Alberta
Province adding 50 permanent ICU beds to bring Alberta’s total to 223
Expanded health capacity to move Alberta forward
Albertans will have more access to critical care beds thanks to a $300-million investment over three years to expand health-care capacity.
Alberta’s government is adding up to 50 permanent, fully staffed intensive care unit (ICU) beds this year alone thanks to a $100-million investment in Budget 2022, an almost 30 per cent increase over current capacity. These beds will expand Alberta’s health-care capacity in order to prevent the system from becoming overwhelmed, a major concern during previous waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“One of my top priorities as Minister of Health is to build capacity in Alberta’s health system. While AHS was able to add surge capacity when needed during the pandemic, this is not a sustainable or prudent way to plan for the future. Adding up to 50 ICU beds this year alone, plus other ongoing efforts, will give Albertans better access to the health care they need.”
The new ICU beds will be distributed in all AHS zones across the province, with location details currently being developed. AHS will provide the government with a plan on where the beds are needed and how they will become fully operational.
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, AHS has been able to quickly increase hospital and ICU capacity to meet demand. This is a testament to our incredible health-care workers and a system that is nimble, fluid, and able to evolve to meet the challenge of an ever-changing virus. These additional beds and staffing resources will help us continue to provide the excellent and timely care that all Albertans deserve.”
“Our province needs to have the flexibility to meet our current and future health-care needs and respond to whatever challenges we face. It’s great to hear that my constituents may be able to receive more of their care at home, with Lethbridge as the focus for any new ICU beds added in southern Alberta.”
A Sustainability and Resiliency Action Plan, created to ensure the health system can respond quickly and proactively to future waves of the pandemic or other health emergencies, recommends 21 capacity building actions, with surgical recovery and ICU and acute care baseline capacity the immediate priorities. The plan incorporates leading practice and lessons learned from other Canadian and international health systems.
AHS will now formalize a new baseline ICU bed capacity plan that includes detailed reporting mechanisms, appropriate workforce planning, ramp-up strategies and redeployment plans so front-line staff are able to support other parts of the health system when ICUs are not facing pressures.
A surgical recovery plan that builds on the Alberta Surgical Initiative will be announced soon.
Quick facts
- Prior to COVID-19, Alberta maintained 173 adult general ICU beds in hospitals across the province.
- The new ICU beds are expected to come on stream in the coming months.
- EY was contracted to review details of how Alberta’s health system responded to capacity issues during the pandemic, and to compare the practices and lessons learned from other health systems across Canada and around the world. The subsequent Sustainability and Resiliency Action Plan includes recommendations to ensure the health system has the appropriate capacity to respond to potential future waves of COVID-19 and other health situations.
- The 21 recommended actions in the plan have been developed across six workstreams: workforce; acute, critical care and surgery; primary and community care; governance and decision-making; public health; modelling.
- A comprehensive review of Alberta’s pandemic response is planned.
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
Official statement from Premier Danielle Smith and Energy Minister Brian Jean on the start-up of the Trans Mountain Pipeline
-
Business5 hours agoUN plastics plans are unscientific and unrealistic
-
Brownstone Institute8 hours agoThe Teams Are Set for World War III
-
Education2 hours agoSupport a young reader through the Tim Hortons Smile Cookie campaign
-
Opinion6 hours agoThe Climate-Alarmist Movement Has A Big PR Problem On Its Hands
-
Addictions7 hours agoWhy can’t we just say no?
-
Opinion2 days agoClimate Murder? Media Picks Up Novel Legal Theory Suggesting Big Oil Is Homicidal
-
Energy1 day agoNet Zero’s days are numbered? Why Europeans are souring on the climate agenda
-
Economy2 days agoOttawa’s homebuilding plans might discourage much-needed business investment