Welcome to the Calgary Varsity Home on the Web
August 2010
Harry Chase, MLA
Calgary Varsity
As your elected representative, it is my job to represent you and to ensure that government is accountable to you.
The premier has repeatedly said, “. . . we'll balance the province's operating budget"the dollars we spend on public services. And we'll focus on helping the vulnerable … supporting the programs and services Albertans need most, like health care, education and support for seniors.”
Yet virtually all of the budgets involving spending on services that Albertans have said are important have been cut. The government has even failed to fund the agreement that they made with Alberta teachers and have deliberately underfunded special needs education for the past two years. They did, however, pay the ridiculously bloated severance packages and pensions for the overpaid Alberta Health Services ‘top brass’ hired by the Board and then quickly let go.
What areas has government chosen to cut in Budget 2010? Supports for the disabled, children and youth at risk, seniors, and the ill. The not-for-profit organizations that save vast amounts in public spending, scholarships and funding for adult learners and job-training were all slashed. We have spaces for learners, but no funding.
Our public health care system has been so disrupted and torn apart that no one, including CEO Stephen Duckett of AHS, knows for sure what is working and what isn’t. His cost-cutting measure of amalgamating ambulance services in one body is going to cost an extra $26 million this year alone! New hospital beds in Alberta have simply replaced the old ones, which were mothballed.
This government keeps lurching from one crisis to another. We deserve thoughtful, evidence-based leadership. We deserve value for our dollars and we deserve a government that listens to Albertans.
Our public dollars are going to private corporations to build assisted living spaces, which they will own and charge our seniors to live in and pay extra for health services. We need long-term care beds, not more high cost assisted living spaces. “The city had 1,897 acute care beds in 1994. Sixteen years later only 133 new beds have been added, even though the population grew by 327,000.” (Calgary Herald July 4, 2010 p.A6).
Many of you will also recall Bill 50 which stripped the public of consultation rights when PRIVATE FOR PROFIT transmission lines built by the taxpayer to move privately generated power for distribution and export was passed. Every electricity consumer in the province will feel this added burden, coupled with the recently further deregulated service announced by the Premier.
On the bright side, my colleague, MLA Bridget Pastoor, Lethbridge East, had her Private Members Motion 501, which calls for an independent review of MLA remuneration, passed unanimously during the spring session. We hope that the government follows through and makes our pay packages fair and transparent.
I am spending the summer in the constituency, and am here to meet with you and discuss any issues that are of concern to you or your family. I would also be pleased to assist or advocate for you in a variety of ways.
As your MLA, I am a Notary Public and a Commissioner for Oaths and can perform marriages. If you or your family are experiencing difficulties accessing government services or programs I may be able to assist. If you have senior family members who are celebrating a significant wedding anniversary or birthday, I can arrange for a certificate to commemorate the occasion.
Most Tuesdays during the summer I will have a table at the Grassroots Farmers Market, Northland Village Mall. This is one additional way that I increase my accessibility.
Harry
Update: Visit my Facebook page (link to the right) to see the three new photo albums from the Stampede Caravan Breakfasts last week.
I was at the Market Mall breakfast on July 13th, Dalhousie Station on July 14th and Northland Village Mall on July 15th. It was great to see so many people out enjoying themselves. The Stampede Caravan people do a really great job!
Harry
July 19, 2010
Summer 2010
Greetings Calgary-Varsity constituents.
In bringing you up to date on events and happenings at the Legislature, let me start by saying that there was precious little opportunity to hold the PC Government to account. The spring session started on February 8th and was abruptly ended by government mid-April - after just 10 weeks - although it was scheduled to sit until June 3rd. In addition, for 3 of those weeks the Legislature was in recess. In effect, with the limited time allowed for budget debate, we were trying to discuss the spending of millions of public dollars per minute! It has become more and more frustrating for Albertans to become or stay informed about what their government is doing, and is increasingly difficult for elected representatives to hold them to account for their decision making and spending.
Following this early end to public debate, the premier and his cabinet spent the next six weeks criss-crossing the province on a “Cabinet Tour,” dropping grant cheques into rural communities to shore up support. Initially, these meetings were by invitation only, but after public outcry some were eventually opened up to some of the public.
