This Week in AB
Danielle Smith isn’t susceptible to a “gotcha” moment on vaccines
Even though the Alberta Medical Association has been sounding the alarm (again) on overwhelmed hospitals, our provincial government has been mostly silent. The AMA’s new president, Dr. Paul Parks, however, has been very vocal.
When Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced she was doing a press conference with both him and Adriana LaGrange, Alberta’s Minister of Health, I wondered if it might get a little spicy — until I discovered the presser was about primary care.
Around 700,000 Albertans do not have a family doctor (primary care). I returned to Alberta in 2004 and didn’t get a family doctor until 2012 — I get it — and I was seeing the docs at the walk-in clinic instead, back when they couldn’t share your information with another clinic even if they wanted to.
No, the presser; wasn’t about doctors moving to Alberta en masse.
Rather, it was about paying them and apparently, the Alberta government needed to sign a bi-lateral agreement with the feds in order to do that; in case you’re wondering how the UCP is managing the province’s finances.
Things got sticky during the Q and A portion, however, when reporters tried to push Smith into a corner on vaccinations.
That wasn’t going to happen — the woman is an eel — but the problem wasn’t Smith today, it was the questions.
“Alberta’s vaccination rate is the lowest in the country”, one reporter said. “Why do you think that is?”
Smith replied, completely deadpan, “I don’t know”.
Exactly.
The question should have been “do you believe your government has a role in encouraging vaccination?” Or “does your government have a plan to address this, and if so, how?”
It doesn’t matter what her opinion of vaccines is, and it doesn’t actually matter whether she gets them (she did get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the U.S. before they were available in Alberta).
Yes, it would be fantastic if she would champion vaccines but we all know that isn’t going to happen. She’s also been in media far longer than most of the people asking her questions and she will run circles around them with legitimate ease.
What really matters is that her government (I actually cringed when I wrote that) is responsible for public health even if her personal opinion on the matter is contradictory to every iota of evidence.
No one is going to back her into a corner on her personal opinion and no one should be asking for it. She (I cringed again) is responsible for public health in this province and the media needs to hold her accountable for that and that alone. She’s the leader of the government and responsible for everything she does, and doesn’t do, that affects the well-being of every Albertan.
She wanted the job and now she has to do it; end of story.
Distinguish this.
This week, we learned that Marguerite Trussler, Alberta’s Ethics Commissioner, declined to open an investigation into a complaint to determine whether Danielle Smith had a conflict of interest when Dr. Deena Hinshaw’s employment offer was rescinded earlier this year.
Dr. Hinshaw, the province’s former Chief Medical Officer of Health was removed from her role in 2022 by Smith after she was elected as leader of the United Conservative Party. Smith had made the promise to remove Dr. Hinshaw part of her platform in the party’s leadership campaign.
Trussler told CBC that Smith “wouldn't have a private interest, she would only have a political interest, and people don't understand the distinction.”
Smith has maintained that “ultimately” staffing decisions are the responsibility of Alberta Health Services.
Just like “ultimately” the determination of whether charges will be laid against an individual are the responsibility of Crown Prosecutors, not the Minister of Justice — if that can qualify as a “distinction”.
In Alberta, the conflict of interest legislation tends to focus on a definition of “private interest” in terms of monetary or other distinguishable equity value. The legislation specifically precludes: “an interest in a matter: that is of general application, that affects an individual as one of a broad class of the public, that concerns the remuneration and benefits of an individual; an interest that is trivial or, an interest of an individual relating to publicly‑traded securities held in that individual’s blind trust or in an investment arrangement”.
The legislation does not preclude “political interests”.
When is a political interest not a private interest?
Most instances of political decision-making are obviously within the category of precluded situations as they are of both general application and affect individuals as part of a broad class of the public.
That the governing party should each be able to change the dollar amounts if gifts they receive are over $200, for example, is a legislative change the UCP made to personally or officially benefit all members of the Legislative Assembly individually, not just members of the governing party. It is therefore considered to affect individuals as a “broad class”.
One could hardly make an argument, however, that either Danielle Smith or her UCP caucus generally are supportive of the government making decisions that infringe upon a person’s ability to obtain employment.
Surely, no one is making the claim that Danielle Smith has asked to be consulted regarding every employment contract offered to qualified medical practitioners by AHS — which is precisely the issue.
As Dr. Braden Manns alleged very clearly in his June 11, 2023 resignation letter shared with the Globe and Mail, the interest Danielle Smith had was not regarding a broad class of applicants to publicly posted employment adverts; rather, Manns alleges that Smith had a specific interest in one particular individual.
Danielle Smith’s political interests are private interests
That Smith is even alleged to have had any influence over this matter at all should easily be deemed a conflict of interest but if Trussler wants to see a dollar amount, I have one: $65,244 — Smith’s additional yearly allowance as Premier.
I’d be the first to admit that she could get elected in any rural riding (with the caveat that she was a member of the Wildrose/UCP) but the Premier’s allowance could be ripped from her as easily as it was from Jason Kenney since the party infrastructure actually allows a private club with membership fees to decide who leads the province outside of a general election.
Smith has been very open about her goals as Premier to correct perceived wrongs by previous governments against a broad class of unvaccinated — or reluctantly vaccinated — individuals.
Smith was transparent in her plans to remove Dr. Hinshaw from the role of Chief Medical Officer of Health as retribution for some of those perceived wrongs.
That Smith may have influenced a hiring decision far outside of those previously stated intentions should not be overlooked.
Danielle Smith the libertarian would be appalled by the actions of Danielle Smith government leader.
The Ethics Commissioner should be as well.
Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley is totally stepping down
It’s just politics. The people who like Rachel Notley really like Rachel Notley. Even people who didn’t have much to say about her knew she was a better bet than Danielle Smith but, in 2023, it just wasn’t enough and that’s al(most) all she wrote.
Rachel Notley did what no other NDP leader managed to do before her — she formed government in Alberta and led her party to official opposition status for two elections since. She has done amazing things and can be proud of all she’s accomplished.
However.
It’s time to let someone else take the party forward (or not — always an option).
Notley is no stranger to politics. She knows what has to be done now and she’s going to do that. She broke some norms when she stayed on as leader after 2019 to fight again and she came very close to forming government — but she didn’t. Political acumen says that it’s time to step aside.
She hasn’t given a date (or even admitted that’s what’s happening) but the scent is in the air and I presume y’all stick around not just for the snark but also the political instincts. I truly wish her well.
It’s almost Christmas!!
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Great read as always Deirdre!