Lacombe city council stays out of doctors’ dispute with province

Cora Hoekstra, however, was among the councillors who expressed their apprehension.

“I certainly support good healthcare in our community, do not get me wrong,” said Hoekstra. “But there have been other cuts, as you all know, in our city and did we do any advocacy on behalf of people who lost jobs or what not? Are we only advocating on behalf of a certain group, and are we setting a precedent?”

“While I support healthcare in general, I don’t support any of these notice of motions, simply because I think it’s well outside of what we do in city council to comment on labour issues between orders of government that are higher than ourselves,” said Councillor Jonathan Jacobson.

Councillor Thalia Hibbs felt the letter would have been too much of a political statement.

“I think we’re wading into something that while (it) is definitely emotional in the community, and I support people having opinions and getting behind things like their doctors, I think that’s’ the citizens’ role and not necessarily through a council. I’m concerned that this isn’t our role.”

On Mar. 31, the Alberta government implemented a new Physician Funding Framework for the province’s doctors, after tearing up its previous agreement with the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) on Feb. 20.

The AMA claims the new framework and its numerous billing code changes make it unaffordable for many doctors to continue to run their practices in the same way, and announced that after the pandemic they would be changing their practices.

The association says Shandro has also taken away physicians’ charter rights to third party arbitration during contract negotiations, noting a lawsuit has been filed regarding the violation.

Shandro announced changes on April 24 that included the removal of a $60,000 cap on the Rural and Remote Northern Program (RRNP), freezing medical liability rates at $1,000 for all rural physicians including obstetrics, and increasing payments to more than 1,500 physicians who are on-call in rural Alberta, among other changes.

Despite those changes, however, tensions remain between the province and its doctors.

“The AMA is calling on the Minister to reinstate the contract with physicians and return to negotiations in an effort to find permanent, prudent and sustainable solutions for Alberta’s health care system,” says Shan Rupnarain, AMA spokesperson, in a statement to rdnewsNOW.

“Physicians expect to play their part in meeting the province’s fiscal challenges. This dispute is about reaching a negotiated agreement that will allow government and physicians to work together, as every other government has always found it possible to do.”

by Sheldon Spackman

Lacombe city council stays out of doctors’ dispute with province

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