My colleagues and I also sit on a number of committees, of which the most important is undoubtedly Public Accounts. Designed to review the annual report of the Auditor General of Alberta, and thereby having the authority to question the spending of ministries to ensure the proper spending of public funds, this committee plays an important role in ensuring government transparency and accountability.
Unfortunately, the government determines seat allocation numbers for all committees based on the number of seats each party holds in the Legislature. As a result, every committee of the Alberta Legislature has Tory MLAs as the majority of members. This gives the government voting authority over every Legislative committee, effectively centralizing power through the office of the Premier by stifling debate.
Further, in an attempt to grab even more power, Tory members of the Public Affairs committee introduced and passed a motion in Public Accounts this spring requiring all correspondence sent on behalf of the committee to be signed by the vice-chair - again, a Tory MLA. In effect, a government already blessed with a huge majority in the legislature has decided to wrest the power of the committee Chair to ask Ministers/Ministry employees to appear, when and for how long. Shamed by public outrage, the members that control the majority of votes reversed the motion at the next committee meeting.
During a meeting of the Member Services Committee in June, the committee Chair refused to recognize precedent and provide equitable funding to the Wildrose Alliance caucus. This committee is chaired by the Speaker of the House, Ken Kowalski. The role of Speaker is one of impartiality and is not meant to be a political or partisan position. However, the refusal by Kowalski to follow precedent can only be seen as the infiltration of Tory partisanship into the office of the Speaker, and as a further detriment to democracy in this province.
One of the clearest indicators of the arrogance and entitlement shown by this government was demonstrated by our Minister of Culture and Community Spirit in June, when he berated our television industries at an international conference, and asked, “Why do I produce so much s***? Why do I fund such crap?” The minister does not produce television and he does not pay for it. The dollars he is talking about are public dollars. Not government dollars. Not HIS dollars.
And while funding to those least able to do more with less and our most vulnerable has been cut, this government is still spending more! More on what they consider higher priorities, not included are students, children, disabled Albertans, seniors, the sick or injured or the ordinary working family. Signed contracts are apparently honoured only with high paid executives with golden parachutes.
The government is currently conducting a number of consultations and initiatives that have the potential to change the very landscape of our way of life in Alberta. I am now posting information on all government initiatives on my website and urge all of you to speak up for yourselves and your neighbors, families and friends. I ask that you do whatever you can to see that this governments actions reflect your values.
I am anticipating an early September recall of the legislature as the government pushes through the Health Act after a summer of consultations, most by invitation only behind closed doors.
In the meantime, I wish you and yours a healthy, happy and safe summer.
ANNUAL RIVER AND PATHWAY CLEAN-UP, SUNDAY MAY 2, 2010!
Team Varsity will be taking part in the City River and Pathway Clean-up on Sunday in Bowmont Park. Come out and join us!
We will be having the orientation at 9:45 a.m. in the parking area of Silver Springes Gate NW and the clean-up goes from 10:00 to 1:00. Please dress according to the weather and bring a pair of work gloves. I look forward to spending some time with all of you!
____
As your MLA, I take my responsibility to represent all of my constituents very seriously. I have address concerns through Question Period, Tablings and Private Members Statements while the Legislature was in Session. My staff continues to assist constituents in the local office, and I met with as many individuals and organizations as possible on Fridays and the weekends. I also attend as many community functions and meetings as possible.
It has been my privilege to serve as your MLA again this past year. In an effort to continue to communicate effectively with you, the Calgary-Varsity Constituency is continually updating our website at www.HarryChaseMLA.com and my facebook page. You are always welcome to call, email or stop by the office to make specific inquiries or just to say hello. I thank you for allowing me to represent you in 2010, and look forward to another year as your MLA.
March 2010
I am writing this column the day after the Stelmach Conservatives tabled their budget. I fear it is further evidence that the Stelmach Conservatives are governing by the seat of their pants, with massive cuts in some public services and massive increases in others, without rhyme or reason.
Throwing huge amounts of money at health care isn’t a fix.
