public.
“Cherry-picking health care pay and trying to use that as a club in bargaining to make nurses and other front-line health-care providers alone pay for big cuts the government hopes to make is unjust and certainly won’t impress our members, the majority of whom are women,” she said.
Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) vice-president Susan Slade said cost cutting doesn’t work in health care, where decisions are a matter of life and death.
“AHS is planning on laying off thousands of front-line health-care workers starting in April. This year alone, Alberta is expected to grow by 70,000 people. That’s about the size of Medicine Hat. Who’s going to care for all those people?” Slade said in a news release.
Public Interest Alberta executive director Joel French said seniors will be forced to pay for health services out-of-pocket if the province adopts a recommendation to move 1,300 patients
from long-term care beds to designated supportive living, where they will lose coverage for pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and medical equipment that are covered by the public system.
French also contended the potential privatization of Capital Care and Carewest would mean reduced accountability, transparency and quality of care.
Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan accused the government of using a third-party review to justify “deep cuts” and an agenda of privatization.
“When they went to the polls last year, Albertans didn’t vote for Jason Kenney to wage an ideological attack on their public health care, yet that is exactly what the UCP is now delivering,” McGowan said, noting the premier’s much-touted “health care guarantee.”
Today’s events
February 4 at 10 a.m. — Edmonton Former MLA Joe Anglin will return to the Alberta Court of Appeal to fight a 2015 decision against him by chief electoral officer Glen Resler, who imposed a $500 fine for a lost electors list.
February 4 at 10 a.m. — Edmonton The lawsuit against Alberta’s Ministry of Education over the use of seclusion rooms stemming from a 2015 incident in Sherwood Park is scheduled to be heard in the Court of Appeal.
February 4 at 11:30 a.m. — Edmonton Children’s Services Minister Rebecca Schulz and Associate Minister of Red Tape Reduction Grant Hunter will make an announcement at the Kids3 Daycare about an online tool for applying for a child care subsidy.
February 4 at 1 p.m. EST — Ottawa The Federal Court of Appeal will release its decision on the appeal of the second approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.
February 4 at 2 p.m. — Camrose Seniors and Housing Minister Josephine Pon will announce $5.2 million for a redevelopment of a seniors lodge.
February 12 at 7:30 a.m. — Edmonton, Red Deer, Calgary
Friends of Medicare and Public Interest Alberta are chartering a “People’s Bus” to canvas the offices of the health minister and the seniors care minister in protest of budget cuts.
Topics of conversation
● Teck Resources Limited announced a goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 on Monday, following a report that the federal cabinet will require a pledge of net-zero emissions in order to approve the Teck Frontier mining project in northern Alberta. ○ The company said its roadmap to neutrality will include sourcing power from solar, replacing internal combustion engine vehicles with zero-emissions alternatives, and using low-carbon materials on site. ○ Cabinet has until the end of February to make a decision on the fate of the project.
● The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission voted 3-1 to approve a revised environmental review of Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement project. ○ The initial environmental review did not adequately address potential spills into Lake Superior, the Minnesota Court of Appeals had previously ruled. ○ The pipeline runs from Hardisty, Alberta, to Superior, Wisconsin. It was built in 1968, and Enbridge says the rebuild is necessary due to corrosion along the line. ○ Once the pipeline is operational, it is expected to carry 370,000 barrels per day.
● January was a tough month for oil prices, data from ATB Economics shows. ○ West Texas Intermediate plunged from $61.18 per barrel at the beginning of the month to $51.56, a drop of 15.7 per cent. That is the largest decrease since January 1991. ○ Western Canadian Select, meanwhile, dropped 18.5 per cent from $37.71 to $30.73 per barrel. ○ ATB analysts say the drop in demand for oil is in part due to travel restrictions imposed as a result of the coronavirus.
● Travers Solar Project in Vulcan County announced it received $500 million in investment from Calgary-based Greengate Power and Denmark-based Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. ○ The company aims to have the solar project up and running by late 2021, with a generating capacity of 400 MWac, or enough to power 100,000 homes in Alberta over its 30-year lifespan. ○ The project is expected to create 500 full-time jobs in the construction phase, according to the firm.
● Former United Conservative Party president Erika Barootes published a post on LinkedIn, calling for an end to political division getting in the way of friendships.
○ Barootes lamented being a “token conservative” amongst her friends, saying her left-leaning pals are often grilled over their associations with her. ○ “Now, as a thirty-something Edmontonian, I know I am an anomaly amongst millennials and my peers of similar age but that doesn’t make my opinion matter less nor does it justify being written off as evil, racist or a bigot,” she wrote.