Catholic Teaching
The demands of the common good… are strictly connected to respect for and the integral promotion of the person and his fundamental rights. These demands concern above all the commitment to peace, the organization of the State’s powers, a sound juridical system, the protection of the environment, and the provision of essential services to all, some of which are at the same time human rights: food, housing, work, education and access to culture, transportation… -166, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
The Role & Development of the Family
“Honour your father and mother.”
– the 4th Commandment
The family is the primary unit in society. It is where education begins and the Word of God is first nurtured.
The Church considers the family as the first natural society, with underived rights that are proper to it, and places it at the centre of social life. Relegating the family to a subordinate or secondary role, excluding it from its rightful position in society, would be to inflict grave harm on the authentic growth of society as a whole.
A society built on a family scale is the best guarantee against drifting off course into individualism or collectivism, because within the family the person is always at the centre of attention as an end and never as a means. It is patently clear that the good of persons and the proper functioning of society are closely connected with the healthy state of conjugal and family life. Without families that are strong in their communion and stable in their commitment peoples grow weak.
The priority of the family over society and the State must be affirmed… The family, then, does not exist for society or the State, but society and the State exist for the family.
Every social model that intends to serve the good of man must not overlook the centrality and social responsibility of the family. In their relationship to the family, society and the State are seriously obligated to observe the principle of subsidiarity. In virtue of this principle, public authorities may not take away from the family tasks which it can accomplish well by itself or in free association with other families; on the other hand, these same authorities have the duty to sustain the family, ensuring that it has all the assistance that it needs to fulfil properly its responsibilities.
– 209-214, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
The Church teaches that the proper role of government and other human institutions is to foster human life and dignity by maintaining social conditions that enable and encourage us to serve God in one another, and thereby to promote that which is truly in the common interest. This begins with nurturing and enabling families, as well as supporting the elderly and other marginalized members of society.
Health Care
Among the causes that greatly contribute to underdevelopment and poverty, mention must be made of illiteracy, lack of food security, the absence of structures and services, inadequate measures for guaranteeing basic healthcare, and the lack of safe drinking water and sanitation. -166, 447 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
Support for the Elderly
If the elderly are in situations where they experience suffering and dependence, not only do they need health care services and appropriate assistance, but and above all they need to be treated with love. – 222 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
Education
“May Nazareth remind us what the family is, what the communion of love is, its stark and simple beauty, its sacred and inviolable character; may it help us to see how sweet
and irreplaceable education in the family is; may it teach us its natural function in the social order. May we finally learn the lesson of work.” – 210 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, citing St Paul VI, Address at Nazareth (5 January 1964)
As those first responsible for the education of their children, parents have the right to choose a school for them which corresponds to their own convictions. This right is fundamental. As far as possible parents have the duty of choosing schools that will best help them in their task as Christian educators. Public authorities have the duty of guaranteeing this parental right and of ensuring the concrete conditions for its exercise. – Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2229
Maintaining employment depends more and more on one’s professional capabilities. Instructional and educational systems must not neglect human or technological formation, which are necessary for gainfully fulfilling one’s responsibilities.
Young people should be taught to act upon their own initiative, to accept the responsibility of facing with adequate competencies the risks connected with a fluid economic context that is often unpredictable in the way it evolves. – 289, 290 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
“[T]here is a growing loss of the sense of history… A kind of “deconstructionism”, whereby human freedom claims to create everything starting from zero, is making headway in today’s culture. The one thing it leaves in its wake is the drive to limitless consumption and expressions of empty individualism. Concern about this led me to offer the young some advice. “If someone tells young people to ignore their history, to reject the experiences of their elders, to look down on the past and to look forward to a future that he himself holds out, doesn’t it then become easy to draw them along so that they only do what he tells them? He needs the young to be shallow, uprooted and distrustful, so that they can trust only in his promises and act according to his plans. That is how various ideologies operate: they destroy (or deconstruct) all differences so that they can reign unopposed. To do so, however, they need young people who have no use for history, who spurn the spiritual and human riches inherited from past generations, and are ignorant of everything that came before them”. – Pope Francis, Fratelli tutti, 13
Culture, Arts & Tourism
Faced with rapid technological and economic progress, and with the equally rapid transformation of the processes of production and consumption, a great deal of educational and cultural work is urgently needed. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 376, 401
Certain economically prosperous countries tend to be proposed as cultural models for less developed countries; instead, each of those countries should be helped to grow in its own distinct way and to develop its capacity for innovation while respecting the values of its proper culture. A shallow and pathetic desire to imitate others leads to copying and consuming in place of creating, and fosters low national self-esteem.
We forget that “there is no worse form of alienation than to feel uprooted, belonging to no one. A land will be fruitful, and its people bear fruit and give birth to the future, only to the extent that it can foster a sense of belonging among its members, create bonds of integration between generations and different communities, and avoid all that makes us insensitive to others and leads to further alienation.” – Fratelli tutti, –51-53
The Role of the Family
Child Care
The party advocates:
– investing in accessible, high quality, cost-effective child-care spaces that address early childhood education needs
– provding funding on an income-tested basis to improve access to childcare
– assessing the increasing need for before and after school care and investing in improved access
Health Care
As one of the six key values upon which it is committed to building a policy framework, the party believes that:
– every Albertan deserves the opportunity to succeed
– the provincial government should aspire to provide excellent and innovative public education, public health care, and infrastructure, as well as a compassionate helping hand in times of need
– this can be accomplished through responsible use of public funds
The party advocates:
– improving quality and affordability of health care by partnering with physicians, healthcare providers, professional associations, and patients to raise awareness of evidence based best practices
– ensuring that that patients receive tests, treatments, and procedures that are necessary and add value to their care
– empowering Alberta Health Services and emergency departments to ensure that ambulance paramedics would not be required to wait with patients for longer than 30 minutes
– establishing a Wellness Foundation for Alberta to promote health and prevent disease and disability using a comprehensive approach focused on evidence-based primary prevention initiatives
– expanding use of Integrated Primary Care teams to ensure; improved patient outcomes, better quality of life, longer life expectancy, improved patient experience, lower overall costs
Home Care
The party advocates enhancing home care services for seniors and persons with disabilities by:
– increasing funding to improve the availability and quality of home care services
– ensuring more efficient use of financial resources, thereby reducing the need for expensive acute care beds and public, long term care homes
– ensuring adequate supports for the informal networks for those requiring home care services.
Elder Care
The party advocates:
– supporting provincial seniors by ensuring there are appropriate numbers of care facilities, including sufficient public facilities
– implementation of a comprehensive dementia strategy to ensure that patients with dementia and their families and caregivers across Alberta have access to a range of services appropriate for their needs.
Education
As one of the six key values upon which it is committed to building a policy framework, the party believes that:
– every Albertan deserves the opportunity to succeed
– the provincial government should aspire to provide excellent and innovative public education, public health care, and infrastructure, as well as a compassionate helping hand in times of need
– this can be accomplished through responsible use of public funds
Primary Education
The party advocates:
– ending mandatory school fees, making schools more accessible for all Albertans, and reducing the administrative burden on school staff
– providing sustainable, consistent, adequate funding for our schools, with annual increases that are proportionate to population growth plus inflation
– ensuring that funding is stable, to allow for long-term planning
– ensuring that building decisions for new schools are not politically driven, and funding new schools according to enrolment numbers
– encouraging the sharing of resources, such as bussing, between overlapping school districts to reduce duplication of services.
