Alberta Health Act

Ron Liepert’s parting shot as Minister of Health was to ask his Advisory Committee on Health to look into development of a new Alberta Health Act.

That committee began the task and in December 2009 produced a report entitled "A foundation for Alberta’s Health System." This Report was based on submissions from various groups, many of which saw the prospect of a new Alberta Health Act as a way of getting rid of existing legislation they did not like.

• The Calgary Chamber of Commerce saw it as an opportunity to be rid of the current restrictions on private-for-profit hospitals and surgical facilities contained in the Health Care Protection Act.
• Stephen Duckett, speaking on behalf of Alberta Health Services saw it as an opportunity to circumvent the requirements of the Nursing Home Act, on of the few pieces of current legislation that provides for quality of care be requiring a minimum complement of trained staffing.

Over the past summer, MLA Fred Horne has been engaged in a series of facilitated public consultations around the province that, along with an on-line survey, has provided the basis for another report entitled "Putting People First" that was released on September 16, 2010.

In addition to the public consultation, the report is based on numerous written submissions including one from PIA’s Seniors Task Force.

The sugar coated language of the “Putting People First” report fails to answer some very key questions:

• What is it that the government wants to do that it cannot do under current legislation?
• If we adopt legislation based on very broad general principles, are we not giving too much power to Ministers to set policy by regulation, thereby circumventing the democratic prerogatives of the legislature?
• Are we moving toward a “publicly funded” health care system where most of the delivery is privatized, much of it for profit and for the benefit of corporate shareholders?