ATHABASCA – Athabasca County councillors would like more clarification regarding the ongoing dispute between the Government of Alberta and doctors around the province before taking a public stance on the situation.
At the June 25 regular meeting of council, councillors reviewed letters from both the Athabasca Physicians Group, that was sent to health minister Tyler Shandro, informing him of the local doctors’ intentions to resign from their hospital duties when the threat of coronavirus has subsided, as well the letter of support for the doctors, sent from Town of Athabasca council.
“I was told they’re not going to have Emergency up there, I don’t know what they mean by that. If you cut your finger, is there somebody on call? That really bothers me,” said Coun. Dennis Willcott.
Coun. Travais Johnson said he heard on the news that if the doctors do walk away from hospital work, the government was ready to bring in doctors from elsewhere to fill the gap.
“It’s a little bit of fear mongering … I know it all comes down to money and I don’t know where to stand on it, or how we should stand on it,” said Johnson. “Alberta doctors are the highest paid in the country, and even with the cuts the province is making, they’re still the highest paid coast-to-coast, so I’m not sure how we approach this, since it’s all scare tactics to get what they want. That’s my opinion.”
Coun. Christi Bilsky said the “scare tactics” were working on her.
“I’m very concerned we could lose our hospital privileges. That just can’t happen because we would have an hour-and-a-half drive to the nearest emergency room in St. Albert and lots of people might not make it, so I would like to support this letter and maybe write one of our own. It’s a real concern and fear mongering or not, I’m scared,” said Bilsky.
Coun. Warren Griffins told council replacement doctors would be provided if the situation came to that, so it would be much like the city where patients have access to a doctor, but it won’t be the family doctor they are familiar with.
“That perhaps is one of the benefits, or perks, of rural life, in small-town Alberta, is that our family doctors do work in the hospital, and we can see our friendly doctor when we cut our finger. I’m reluctant to get involved with what Travais says might just be a wage dispute,” said Griffin.
Willcott added: “There are too many rumours out there and we don’t have the answers, so the letter I sure would like to have those questions asked.”
Reeve Larry Armfelt also weighed in, saying he wasn’t sure the doctors were in fact the highest paid in the country, as their expenses should also be taken into consideration.
Coun. Doris Splane said it was important to get all the information from both sides of the dispute before making any decisions in council chambers. She also echoed Armfelt’s point that expenses are different for different doctors in different provinces, so the comparison falls short.
Coun. Penny Stewart said she did not approve of the threats.
“These are medical professionals, what can we do to help them? Can we bring both MLAs in and sit down with them at a council meeting?” she queried. “I understand their frustrations.”
County manager Ryan Maier weighed in as well.
“Stripped down bare, this issue really is a labour dispute, so I don’t think we want to wade into a labour dispute, but I do think … we want to let the health minister know that we support our local doctors and that we are concerned about the impacts of this labour dispute on our level of healthcare,” he said.
Council voted to send letters to the health minister, the doctors group and MLAs Glenn van Dijken and Laila Goodridge for comment and clarification.
