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Alberta

Healthcare Innovation Isn’t ‘Scary.’ Canada’s Broken System Is

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From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

By Joseph Quesnel

“Our healthcare system is a monopoly installed at every level with the culture inherent to monopolies, whether public or private. The culture is based on regulation and budgetary controls, closed to the outside world, impermeable to real change, adaptation and innovation. It is a culture that favours inefficiency.”

Why is the Globe and Mail afraid of healthcare reform that works?

The Globe and Mail editorial board seems to find healthcare innovation “scary.”

On Sept. 3, it published an editorial called “Danielle Smith has a scary fix for healthcare,” criticizing the Alberta Premier’s idea to introduce competition in the province’s health system. Premier Smith’s plan involves third-party leasing of underperforming hospitals while the government retains ownership and continues funding.

Let’s be clear: the real problem isn’t Smith’s proposal – it’s the current state of healthcare across Alberta and Canada. Sticking with the status quo of underperformance is what should truly alarm us. Rather than attacking those trying to fix a broken system, we should focus on much-needed reforms.

So, what exactly is Smith proposing? Contrary to what you may have heard, she isn’t dismantling Alberta’s universal healthcare or introducing an American style system. Yet the public sector unions – and certain media outlets – seem to jump into hysterics any time innovation is proposed, particularly when it involves private-sector competition.

Predictably, groups like Friends of Medicare, with their union ties, are quick to raise the alarm. Yet media coverage often fails to disclose this affiliation, leaving readers with the impression that their views are impartial. Take Global News’ recent coverage, for example:

In late August, Global News reporter Jasmine King presented a story on potential changes to Alberta’s healthcare system. She featured a spokesperson from Friends of Medicare, who predicted that the changes would be detrimental to the province. However, the report failed to mention that Friends of Medicare is affiliated with public sector unions and has a history of opposing any private sector involvement in healthcare. The news segment also included a statement from the dean of a medical faculty, who was critical of the proposed changes. Missing from the report were any voices in favour of healthcare innovation.

Here’s the real issue: Canada is an outlier in its resistance to competition in healthcare. Many European countries, which also have universal healthcare systems, allow private and non-profit organizations to operate hospitals. These systems function effectively without the kind of fear-mongering that dominates the Canadian debate.

Instead of fear-based comparisons to the U.S., let’s acknowledge the success stories of countries that have embraced a mixed system of healthcare delivery. But lazy, fear-driven reporting means we keep hearing the same tired arguments against change, with little context or consideration of alternatives that are working elsewhere.

It’s ironic that The Globe and Mail editorial aims to generate fear about a health care policy proposal that could, contrary to the alarmist reaction, potentially improve efficiency and care in Alberta. The only thing we truly have to fear in healthcare is the stagnation and inefficiency of the current system.

Claude Castonguay, the architect of Quebec’s Medicare system, released a report in 2008 on that province’s health system, calling for increased competition and choice in healthcare.

“In almost every other public and private areas, monopolies are simply not accepted,” he wrote. “Our healthcare system is a monopoly installed at every level with the culture inherent to monopolies, whether public or private. The culture is based on regulation and budgetary controls, closed to the outside world, impermeable to real change, adaptation and innovation. It is a culture that favours inefficiency.”

The fear of competition is misguided, and Canadians are increasingly open to the idea of paying for private treatment when the public system falls short.

Let’s stop demonizing those who propose solutions and start addressing the real issue: a system that is no longer delivering the care Canadians need. The future of healthcare depends on embracing innovation, not clinging to outdated models and misplaced fears.

Joseph Quesnel is a Senior Research Fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

Alberta

Danielle Smith confirms Alberta will introduce bill to ban men from competing in women’s sports

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Proposed legislation would apply to ‘all competitive women’s and girls’ sports and all provincial sporting organizations as well as in our schools and postsecondary competitive sporting divisions,’ the Alberta premier said.

Alberta will soon introduce a law that bans gender-confused men from competing in women’s sports, Premier Danielle Smith announced.

“As it pertains to women and girls in competitive sports, proposed legislation will be tabled that prohibits individuals born biologically male from competing against women and girls in competitive sporting competitions,” Smith said earlier in the week in an announcement on her X account.

The new law will mean that women and girls in the province will be protected from having to compete against biological men who claim to be women in all sporting scenarios.

Smith, who leads the ruling United Conservative Party (UCP), said the new law will apply to “all competitive women’s and girls’ sports and all provincial sporting organizations as well as in our schools and postsecondary competitive sporting divisions.”

Smith noted that her government would “support the formation of additional” and possibly transgender-only “coed and recreational divisions so that all athletes have as many opportunities as possible to compete in their sport of choice.”

Smith said that before her new bill is tabled in the legislature she is looking to “depoliticize the discussion and focus on the well-being of the children and youth most affected by these policies.”

Earlier in the year, she said her government was looking to bring forth legislation banning gender-confused men from competing in women’s sports.

