Dr. David Swann Member Statement on Public Health Inquiry
November 23 2011
Taken from the Alberta Hansard, November 22, 2011
Public Health Inquiry
Dr. Swann: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of all the responsibilities that fall to government, surely the most important is to defend, protect, and foster trust and good health among its citizens. This government has jeopardized the quality of Alberta’s health care system with years of mismanagement, and in recent months there have surfaced credible and extremely troubling allegations of financial misconduct and systemic government intimidation of health care professionals who speak for their patients.
Health care professionals with impeccable credentials have stated publicly that there is a culture of fear and intimidation in public health care today, and it continues. The morale of Alberta’s health care professionals is at an all-time low as bullying and payoffs erode the foundation of the health care system and of this government. For these reasons, the Official Opposition has repeatedly called for a public inquiry to unearth the truth sur-rounding these allegations so that we can fix and restore trust to our ailing public health care system.
For a brief moment it appeared as though the Premier recognized the urgency of holding a public inquiry under the Public Inquiries Act. During her race to become leader of the PC Party she joined our call for a public inquiry, and at the time we congratulated her for her courage. Unfortunately, she has waffled. She has refused to call a public inquiry under the Public Inquiries Act. Instead, she has decided to bring forward unprecedented, unnecessary, and costly new legislation granting more powers to the Health Quality Council. What’s next? An education health quality act? It’s merely a delaying tactic protecting the govern-ment from uncomfortable truths until after the next election. Is the current Public Inquiries Act inadequate? If it is, fix it. Don’t create more bureaucracy and duplication.
The Premier has broken her most important promise to Albertans. So much for integrity and accountability to the public and the professionals of Alberta.
Thank you.
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