This isn’t a money issue, it’s a management issue. The Stelmach Conservatives have made a mess of the public health care system in the past few years, so why should anyone believe that more cash will reduce wait times, improve accessibility, or address inefficiencies? If they couldn’t fix the health care system with the money they had, another $2 billion isn’t going to address the fundamental shortfall in this province: a lack of government competence.”
This is the same government that was telling us two years ago that health care spending was out of control. These spending increases are unsustainable.
Hoping that oil and gas revenues will bounce back in time to erase the evidence of fiscal incompetence is not prudent management. We need a value for dollar audit to determine why we’re spending so much more money on health care for poorer results than other provinces.
Why isn’t the Sustainability Fund being used to protect child intervention services and income supports, both vital public services in tough times? Safe Children Save Money.
Is almost seems that they put the budget up on a wall and threw darts to decide which programs would be cut and which would be saved. They’re spending the same amount on horse racing that they took away from programs to protect children in dangerous living situations.
This government likes to talk about diversifying the economy; however it fails to understand that education is an absolute necessity for diversification with an economy that is not so largely non-renewable resource dependant.
The first week of March is a Constituency Week, so I will be available in the office for constituents that require Notary Public or Commissioner of Oath services.
Even while I am in Edmonton when the Legislature is in Session, my office is open regular office hours and my executive assistant is there to assist individuals in dealing with matters pertaining to provincial governance. As well, she can arrange for congratulatory scrolls for significant birthdays and anniversaries. She can also see that your correspondence and concerns reach me so that I can better represent you in the legislature.
February 2010
As you read this message, the Legislature should start sitting early in February for a new Session. I see my most important job as your MLA as ensuring that all constituents are treated fairly and looked after.
This fall 2009 sitting of the Legislature was short and sour, lasting barely a month, with little time to debate issues of vital interest to Albertans.
Despite the brevity of this session, my Official Opposition colleagues and I served Albertans with far greater faithfulness than the Stelmach administration. Through debate, questions and vigorous use of new media, we’re showing how the Premier and his Ministers are no longer interested in listening to Albertans.
It is clear that the Stelmach government has no plan and no vision for the future of this great province and its people. Even more disturbing, it appears to be deaf to the desires of Albertans, and to have little respect for the fundamentals of democracy.
Despite widespread public opposition, during the fall session, the Stelmach administration passed Bill 50, leading to higher power prices for everyone for many years to come and stifling public debate. Health Minister Ron Liepert his demonstrated incompetence at the helm of public health care system; the government has shifted costs of their poor fiscal management on to seniors, students, disabled Albertans, children and youth in need ��" after Premier Stelmach promised to protect our most vulnerable.
The brevity of the Fall 2009 session and the tone in Question Period and during debates showed that the Stelmach administration holds the Legislature in contempt. It’s a distraction for them, when it should be the focus of good governance. Questions from all opposition MLAs were routinely dodged, deflected, dismissed, ducked, mocked and ridiculed. We can do better.
When the system isn’t working, I’m ready to bring your concerns to the Legislature and the government. Now is the time to make your voices heard.
There are several ways in which we can work together to affect positive change in government:
I can challenge the government in Question Period on issues important to you;
I can host you or members of your organization in the Legislature Gallery (government members are generally more responsive to questions if they know that the people affected by the answer are watching);
I can help you organize a petition and present it to the Legislative Assembly;
I can table your letters so your concerns are entered in the public Hansard record;
I can take part or help you to organize your event or press conference.
So Much is at Stake
The Stelmach government has shown an alarming tendency to introduce controversial bills at the last possible moment and then stifle debate ��" forcing the legislation through before the public has a chance to react. In the span of 72 hours a bill can be introduced and passed ��" a bill that privatizes health care services, for example. Should the Stelmach trend continue this session, I will alert you or your organization as quickly as possible. I will work to increase public awareness and support in order to pressure the government to truly represent all Albertans.
I hope that every constituent feels free to contact me through the constituency office. I am eager to hear your ideas and feedback; there’s a lot we can do, together, to make Alberta a better place. Please let me know if you would like to be my guest in the Legislature, and stay in touch.