Post-Secondary Education
The party advocates:
– ensuring stable and predictable operational funding to post-secondary institutions on a multi-year basis
– legislating a cap to limit tuition increases for both domestic and international students to Alberta’s CPI
– advocating that the Government of Canada increase the income threshold for recent graduates to begin repaying their student loans
– commitment to provision of ongoing funds for student mental health supports
Students with Special Needs
The party advocates:
– increased supports for students with special needs with additional appropriately trained staff and funding
– targeted funding for educational assistants to increase the human supports for students with special needs
Culture & Community
As one of the six key values upon which it is committed to building a policy framework, the party believes that:
– a great quality of life requires strong communities
– through support of recreation, sports, arts and culture, government can help to build strong and vibrant communities
The Role of and Support for the Family
Child Care and Early Development Services
The party advocates:
– increased support and funding to provide affordable, high-quality not-for-profit child care and early childhood development spaces as required
Child Welfare & Youth Justice
The party advocates:
– rethinking and restructuring the provision of child welfare and youth justice services so as to better accomplish a fundamental task—nurturing a sense of belonging in children who lack a functional family or other intact support system
Health Care
The party advocates:
– governmental recognition of the importance of wellness and prevention of illness through the elimination of poverty and homelessness and the adoption and enforcement of environmental policies that will keep our air, water and land free from contaminants which cause disease
– encouraging an individual, patient-centred approach to the delivery of health services
– working to ensure the sustainability of Alberta’s universal, publicly-funded healthcare system, and extension of its coverage, over time, to include cover basic dental care and other critical health services
– strong support for maintenance of a publicly-funded, government-operated health care system
– recognition of the overwhelming importance of exercise to human health and of the harm to any person denied full opportunity to exercise
– removal of barriers to participation in physical activities, such as access to facilities, transportation, childcare and other support services
– support for a preventative approach to healthcare
– inclusion of basic dental care in the services covered by AHS
– extension of Alberta Health Care coverage to all health professionals falling under the Health Professionals Act
– reduction of unnecessary and redundant prescriptions, tests and other inappropriate use of health services
– investigation of the current application within Alberta of Nationally Allowed Guidelines for cadaver organ transplants, in particular the donation after cardiac death (DCD) as well as after brain death
– working with health care professionals to empower individuals to improve their own health
– increased funding to improve dignified end of life treatment, specifically, to improve palliative care, pain management, community and home care resources and grief counseling
– implementation of evidence-based solutions to address the on-going overdose and drug poisoning crisis that has contributed to a reduction of life expectancy in Canada, emphasizing harm reduction strategies such as supervised consumption services, syringe exchanges, and the provision of pharmaceutical alternatives to toxic street drugs
Pharmacare
The party advocates:
– coverage of the cost of by the provincial healthcare program
– recognition that the costs to government of providing pharmacare will be less if implementation of this program is put in place and coordinated across the country, for example, by joint purchasing agreements between provinces
Mental health
Acknowledging that any government will be judged by the way in which it treats its most vulnerable members, the party advocates:
– vigorously work to bring continuity to the provinces fractured mental health system by providing appropriate resources and followup treatment
– support for research into environmental factors contributing to mental illness
– training all care professionals and front line workers in the emergency, health, education and social service sectors—e.g., police, peace officers, teachers, nurses, nurses-aids, doctors, dentists , social workers and others—to recognize and deal with the manifestations of mental ill-health, including knowing where specialized services can be found and responding appropriately (e.g., with skill and compassion and with an emphasis on dignity and respect) to those suffering problems with their mental health
– ensuring the availability of a sufficient number of appropriately trained and licensed mental health specialists to meet the needs of all Albertans
– ensuring that all educational institutions are staffed with mental health professionals and nurses
Elder Care
The party advocates:
– creation of a coordinated, publicly-funded and delivered support system for seniors who require car based on principles of dignity and respect, with a focus on quality of life including emotional, spiritual and social needs of seniors as well as health-care needs
– expansion of home care to bring the care people need into their own homes
– for people who can no longer remain at home, provision of a long term care option in improved facilities that are more home-like and that follow best international practices
Home care
The party advocates:
– expanding and adequate funding of comprehensive home care to ensure it is responsive to both health and personal care needs of the patient and the family so that people are able to stay in their own homes as long as possible rather than having to move for care
Education
The party advocates:
– development of solutions to reduce costs for students including tuition charges for universities, colleges, and trade schools
– improvement of affordability and accessibility as the province moves towards a more equitable system of adequate stable funding of education
– establishing class size limits in accordance with the recommendations of Alberta’s Commission on Learning.
– reinstating funding for extracurricular sports, fine arts, and student clubs that encourage healthy community spirit, creativity, and leadership
– to ensure that schools are not be stressful places for children, starting formal instruction only when children are at least six years old; ensuring that daycares and early childhood classes encourage play and outdoor activity when at all possible
– ensuring that special education is such an integral part of the system that it has no stigma attached, including early identification and resolution of problems
– ensuring the availability of all necessary support resources
– requiring the teaching of tolerance, good citizenship and sustainable, healthy living that includes human sexuality
– tranforming schools into community centres offering programs such as libraries, recreation facilities, technology and training areas, fine arts theatres, and studios in partnership with municipalities and the elementary and secondary schools
– banning the use of seclusion rooms throughout Alberta, and instead encouraging the use of sensory rooms for students with sensory issues, social behavioural issues, and those who feel overwhelmed
– increased numbers of educational assistants (“Eas”) in elementary and secondary schools, while also promoting education and training in conflict de-escalation for EAs and teachers by psychologists, indigenous elders, and other culturally inclusive specialists, to deal with students who require additional support/use of sensory rooms
– provision of funding so that each classroom can have a qualified teacher and an educational assistant for twenty students to properly facilitate inclusive education for all students
Public & Private Schools
The party advocates:
– a provincial referendum on whether separate school boards in the province should be disbanded and combined with the public system
– add a requirement to the School Act that every proposal for a new alternate program or school will be subjected to a formal assessment of its impact on Canadian civic values which include democracy, the rule of law, and human rights
– where that impact is significantly negative, and cannot be mitigated, the proposal must be refused
– all existing alternative programs shall be subject to periodic review, and, if no longer compatible with Canadian civic values, will be terminated
– reducing public funding for private schools from 70% (the current level) to 50%, which was the level of funding first introduced by the Lougheed Government; exceptions being made only for schools which offer programs that are educationally necessary for disabled students and are not available in the public system
– money saved by such funding reduction would be earmarked for improvements to the public education system
– effects of the funding reduction would be studied and further reductions considered on the basis of that study
Post-Secondary Education
The party states that it:
– supports extending formal learning opportunities past high school into post-secondary education and beyond, to lifelong learning for all Albertans whatever their educational needs and desires
– it recognizes that continuing education is key to ensuring that Albertans are well prepared for the employment opportunities presented by the new, greener economy
– policies must ensure that people who want to upgrade their education, technical skills or English language abilities can do so without going into burdensome debt
Culture, Arts & Tourism
The party states that:
– a flourishing cultural scene contributes hugely to the well-being of Albertans, in terms of both quality of life and employment opportunities and other forms of economic development
– it believes that government has a role to play in supporting culture and the arts
Public libraries
The party states that public libraries, accessible to all in the community, are essential to vibrant and fair democracy
The party advocates:
– as in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, support for “specific and unambiguou” rights to free universal public library access
– immediate restoration of funding to public libraries to compensate for revenue they would lose by providing free library cards
The party has provided no official statement regarding its policies or positions regarding the role and purpose of the family.
