Alberta
Red Deer family needs a little support as toddler spends 3rd birthday in Children’s Hospital
Article submitted by Roxzane Sisson Armstrong.
From gofundme
Her and Dad spent close to two weeks at the children’s hospital making changes to various medications and when we came home, Codeigh Mae’s hospital schedule was changed to twice a week – once for Albumin and bloodwork and once to get a shot to increase her red blood cell count, which seemed to keep dropping – a common complication of Congenital Nephrotic Syndrome and the secondary conditions it causes, such as blood clots and low iron.
We notice during this time home that Codeigh Mae doesn’t have the same energy levels, she’s puffy and she’s peeing less – even on Albumin days, when we’re used to getting very full wet diapers. After multiple instances of very high blood pressure, it was decided to send her back to the children’s hospital.
She’s now been there for a week and we’re not 100% sure what the going home plan looks like. She even spent her 3rd birthday in the hospital!
Codeigh Mae is really throwing these doctors for a loop. They’ve noticed her bloodwork will be dramatically different based on what time of day it’s taken at or whether it comes from her arm or her port. As soon as they get control of one set of numbers (for example, her sodium), other numbers will go crazy (like her potassium). Her blood pressure has also been hard to manage and on multiple occasions she has had what is called a hypertensive crisis, in which the blood pressure reaches dangerous levels. Her hemoglobin (or red blood cell count) has also been incredibly low – nearing transfusion territory, which we need to avoid for transplant reasons.
Yesterday, Dad met with the surgeon to discuss and get consent for a double nephrectomy. The actual term is Radical Bilateral Nephrectomy – radical meaning the whole kidney (not just a part of it) and bilateral meaning both kidneys.
Yes, you can live with no kidneys!
Essentially, her kidneys, which still function even though she’s on dialysis, are releasing a hormone that tells her blood vessels to constrict – which causes her blood pressure to rise. Remove the kidneys, remove the hormone and cascades that cause funkiness in her other numbers and you almost remove the problem. The dialysis becomes her kidneys entirely and we don’t have to worry about what the actual kidneys are doing and what role they place in the process.
While the surgeon feels comfortable doing the surgery while her hemoglobin is low, the team has ultimately decided to try to boost the hemoglobin as much as we can prior to surgery – which will hopefully negate the need for a transfusion during.
They expect at least another month before we go for the nephrectomy (hence why the title of this update includes May) and are optimistic that Dad and Codeigh Mae will get to come home before we’re admitted again for another undetermined amount of time.
So that’s what we know so far! Be sure to follow Caring for Codeigh Mae on Facebook for more regular updates as they happen:
http://facebook.com/codeigh.mae
Alberta
Alberta government should eliminate corporate welfare to generate benefits for Albertans
From the Fraser Institute
By Spencer Gudewill and Tegan Hill
Last November, Premier Danielle Smith announced that her government will give up to $1.8 billion in subsidies to Dow Chemicals, which plans to expand a petrochemical project northeast of Edmonton. In other words, $1.8 billion in corporate welfare.
And this is just one example of corporate welfare paid for by Albertans.
According to a recent study published by the Fraser Institute, from 2007 to 2021, the latest year of available data, the Alberta government spent $31.0 billion (inflation-adjusted) on subsidies (a.k.a. corporate welfare) to select firms and businesses, purportedly to help Albertans. And this number excludes other forms of government handouts such as loan guarantees, direct investment and regulatory or tax privileges for particular firms and industries. So the total cost of corporate welfare in Alberta is likely much higher.
Why should Albertans care?
First off, there’s little evidence that corporate welfare generates widespread economic growth or jobs. In fact, evidence suggests the contrary—that subsidies result in a net loss to the economy by shifting resources to less productive sectors or locations (what economists call the “substitution effect”) and/or by keeping businesses alive that are otherwise economically unviable (i.e. “zombie companies”). This misallocation of resources leads to a less efficient, less productive and less prosperous Alberta.
And there are other costs to corporate welfare.
For example, between 2007 and 2019 (the latest year of pre-COVID data), every year on average the Alberta government spent 35 cents (out of every dollar of business income tax revenue it collected) on corporate welfare. Given that workers bear the burden of more than half of any business income tax indirectly through lower wages, if the government reduced business income taxes rather than spend money on corporate welfare, workers could benefit.
Moreover, Premier Smith failed in last month’s provincial budget to provide promised personal income tax relief and create a lower tax bracket for incomes below $60,000 to provide $760 in annual savings for Albertans (on average). But in 2019, after adjusting for inflation, the Alberta government spent $2.4 billion on corporate welfare—equivalent to $1,034 per tax filer. Clearly, instead of subsidizing select businesses, the Smith government could have kept its promise to lower personal income taxes.
Finally, there’s the Heritage Fund, which the Alberta government created almost 50 years ago to save a share of the province’s resource wealth for the future.
In her 2024 budget, Premier Smith earmarked $2.0 billion for the Heritage Fund this fiscal year—almost the exact amount spent on corporate welfare each year (on average) between 2007 and 2019. Put another way, the Alberta government could save twice as much in the Heritage Fund in 2024/25 if it ended corporate welfare, which would help Premier Smith keep her promise to build up the Heritage Fund to between $250 billion and $400 billion by 2050.
By eliminating corporate welfare, the Smith government can create fiscal room to reduce personal and business income taxes, or save more in the Heritage Fund. Any of these options will benefit Albertans far more than wasteful billion-dollar subsidies to favoured firms.
Authors:
Alberta
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