Alberta Provincial Politics

[CalgaryTiger]

I would be careful believing TFWs and non-permanent residents are what is causing our issues. Same thing should be said for citizens going abroad and coming back to take advantage of our healthcare. For one, I'll speak to something I know, snowbirds have to spend 6 months or less abroad to remain eligible for healthcare. I imagine it is the same for anyone else. Retired people also pay taxes for what it is worth, they aren't exactly freeloading off the system because they are not paying income tax.

These are not the droids you're looking for.

We, by geography mostly, have a very inefficient country. There is almost no other country we compare to in land mass and population distribution beyond maybe Russia and who knows what you can believe when it comes to their finances. I'm not saying we need to just accept our circumstance and not change anything, but it is very complicated. Especially because the majority of our voting population live in concentrated areas of our country and province. To win elections governments need to keep those people happy while also keeping the others satisfied enough. Another thing is what people want changes, so you also have to keep up with that.

We're pretty easily in the most consequential times of my life (older millennial), we do need to ask ourselves the very hard questions and accept the even harder answers. The problem is the people in charge cannot look much beyond the end of their nose because the premier needs to satisfy a pretty active minority and the prime minister has limited power in a minority government. Looking forward in the big picture, we seem to be fine, even in Alberta, the deficits we're running are not that bad. The issue is we're not doing as well as we use to be, so things feel that much worse. There is no quick fix, it will take a very long time to turn our ship, we've got room for small corrections in that turn so not everything needs to go smooth, there just needs to be good valid reasons behind those corrections.

 

[O-tac]

I think a lot of disorders such as ADHD and Anxiety are over diagnosed. Pharmaceutical companies want to sell more product and parents are more willing to give their kids iPads to calm them down instead of providing structure and discipline.

I would just LOVE to see anyone speaking about ADHD kids spend half a day in the shoes of a parent with a child who has ADHD. Bonus points if you yourself have ADHD. Tablet time has actually been shown to help regulate overactive nervous systems for neurodivergent children. It's not the blanket boogeyman everyone makes it out to be. In fact many neurodivergent kids LEARN to speak using tablets. They learn about the world. They develop interests and skills that would otherwise be difficult to access.

To add to your point though about anxiety or ADHD, there is often MISDIAGNOSIS in the sense that a symptom gets attributed to one of those when in fact it actually stems from something like autism. My son was originally diagnosed as only having ADHD, when in fact it turned out he actually had autism and ADHD (diagnosed by a psychologist vs a pediatrician).

No thank you for your input on something you have no authority to speak on.

Overdiagnoses isn't the problem you think it is. If only there was such a thing as kids getting too much help, what a tragedy that would be.

Yes, anyone claiming that kids are receiving TOO MUCH support from a supposed overdiagnosis epidemic (sorry but the reality is actually the opposite) needs to spend a day in the lives of an FSCD family. Been waiting 3 years now for funding and a case worker. Still no EA for my kid in class.

 

[O-tac]

I actually voted for the NDP last election, but it's important to be able to distill issues aside from party labels. Is the referendum an attempt to change the conversation from low oil prices? Yes. Is it better if the government of the day focus on building out our economic diversity beyond just "put money in heritage fund (even though that is important)? Yes. But we have the government we have now and we do have to vote on the referendum and they can be good or bad on their own merits. The text of the questions are primarily concerning TFWs and non-permanent residents. It's not unusual for temporary workers to pay for their own healthcare. When I went to study abroad, I had to purchase insurance, is it really that outrageous to suggest people not permanently living here should have private insurance?

I'd argue we should have waiting periods for healthcare for all non-residents, including CDN citizens that live in foreign countries as non-resident for tax purposes. There's a huge Canadian diaspora around the world, and I don't think they should be allowed to spend their working years in the US/Hong Kong/ wherever, then come live here when they're 70 and cost the most. They should be eligible at some point but there should be a payback /waiting period for coverage.

Allowing some private practice -> nobody has public healthcare. Don't let certain high risk people have guns -> they'll come take all your guns. Nobody is losing universal coverage. I think what the government is doing now is too little supply side reforms (residency spots, training model changes), but nobody else seems to be trying anything except spending more and more and more. If you look at expert discussions of our health system, it is not the envy of the world Canadians used to think it is. If other provinces and/or the federal government wants to take a stab at reforming and updating the system, I'd love to hear it. But we do spend more and get less than many of our peer countries and there's structural issues there that we should resolve rather than just going more into debt and passing our healthcare costs to our children.