Health Care
The party states that:
– Alberta’s current healthcare system is broken and is draining the resources of society without proportionally improving outcomes in comparison to other nations
– different systems and ideas must be allowed to compete, allowing the most efficient and effective choices to challenge current paradigms
– all public health care sector employees should be held to as rigorous performance standards as their private sector compatriots
– redundant management should be reduced through increased automation of administrative services and theempowerment of high performing front line staff
Nutrition and Health Coaching
The party advocates:
– eliminating the “Percent Daily Value” requirement on packaging, as this is based on the opinions of special interest groups rather than sound nutritional science
– replacing the PDV system with an online nutritional system which can account for different physical characteristics and is developed by subject matter experts based on objective knowledge, rather than industry lobbyists
– allowing registered health coaches and nutritionists to partner with hospitals and clinics to provide lifestyle follow-up appointments, allowing patients to receive more appropriate care while saving medical professionals time
– education of children and medical professionals on objective nutritional and lifestyle topics
– studying preventative health care measures to reduce the burden on the reactive health care system
Health Services
The party advocates:
– improved access to time saving technologies for Albertan hospitals and clinics, including MyHealth Alberta
– implementation of low user fees for the emergency room and clinical care, payable after the receipt of services, to decrease wait times and improve care for patients in critical need of attention
– continuing to to allow private sector health care and enhance private health care to provide an alternative to the public system
– ensuring that advanced testing methods and medical procedures are available to Albertans
– allowing nurse practitioners to diagnose routine medical ailments, while having a strong awareness of the limitations of their abilities
– greatly expanded scope of virtual medicine (telemedicine) to reduce wait times, provide simple diagnoses, and alleviate the burden on the public health care system
– partnering Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) to create Virtual Medical Diagnoses Technology programs to create skilled labour for this service
– leveraging machine learning technology to increase the accuracy of medical diagnoses
– continuous improvement, making the machine learning system compatible with dental and pharmaceutical care
– prohibiting physicians from accepting payments and other diagnostic incentives from pharmaceutical companies, treating such behaviors as a conflict of interest, a violation of medical oaths, and unprofessional conduct, and treating attempts by medical professionals or companies to circumvent related legislation shall be treated as fraud
– ensuring that medical research and clinical trials are protected by strict ethical legislation, ensuring data are not tampered with or omitted, and the integrity of the scientific process is preserved
– mandating that patients be given comprehensive and clear information on the complications and risks of medical treatments
– requiring that all medical and nonmedical ingredients of any substance used in the health care sector are clearly printed on the label, and communicating such information shall be communicated to the patient upon request
Salaries and Compensation
The party advocates:
– partnering with physicians to that ensure doctors are fairly compensated based on performance outcomes, provide optimal care for their patients, and are presented with opportunities available outside of the current public system
– ensuring that the wages and salaries of nurses and other health care workers reflect the amount of training they have received and their performance, while striving to ensure fairness for the taxpayer
– reorganizing UNA to classify Albertan nurses as professionals under Professional Governance, ensuring nurses are entrusted with the same privileges and responsibilities as other professionals in Alberta
Mental Health
The party advocates:
– acknowledging that there is currently a mental health crisis in Alberta
– ensuring that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is available to every Albertan struggling with mental health issues
– providing increased funding and improve the productivity of mental health research, focusing special attention on merging the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and applicable fields of neurology
– through research, removing the subjective nature of mental health care, allowing future mental health professionals to use objective physical knowledge in their treatment of disorders
– keeping mental health care treatments in Alberta current with cutting edge research
– ensuring that Albertans have access to world class health care and mental health education by leveraging both private and public services
– use of results-based metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of all mental health programs
Education
The party advocates:
– publication of classroom size cap guidelines for the public system based on parent preferences, expert advice, and educator input
– improving transparency and timing concerning student outcomes, so parents have the information they need to make informed decisions regarding their child’s education
– expecting students to meet performance standards to move on to the next grade
– holding educators accountable for their performance, and will remove poor performers, to ensure they are held to the same standards as those in the private sector, including reorganizing the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) to classify Albertan educators as professionals under Professional Governance, ensuring teachers are entrusted with the same privileges and responsibilities as other professionals in Alberta
– removing identity politics from all public core curricula
– ensuring that all public education institutions begin the first classes of each day with the singing of Alberta’s new national anthem
– exempting school administrators, including principals, from ATA membership, and may not be affiliated with the ATA during their tenure
Alternative Education
The party advocates:
– creation of a voucher system for private, alternative, and home education
– institutions meeting eligibility requirements would receive the full voucher amount
– home school students and institutions that use alternative curricula would receive a partial amount. To receive the partial amount, students of such schools would be required to write standardized achievement exams every three years
– granting public schools more flexibility to offer specialized programs while ensuring all students learn the core aspects of an enhanced standard curriculum
Personalized Education
The party states that children should receive a well-rounded education that is tailored to their individual talents, learning style, and needs, and that the current “one size fits all” education system is outdated
The party advocates:
– dividing the public education system into a Vocational Stream, Scientific Stream, and Business Stream
– aptitude testing for stream placement shall occur at the end of the sixth grade
– opening the Vocational Steam to students who learn kinetically that have an aptitude for trades, arts and skilled work and shall provide students with state-of-the-art trades education in addition to a core curriculum
– opening the Scientific Stream to students who show aptitude at technical and analytical thinking and shall provide students with world class education in advanced mathematics, applied sciences, and pure sciences, along with a core curriculum
– opening the Business Stream to students who show aptitude in the humanities and administrative areas, which shall provide students with strong business skills, leadership qualities, administrative skills, robust language education, and humanities education, alongside a core curriculum
– allowing students to move between streams, with the consent of their parent or guardian, by completing grade appropriate standardized testing
Public Curricula Development
The party advocates:
– development of the public curricula by a team of professionals and industry affiliates, with involvement of parents
– involving individuals affiliated with the public education system and post secondary institutions in advisory roles only
– development of a robust health curriculum for Albertan students including:
– ensuring access for students in every stream to comprehensive and meaningful financial education courses as part of the core curriculum
– emphasizing technical English in classes, focussing on report writing, advanced outlining and document organisation techniques, advanced writing techniques and grammatical structure, and research papers; in addition students will also study important western cultural works
– replacing the current social studies curricula after the sixth grade with several rigorous courses, uniquely tailored to the learning habits of each stream:
The History of Alberta – Seventh Grade;
The History and Philosophy of Western Civilization – Eighth Grade
Introduction to World History – Ninth Grade
Introduction to Philosophy – Tenth Grade\
Introduction to Political Science and Economics – Eleventh Grade; and
A Neurological Approach to Social Psychology – Twelfth Grade
– ensuring a baseline standard for mathematical literacy is maintained across all streams
– ensuring that students in rural areas have access to the same quality of education enjoyed by urban students
– ensuring that all Alberta students will have access to online “learn at your own pace” option classes and modules compiled and administered by the government
Post-Secondary and Continuing Education
The party believes that as the demand for post-secondary education has increased, institutions have struggled to adapt
The party advocates:
– separating the research-focused and the undergraduate education functions of public institutions to ensure students receive the full attention of trained instructors
– redefining tenure for public institutions
– elimination of government subsidies for private institutions, while imposing stronger performance requirements on public institutions
– undertake extensive productivity improvement audits for all public institutions to ensure efficient operation and improve outcomes
– elimination of extraneous and outdated programs from public institutions, providing more opportunities for private institutions
– ensuroing that institutions treat all public resources as an investment by the people of Alberta that come with responsibilities.
