NDP demands action on health care
By Sam Leishman - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on January 29, 2025.
Alberta’s opposition NDP has thrown down a challenge for the provincial government to make public health care a priority and reconsider its decision to stop tracking the deaths of Albertans nonsurgical wait lists.
Sarah Hoffman, shadow minister for Health and a former minister of health herself, joined forces Tuesday morning with one Edmonton resident who is eagerly awaiting a double hip replacement. Six years ago, Wendy Webber’s condition was described as “bone on bone,” causing her excruciating pain on a daily basis.
“My hips are so bad that I need help to put my legs into and out of my car,” Webber said through tears at the news conference. “I can’t go anywhere alone… It’s very restricting and isolating. I avoid the agonizing pain because it hurts every single time I move. No one should have to live like this.”
At the beginning of 2024, after taking five years to lose the necessary weight for the surgery, Webber was told by an assessor that the operation would happen within the next two to six months. It was revealed this past fall, however, that the surgical clinic was forced to close between July and October due to staffing shortages. Webber says she remains uncertain to this day if or when the operation will actually go ahead, and she knows she’s not the only one in this predicament.
Hoffman pointed to a report released two weeks ago by the C.D. Howe Institute regarding Canada’s troubled health-care systems. Alberta took a substantial tumble from first position in 2018 down to fifth position today in terms of overall performance, compared to all the other provinces and territories.
That finding is based upon timely care, after-hours care and wait time standards demonstrated by international peer countries like the Netherlands and United Kingdom. The report’s author, Tingting Zhang, says it will be a long road to recovery, but places like Alberta can certainly enhance their services if they learn from “both international and interprovincial examples.”
The Alberta Surgical Initiative, announced back in 2019 under former United Conservative Premier Jason Kenney, also promised to “reduce wait times for surgery for all Albertans, so that every scheduled surgery is provided within clinically recommended targets.”
Albertans are suffering in extreme pain, and some are even dying while waiting for surgery, diagnostics, or treatment, according to a recent report by public policy think tank SecondStreet.org.
The report revealed that more than 15,000 Canadians died in 2023-24 alone before receiving surgery or diagnostic information. But there is a huge hole in the data so the think tank believes that number could be higher.
“What’s the hole?” asked Hoffman. “Well, Danielle Smith and the UCP have stopped tracking and reporting that data.
“We’ve seen the heartbreaking stories of Albertans getting a cancer diagnosis and dying before they’ve even seen an oncologist. All Albertans deserve the right care, in the right place, at the right time. That isn’t the reality for many Albertans today.”
Some of the actions outlined in the plan include improving waitlist management, streamlining referrals, making effective use of existing operating rooms and building relationships with more private surgical facilities.
Hoffman argues that while the UCP continually acknowledges the pain patients are enduring, they’re actually making health care access much worse.
“I think it’s really clear that (the UCP government) care more about their friendship with the United States and implementing U.S.-style politics and policies here in Alberta… They know what they need to say during an election to pretend that they care about the public and public healthcare, but their actions are definitely the opposite.”
Hoffman added that the practice of tracking surgery wait times began well before the NDP formed government in 2015. She urged the UCP to respect the dwindling number of medical professionals who are needed to improve the quality of life for patients like Webber. Resources should go to public rather than private facilities that she said seem more concerned about patient volume and taking on as many simple surgeries as possible instead of helping those with more complex needs.
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Another day another demand. What does Nenshi and Miyashiro say about the US 25 % tariff. Just curious. Maybe they could team up and demand no tariffs. That’ll be a laugher.
As of today there is no 25% tariff from Smith’s idol. I’m sure the NDP have a proposal to respond and will reveal it when Orange Man announces a tariff. However, Albertans are dying every day waiting for surgery and waiting to get a doctor. That is happening and the UCP have failed to do anything that fixes this problem and instead have put policies in place that hinder any solution. Someone has to put Smith’s feet to the fire and that is the NDP and the UCP supporters are accepting her failing policies.