Alberta NDP leadership candidate Kathleen Ganley speaks in Red Deer about economy

The Alberta Government’s Ministry of Affordability and Utilities responded to the statements with, “Affordability remains a top priority for Alberta’s government. To address the rising cost of living, Alberta’s government has worked to continuously roll out supports for Albertans where possible. While Alberta’s government is trying to make life more affordable for Albertans, the NDP-backed federal government is driving up the cost of living by increasing the carbon tax.”

CENTRAL ALBERTA

In central Alberta, as retail prices rise in Calgary and Edmonton, she says Red Deer can become an economic corridor. She adds that their government would look at finding ways to attract the manufacturing, technology, and agricultural sectors to the region and province at large.

Regarding the Red Deer Regional Hospital expansion, she said the project must be built, adding that a focus should also be on the 60 per cent of family physicians looking to leave the province. She says primary healthcare saves the province money and would lessen strain on the acute care system.

READ: Primary care in ‘critical condition,’ Alberta doctors group head says

Health Minister and MLA for Red Deer-North Adriana LaGrange responded in a statement, “The Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre (RDRHC) is an important hub for health care in central Alberta and the Alberta government is committed to its expansion and redevelopment.

The $1.8 billion redevelopment and expansion of the RDRHC is the largest hospital expansion in Alberta’s history. The new facility will include 200 new in-patient beds and three new operating rooms as well as a new cardiac catheterization lab and a new ambulatory clinic.

We know this project is important to residents of Red Deer and other communities throughout central Alberta. The project planning is now complete, and design is underway. Construction is being planned so that it does not disrupt the hospital’s ongoing operations. The project will be constructed in a phased approach with the ambulatory building expected to be complete in 2029.”

For the Overdose Prevention Site (OPS), initially placed in Red Deer’s downtown by the NDP government in 2018, she said that while the site is preventing deaths, with many still dying in high numbers, community concerns must still be listened to.

She said the sites were implemented during a time when the NDP was moving quickly due to the crisis in rising opioid deaths, and the design was to refer people to other services such as housing and mental health and addiction. However, she admits many referrals were not being tracked properly.

She said the UCP government should have reviewed the sites to see how they were working and instead cut funding for wraparound services in 2020.

Alberta funding upgrades to affordable housing units

In 2018, she said she represented a riding in Calgary that had an OPS in it, with concerns raised by the community. She says Alberta Health Services increased security in the area, allocated clean-up services for needle debris and waste, and spoke with RCMP about social disorder. She says the problem was that there was only one OPS in the centre of the city that drew people in rather than dispersed across the community.

She says the UCP government should increase their funding to address concerns of those living around the OPS.

“In my view, they [UCP] want to make this an either/or conversation; either we care about the community, or we care about saving the lives of Albertans. I don’t think it has to be an either/or conversation,” she said.

The Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre is still open today, however, according to local media some residents in the Beltline area have raised concerns of continued disorder near the site.

Hunter Baril, Press Secretary for the Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, responded in a statement, “Last year, Alberta’s government opened the Red Deer Recovery Community, offering life-saving treatment to those suffering from the deadly disease of addiction. With investments from our government, those in the Red Deer Remand Centre also have the option to receive addiction treatment while in custody. Since 2019, our government has added more than 10,000 addiction treatment spaces across the province. We offer same day, no waitlist access to evidence based treatment medication through the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program.

Recently, more mental health supports were made available in schools through the opening of a CASA Mental Health Classroom in Red Deer.

These investments are showing a clear commitment from our government to recovery from mental health challenges and for those suffering from the deadly disease of addiction in central Alberta.”

OTHER POLICIES

She adds that the Premier’s current policy changes on parental consent for sex education and transgender youth is “problematic”. She says that sex education has been a part of the education curriculum for decades and parents are notified when the topic is taught.

“There are a lot of parents out there who have very valid concerns and so I think that we do need to talk to those people. Unfortunately, what the provincial government is doing right now is instead spreading misinformation and hyping up fear and anger and I don’t think that that is useful,” she said.

“They’re interfering with the rights of a child, a parent, and their doctor to make medical decisions. They’re trying to frame this as supporting parental rights but in fact they’re taking rights away from parents.”

Sam Blackett, Press Secretary for the Office of the Premier, responded in a statement, “The comments made by Mrs. Ganley are untrue and harmful.

The government is introducing these policies across several ministries to preserve the choices children and youth have before potentially making life-altering and often irreversible adult decisions.

To reaffirm our support for the transgender community, we are also providing additional supports to assist transgender adults to secure the health care they need like bringing medical professionals who specialize in transgender care to Alberta. We’re also developing a private registry of medical professionals who specialize in this field to make it easier for transgender Albertans to access needed medical treatment and care. Additionally, we’re developing a counselling pilot project to help youth identifying as transgender and their families work through often difficult and complex issues and discussions.”

Finally, she says that the former NDP government made changes to the Municipal Government Act to provide cities with more ability to make their own decisions and generate revenues. She says she would like to continue engaging with municipalities to see if they are being given the proper tools at a local level for decisions or need further provincial investment.

She credited former NDP leader Rachel Notley for doing amazing work in the province as a progressive politician during an unpopular time and said she wants to continue speaking with Albertans about an economy through an NDP framework.

“The conversation has very much changed. You don’t feel like you have to sort of be in the closet with that anymore and I think that that’s a really good thing. I think she enabled people to see themselves in progressive values throughout this province,” she said, adding that Calgary went from three to 14 NDP MLAs in government this election.

READ: Shannon Phillips to co-chair Kathleen Ganley’s NDP leadership campaign

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by Alessia Proietti

Alberta NDP leadership candidate Kathleen Ganley speaks in Red Deer about economy

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