Red Deer South UCP constituency board member resigns in response to COVID-19 restrictions

A political firestorm is brewing in Alberta. The province’s response to COVID-19 is leading to a growing rift amongst members of Alberta’s UCP. In an effort to slow the spread of COVID the government’s approach has been to protect hospitals by limiting interactions between people. This has lead to thousands of job losses and months of painful uncertainty for small business owners. Increasingly, individual UCP politicians and Constituency Associations are calling on the Premier to take a new direction. They want the province to shift focus to provide comfortable quarantine sites for vulnerable citizens and the people who work with them, while the rest of Alberta returns to normal. In an effort to protect the fragile economy, a number of constituency associations are considering their strongest possible move. They’re deciding whether they should call for a leadership review which would be a direct challenge to Premier Jason Kenney.

In Central Alberta, Calvin Goulet-Jones a member of the Red Deer South UCP Board has resigned. In his resignation letter (below) Goulet-Jones says the UCP has abandoned the core principals which brought conservatives from different parties together. Janis Nett, President of the Red Deer South UCP Board says other members of the board support the decision Goulet-Jones has made, but they also support Red Deer South MLA Jason Stephan and the party. Nett says remaining board members are hoping a change in direction can be accomplished without fracturing conservatives into two more more parties in the next provincial election. The Red Deer South Constituency Association meets later this week and a discussion about how best to convince party leadership to change direction will be on the agenda.

Below is a post from the Facebook page of former Red Deer South Constituency Association board member Calvin Goulet-Jones.

Here is an excerpt of the my resignation letter to the local UCP board. I share this as a reminder of what the UCP was built on. For context, the content within the letter is relevant to the end of January. Please also note that this was not an admonishment of local board members, but a recognition that I can no longer be involved at this time for the reasons I state below.

It is no secret that times have changed and I strongly believe we have lost sight of the principles I feel we all hold dear. I am saddened when I look at the core principles that the UCP was built upon. I am saddened because it is so evident that the UCP has abandoned their foundation. They are no longer the party that Albertans elected.

Let me elaborate on the principles the UCP was built upon and where we find ourselves today.

Principle 1 – A robust civil society made up of free individuals, strong families, and voluntary associations.

We live in an era right now where individuals are not free. In fact, we live in an era where the freedom to earn an income is fined, where putting in an honest day’s work to put food on the table results in intimidation and strong families are being weakened as a result. This may not affect you, but it affects our society. When freedom is taken away from one individual it is taken away from all of us. Our society is neither robust, nor is it civil. In fact, it can be argued it is breaking down at the hands of our government.

Principle 2 – Freedom of speech, worship and assembly.

No one can take away the freedom to worship, including the government, however they certainly can put a major damper on it. Our government has intimidated and bullied churches severely beyond what could ever be deemed reasonable. Not only in Alberta but across this country the freedom to corporately worship has been taken away. The point is that this is a core principle of the UCP and the government seems to have not given it a second thought.

Principle 3 – Affirm the family as the building block of society and the means by which citizens pass on their values and beliefs and ensure that families are protected from intrusion by government.

The family is the building block of society, meanwhile families are suffering and children are bearing the brunt of the governments decisions. While the child help line has received an unprecedented amount of calls for help our government applies bandaids. This government is deconstructing the building block of society, mental health issues are rampant, and they have shifted the burden of covid and placed it upon the most vulnerable: Our children. They are affected by the very specific decisions that the government makes more than they will ever know.

Furthermore, the government’s logic is beyond reason. To say that a loved one may babysit your kids but that same loved one may not stay for dinner is absurd. To impose a fine to an individual who is struggling with loneliness and needs familiar company, yet allow a contractor to enter homes is mean spirited. I can go on, but I cannot imagine anyone can truly say that this government is busy ensuring that individuals are protected by the intrusion of government.

Principle 4 – Economic freedom in a market economy which encourages the creation of wealth through free enterprise, and protection of the right to own, enjoy and exchange property.

This government has shut down businesses and are bankrupting the individuals who own them. What’s more, this government has taken it further and has called those people who are soon to be homeless ‘selfish’. Alluding to the idea that they are greedy for wanting to earn an income. I find it very sad that the UCP has abandoned this principle as it is cornerstone policy that the UCP was built on. Free markets and private sector job creation. Instead, the UCP continues to actively work towards shutting small businesses down.

Principle 5 – Limited government, including low levels of taxation to help generate economic growth while allowing Albertans to enjoy the fruits of their own labour.

This government has given itself an unprecedented amount of power to intervene in any and every situation it deems fit. This is not limited government. The UCP speaks of low taxation while putting in policies that result in businesses and individuals earning a pittance. This government has literally made it a crime for certain people in our society to enjoy the fruits of their own labour by threatening fines and threatening prison.

Principle 6 – Fiscal responsibility, including balanced budgets, debt reduction, and respect for taxpayers’ money

The government has stifled growth and has ballooned debt. There was a reasonable point (back in March/April) where I can understand some of the decisions that were made. No one, including the government knew what was going on. We are well beyond that point though, yet the government continues to double down. Balanced budgets are a thing of fantasy, and we seem to live in a dream world that Trudeau himself would be proud of – that the government has an endless amount of money.

Principle 7 – Protecting public safety as a primary responsibility of government.

“Two Weeks to bend the curve.” “Stay home, stay safe.” “We are all in this together.” Three catch phrases used by our government to convince the public that abandoning your principles is worth it. Instead, this government is creating a never seen before amount of unrest. People are not happy. People are losing their homes and becoming desperate. It would be easy to say that this is because of the virus, but it is not. It is because of the specific decisions that our government is making.

Related Topics:#BoardMemberResigns #CalvinGouletJones #JanisNett #RedDeerSouthUCP feature

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Alberta takes big step towards shorter wait times and higher quality health care

Published on April 9, 2025

Todayville Content Team

From the Fraser Institute

By Nadeem Esmail

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

Alberta

Alberta’s embrace of activity-based funding is great news for patients

Published on April 9, 2025

Todayville

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.