Danielle Smith’s revamping of Alberta health care system is a prescription for chaos – The Star

May 22, 2024

Manns suggests that the UCP government is downsizing Alberta Health Services because it became too powerful and difficult to control.

Control of everything, everywhere has become a key theme of Smith’s government.

It’s now glaringly obvious that Danielle Smith is willing to go to extraordinary lengths to put Alberta’s public health care system under her thumb; retribution for vaccine promotion and other public health measures adopted during the pandemic.

Her rural base abhorred vaccines, vaccine passports, restaurant closures and masks and they blamed Alberta Health Services for imposing them. They denounced Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw, even though former UCP premier Jason Kenney and his cabinet had authorized those measures.

The heavy hand of retribution comes in the form of new legislation tabled last week that breaks up Alberta Health Services and its 110,000 employees into four separate organizations; acute care, continuing care, mental health and addictions and primary care. The former provincewide, integrated system was already delivering those services (except for primary care) to 4.5 million people.

Read More: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/danielle-smiths-revamping-of-alberta-health-care-system-is-a-prescription-for-chaos/article_5bf91dae-1777-11ef-8fcc-033f774f2c8a.html