If you would like to sign up for email updates, please email calgary.varsity@assembly.ab.ca and note if there are specific issues that interest you.
As well, you can contact the constituency office for congratulatory scrolls to commemorate significant birthdays and anniversaries.
January 2010
I hope that this New Year finds everyone well. I am enjoying being back in the constituency; you can find me in the constituency office and attending meetings and events in the constituency as often as I can.
Early February will find me back in Edmonton for the new Legislative Session from Monday to Thursday, and back here in Calgary on Fridays, roads permitting. I anticipate a very busy Session serving as your MLA, sitting on the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the Standing Committee on Community Services and fulfilling my duties in my Shadow Ministries.
I see my most important job as your MLA as ensuring that all constituents are treated fairly and looked after. When the system isn’t working, I’m ready to bring your concerns to the Legislature and the government. Now is the time to make your voices heard.
There are several ways in which we can work together to affect positive change in government:
I can challenge the government in Question Period on issues important to you;
I can host you or members of your organization in the Legislature Gallery (government members are generally more responsive to questions if they know that the people affected by the answer are watching);
I can help you organize a petition and present it to the Legislative Assembly;
I can table your letters so your concerns are entered in the public Hansard record;
I can take part or help you to organize your event or press conference.
So Much is at Stake
The Stelmach government has shown an increasingly alarming tendency to introduce controversial bills at the last possible moment and then stifle debate ��" forcing the legislation through before the public has a chance to react. In the span of 72 hours a bill can be introduced and passed ��" a bill that privatizes health care services, for example. Should the Stelmach trend continue in the upcoming session, I will alert you or your organization as quickly as possible. I will work to increase public awareness and support in order to pressure the government to truly represent all Albertans. Please check my website at www.HarryChaseMLA.com regularly as it is an important means of communicating with you in a timely manner.
I hope that every constituent feels free to contact the constituency office. I am eager to hear your ideas and feedback; there’s a lot we can do together to make Alberta a better place.
If you would like to sign up for email updates, please email calgary.varsity@assembly.ab.ca and note if there are specific issues that interest you.
As well, you can contact the constituency office for congratulatory scrolls to commemorate significant birthdays and anniversaries.
Please let me know if you would like to be my guest in the Legislature, and stay in touch.
December 2009
This has been a very busy fall in the Legislature. As your MLA, I take my responsibility to represent all of my constituents very seriously. I have addressed concerns through Question Period, Tablings and Private Members Statements while the Legislature was in Session. My staff continues to assist constituents in the local office, and I met with as many individuals and organizations as possible on Fridays and the weekends. I have also attended as many community functions and meetings as possible.
It has been my privilege to serve as your MLA again this past year. In an effort to continue to communicate effectively with you, the Calgary-Varsity Constituency is continually updating our website at www.HarryChaseMLA.com and my facebook page. You are always welcome to call, email or stop by the office to make specific inquiries or just to say hello. I thank you for allowing me to represent you in 2009, and look forward to a new year as your MLA.
Wishing you and yours all the best in 2010,
Harry Chase
November 2009
Like many, many Albertans, my colleagues and I are greatly concerned with decisions and actions being made by this government, particularly when they threaten the very existence of programs and services that Albertans have clearly said they value.
The Stelmach government, like its Klein predecessor, treats spending on programs that involve the well-being of people as an expense instead of an investment.
My colleague, Kevin Taft, Official Opposition Health Critic, has produced a special edition of his MLA newsletter, and it paints a disturbing picture of how Tory mismanagement and neglect of the health care system is putting Albertans at risk.
Taft is the Alberta Liberal MLA for Edmonton-Riverview.
His special edition of the Edmonton-Riverview newsletter features:
• A timeline of Tory health care decisions, covering missteps from the early 90s to 2009
• Quotes from doctors and patients illustrating the challenges health care professionals and Albertans face every day thanks to decades of Tory neglect
• Concerns with children being treated in a tent at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, and the new Mazankowski Heart Centre standing empty for over a year
• A clear picture of confusion over health care staffing, showing how Tory administrations eliminated thousands of jobs, then identified large staffing shortages, only to freeze hiring this year
The theme of the newsletter " how quick fixes rarely lead to long-term solutions " is especially timely in the wake of health care spending cuts announced by Dr. Stephen Duckett, CEO of Alberta Health Services.
