UCP solving problems that don’t exist by creating real ones
Adding Albertan’s healthcare numbers to their driver’s licences or identification cards will cause problems. With the UCP threatening to charge us for healthcare if we haven’t renewed our government-issued identification, the problems are a feature, not a bug. For most of us who drive or need ID— or those of us who know full well that the Alberta government can’t actually bill us for standard healthcare— we will be fine; but for newcomers to Canada and people in hospital, long-term, or dementia care who cannot easily take a trip out to renew their ID, it will be messy.
Not just for them, but for the Alberta government, who likes to restrict access to government-issued identification in order to collect funds owing— if you didn’t know this was a thing.
I reached out to both the Maintenance Enforcement Program and Justice to ask about how adding our healthcare numbers to that ID will remove a pretty powerful enforcement tool from them.
People who fall behind on child or spousal support are threatened with not being able to renew their driver’s licences. It’s not the first threat but it is something they like to throw around. Once upon a time, the Alberta government restricted access to any form of government ID if you had outstanding fines— as in, you had to pay the fines you owed in order to renew your ID.
This is part of the reason why a vouching system existed here; the government legitimately refused to allow you to get identification if you owed money.
Some might think that’s a good thing. I mean, it worked, so…
Personally, I have an affliction that some refer to as “a heavy foot”. There is also a correlation with my spouse buying a Charger with a HEMI— it’s not the whole problem but it did not freaking help. Anyway; around 2008, my first big bill came due when I went to renew my licence— it was over $700 because I didn’t pay my tickets right away. Or, for years.
That didn’t get much better over the next fifteen years. The last one, back in 2021, if I recall correctly, was around $1100. I had to pay those fines to renew my driver’s licence, and I did. Lucky me. No snark there— I mean that; “Lucky me” that I could afford to pay my fines. (I’ve been immensely better since, by the way. Knock on wood.)
That was before our Alberta Personal Health Number (PHN) was attached to it.
The reason I reached out to Maintenance Enforcement and Justice was to ask if they think they’ll still be able to refuse renewal since the UCP decided they could now tie that renewal to our active healthcare coverage.
Sure, driving might be considered a privilege and having ID generally might be considered a privilege, too (but it was a dick move). Healthcare though? That’s not so much a privilege as a guarantee (in the Public Health Act) for us Canadians.
I feel like it might get a tad stickier for them than they’d planned.
Probably because I think more than one step ahead.
Neither responded before publication but I’ll provide one if they bother.
Water not coal getting the shaft?
It’s hard to hold a pathological liar to account. You know they lie, they know they lie, we all know they lie. For some strange reason, Danielle Smith loves direct democracy but only when it doesn’t challenge her decisions.
Back in February, Danielle Smith claimed that any petition that was successful in obtaining the required signatures for a referendum would be put to voters in October.
Water Not Coal, the petition led by Alberta country singer Corb Lund, delivered its petition to Elections Alberta for verification last week. A question from the host of “Your Province, Your Problem” I mean “Premier” received this cryptic and obviously false answer from the Premier.
“I looked at the petition and it says a legislative proposal so I have to figure out what that means,” she said. “It has to go to a committee just like (the) Forever Canada [petition] and that means members of the opposition and members of the government and they will do the review, talk to justice and figure out exactly what that would mean and then make a recommendation.”
“There’s a process that is outlined in the act – that’s the process and we’ll follow that process on this one (petition) too.”
I say “obviously false” because some eager beavers in the UCP Caucus staffroom sent out the statement from Committee Chair Brandon Lunty on the results of the Committee’s votes on Thomas Lukaszuk’s Forever Canadian petition before said votes had even happened.
They’ve already decided what they’re going to do with this petition, too.
At a town hall in Fort MacLeod just barely a year ago, Ms. Smith claimed that it would cost $14 billion to stop the work that Albertans said they didn’t want under Jason Kenney and still hadn’t changed their minds when Danielle Smith “quietly” allowed bids to resume. Premier Shill added that those still opposed to coal mining would have to choose between poisoning the water and paying for health and education— because poisoned land and people contribute so much more, eh?
The problem for Danielle Smith and the UCP is that Fort MacLeod is conservative-voting territory. If I was the hopeful opposition candidate for the area, I’d have been out in front of that parade last year. The next best time is now because it’s not like their UCP MLA is going to manage anything more than a whimper from the backbenches. I digress.
It’s just typical doe-eyed vacuousness from the Premier about forcing us to go through the motions of a democratic process she and the UCP have already rejected on our behalf. However, I think they can make it worse. I’m far more concerned that the UCP is about to hit us with some legal gymnastics.
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