Post-Secondary Education: Alberta First
The party advocates:
– giving Albertan students priority for admission at Alberta post-secondary institutions, provided that educational and residence requirements are met
– studying implementation of seat limits in public post-secondary institutions, to prevent burdening students with loans in areas where post-secondary opportunities are scarce and there is little chance of growth
Self-Directed Learning
The party advocates partnering with private organisations to develop accreditation examinations that will provide members of the public an opportunity to gain certifications for self-directed learning and acquired experience where a need exists
Special needs education
The believes that advocates all Albertans should receive an education that will improve their life prospects, while ensuring educators are not required to provide care for students with learning complications which they have not received adequate training for
The party advocates:
ensuring that students in the public system are properly assessed as early as possible in each child’s development
– ensuring that special needs students in the public system receive appropriate accommodation that does not place an excessive burden on teachers and administrators and shall give the teachers and administrators the autonomy to determine whether classroom integration is practical
– developing alternative public systems to accommodate students with special needs, and requiring that educators at such systems have specialized training
– expecting such systems to maintain a reasonable duty of care and ensuring that they are subject to ongoing assessment
The party states that among its core values are commitments to:
– improve public services, including hiring 2000 new teachers and investing in inclusive education
– prioritize sustainable and preventative healthcare to improve outcomes and drive down long-term costs
Role and purpose of family; support for families:
Universal Child Care
The party states that:
– providing subsidized child care improves labour participation for women, injecting billions into our economy annually
– when you invest in child care, you invest in women; and when you invest in women, you invest in Alberta
So that every parent has an opportunity to participate in the workforce and be a parent, the party advocates:
– implementing universal subsidized child care for all Albertans
– testing the system to make it cost-effective and ensure the Albertans who need it the most will pay the least. Families earning $40,000 and under will pay $0 a day, scaling up to $45 a day for high-income families
– creating an income-tested Refundable Child Care Tax Credit for low- and middle-income families who have a stay-at-home parent or pursue other child care options
– providing funding to create new child care spaces to address space shortages
Health Care
The party states that:
– it believes in public healthcare for all, and undertakes to provide affordable timely access for all Albertans and fund neglected areas like mental health and addictions
– the best way to support our public system is to make it more sustainable. Currently, Alberta pays the most per capita for healthcare. With the number of seniors in Alberta on track to double by 2040, it is important than to make the provincial healthcare system more affordable with smart investments in areas like preventative care
Mental Health
The party states that:
– twenty percent of Albertans will be affected by mental illness in their life, but Alberta only spends 6% of its health budget on Mental Health
– this is only two-thirds of what expert opinion, including the Canada Mental Health Commission, recommend
The party advocates:
– closing the funding gap by increasing spending to treat addictions by $600 million annually over the next four years, including $150 million in new annual funding to be provided immediately, and gradually redirecting $450 million in existing funding over the next four years
– in addition to expanding access to programs, transforming the way the province approaches mental health in Alberta, including:
+ harmonizing goals and roles to develop an effective and integrated system
+ creating a person-centred care system
+ putting a renewed focus on public education and prevention
+ increasing the role primary care providers play in mental healthcare
+ combating stigma to address the 60% of people with mental health problems who never seek help
+ creating unique services tailored to the needs of people from marginalized groups
AHS Facilities
The party states that:
– the key to improving AHS facilities is an effective diversion strategy
– facilities, like safe consumption facilities and hospital facilities, should be distributed around cities and regions, rather than concentrated in one place
Sustainability
The party advocates:
– reduction of healthcare costs through smart spending in the areas that drive down long-term costs, including keeping people healthy rather than treating them when they’re sick, and investment in continuing and acute care spaces
– creating 2,200 new long-term care spaces
– working with non-profit and faith based providers to deliver long-term care spaces at half the cost
– investing $150 million into home care and assisted living
– investing $100 million into preventative care
– creating a Preventative Care task force to explore best practices in fields like nutrition, health education, screening, prevention and team-based community care
– finding savings by cutting the number of middle managers at Alberta Health Services and conducting extensive value-for-money audits
EMS
The party advocates implementing best practices from across the globe to implement a 15-minute patient transfer time from ambulance to emergency room, including:
+ hiring intermediate ER health care providers
+ increasing the number of community paramedics
+ improving EMS-ER handover efficiency with the use of advanced technology and streamlined handover procedures
+ rigorously managing patient discharge
+ launching a public campaign to raise awareness of proper ER use
+ reducing access block with increased community and continuing care
+ ending City of Calgary dispatch of ambulances: having AHS take over, as they do across the rest of the province
Opiod Crisis
The party states that two Albertans die each day to opioid overdose, and that much more can be done to curb the opioid crisis
The party advocates:
– declaring the Opioid Crisis a Public Health Emergency
– funding more treatment beds
– increasing the number of supervised injection sites
– making the addiction treatment medication suboxone free
– making addictions counselling free to those who need it
Additions and Decriminalization
The party states that people suffering from drug addiction and abuse aren’t criminals, they’re sick. Punitive action worsens the stigma of addiction and makes it harder for people to seek help.
The part advocates:
– following the lead Portugal and decriminalizing the possession of small quantities of drugs in order to better combat addiction
– redirecting savings from the justice system into addictions treatment
Dental Care
The party states that a lack of access to dental care isn’t just about cosmetics or even comfort, and can result in serious health implications such as infections and even death
The party advocates working towards universal dental care with our partners in confederation, and making mental care more affordable in the interim by
– providing $50 million for expanding the availability and reach of affordable, community-based dental car e
– pressing the Alberta Dental Association and College to allow dentists greater freedom to advertise their services and lift restrictions on dentists’ being able to offer promotions or special pricing for groups such as seniors or children
– making the Dental Fee Guideline prices mandatory for essential services
Pharmacare
The party advocates working with the federal government and our partners in confederation on the implementation of a national pharmacare plan that provides access to affordable drugs for all Albertans
Incentivising Health
The party states that family doctors are currently paid based on the number of examinations or procedures they conduct or tests they order and review (“fee-for-service”), which can cause unnecessary procedures or tests to be ordered
The party advocates moving to a “primary care clinic” model that is being implemented in British Columbia, where doctors and family medicine clinics are paid based on how healthy their patients are, and are therefore incentivised to hire nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, nutritionists, kinesiologists, and physiotherapists, thereby promoting peventative medicine and prevention screening
Youth Mental Health
The party advoates:
– increased funding for mental health services in schools, as part of a $600 million investment in Mental Health, in order to improve the lives of children while reducing the long-term health costs associated with unaddressed mental health problems
Healthy Lifestyles
The party advocates:
– creation of a leading-edge Healthy Lifestyle Program that includes banning junk food from schools and fully-funding comprehensive healthy lifestyle training
Elder Care
The party states that:
– seniors have built the province, and helped create the prosperity the province enjoys today
– the number of seniors in Alberta will double in the next 20 years. The province must be prepared to provide top quality services even with the extra demand on services this will create
The party advocates:
– adding to 2,200 more long-term care spaces and $150 million in funding over four years for homecare and assisted living
– creating a dedicated Ministry for Seniors Services. In order to address the upcoming demographic bomb, baby boomers aging, a Minister dedicated full-time to both the seniors issues of today and planning for the challenges of tomorrow is needed
– In order to keep spouses together as their care needs diverge, examining strategies to keep seniors living together, including in long term care facilities
– discontinuing the Seniors Property Tax Deferral Program and reinstating the Seniors School Property Tax Assistance Program, in order to save seniors money
– making provisions for same-sex couples in nursing homes and long-term care, to help them enjoy the same rights and privileges as opposite-sex partners
Education
The party advocates:
– in order to end overcrowded classroom conditions, implementing flexible classroom size caps and hiring more teachers
– in order to improve the academic performance of students, and in view of statements of Alberta’s Auditor General that money spent on reducing class-sizes has been poorly tracked and failed to create results, introducing mandatory class-size caps and hiring as many teachers as needed to meet the class-size requirements
– phasing in class size caps over time, focusing on grades K-3 first, where class size is most strongly tied to performance
– working with school boards and educators to make sure class-size caps make sense locally
– ensuring that money allocated for reducing class sizes goes towards that goal
– funding enrollment growth, the curriculum review and infrastructure needs
– increasing funding for supports for students with extra needs by 50%
– providing more teaching assistants, more training and more professionals with specialized qualifications
– funding for cognitive testing and Individualized Education Plans
– ensuring that funding for special needs students follows the student it is intended for, including for those students who are homeschooled due to difficulties they’ve encountered in the public school system
– banning the use of seclusion rooms and mandating closer monitoring of all funding directed towards inclusive education
Curriculum
The party advocates:
– improving the current curriculum review by:
– teaching K-12 students about emotional and mental wellness
– expanding financial literacy education
– updating age-respectful early education on LGBTQ2S+ issues
– phasing out school fees for all public schools, including Charter Schools
Charter Schools
