Alberta
Watch Premier Kenney release details on Alberta’s COVID cases
From The Province of Alberta
COVID-19 modelling data released
Modelling projections for COVID-19 highlight the importance of continuing aggressive countermeasures to protect the lives and livelihoods of Albertans in order to stop the pandemic and restart the economy.
Alberta Health’s modelling projections indicate total cases range from 800,000 to one million infections, from mild and undiagnosed to detected, confirmed and treated, under two provincial scenarios. The Government of Alberta is advising that existing public health orders could be in place until the end of May to protect the health and safety of Albertans.
“I know these numbers can be overwhelming. But these models are not a done deal. I want Albertans to see them as a challenge. Perhaps the greatest challenge of our generation. The modelling helps us anticipate and prepare for the demands on Alberta’s health-care system so we can ensure we are prepared to support patients at the peak of the pandemic and beyond.”
Both scenarios estimate that after the virus reaches its peak, the number of cases will decline over the summer months. Without any provincial interventions to manage the pandemic response, projections show that about 13,000 Albertans could have been hospitalized with 3,900 requiring intensive care.
“COVID-19 presents an unprecedented challenge to our healthcare system. Our government has taken and continues to take aggressive measures to make sure the health-care system is ready”.
The modelling helps us anticipate and prepare for the demands on Alberta’s health-care system. Alberta Health has been scaling up the capacity of the province’s health care system by expanding the capacity of hospitals, opening up more acute care beds, intensive care unit spaces, and ventilators. These measures will ensure that under both provincial scenarios, our health-care system is prepared to support patients at the peak of the pandemic.
“We are actively increasing capacity in Alberta Health Services facilities by postponing non-urgent surgeries and diagnostic imaging, reducing a number of non-emergency services offered in hospitals, relocating patients to continuing care spaces where possible, and enhancing the use of videoconferencing and telephone care to connect physicians and health professionals with patients remotely. With these measures, and because of the hard work of our front-line health-care workers – our nurses, doctors and those who support them – we are well-positioned to manage the probable impacts of COVID-19 in the coming months.”
Quick facts
- The model uses several key assumptions, including:
- not all cases are detected
- transmission is more common within an age group, rather than between age groups
- there is no asymptomatic transmission
- people are infectious for five to 10 days
- all ICU patients require ventilation
- overall 14 per cent of cases are hospitalized and 5 per cent require ICU, but this varies significantly by age
- All Albertans have a responsibility to help prevent the spread. Take steps to protect yourself and others:
- Practise social distancing.
- Stay home and away from others if sick or in mandatory self-isolation.
- Practise good hygiene – wash hands often for at least 20 seconds, cover coughs and sneezes, and avoid touching your face.
- Monitor for symptoms, such as cough, fever, fatigue or difficulty breathing.
- Anyone who has health concerns or is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 should complete an online COVID-19 self-assessment.
- For recommendations on protecting yourself and your community, visit alberta.ca/COVID19.
5 Recommendations to encourage us in the time of COVID from Dr. Abdu Sharkawy
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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