Alberta
Advocacy group urges change to recall and citizen initiated referendum legislation
News release from Project Confederation
Project Confederation has been actively engaged in advocating for fair and inclusive democratic mechanisms for citizen participation in policy decisions.
In 2020, I presented arguments in favour of citizen initiated referenda and recall legislation to the Select Special Democratic Accountability Committee, emphasizing the significance of citizen-initiated referenda as a crucial aspect of democratic governance.
Bill 51, the Citizen Initiative Act, and Bill 52, the Recall Act, were passed into law in 2021.
While these bills were initially viewed as positive steps towards enhancing democracy in Alberta, it has become evident that they contain major flaws that hinder the effectiveness of recall and citizen initiative efforts.
To put it simply, the requirements are unattainable.
For instance, the requirement of collecting signatures from 40% of eligible voters for recall petitions for public officials, within a short 60-day period, posed an insurmountable challenge for the citizen who initiated a recall petition against Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek.
What’s the point of a recall process if the petitioner has to collect nearly three times the number of votes garnered by the official they seek to recall?
The provincial government is currently considering how to fix recall.
But, the rules for citizen initiated referenda are equally unattainable, so it’s important we act now to make sure the provincial government understands that referenda rules must get fixed at the same time.
Our friends at the Alberta Institute recently launched a petition calling on the Alberta government to fix both recall and citizen initiated referendums.
They propose the following key recommendations for reforming recall and citizen-initiated referenda legislation in Alberta:
Recall:
- Recall efforts permitted any time (they would take a minimum of 6 months anyway, while in the last 6 months there would just be no by-election)
- 20% of the number who actually voted last time must sign a petition for a Recall to be successful when there are more than 50,000 eligible voters
- 30% of the number who actually voted last time must sign a petition for a Recall to be successful when there are fewer than 50,000 eligible voters
- Signatures must be collected within a 180-day period
- A successful petition should remove municipal and provincial representatives automatically, triggering a by-election which the representative could run in, if they wish
Referenda:
- 10% of the number who actually voted last time must sign a petition for Legislative or Policy Referenda
- 20% of the number who actually voted last time must sign a petition for Constitutional Referenda
- Signatures must be collected within a 180-day period
These recommendations aim to make the recall and referenda processes more accessible and reflective of democratic principles, ensuring that citizens have a meaningful voice in shaping policy decisions.
The democratic process should be inclusive and responsive to the evolving needs and aspirations of the populace, and citizens must have the opportunity to address fundamental issues through democratic tools.
If you agree, and want to see the referendum and recall rules fixed, please sign the Alberta Institute’s petition:
Regards,
Josh Andrus
Executive Director
Project Confederation
From the Fraser Institute
On Monday, the Smith government announced that beginning next year it will change the way it funds surgeries in Alberta. This is a big step towards unlocking the ability of Alberta’s health-care system to provide more, better and faster services for the same or possibly fewer dollars.
To understand the significance of this change, you must understand the consequences of the current (and outdated) approach.
Currently, the Alberta government pays a lump sum of money to hospitals each year. Consequently, hospitals perceive patients as a drain on their budgets. From the hospital’s perspective, there’s little financial incentive to serve more patients, operate more efficiently and provide superior quality services.
Consider what would happen if your local grocery store received a giant bag of money each year to feed people. The number of items would quickly decline to whatever was most convenient for the store to provide. (Have a favourite cereal? Too bad.) Store hours would become less convenient for customers, alongside a general decline in overall service. This type of grocery store, like an Alberta hospital, is actually financially better off (that is, it saves money) if you go elsewhere.
The Smith government plans to flip this entire system on its head, to the benefit of patients and taxpayers. Instead of handing out bags of money each year to providers, the new system—known as “activity-based funding”—will pay health-care providers for each patient they treat, based on the patient’s particular condition and important factors that may add complexity or cost to their care.
This turns patients from a drain on budgets into a source of additional revenue. The result, as has been demonstrated in other universal health-care systems worldwide, is more services delivered using existing health-care infrastructure, lower wait times, improved quality of care, improved access to medical technologies, and less waste.
In other words, Albertans will receive far better value from their health-care system, which is currently among the most expensive in the world. And relief can’t come soon enough—for example, last year in Alberta the median wait time for orthopedic surgeries including hip and knee replacements was 66.8 weeks.
The naysayers argue this approach will undermine the province’s universal system and hurt patients. But by allowing a spectrum of providers to compete for the delivery of quality care, Alberta will follow the lead of other more successful universal health-care systems in countries such as Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland and create greater accountability for hospitals and other health-care providers. Taxpayers will get a much better picture of what they’re paying for and how much they pay.
Again, Alberta is not exploring an untested policy. Almost every other developed country with universal health care uses some form of “activity-based funding” for hospital and surgical care. And remember, we already spend more on health care than our counterparts in nearly all of these countries yet endure longer wait times and poorer access to services generally, in part because of how we pay for surgical care.
While the devil is always in the details, and while it’s still possible for the Alberta government to get this wrong, Monday’s announcement is a big step in the right direction. A funding model that puts patients first will get Albertans more of the high-quality health care they already pay for in a timelier fashion. And provide to other provinces an example of bold health-care reform.
Nadeem Esmail
Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
From the Montreal Economic Institute
Alberta’s move to fund acute care services through activity-based funding follows best practices internationally, points out an MEI researcher following an announcement made by Premier Danielle Smith earlier today.
“For too long, the way hospitals were funded in Alberta incentivized treating fewer patients, contributing to our long wait times,” explains Krystle Wittevrongel, director of research at the MEI. “International experience has shown that, with the proper funding models in place, health systems become more efficient to the benefit of patients.”
Currently, Alberta’s hospitals are financed under a system called “global budgeting.” This involves allocating a pre-set amount of funding to pay for a specific number of services based on previous years’ budgets.
Under the government’s newly proposed funding system, hospitals receive a fixed payment for each treatment delivered.
An Economic Note published by the MEI last year showed that Quebec’s gradual adoption of activity-based funding led to higher productivity and lower costs in the province’s health system.
Notably, the province observed that the per-procedure cost of MRIs fell by four per cent as the number of procedures performed increased by 22 per cent.
In the radiology and oncology sector, it observed productivity increases of 26 per cent while procedure costs decreased by seven per cent.
“Being able to perform more surgeries, at lower costs, and within shorter timelines is exactly what Alberta’s patients need, and Premier Smith understands that,” continued Mrs. Wittevrongel. “Today’s announcement is a good first step, and we look forward to seeing a successful roll-out once appropriate funding levels per procedure are set.”
The governments expects to roll-out this new funding model for select procedures starting in 2026.
* * *
The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.
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