The party advocates
– because Charter schools are part of the public system and provide valuable, specialized programs, elimination of school and bussing fees for Charter school students, and ensuring that Charter school infrastructure is funded in an equal and fair way
Culture, Arts & Tourism
The party states that:
– it views arts and culture as a celebration of life that forms the basis of Alberta’s strong standard of living and makes the province an attractive place to invest in
– they are also an important contributor to the province’s economy
– it recognizes the significant challenges that many artists face when pursuing employment as an artist
– it is committed to maintaining current funding for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts
The party adovcates:
– because the current grant-based system is too complex and is not retaining and attracting film & TV productions, adding a tax credit system to the existing grant-based system and streamlining applications
– Status of the Artists Legislation to formalize Alberta’s commitment to the arts and artists and make clear its support for the important role they fulfill in our society and our economy
– proclamation of an annual Month of the Artist in Alberta, and recognizing the importance and value of this educational initiative in encouraging greater public awareness and recognition of artists and the arts
– launching a committee to explore the creation of a campus for the Alberta University of the Arts, which currently shares a campus with SAIT
The Role and Development of the Family
The party states that its priorities include:
– ensuring that Alberta’s children get the best education possible and that all Albertans receive the care they need, when they need it
– making life better and more affordable for all Alberta families, and to make Alberta communities stronger and safer
…and that during its prior term in office it:
– improved housing options for families
– created new, more affordable child care spaces
– introduced and expanded the $25 per day child care pilot to more than 100 centres, with over 7,000 new spaces province wide
– cut child poverty in half since 2015, giving Alberta the lowest child poverty rates in Canada
– created the Alberta Child Benefit, supporting 130,000 low income families
– raised the minimum wage to $15 per hour
– placed a cap on electricity prices to make sure families are not gouged by power companies
– reduced school fees by $50 million per year
– launched a school nutrition program to help 30,000 kids get a healthy meal to fuel their day
The party advocates:
– developing a comprehensive Alberta Affordable Child Care Program, with a phased-in expansion of $25-a-day child care to all current child care spaces and adding 13,000 new spaces over 5 years
– to help Alberta families buy their first home, establishing Attainable Homes Alberta to build 4,000 affordable housing units
– over 5 years, phasing in expansion of $25-a-day child care so it will be made available to every child care and family day home spot, and adding 3,000 child care spaces
– improving the quality of child care delivered through enhanced staff training, full implementation of the new curriculum and promotion of non-standard hour care and other innovations
– creating an online portal for families to find child care providers in their communities and make informed decisions about their child care needs
– regulating the amount a child care centre can charge for placement on a wait list
Health Care
The party states that during its prior term in office it:
– funded the Calgary Cancer Centre, and built new hospitals and healthcare facilities across the province
– added 1,200 doctors and 1,200 nurses across the province to address the needs of a growing population
– scrapped a previous government’s plan to charge Albertans health-care premiums
– reduced wait times for breast cancer surgeries, stroke treatment centres and radiation therapy
– built 2,100 long-term and dementia care spaces and opened a new mental health clinic for Edmonton children
– passed legislation to prevent harassment at abortion clinics
– put more ambulances on the road
– contained health costs by negotiating new deals with doctors and pharmacists that keep costs in check
– published a new dental fee guide that saves Albertans money
The party advocates:
– ensuring that hospitals, schools, colleges and universities have the funding they need to meet growing demand
– addressing challenges such as long wait times in emergency rooms to overcrowded classrooms in our schools
– providing stable health care funding to meet the province’s growing population’s needs, while containing administrative and managerial costs
– lowering wait times in emergency rooms and for cataract, heart and cancer surgeries
– completing and ensuring appropriate operating funding for the Calgary Cancer Centre, the Edmonton South Hospital and the Red Deer Hospital expansion
– funding for school enrollment growth
– implementing new emergency room procedures to get ambulances back on the street faster
– building an additional 2,000 long term care and dementia beds to make sure seniors who are suffering are well cared for
– strengthening regulations governing private clinics to prevent double-dipping and queue-jumping
– preventing any costly and reckless privatization experiments
– piloting two storefront mental health clinics in Edmonton and Calgary
– continuing to implement the recommendations of the Valuing Mental Health report to strengthen Alberta’s mental health system
– launching a lawsuit against the manufacturers of opioid medication to recoup the costs of tackling the opioid addiction crisis, and expanding access to addiction treatment programs so fewer Albertans are at risk of overdose
– expanding access to reproductive health services for women living in smaller centres and rural Alberta
– developing online health tools, so Albertans can access health professionals remotely to address routine medical matters such as prescription refills and referrals
Elder Care
The party states that during its prior term in office it:
– appointed Alberta’s first Seniors’ Advocate to help seniors navigate provincial programs and to tackle issues such as elder abuse and ageism
– built more than 2,000 new long term care and dementia beds while increasing funding for homecare so people can be treated at home if they choose
– implemented the Seniors Home Adaptation and Repair Program which helps seniors stay in their homes longer by making them more accessible
– created and funded the Aging Well program, supporting initiatives to keep seniors in their homes and engaged in their communities
– protected and strengthened Alberta seniors’ benefits
The party advocates:
– to save the average eligible senior $200 per year, removing all co-payments for seniors who earn less than $75,000 per year
– to save the average senior $200 per year, removing all prescription drug co-payments for seniors who earn less than $75,000 per year
– building 2,000 new long term and dementia care beds in five years
– piloting mobile teams who will have a mandate to attend seniors’ centres and drop-ins to assist seniors with accessing services they need, such as informing them of their eligibility for programs and assistance completing applications
Education and Young Workers
The party states that:
– its priority is to give children the best education possible and ensure all Albertans get the care they need, when they need it,
…and that during its prior term in office it:
– invested in 244 new and modernized schools across Alberta
– hired 4000 new teachers and support staff through enrollment funding
– implemented a successful new school nutrition program, serving a daily healthy meal to more than 30,000 kids, helping them to focus on their studies rather than their hunger
– launched the province’s first comprehensive curriculum review, updating an outdated 30 year old curriculum, to make sure our kids learn today’s basics and have the problem-solving skills they need to be successful in a fast changing world
– passed a law that ensures every student in every school can form a Gay Straight Alliance without fear of being outed
– piloted a $77-million a year Classroom Improvement Fund to hire new teachers and put more resources and supports into Alberta classrooms
– reduced school fees for Alberta families, saving them $50 million annually
– launched a pilot program to fund playgrounds in older neighbourhoods
– developed an Arabic language program and began developing a Filipino language program
The party advocates:
– funding for school enrollment growth
– building and modernizing an additional 70 schools across the province, including much needed high schools
– making the Classroom Improvement Fund permanent and supplementng it with additional in-class resources
– continuing to build playgrounds for every new school built and assisting mature neighbourhoods to replace aging and outdated school playgrounds
– continuing to expand new language programs in Alberta schools, including creating new provincial Filipino, Punjabi, Somali and Cantonese offerings
Post-Secondary Education
The party states that:
– higher education and advanced skills training are increasingly necessary to succeed in the modern economy
– a highly skilled workforce is essential in every part of our economy, from energy to farming to research and development
and that during its prior term in office it:
– reversed cuts proposed by a previous government and invested in colleges and universities while reducing the cost of post-secondary education for Albertans
– implemented a 5-year freeze on tuition fees, to save students and their families up to $2000 over the course of their program
– legislated a cap on the amount tuition fees can go up in the future, ensuring post-secondary education remains affordable for Alberta families
– began creation of 3,000 new technology-focused seats in post-secondary institutions
– made Red Deer College, Grande Prairie College, and Alberta College of Art and Design degree granting universities
– added more students to the Board of Governors at colleges, to give students more of a voice in decisions that affect them
The party advocates:
– providing provide stable, consistent funding to post-secondary institutions to ensure higher education remains accessible and affordable for all Albertans
– eliminating tuition fees for high school upgrading and English Language Learning programs
– working with post-secondary institutions to renew the funding formula and focus resources on creating new spaces, to ensure that a lack of seats doesn’t bar qualified students from education
Culture, Arts & Tourism
The party advocates:
– working with professional artists to address the precarious, feast or famine nature of their work by exploring options to smooth out artistic income, that may include income averaging, income annuities or refundable tax credits
The Role and the Purpose of the Family
The party states that:
– its mandate is simple and straightforward: it is committed to promoting pro-life public policy in Alberta, through politics
To help both mothers and babies, the party advocates:
– adoption: boosting support for women with unexpected pregnancies, easing the challenges of putting a child up for adoption, by supporting women through all 9 months of pregnancy; and expanding the influence of Alberta Adoption Services to better assist prospective parents who want to adopt a child
– informed choice and consent: because a women’s right to information about medical procedures should not be disregarded, requiring that patients considering abortion be given full information on fetal development, including an ultrasound and all the possible psychological and physical health effects the procedure might have prior to the abortion being performed. They should also be given the full range of information about abortion alternatives and support available from various agencies and groups within the community. Most medical procedures require patients be fully-informed about the possible complications and side-effects before they consent; why is not the same for abortion?
