Rachel Notley says the BC contract shows that the race for scarce health talent and the Smith government’s organizational chaos and anti-scientific bent are holding Alberta back. “People who train in health care — whether they’re nurses’ assistants or neurosurgeons — they understand all the evidence and the science,” Notley said Tuesday. “And to those people who are told they have to work in a health care system run by a prime minister who doesn’t believe vaccines are an important part of any health care system, those people are much more likely to go somewhere else. “All this as we see other provinces act quickly to attract health professionals to their jurisdictions.” This week, the BC government announced a tentative deal that could see a full-time family doctor paid about $385,000 a year – a salary increase of about a third from the current $250,000. Notley said it’s hard to make direct comparisons, but the BC deal is on par with, if not better than, Alberta’s. Alberta Health spokesman Steve Buick disputed that. “More scaremongering from Alberta NDP doesn’t change the facts: Full-time family doctors in Alberta were paid $393,000 in 2019-2020, up from $385,000 in the new B.C. deal. which would pay them next year. And Alberta family physicians will gain more compensation under the new agreement with the Alberta Medical Association,” Bewick said in a statement. “The NDP shows once again that it has nothing to contribute to health care but empty politics.” Smith became prime minister three weeks ago, replacing Jason Kenney as leader and prime minister of the United Conservative Party. He campaigned on a platform that blamed Alberta Health Services, the agency charged with running front-line care, for what he calls punitive and unnecessary vaccine mandates and rules. It also blames the agency for its abysmal response to COVID-19, which has brought hospitals perilously close to collapse during multiple waves of the pandemic. Smith said action must be taken immediately to fix blocked emergency wards and ambulance bottlenecks. He has promised to fire the AHS board and revamp the entire system with the goal of decentralizing it by mid-January. He has also promised not to impose new health restrictions or coverage mandates to combat any future COVID-19 outbreak. He’s considering legal measures to ensure schools can’t enforce mask rules, and next month plans to change human rights laws to ban discrimination, such as banning someone from coming to work because they haven’t been vaccinated against COVID -19. Smith, on her first day as premier on Oct. 11, said she takes her health cues from documents like the Great Barrington Declaration. 2020 open letter from a group of health experts advocates shielding the vulnerable but otherwise letting COVID-19 run rampant to build herd immunity and reduce long-term harmful side effects of isolation, such as drug use and mental health problems. Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, publicly rejected the statement, calling it scientifically incorrect and logistically unworkable. Her views were echoed by other academics and the World Health Organization. Smith said Hinshaw will be removed from her current job. The premier also said she would not hold joint press conferences with Hinshaw and on Oct. 22 told reporters, “Many of the bad decisions were made by Alberta Health Services based on bad advice from the chief medical officer.” He has also argued that allowing healthcare workers to come to work unvaccinated would be a piece of cake, which Notley called “a completely ridiculous, ridiculous claim”. Smith, a former journalist, has made headlines for arguments that challenge mainstream science. Last year, he pushed to use ivermectin to deworm animals as a treatment for COVID-19 – a treatment that has since been debunked. This summer, he apologized after announcing in a live interview that people have the ability to avoid getting cancer at an early stage. The UCP government has had an uneasy relationship with health providers since it scrapped the main doctors’ agreement almost three years ago and then fought to cut nurses’ wages during the pandemic. The doctors have since agreed to a four-year deal that offers pay increases of four percent or more. The Alberta Medical Association has said it plans to continue suing the province for breaching the agreement unless the province follows through on revoking the legislative authority it granted to scuttle the agreement in the first place.