Perhaps you should not take what is being said by our pants on fire Premier at face value then. AHS was the envy of the country with its central, unified authority. What has happened since its' dismantling and the segregation of different divisions is a massive waste of tax dollars, chaotic mismanagement and an overburdened system. This wasn't done due to mismanagement. It was done at the behest fo the anti vaxx movement that didn't like being told not to go infect seniors homes and hospitals and daycares to protect vulnerable populations. That was what got Smith Kenney's job and what she first acted upon. The other day she actually blamed AHS for their lack of oversite of HER decision to blow $70million on unusable kids Turkish Tylenol. It would be hilarious if it weren't so abhorrent. And other conservative Premiers like Doug Ford are following the same playbook of underfunding universal healthcare so that they can use bad outcomes as an excuse to prioritize a private stream. And before you say that nobody is losing universal healthcare, maybe start by acknowledging that a private stream weakens the free public option and leads to longer wait times and worse outcomes due to poaching staff from the other system. It prioritizes the wealthy. Full stop.

 

[trtcttc]

I would be careful believing TFWs and non-permanent residents are what is causing our issues. Same thing should be said for citizens going abroad and coming back to take advantage of our healthcare. For one, I'll speak to something I know, snowbirds have to spend 6 months or less abroad to remain eligible for healthcare. I imagine it is the same for anyone else. Retired people also pay taxes for what it is worth, they aren't exactly freeloading off the system because they are not paying income tax.

I don't think they are THE problem. The most significant causes are population growth (many are permanent residents, and work visa holders in skilled professions, which aren't affected by this change) and oil prices. I don't think the referendum is THE problem, but I also agree that limiting some services makes sense, especially for asylum seekers because the system is clearly being abused.

Retired people and snowbirds are not the issue, those people have paid into the system. I'm not sure if you know but you can remain a citizen, live abroad and become a non-resident of Canada. This is what most Canadians that work in the US and Asia do, and they no longer pay Canadian taxes. Let's say over a career, they made $3MM dollars from their earnings, they pay local tax and $0 goes to Canada. Then when they retire at 65, they move back to Canada, re-establish residency, they pay taxes on whatever income they have starting today, but probably much lower now that they're retired, and they pay $0 tax on the $3MM dollars. They get the same benefits (other than CPP) as someone that worked 40 years in Canada, paying hundreds of thousands in Canadian taxes. How is that fair?

 

[trtcttc]

Perhaps you should not take what is being said by our pants on fire Premier at face value then. AHS was the envy of the country with its central, unified authority. What has happened since its' dismantling and the segregation of different divisions is a massive waste of tax dollars, chaotic mismanagement and an overburdened system. This wasn't done due to mismanagement. It was done at the behest fo the anti vaxx movement that didn't like being told not to go infect seniors homes and hospitals and daycares to protect vulnerable populations. That was what got Smith Kenney's job and what she first acted upon. The other day she actually blamed AHS for their lack of oversite of HER decision to blow $70million on unusable kids Turkish Tylenol. It would be hilarious if it weren't so abhorrent. And other conservative Premiers like Doug Ford are following the same playbook of underfunding universal healthcare so that they can use bad outcomes as an excuse to prioritize a private stream. And before you say that nobody is losing universal healthcare, maybe start by acknowledging that a private stream weakens the free public option and leads to longer wait times and worse outcomes due to poaching staff from the other system. It prioritizes the wealthy. Full stop.

The healthcare reorganization could be a waste of money, but I think it takes time to fully see the effects.

The Turkish Tylenol decision was bad, but more for fiscal reasons than a healthcare issue. If you look at the briefing notes prepared by AHS, the problem with buying the Tylenol was that it could cause significant financial loss for AB, and their recommended option was to get Canada to buy the same Tylenol and distribute to provinces instead to avoid financial loss. The would inevitably be slower. I think that's actually a case of the government mis-spending funds in search of better outcomes, but obviously didn't work.

I think instead of reading Reddit, it's worth it to look at province's budgets. No premier is underfunding healthcare. No province is running surpluses instead of funding health. Health spending has steadily increased in every single province. Is it down slightly on a per capita basis because of population growth? Yes, but that's because revenue growth has been sluggish. Compared to provincial revenues (actual taxes and income collected by provinces), health spending is a record part of the pie. I think it's also worth looking at other countries. Australia, Germany, Switzerland all have private-public health systems with far higher doctors per capita and health capacity than we do. They are also spending equal (Aus) if not less (Europe) than us on healthcare. Or should we bury our head in the sand and scream private healthcare is bad and watch as we pile on debt to service our healthcare at the cost of billions in debt for our children?