– requiring a parent’s (or guardians) right to give consent, or be informed, before their minor child undergoes an abortion procedure, just as is already the case when minors undergo medical treatments; or even body modifications such as piercing or tattooing
– parental notification for minors: just as is currently the practice with invasive medical-procedures or treatments performed on minors, requiring that the legal guardians of a person under the age of 16 receive notification when an abortion is scheduled for their child
– increasing the emergency allowance for pregnant women escaping domestic abuse, in view of the enormous stress women faced with unplanned pregnancies can experience
The party has provided no official statement regarding its policies or positions regarding:
– education and young workers
– culture, arts and tourism
Role of the Family:
The party states that:
– every child is unique and that parents, not politicians, know what is best for their children
– a full life includes work that provides not only a living, but dignity. Therefor its first priority is to boost the economy and bring quality jobs back to Alberta
– however, “the good life” includes much more than material well-being
– while government can’t guarantee a good life, it has a central role in establishing many of the conditions for it like health, safety, education, and support for the vulnerable
To make life better for Albertans, the party advocates, among its top 5 commitments, protecting quality health care and education, in particular
– a Patient-Centred Health Care System that will use innovative reforms within the Canada Health Act while maintaining or increasing health care funding
– to strengthen education, working with parents, teachers, principals, and trustees to protect school choice, improve accountability, and deliver the best possible outcomes for children
– supporting Post-Secondary Education as critical both to Alberta’s future economy and to a vibrant Alberta
– promoting workplace skills through experiential and vocational learning from high school through post-secondary and into the workplace
– promoting arts and culture through facilitated collaboration with philanthropists and private businesses
Education
The party states that:
– under the prior government provincial class sizes continued to increase, math and reading scores declined, Alberta’s successful tradition of school choice has been under attack, the carbon tax has taken valuable resources away from classrooms, and curriculum changes have been taking place largely in secret
– every child is unique and that parents, not politicians, know what is best for their children
To ensure that education is a key advantage for Alberta, the party advocates working with parents, teachers, principals, and trustees to make Alberta’s schools divese and excellent educational institutions, the party advocates:
– maintaining or increasing education funding while seeking greater efficiency by reducing administrative overhead and pushing resources to front line teachers
– continuing to build new schools, while ordering an immediate audit of class sizes to determine what happened to previous funding dedicated to class size reduction, and prioritizing public infrastructure funds for schools and health care
– ending the focus on so-called “discovery” or “inquiry” learning, also known as constructivism, by repealing Ministerial Order #001/2013 and replacing it with a new Ministerial Order which focusses on teaching essential knowledge to help students develop foundational competencies
– pausing the current curriculum review, and broadening consultations to be open and transparent, including a wider range of perspectives from parents, teachers, and subject matter experts, and beginning curriculum reform by determining the key knowledge and skills that Alberta students should possess by the time of their high school matriculation, written in plain language that students, parents, and teachers can understand
– ensuring that teaching methods should focus on those that produce the best outcomes, such as phonics and proven math instruction methods
– ensuring that the social studies curriculum is taught without political bias, offering an objective understanding of Albertan, Canadian, and world history, geography, and civic literacy
– making financial literacy a mandatory element woven throughout the curriculum
– teaching consent as an essential part of the sexual education curriculum
Student assessment:
In order to ensure that students, parents, and teachers can clearly identify areas of strength and weakness in student performance, the party advocates reforming assessment mentods, including:
– bringing back the Grade 3 Provincial Achievement Test
– returning to a 50/50 split between Diploma and school grades for Grade 12
– implementing language and math assessments for students in grades 1, 2, and 3 to help both parents and teachers understand and assess progress in the critical early years, and remedies where necessary
– requiring clear, understandable report cards
– focusing on excellence in outcomes, with measures that include: benchmarking the Alberta education system against leading global jurisdictions; ensuring that teachers have expertise in subject areas by introducing teacher testing; expanding options for schools to facilitate expertise; requiring that the education faculties in Alberta’s universities themselves require that teachers take courses in the subjects they will one day teach in schools; support for safe schools that protect students against discrimination and bullying; reinforcing the need for open, critical debate and thinking as key to lifelong learning
Choice in education
The party advocates, in acknowledgement of the hard work done by those who created the 2012 Education Act, proclaiming that legislation, already passed by the Legislature, and introducing a Choice in Education Act which will:
– affirm parents have primary responsibility for the education of their children
– add to the preamble of the Education Act recognition of Section 26.3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children”
– protect the status and funding of independent schools in legislation given that they save the public education system $168million annually
– facilitate the creation and operation of new charter schools by lifting the cap on the number of charter schools; lifting charter school enrolment caps; allowing charter schools to own property
– treat charter schools as priorities above other possible uses for surplus public-school infrastructure
– support and encourage an expansion of alternative programs in the public system
– respect the constitutional right to separate schools
– maintain funding for independent schools and home schoolers at current levels
– encourage the sharing of busing and infrastructure where appropriate, while respecting the distinctive nature of both systems
– ensure that requests from parents for blended homeschool programs are facilitated
– amend the Education Act to implement the Leadership Quality Standards
– reduce paperwork burdens on teachers, principals, and other school staff, and reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens throughout the system
– review and implement selected recommendations from the Task Force for Teaching Excellence including: establishing alternative pathways to teaching certification for those in specialized areas of knowledge; introducing more regular assessment of teacher performance; ensuring subject matter competence
– review the current funding formula to ensure that rural schools have adequate resources to deliver programs in an equitable way
Post-Secondary Education
To support and reform post-secondary education, the party advocates:
– reducing provincial red tape and mandates on universities and colleges, freeing them to innovate and compete more and comply with bureaucratic mandates less
– measuring labour market outcomes of post-secondary programs to identify the correlation between provincial subsidies and economic returns for taxpayers
– encouraging efforts by Alberta universities and colleges to attract more qualified foreign students, in order to address a labour shortage in the information technology sector
– establishing the most effective intellectual property framework for the commercialization and entrepreneurial application of innovative research and development from Alberta’s universities and colleges
– working with universities and industry associations to measure Alberta’s performance against leading global research and government networks in key innovation hubs like California, Texas, Israel, London, and Hong Kong
– requiring all universities and colleges to develop, post, and comply with free speech policies that conform to the University of Chicago Statement on Principles of Free Expression
Vocational training
The party states that:
– apprenticeship learning has every bit as much value as academic learning, and skilled trades have every bit as much value, merit, and worth as a university degree
– Alberat faces the dual challenge of retirement among skilled workers and the worst youth employment in decades. The Department of Labour predicts that from now to 2025, more than 3,000 skilled workers will retire every year creating a steady demand for apprentices and skilled tradespeople
To help young Albertans learn practical job skills that meet the demands of the labour market and that will help them succeed and build prosperity for all Albertans, the party advocates reinventing the vocational high school, including:
– double the number of schools that CAREERS: Next Generation currently works with, from 500 to 1,000, and quadrupling the number of students and full-time apprentices from 1,567 to 6,000 by 2023 by providing CAREERS with over $6 million annually by 2022/23
– dedicating $1 million for trades scholarships for 1,000 students who show promise in trades in high school