“I haven’t heard anyone saying we have too many nurses, but the Stelmach administration seems to be doing everything it can to push health care professionals out the door. And yet the administration claims that they will improve health care services. How is that possible when they’re cutting jobs and surgeries?”
HEALTH CARE Special Edition
Or to have a copy mailed to you, please contact the Calgary Varsity Consituency office.
As Official Opposition critic for Children and Youth Services, I launched the “SAFE KIDS SAVE DOLLARS” campaign on September 30th at the Annual General Meeting of the Alberta Association for Children and Families.
I encouraged delegates to aggressively lobby the Stelmach administration to avoid funding cuts to vital services for at-risk Alberta youth. I am gravely concerned by the cumulative effects of growing numbers of homeless young Albertans combined with Stelmach administration cutbacks to vital social services, including the forced closure of Bosco Homes facilities and funding cuts to the Boys and Girls Clubs, which have affected that organization’s crisis response team.
The Stelmach administration’s short-sighted approach is placing already vulnerable children at greater risk. Failing to intervene positively while at-risk kids are young inevitably leads to greater costs to society down the road; on the other hand, helping kids now helps them lead better lives and saves taxpayer money in the long run. In other words, safe kids save dollars.
It is possible to be simultaneously ethically and fiscally responsible. Investing in Alberta’s children is both the right thing to do and the fiscally smart thing to do. I encourage you to contact my constituency office, or click here:
http://alc.whitematter.ca/index.php/alc/content/safe_kids_save_dollars_chase_launches_campaign_to_protect_alberta_youth_fro/
for copies of the petition.
As always I welcome your input through letters, emails, phone calls and faxes at the constituency office.
#108, 4616 Valiant Drive NW Calgary AB T3A 0X9 (403) 216.5436 calgary.varsity@assembly.ab.ca
October 2009
Welcome to the Calgary-Varsity webpage, the online home of Harry Chase! Please feel free to look around, and check back often.
I hope that everyone has now settled into their fall routines, with children and youth back in school and taking part in healthy extra-curricular activities. The area that we know as the Calgary Varsity constituency encompasses the communities of Varsity, University Heights, Dalhousie, Brentwood, Charleswood, Banff Trail, Capital Hill and SE Silver Springs. We are fortunate to have the Alberta Children’s Hospital and the University of Calgary in our constituency. The fall term always brings a sense of purpose, vision and energy with returning students and faculty. Our Community Associations are important partners in supporting physical and social wellbeing in our neighborhoods. Businesses, schools, places of worship, organizations such as the VRRI and countless volunteers also contribute to strong communities and strong societies, which are a vital part of every democracy.
With this in mind, I am sorry to have to report that, due to poor management, what Albertans have built since the deep and often cruel cuts in the mid 1990’s appears to again be at risk. After years of blood, sweat and many tears, Albertans believed that we could finally look forward to the rewards of having tightened our personal belts for so long and working so hard to try to rebuild our core services including education, health care, safety nets and assistance for the disabled and seniors. Only when Premier Klein resigned did he admit that his government never had a plan for after the cuts!
After 15 consecutive years of multi-billion dollar surpluses, in less than 12 months we have gone to a multi-billion dollar deficit. Obviously there still is no plan. Health care professionals face a hiring freeze and forced gag order, school boards are having reserves resulting from prudent planning and spending clawed back and face budgets cut, rental supplement programs are broke, putting thousands on waiting lists, and seniors are being asked to bear the brunt of many cuts. Home foreclosures have more than doubled in just two years, we have a 102% increase in bankruptcies and the highest unemployment rates in 13 years.
