All I want for Christmas ...
Yesterday, I was on the radio chatting about the year that was and the year that’s coming, and the host asked me what was on my Christmas wish-list for Alberta politics.
Predictably, I’ve come up with my real answer a day late. Santa, I want a functioning public health system.
This morning’s bombshell piece from Alanna Smith in the Globe and Mail reveals that the Alberta government directed AHS “to remove the words “influenza” and “COVID” from advertisements for the province’s fall immunization campaign.” When approving the advertising campaign, the government’s revisions “included the removal of details about vaccine eligibility, immunization locations by age group and the types of vaccines being offered and their efficacy against different strains of COVID-19 and influenza. Two lines that encouraged Albertans to book vaccination appointments were also deleted.”
The article is a bombshell because it finds evidence for what anyone paying attention would expect: that the Smith government doesn’t want to be seen to be promoting vaccination for COVID-19. Smith won the UCP leadership with the support of people opposed to vaccine mandates and skeptical of the efficacy of vaccines. If they saw AHS promoting the efficacy of vaccines, they’d pressure her to fire the head of AHS. Oh, wait…
Here’s what passes for the good news: despite the lack of meaningful advertising, Alberta’s vaccination rate this fall is not the worst in the country. At 14%, we’re hovering around the national average, behind BC (23%) but ahead of Ontario (12%).
Alberta has the dubious distinction of being second only to Saskatchewan in the decline in life expectancy over the past three years. As Global Calgary journalist Adam Toy posted on X, between 2019 and 2022, life expectancy at birth declined by just over 2 years in Saskatchewan and by 1.75 years in Alberta. The overall figure for Canada was a 0.95 year decline. Coincidentally, as of 2022 Alberta and Saskatchewan were the provinces that had the lowest COVID vaccination rates.
Source: Adam Toy, Global News, based on Statistics Canada data.
I can’t get this graph out of my head. Certainly, a decline in life expectancy was to be expected in the midst of a global pandemic. But rather than being alarmed by the size of our decline, we seem determined to lean into it. A sizeable number of Albertans are apparently nostalgic for the good old days of whooping cough and measles. And think of how good it will be for the bottom line of the Alberta Pension Plan if retirees don’t live so long!
All joking aside, the health care system appears to be teetering on the brink of collapse, with long wait times in emergency rooms and stories of patients parked in hallways and lounges. A robust COVID and influenza vaccination campaign wouldn’t solve these problems, but it would both lessen the pressure on the health care system and send a welcome message to the people working in it that the government is doing what it can to lessen their burden.
So my holiday wish, readers, is for you to go out and get vaccinated, if you haven’t already. Book an appointment for a family member. If you’re going to a holiday dinner where the subject might come up, arm yourself with information. Santa isn’t going to deliver, so it’s up to you!
This year in Alberta was definitely a disaster, under Danielle Smith and the UCP. It's a continuation of where they were before. They made Albertans foot the bill for a shiny new hockey arena for Calgary, so they could get votes in that city. $1.2 billion is flushed down the drain. $80 million squandered on Tylenot. Nationalizing Dynalife, at an unknown cost. Preston Manning was gifted $253,000, and a $2 million expense account, to make a Covid-19 report that is very out of touch with reality. The most expensive power rates in Canada, thanks to economic witholding. More tax cuts, that will deplete the province of much needed revenue, in the onset of collapsing oil prices. Carbon capture and storage is being pursued, despite Danielle Smith being in staunch opposition to it before. Rewarding has been Conservative politicians to redo AHS. Promoting the risky APP, that was left off of the provincial election campaign on purpose. A fruitless trip to Dubai. More coal companies are suing the provincial government for close to $11 billion, because of backtracking on contract agreements with them. Eroding democracy with Bill 8. Breaking ethics rules. Bullying municipal politicians. Inadequate response to Covid-19. Making poverty in Alberta grow. Letting the environment suffer. More senseless fights with the federal government, to detract from the UCP's numerous failures. This is quite the naughty list for the UCP. One Christmas wish that I'd like is that the UCP are gone from power. People didn't realize how much better the NDP were.
RStar is another blunder from the UCP. $20 billion is being squandered on it. The gas tax break is way beyond $1 billion. Inadequate Legislature sittings. Lie after lie, with Danielle Smith. Fighting with the federal government, instead of working with them. Cutting red tape, which led to the second largest E-Coli outbreak in Canada's history, making so many children suffer. There are so many things that make the naughty list for the UCP. I just hope this is the last time the UCP are in power. We definitely were better off with Rachel Notley.