– supporting the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s new collegiate in Edmonton with a $28 million contribution, and budget for $28 million to expand that model in Calgary and eventually to other centres as well
– reforming teacher certification to enable qualified tradespeople to teach and bring their skills to the classroom without requiring a full Bachelor of Education degree
– modernizing the Alberta Employment Standards Code to enable junior high school students to work in co-op programs on job sites
– appointing a Skills for Jobs Task Force to report to the government on how to reform education in order to expand opportunities for vocational education and the skilled trades
– increasing support for Skills Canada Alberta with funding of $2 million over four years, so that young Albertans can participate in its Skills Canada National Competition and demonstrate their skills and talent on the national and world stage
– supporting the creation of an Alberta Trades Hall of Fame to honour Albertan tradespeople who have left their mark on our province through their work
– expand the Women Building Futures program with $10 million over four years to support women who wish to pursue opportunities in the skilled trades
– working with other provinces and territories to better harmonize provincial mobility for apprentices and skilled tradespeople
– expanding the apprenticeship model to other careers with emerging demand such as coding and green technologies
– inviting applications for vocation-focused charter schools
– creating a Premier’s Council comprised of vocational education leaders, trades unions, and other stakeholders to meet regularly with the Premier and relevant ministers to advance vocational education as a government priority
Health Care
Noting comments released by the provincial Auditor General in 2017, the party states that:
– in recent years wait times have increased: for open-heart surgery, by nearly 50%, from 14.9 weeks to 22.2 weeks; for cataract surgery by nearly 30%, from 29.9 weeks to 38.4 weeks; for hip replacement by nearly 30%, from 28.7 weeks to 36.7 weeks; for knee replacement, by 23%, from 33 weeks to 40.7 weeks
– the percentage of patients from the Emergency Department (ED) treated and admitted to hospital within eight hours has declined from 46% to 43.9%
– the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in its 2005 Chaoulli decision that “access to a waiting list is not access to health care,” and that unreasonable surgical wait times imposed by governments may constitute a violation of the “security of the person.”
– in proposing social health care, Dr Tommy Douglas referenced the need for such care to be ‘Effective, Efficient, and Responsible’
– despite recent investment, Alberta’s system is the most expensive health care system in Canada, and one of the most expensive publicly insured systems
– a contributing factor to the province’s opioid addiction crisis the fact that many people waiting for surgery are being prescribed powerful pain killers which turn into debilitating addictions
The party advocates:
– maintaining or increasing health spending and maintaining a universally accessible, publicly funded health care system
– reducing surgical wait times to no more than four months in four years, by replicating elements of the highly successful Saskatchewan model, including inviting specialized private day surgical clinics to bid on providing government insured surgeries (the party states that data demonstrates that such clinics completed surgeries for 26% less than government hospitals on average
Opioid crisis
To address the opioid crisis, the party advocates:
– appointing a dedicated Associate Minister for Mental Health and Addictions
– investing $40 million over four years to expand support for opioid treatment centres to deal with wait times and increase access, including additional detox beds, mobile detox programs, and a new Virtual Opioid Dependency Program
– establishing a dedicated Opioid Enforcement Team within the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) to target aggressive investigation and disruption of opioid manufacturing and dealing at a cost of $10 million over four years
– expansion of Drug Treatment Courts, including new ones outside of Calgary and Edmonton, with an investment of $20 million over four years
– calling on the federal government to increase resources for drug interdiction and to restore mandatory minimum penal sentences for drug traffickers; ensuring that provincial funding programs are determined based on evidence – including ensuring eligibility for successful faith-based models
– working with physician groups to understand what more can be done to reduce the prescription of powerful opioid drugs that have a high incidence of addiction and ensure general practitioners have training in opioid replacement therapy
Mental health and addictions
The party advocates investing $100 million over four years toimplement a Mental Health and Addiction Strategy based in part on the report of the Alberta Mental Health Review Committee, including:
– increasing earlier access to addiction and mental health services through primary care centers
– expanding home care to support those who identify addiction and mental health as a primary concern
– supporting Albertans in crisis by expanding programs to more communities including police and crisis teams, provincial family violence treatment programs, diversion programs and drug treatment courts, and by developing mental health court models
– increasing access to mental health services and reducing recidivism as well as use of emergency departments for those in contact with the criminal justice system
– support for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people and communities by establishing a continuum of addiction and mental health services, ensuring service provision is not disrupted by jurisdictional disputes and increasing access to services to manage the impact of Indian Residential Schools on mental health
Supervised Consumption Sites
In order to both help those with addictions and ensure that parks, neighbourhoods, and communities remain safe, the party advocates taking a sensible, targeted, and compassionate approach to the issue of supervised consumption sites, including:
– endorsing new supervised consumption sites if there have been extensive consultations with affected communities, including residents and business owners, and if there is a robust evidence-based analysis of the socio-economic impact of a potential drug consumption site
– only endorsing new Overdose Prevention Sites if they have clear plans to provide treatment services
– conducting an evidence-based socio-economic analysis of the impact of existing drug consumptions sites
– consulting with local communities, police, municipalities, and others on the location of existing sites to determine if they are optimal, or if better locations could be found that would reduce the impact of crime, discarded needles, and other negative social and economic impacts on local neighbourhoods
Palliative Care
The party states that the 2016 legalization of assisted suicide underscores an urgent need to educate Albertans about palliative care, why it matters, and which services are available, and that now more than ever, the health care system needs to ensure access to high quality palliative care to alleviate suffering
The party advocate investing $20 million over four years, to:
– continue to shift from hospital to community-based home and hospice care
– establish and implement palliative care education, training, and standards for health professionals
– develop effective caregiver supports to support patients in their homes and community
– raise public awareness of palliative care and how and when to access it
Primary Care
The party advocates expanding already successful innovations in the health care system, in particular the “medical home” care model of the Crowfoot Village Family Practice. The Health Quality Council of Alberta studied ten-year outcome data from Crowfoot and found that:
– Crowfoot’s patients visited the emergency department 13% less than the Calgary average, and were admitted to hospital 17% less than the provincial average
– Crowfoot achieved same-day/next-day access for patients in the year it was reviewed (2013)
– Crowfoot’s physicians see an average of 1,650 patients compared with the provincial average of 1,200 patients
– 20% of patient encounters were provided by multidisciplinary teams
Finding Efficiencies in the System
The party advocates:
– conducting a Health Services Performance Review to identify administrative savings, and move that money to front-line services
– increasing the budget of the Alberta Health Quality Council (HQCA) by $1 million annually to establish more measurements and increase health care quality outcomes for patients
– providing Albertans with increased choice of medical practitioners by increasing the number and scope of nurse practitioners in Alberta and allowing nurse practitioners the ability to bill directly to Alberta Health
– expanding the scope of practice of other health professionals, such as opticians, optometrists, and paramedics
– lifting the cap on midwifery services, in order to increase the number of expectant mothers able to access the services, reduce costs for the health care system and increase the standard of care
– reviewing the Connect Care contract and My Health Care Records to reduce potential duplication of services and ensure maximum effectiveness
– modernizing paper health care cards to be combined with either driver’s licenses or provincial photo ID cards as a multi-use Personal Identification Card
– in order to save $200 million, stopping a current plan to buy laundry machines for AHS by maintaining more efficient, competitive contracting for these services
– in order to save $640 million, cancelling the unnecessary ‘Superlab’ and nationalization of laboratory services