A cursory look into the mismanagement of our tax dollars by this government reveals the following:
1) $10,000,000 Branding the Province
2) $25,000,000 ‘Greenwashing’ Environmental Reputation Internationally
3) $2,100,000 International Travel
4) $35,000,000 Horse Racing
5) $40,000,000 Senior Management Bonuses
6) $42,000,000 Health Board Severance Packages & Pensions
7) $70,000,000 Information Technology
8) $38,000,000 Cost to Form New Health Superboard
9) $222,000,000 Addition to the Peter Lougheed Hospital that is unstaffed, resulting in no new beds
10) $200,000,000 Mazinkowski Heart Institute that still does not have functioning Operating Rooms (Grand Opening was May 1, 2008 though no patients were moved there until this summer)
11) $2,500,000,000 Obligations under P3 contracts
Grand Total: $3,181,100,000!
A “Value for Dollar Audit” must be implemented for all new spending immediately, and for all current programs as quickly as possible. With infrastructure spending there must be provision for sustainable operational funding.
Please contact me with your ideas or concerns. The legislature resumes later this month and I will bring your voice to the assembly.
December 2009
This has been a very busy fall in the Legislature. As your MLA, I take my responsibility to represent all of my constituents very seriously. I have addressed concerns through Question Period, Tablings and Private Members Statements while the Legislature was in Session. My staff continues to assist constituents in the local office, and I met with as many individuals and organizations as possible on Fridays and the weekends. I have also attended as many community functions and meetings as possible.
It has been my privilege to serve as your MLA again this past year. In an effort to continue to communicate effectively with you, the Calgary-Varsity Constituency is continually updating our website at www.HarryChaseMLA.com and my facebook page. You are always welcome to call, email or stop by the office to make specific inquiries or just to say hello. I thank you for allowing me to represent you in 2009, and look forward to a new year as your MLA.
Wishing you and yours all the best in 2010,
Harry Chase
November 2009
Like many, many Albertans, my colleagues and I are greatly concerned with decisions and actions being made by this government, particularly when they threaten the very existence of programs and services that Albertans have clearly said they value.
The Stelmach government, like its Klein predecessor, treats spending on programs that involve the well-being of people as an expense instead of an investment.
My colleague, Kevin Taft, Official Opposition Health Critic, has produced a special edition of his MLA newsletter, and it paints a disturbing picture of how Tory mismanagement and neglect of the health care system is putting Albertans at risk.
Taft is the Alberta Liberal MLA for Edmonton-Riverview.
His special edition of the Edmonton-Riverview newsletter features:
• A timeline of Tory health care decisions, covering missteps from the early 90s to 2009
• Quotes from doctors and patients illustrating the challenges health care professionals and Albertans face every day thanks to decades of Tory neglect
• Concerns with children being treated in a tent at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, and the new Mazankowski Heart Centre standing empty for over a year
• A clear picture of confusion over health care staffing, showing how Tory administrations eliminated thousands of jobs, then identified large staffing shortages, only to freeze hiring this year
The theme of the newsletter " how quick fixes rarely lead to long-term solutions " is especially timely in the wake of health care spending cuts announced by Dr. Stephen Duckett, CEO of Alberta Health Services.
“I haven’t heard anyone saying we have too many nurses, but the Stelmach administration seems to be doing everything it can to push health care professionals out the door. And yet the administration claims that they will improve health care services. How is that possible when they’re cutting jobs and surgeries?”
HEALTH CARE Special Edition
Or to have a copy mailed to you, please contact the Calgary Varsity Consituency office.
As Official Opposition critic for Children and Youth Services, I launched the “SAFE KIDS SAVE DOLLARS” campaign on September 30th at the Annual General Meeting of the Alberta Association for Children and Families.
I encouraged delegates to aggressively lobby the Stelmach administration to avoid funding cuts to vital services for at-risk Alberta youth. I am gravely concerned by the cumulative effects of growing numbers of homeless young Albertans combined with Stelmach administration cutbacks to vital social services, including the forced closure of Bosco Homes facilities and funding cuts to the Boys and Girls Clubs, which have affected that organization’s crisis response team.
The Stelmach administration’s short-sighted approach is placing already vulnerable children at greater risk. Failing to intervene positively while at-risk kids are young inevitably leads to greater costs to society down the road; on the other hand, helping kids now helps them lead better lives and saves taxpayer money in the long run. In other words, safe kids save dollars.
