Alberta

Congratulations Andrew Knack.

Please do good for Edmonton!

Alberta's government has released a third-party investigation from a former judge into the government and health authority's health-care procurement practices.

Former Manitoba judge Raymond Wyant was tasked with the investigation in March, looking into multimillion-dollar contracts for children's medication and for surgeries by for-profit providers.

The allegations stemmed from a wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed earlier this year by the former head of AHS, Athana Mentzelopoulos.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in a statement Friday that the investigation involved the review and analysis of over two million documents and the interview and examination of 26 individuals.

Wyant's report contained 18 recommendations. These include: a centralized system for conflict of interest declarations tied to AHS or the agency responsible for procurement; implementing a vendor code of conduct; creating whistleblower protection for AHS employees; mandatory training on conflict of interest declarations and disclosures; and a requirement that all contracts with a value over $10 million be reviewed by the procurement lawyer.

Wyant says he found no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Smith, her ministers or other political staff. But he wrote that the limited powers afforded to him mean he can't make any definitive statements.

"That only means that I found no evidence of such," he says. "I can only make conclusions based on the documents I was able to review and the people I interviewed."

The premier thanked Wyant for the report.

“Although the judge’s findings clearly indicate that elected officials, senior staff and members of the public service acted appropriately in these matters, I am deeply disappointed with the way these procurements and contracts were dealt with by AHS decision makers and some of its employees."

Smith said in her statement that the province has made efforts to improve accountability.

“It is clear from the findings in judge Wyant’s report that AHS procurement policies and practices were either insufficient or not properly enforced. Now that procurement is being moved into Acute Care Alberta, as previously announced, our government will be able to ensure stronger accountability and transparency for taxpayers going forward."

Because the investigation was not a public inquiry, Wyant says some individuals refused interviews and avoided answering certain questions.

"Because there was not the kind of vigorous examination and cross-examination that would take place in a formal setting, I could not come to conclusions on the credibility of information provided verbally by interviewees."

Third-party report into Alberta health contracts released

Honourable Raymond Wyant's Report

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/52824561

Hi! I know the above post is a little Calgary focused. I crossposted it here in hopes that it gets better visibility and also so that it generates a little exchange of ideas.

I've always been interested in the concept of intentional communities and communes. However, the scope of things to go wrong there seems waaaaay to much. For example, they seem to be concentrated in operating a singular business in rural areas with almost full income sharing and so on. Plus, they kinda don't exist in Alberta. I have a full time job (minimum wage, but a full time job nonetheless) that I don't want to leave just to "try something out". I believe there might be a few folks here in the same boat as me.

At the same time, I've been looking for leftist in person communities to socialize with here in Calgary, but they kinda seem non-existent too.

So here's a little proposition. What if we have a super low stakes "commune"? What we do is, we organize a little community which has a fund. Contributions to the fund by each member are decided as a percentage of their income. Say 1% to start with. We don't have to live under the same roof. We don't have to work at the same employer. All that we do is this: contribute an x% of our paycheck to this fund. Every week, we meet and democratically decide where and how we spend the fund.

We could spend it on something like grocery credits (each member receives 100 dollars on groceries), x amount for a phone plan and so on. What are the advantages of doing this?

Here's how I envision a hypothetical commune like this to work:

• Members share a percentage of their paycheck. The size of the fund is dependent upon the income level of every member. This way, every member is incentivized to help other members increase their own respective incomes, as that translates to larger funds.
• Collective bargaining power is always good. We could buy stuff in wholesale much more easily. We could negotiate with service providers to get better deals, thus saving all of us money.
• Weekly meetings mean a nice little socialization thing.

Anyway, you probably have quite a few/many questions that I might or might not have answers to yet. You probably think this is a terrible idea. Or maybe you find this interesting.

Here's what I'm hoping to happen. We meet at central library or somewhere and discuss trying out a very short term, low stakes economic experiment. We decide that we contribute a very small percentage (say 2%) of our income for one month to a little fund. We then create a budget for the month on how to allocate that fund.

I'm interested to observe how this would actually work in person. Would there be total gridlock? How would legislation for this work? How would the spending priorities for the fund look like?

If we find out that it actually seems to be beneficial, we could go ahead with bigger and bigger percentages. If not, it could still be a fun little experiment that would last for a month!

What do you think? Anyone interested in trying something like this out?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/36851970

Parents with children 12 and under can apply for $150 a week from province.

Link to the stream: https://streamable.com/vzmcwe

Sorry the video is over the 1 minute limit so the link will have to do.

Also, the high school student replied on reddit at /r/Alberta.

The link can be found here

Here is what was said:

Hello everyone! I am the high school student in this video.

First of all, I would like to thank you all for the support. From fellow citizens who personally came up to me after the panel today, to online comments, I am extremely grateful that there are still those in our province willing to stand up to unfair treatment and defend open dialogue, which was apparently the "mandate" of Alberta Next. It's honestly hilarious how far Danielle Smith and those around her will go, and I think Bruce the moderator needed to get spanked more in childhood because how did he even come up with that 🤣

For anyone interested in what I said after the mic was cut, I essentially asked why the UCP hands out $461 million to private schools, funding their tuitions (which serve 5% of Albertans, by the way) with 70% of what taxpayers provide the public system with. In fact, this figure is expected to increase to $544 million in the 2027/2028 fiscal year. That's a 30% rise, compared to the 6% that ATA teachers would get if they had somehow accepted the recent diabolical offer. I simply cannot comprehend any logical reason for the government to be giving tax dollars to private institutions, and I am gravely concerned that this is the path that healthcare will also go on. Moreover, Alberta recently posted a forecasted deficit of $6.5 billion, down from a $8.3 billion surplus last year. While I understand the volatility of our oil/gas commodities, this is not responsible governance whatsoever.

Alberta education is in triage. Since 2019, I have never been in a class with less than 35 students, save for one specialized French higher-level IB course. I have experienced firsthand the struggles that special needs students go through, and the lengths that my teachers go to in order to try to provide help to them, yet their efforts are in vain. All this, while teachers have had a 6% salary boost since 2013, versus an inflation rate of 30%. One does not need to be an adult to understand the severity of the situation. However, our province's learning used to have a reputation. When I apply to universities this fall, many of them still view our curriculum as among the most rigorous in the country, and as such BC and Ontario schools still give me a 4% grade average boost. I believe I am speaking for all Albertans when I say we want to still be regarded highly in the future. We rank dead last in Canada for education spending, but the ATA has given us an opportunity to fight back. Now is the time to act.

I urge each and every one of my peers in Alberta schools to stand up and support their teachers during the strike. Students stand in solidarity with our mentors and role models. Personally, I am in the midst of organizing a walkout in Calgary, and will post more details soon. Thank you!

Of 43,362 votes cast, 89.5 per cent were opposed to the deal and 10.5 per cent supported it.

I honestly hope they vote no.

Teachers deserve better than what this awful government has been giving them.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/52269995

I love the idea of cooperatives. I'm a member of Calgary Coop, Servus, InnovationCU and ACE. How does politicking around directors elections and AGMs in general work? I tried looking up online for any discussion groups and stuff. There's pretty much nothing.

How does one understand the candidates, their policies and so on? How do the election campaigns of these folks work? Any members here with some experience with this?

Immunization appointments can be made based on eligibility once booking opens to all Albertans starting in early October 2025.

The government is worried about the wasted costs of vaccines and wants you to pre-order your intention to get vaccinated.