Elder Care
The party states that:
– in recent years wait times for admission to both continuing care and acute care have risen significantly
– the previousgovernment did not fulfill a promise of adding 2000 beds for long-term care, and costs for beds it has added are 10-15 times higher than prior contract costs
The party advocates:
– prioritizing capital funding for the immediate creation of new long-term care beds to community, non-profit, and independent providers
– returning to use of Affordable Supportive Living Initiative (ALSI) partnerships to ensure more units are built more quickly and cost-effectively
– allowing for the creation of innovative community options (more care at home, and new personal care homes (PCHs) with a maximum of 15 people) for seniors who need more care than can be provided at home alone but who require less care than provided at supportive living facilities
– maintaining all seniors’ benefits
Culture, arts & tourism
The party states that a strong tourism sector can create jobs and growth in Alberta, and that destination Marketing and Management Organizations, such as Travel Alberta, play an important role in creating such growth
The party advocates innovative approaches to sustaining funding for tourism promotion and marketing through partnerships with the private sector, including:
– direct Travel Alberta to work with tourism stakeholders to develop a new 10-year Tourism Strategy recognizing the role that the private sector can play in assisting government in promoting Alberta as a tourist destination
– reorienting the mandate of Travel Alberta towards more active facilitation of private sector funding and public-private partnerships for its tourism marketing and promotion activities
– reprofiling a portion of existing government funding for tourism into a Tourism Partnership Incentive Fund (TPIF), managed through Travel Alberta, to attract and identify sources of private sector support for tourism
– removing intrusive laws, rules, and regulations which impede the development of Alberta’s tourism sector
– working with the federal government and airport authorities in Calgary and Edmonton to expand air transport agreements and get more flights to Alberta from tourist source countries
– establishing a target to double tourism spending in Alberta to $20 billion by 2030
– making tourism the responsibility of the Minister of Economic Development and Trade
– implementing a stable and predictable funding formula for Travel Alberta and facilitating private sector partnerships to get Albertans back to work
Culture, Arts & Tourism
The party states that
– as culture is an expression of civil society and makes importaant contributions to the community, it should be supported but not directed by government
– the province’s vibrant cultural industries make an important and growing to the provincial economy, therefore getting Alberta back to work and diversifying the economy will require supporting the growth of cultural enterprises
The party advocates:
– continued funding support for arts and cultural organizations
– converting the Alberta Screen-Based Production Grant into a tax credit with greater flexibility to allow Alberta to compete for major media projects with provinces like British Columbia and Ontario, including consultation with stakeholders in the film, television and digital media industries to create an optimal tax credit designed to attract large productions and series
– incentivizing media production in rural areas, following the lead of Manitoba’s film tax credit
– adopting an Arts Professions Act modelled on the 2009 Saskatchewan statute, to give formal recognition to artists, their representative associations, their freedom of expression, and their economic – including contractual – rights
– supporting the recommendation of the Canadian Artists’ Representation to have the federal Parliament amend the Copyright Act to require that a 5% royalty be paid to visual artists on the resale of their work
– reprofiling a portion of Alberta Lottery Fund revenue to support a Creative Partnerships Alberta program, emulating the success of Creative Partnerships Australia to: mentor and assist artists and arts organizations in generating income and support from the private sector; build partnerships between the arts, philanthropy, and business sector; establish a goal of growing Alberta cultural industries by 25%, or $1.5 billion over, the next decade
Consider discussing the following questions with your local candidates, elected officials, and the parties, and with your family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and fellow parishioners:
Families & Child Well-Being
– When, if ever, is it appropriate for governments to place limits on the right of parents to make decisions pertaining to the care or education of their children?
– To what extent is child poverty a problem in Alberta? To the extent it is a problem, what, should be done about it, and by whom? By federal, national or provincial governments, by individuals, or by private, non-profit, or community organizations, including the Church and lay Catholic organizations?
– Some political parties have suggested that full participation by all eligible work force members, including both parents of two-parent couples and single parents, is critical in order to maximize return from the national economy, so that economic well-being can be optimized, and that in order to maximize those returns and ensure full economic participation, it is critical to ensure that affordable child care is accessible by all families. Which is more important for children, a stable and dignified home with two loving parents, or maximized national economic returns? Is it possible, through appropriate economic measures, to adjust job remuneration and job opportunities to enable a couple to afford both a family and a dignified home while only one of the couple is working?
Health Care
– What is the purpose of the health care system: to support the dignity of life and true fulfillment of our purposes, or to support economic efficiency?
– What can or should be done, by federal, national or provincial governments, or by private, non-profit, or community organizations, including the Church and lay Catholic organizations, to ensure that quality health care is available to all who need it, without undue delays or waiting times?
– While birth control pills are covered by provincial health care, the costs of counselling for natural family planning are not, and can be a challenge for young families. Is it reasonable to provide free drugs to young couples while requiring those who seek natural, non-chemical methods, to pay, or should the federal government consider requiring coverage for proven natural family planning methods?
– In a publicly-funded healthcare system, does there exist any obligation for an individual to take reasonable measures to avoid health issues (e.g., wearing a mask in a pandemic, when recommended by public health authorities), so as to avoid becoming a publicly-funded health care burden when preventable illness or injury occurs? If so, what can or should be done to encourage such measures?
– It is it wise for a country or a province to ensure that it is self-dependent for important health care products, such as vaccines? If so, what can or should the federal government do to encourage and support self-dependence?
Care for the Elderly
– Some parties are calling for increased space in publicly-funded facilities for the elderly and long-term care patients. Should any other solutions, such as nurturing a culture of life-long intergenerational family cohesiveness and support, including home caregivers, be considered also, in addition or as alternatives to long-term residential care? For example, could society encourage the building of a culture of multiple generations living together in appropriately-construted homes? As Archbishop Lepine of Montreal once said, “the children belong to the parents, not the state. The same is true for parents.”
– Who should be responsible for long-term support for the elderly? Themselves? Their families? The federal or provincial governments? Charitable institutions? Some combination of these? To what extent?
– While the qualification criteria for Socially-Assisted Death are continually being expanded and the number of annual deaths increase, are corresponding increases being made in facilities to support those who choose not to participate? The charts below, taken from provincial and federal annual reports, seem to indicate that although the number of socially-administered deaths in Alberta are rising steadily, and depsite the promises of virtually all parties, exactly one (1) new palliative care bed has been made available within the province in the last four years.
Education
Some parties have called for;
– a provincial referendum on whether separate school boards in the province should be disbanded and combined with the public system
– add a requirement to the School Act that every proposal for a new alternate program or school will be subjected to a formal assessment of its impact on Canadian civic values which include democracy, the rule of law, and human rights
– where that impact is significantly negative, and cannot be mitigated, the proposal must be refused
– all existing alternative programs shall be subject to periodic review, and, if no longer compatible with Canadian civic values, will be terminated
– It has been suggested that too many Canadians, including Albertans, fail to understand democratic principles, such as the responsibilities of federal, provincial, and local governments, and the proper roles of non-governmental institutions such as charities, schools, businesses, news media, and moral and religious organizations. What, if anything, can or should the federal or provincial governments do in order to promote a more comprehensive understanding of civics in Alberta?