Alberta to increase doctor spending by 22 per cent in upcoming budget

Alberta government will spend US$7.7-billion on doctors this coming fiscal year, Premier Danielle Smith says

www.theglobeandmail.com

 

[O-tac]

The Turkish Tylenol purchase that was facilitated by a Sam Mraiche (Corruptcare) connected company was unusable due to its labelling. It wasn’t safe, in the end it was donated to Ukraine or destroyed. I had a baby at the time and know all about the shortage that we had. Smith was advised against doing this and did it anyways and it helped no one.

As for an increase in spending overall, once again I will refer back to education and point out that that doesn’t represent the overall picture since there has been population growth and the UCP has blown unknown hundreds of millions (if not billions) unnecessarily restructuring AHS. The excuse that it was dysfunctional is primarily driven by anti vaxxers (including the Premier). Not to mention the focal point of the corruptcare scandal where Smith fired the head of AHS for questioning why they were being instructed to pay private clinics connected to donor Sam Mraiche far above market rate. I would advise you to do some of your own research besides figures being provided by the very government that is under criminal investigation for corruption.

Edit: And to your earlier point claiming they weren’t running surpluses instead of funding services: Neudorf put $2 billion into the Heritage fund last spring / summer in the middle of contract negotiations with teachers where the UCP knew that almost that exact amount of money would be necessary to properly address funding shortfalls.

 

[lemongrab]

The migration makeup is just not true. Interprovincial is up, but the vast majority of in-migration is international. For all the talk of interprovincial migration, it is a fraction of international
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Our current federal health coverage for asylum seekers (including those that are charged with extortion in Surrey and then claimed asylum) includes vision and dental, more than what is afforded most Canadians. The Federal government sensibly introduced a small co-pay for those services. Yet it is somehow outrageous for Alberta to seek a referendum on limiting coverage for some international migrants. Immigration is federal jurisdiction, so they should shoulder the cost. Funny that on this point, Smith and Olivia Chow would agree.

Then we should demand some form of universal vision and dental. Because taking it away from refugees is just going to make it take longer for them to be productive and integrate. ESL classes are tough when you can't see the whiteboard and/or books very well.

 

[Red Star]

It is always funny when people who have no lived experience start speaking like they know what it is like to go to school with an undiagnosed disorder.

No thank you for your input on something you have no authority to speak on.

Overdiagnoses isn't the problem you think it is. If only there was such a thing as kids getting too much help, what a tragedy that would be.

LMAO!

Relax...it's not personal. I was just throwing my two cents in, you don't have to get so emotional

 

[O-tac]

LMAO!

Relax...it's not personal. I was just throwing my two cents in, you don't have to get so emotional

Realize that neurodivergent people spend their entire lives being minimized, corrected, insulted, disciplined, called lazy, called stupid, called dramatic or too emotional and generally not being accommodated. This response is a prime example.

PS let’s see your response if someone questions a core part of who you are that is something that you can’t help and then tells you to accept it as just their opinion. Would you say this to someone with mobility issues in a wheelchair?

 

[lemongrab]

LMAO!

Relax...it's not personal. I was just throwing my two cents in, you don't have to get so emotional

Who is emotional? What would be wrong with being emotional anyways? You have an opportunity to learn something from Calgary Tiger's post. Or you can deflect and be dismissive when we're telling you that what you said was very insulting and completely unfounded.

 

[trtcttc]

Then we should demand some form of universal vision and dental. Because taking it away from refugees is just going to make it take longer for them to be productive and integrate. ESL classes are tough when you can't see the whiteboard and/or books very well.

And I’d like to demand free food, free groceries, everything free! And the boogeyman billionaire will pay for all of it!

Maybe we shouldn’t be helping a foreigner see the whiteboard before we help a tax paying resident. It’s magical how the world became so unstable that refugee applications shot up at the exact same time we tightened student an TFW visa rules, hmmm..

 

[CalgaryTiger]

LMAO!

Relax...it's not personal. I was just throwing my two cents in, you don't have to get so emotional

The only emotional expression I made was laughing at you thinking you know anything about the subject. Everyone thinks they should share their opinion on anything, but sometimes, you should just listen, otherwise you're just outing yourself as someone who's uninformed on the subject. Not exactly constructive.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

I don't think they are THE problem. The most significant causes are population growth (many are permanent residents, and work visa holders in skilled professions, which aren't affected by this change) and oil prices. I don't think the referendum is THE problem, but I also agree that limiting some services makes sense, especially for asylum seekers because the system is clearly being abused.