Alberta’s new law prohibiting men from competing in women’s sports comes after studies have repeatedly revealed that gender-confused males have a considerable advantage over women in athletics.

Indeed, a recent study published in Sports Medicine found that a year of transgender hormone drugs results in “very modest changes” in the inherent strength advantages of men.

The news of the new bill also comes as the UCP looks to November to bring forth a resolution that calls on the government to introduce a law protecting “female spaces” for biological females and their children.

The UCP under Smith wants to bring forth laws focusing on parental rights as well as protecting Albertans’ general rights.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, part of Smith’s new bill would allow parents to opt their children into sexual education lessons rather than opt them out.

LifeSiteNews recently reported on forthcoming legislation to be introduced by the UCP that includes a provision that would cement parental rights as a “God-given right,” with the goal to prevent government overreach into parents raising kids.

It is expected that the UCP government will introduce its new “Bill of Rights” this fall. The bill contains a slew of pro-freedom proposals, including enshrining the “right to life” into law from “conception, gestation in the womb.”

The bill also includes a section that guarantees each citizen has the “right” to medical “informed consent” as well as the “right” to “refuse vaccinations.”

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Alberta

Danielle Smith hits back at Liberal ‘gender’ minister who attacked Alberta’s pro-family legislation

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

The Alberta premier fact-checked pro-LGBT Minister of Women and Gender Equality Marci Ien’s condemnation of pro-family legislation, pointing out that children who undergo irreversible gender surgeries and drugs suffer from the repercussions for life.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith blasted a Liberal minister for spreading the false claim that legislation will hurt gender-confused kids.

In an Oct. 1 exchange on X, formerly known as Twitter, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith fact-checked  pro-LGBT Minister of Women and Gender Equality Marci Ien’s condemnation of pro-family legislation, pointing out that children who undergo irreversible gender surgeries and drugs suffer from the repercussions for life.

“Premier Smith is doubling down on her plans to target trans youth,” Ien had written. “She says this conversation is only for ‘adults.’ That’s because she knows that if she listened to the people affected by these policies, she would have to face how many kids she is hurting.”

“Do you mean like listening to children going through this, @MarciIen?” Smith questioned, linking to a National Post article highlighting the pain and regret by detransitioners who made irreversible decision to take drugs and surgeries to change their bodies as young teens.

Later, Smith doubled down on her stance, saying, “In Alberta, we believe children should wait until adulthood before making physical changes to their body.”

“Furthermore, we believe in the rights of loving parents to be meaningfully engaged with their children’s education when sensitive issues are taught,” she continued. “And women and girls deserve the opportunity to compete fairly and safely in female-only divisions.”

Smith’s new legislation, which will take effect later this month, far surpasses other provinces in its protection of children and would make Alberta’s parental rights laws the strongest in the country.

Licensed doctors are prohibited from performing sex-change surgeries on youth under age 18 in Alberta. Puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones will be prohibited for minors under the age of 16 unless the minors have already begun taking those drugs.

Those “born biologically male” will be prohibited from competing against women and girls in competitive sports. Parental opt-in will be required for “each instance” a teacher wishes to discuss gender identity, sexual orientation, or human sexuality.

Parental notification is required for “socially transitioning” a student — that is, changing a student’s given name or pronouns. Unfortunately, 16- and 17-year-olds are still allowed to decide to change their name or pronouns in school, but parents must be notified.

While Smith has received severe backlash from LGBT activists, she revealed in February that the new legislation was a result of hearing of the horrors that took place at the U.K.’s Tavistock Centre, the National Health Service’s “gender clinic” for children who believe they are “transgender.”

In 2019, the clinic was exposed for approving “life-changing medical intervention” for children and teens “without sufficient evidence of its long-term effects.” Shortly after, the clinic was forced to shut down.

Smith was especially touched by the story of Keira Bell, who was given puberty blockers and testosterone injections by the Tavistock clinic and underwent a double mastectomy at age 20. She now “very seriously regrets the process” and has joined a lawsuit against the clinic.

Unfortunately, Bell’s story is not unique, as overwhelming evidence reveals that those who undergo so-called “gender transitioning” are more likely to commit suicide than those who are not given irreversible surgery. A Swedish study found that those who underwent so-called “gender reassignment” surgery ended up with a 19.2 times greater risk of suicide.

In fact, in addition to asserting a false reality that one’s sex can be changed, transgender surgeries and drugs have been linked to permanent physical and psychological damage, including cardiovascular diseasesloss of bone densitycancerstrokes and blood clotsinfertility, and suicidality.

Indeed, there is proof that the most loving and helpful approach to people who think they are a different sex is not to validate them in their confusion but to show them the truth.

A new study on the side effects of transgender “sex change” surgeries discovered that 81 percent of those who had undergone “sex change” surgeries in the past five years reported experiencing pain simply from normal movement in the weeks and months that followed — and that many other side effects manifest as well.

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