Retired people and snowbirds are not the issue, those people have paid into the system. I'm not sure if you know but you can remain a citizen, live abroad and become a non-resident of Canada. This is what most Canadians that work in the US and Asia do, and they no longer pay Canadian taxes. Let's say over a career, they made $3MM dollars from their earnings, they pay local tax and $0 goes to Canada. Then when they retire at 65, they move back to Canada, re-establish residency, they pay taxes on whatever income they have starting today, but probably much lower now that they're retired, and they pay $0 tax on the $3MM dollars. They get the same benefits (other than CPP) as someone that worked 40 years in Canada, paying hundreds of thousands in Canadian taxes. How is that fair?

We're going to have to agree to disagree here, someone said pink elephant and you see a pink elephant in your head. It's not helpful to move the conversation forward when you both agree they're not the problem and then speak for two more paragraphs about them being a problem. You think they're a problem, that's fine.

I don't think a small reduction in who can access care will have an effect. I don't want to list all the problems with our healthcare system but the small percentage of an already small percentage of asylum seekers and formerly non-resident Canadians that abuse the system is just not it. This has been blatantly sold as a distraction from a bad budget; Smith has become very good as distracting her critics and supporters by flooding the zone with red meat.

 

[O-tac]

And I’d like to demand free food, free groceries, everything free! And the boogeyman billionaire will pay for all of it!

Maybe we shouldn’t be helping a foreigner see the whiteboard before we help a tax paying resident. It’s magical how the world became so unstable that refugee applications shot up at the exact same time we tightened student an TFW visa rules, hmmm..

"Boogeyman billionaire"? Have you read any of the Epstein files? Setting aside that insanity and the surveillance state being built by Thiel, Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg etc., you want to tell us that you believe that a small fraction of illegal immigrants is costing more money than the billionaires hoarding most of the world's wealth and paying zero taxes?

Forget the tech bros, let's look at a "local" example. Murray Edwards pays zero municipal personal taxes as his primary residence is in London. He has meddled in municipal politics to get a taxpayer funded new arena for the past decade. After signing an agreement where CSEC would have actually paid 50%, he pulled the rug out from under the new mayor at the time and had his pal Danielle Smith give over $300 million in taxpayer dollars in addition to Calgarians' share increasing. He offshores his wealth and CNRL has one of the most opaque environmental track records of any of the oil companies.

Another Alberta example is Sam Mraiche. UCP donor attached to the corruptcare scandal who has had no less than 5 (6 maybe?) family members in government positions with the UCP that has had literally hundreds of millions of dollars given to his companies as part of sole sourced contracts, real estate purchases, private surgery clinics, Turkish Tylenol procurement etc. This is the definition of donor class corporate government corruption. And their strategy to cover this up is to point at immigrants and distract us by blaming them for taxpayer money being wasted.

You are being played like a fiddle my friend.

 

[trtcttc]

We're going to have to agree to disagree here, someone said pink elephant and you see a pink elephant in your head. It's not helpful to move the conversation forward when you both agree they're not the problem and then speak for two more paragraphs about them being a problem. You think they're a problem, that's fine.

I don't think a small reduction in who can access care will have an effect. I don't want to list all the problems with our healthcare system but the small percentage of an already small percentage of asylum seekers and formerly non-resident Canadians that abuse the system is just not it. This has been blatantly sold as a distraction from a bad budget; Smith has become very good as distracting her critics and supporters by flooding the zone with red meat.

I never said they're not a problem, just not THE problem for a budget deficit, that's primarily oil prices. I don't think we're even discussing the same thing. We agree on the fact this is a distraction, that this is political, that the government can realistically do this without a referendum and it's being used to bring conversation a certain way.

But on the issue itself, I don't see the argument being made that asylum seekers should have Better healthcare than we afford our own citizens. That international students should carry private insurance, like how Canadians have to when they study overseas. That Canadian citizens that have never paid a dime in Canadian taxes and living abroad (like Murray Edwards) should not get free social services when they move back here. He's a billionaire so he's likely not waiting for Canadian healthcare anyways, but there's a lot of middle income citizens that do the same. This isn't even part of the referendum. If you'd like to disagree on these points and argue against these policies go ahead, but that's not what's happening.