It is possible to be simultaneously ethically and fiscally responsible. Investing in Alberta’s children is both the right thing to do and the fiscally smart thing to do. I encourage you to contact my constituency office, or click here:
http://alc.whitematter.ca/index.php/alc/content/safe_kids_save_dollars_chase_launches_campaign_to_protect_alberta_youth_fro/
for copies of the petition.
As always I welcome your input through letters, emails, phone calls and faxes at the constituency office.
#108, 4616 Valiant Drive NW Calgary AB T3A 0X9 (403) 216.5436 calgary.varsity@assembly.ab.ca
October 2009
Welcome to the Calgary-Varsity webpage, the online home of Harry Chase! Please feel free to look around, and check back often.
I hope that everyone has now settled into their fall routines, with children and youth back in school and taking part in healthy extra-curricular activities. The area that we know as the Calgary Varsity constituency encompasses the communities of Varsity, University Heights, Dalhousie, Brentwood, Charleswood, Banff Trail, Capital Hill and SE Silver Springs. We are fortunate to have the Alberta Children’s Hospital and the University of Calgary in our constituency. The fall term always brings a sense of purpose, vision and energy with returning students and faculty. Our Community Associations are important partners in supporting physical and social wellbeing in our neighborhoods. Businesses, schools, places of worship, organizations such as the VRRI and countless volunteers also contribute to strong communities and strong societies, which are a vital part of every democracy.
With this in mind, I am sorry to have to report that, due to poor management, what Albertans have built since the deep and often cruel cuts in the mid 1990’s appears to again be at risk. After years of blood, sweat and many tears, Albertans believed that we could finally look forward to the rewards of having tightened our personal belts for so long and working so hard to try to rebuild our core services including education, health care, safety nets and assistance for the disabled and seniors. Only when Premier Klein resigned did he admit that his government never had a plan for after the cuts!
After 15 consecutive years of multi-billion dollar surpluses, in less than 12 months we have gone to a multi-billion dollar deficit. Obviously there still is no plan. Health care professionals face a hiring freeze and forced gag order, school boards are having reserves resulting from prudent planning and spending clawed back and face budgets cut, rental supplement programs are broke, putting thousands on waiting lists, and seniors are being asked to bear the brunt of many cuts. Home foreclosures have more than doubled in just two years, we have a 102% increase in bankruptcies and the highest unemployment rates in 13 years.
A cursory look into the mismanagement of our tax dollars by this government reveals the following:
1) $10,000,000 Branding the Province
2) $25,000,000 ‘Greenwashing’ Environmental Reputation Internationally
3) $2,100,000 International Travel
4) $35,000,000 Horse Racing
5) $40,000,000 Senior Management Bonuses
6) $42,000,000 Health Board Severance Packages & Pensions
7) $70,000,000 Information Technology
8) $38,000,000 Cost to Form New Health Superboard
9) $222,000,000 Addition to the Peter Lougheed Hospital that is unstaffed, resulting in no new beds
10) $200,000,000 Mazinkowski Heart Institute that still does not have functioning Operating Rooms (Grand Opening was May 1, 2008 though no patients were moved there until this summer)
11) $2,500,000,000 Obligations under P3 contracts
Grand Total: $3,181,100,000!
A “Value for Dollar Audit” must be implemented for all new spending immediately, and for all current programs as quickly as possible. With infrastructure spending there must be provision for sustainable operational funding.
Please contact me with your ideas or concerns. The legislature resumes later this month and I will bring your voice to the assembly.
Harry Chase, MLA
Calgary Varsity
As your elected representative, it is my job to represent you and to ensure that government is accountable to you.
The premier has repeatedly said, “. . . we'll balance the province's operating budget"the dollars we spend on public services. And we'll focus on helping the vulnerable … supporting the programs and services Albertans need most, like health care, education and support for seniors.”
Yet virtually all of the budgets involving spending on services that Albertans have said are important have been cut. The government has even failed to fund the agreement that they made with Alberta teachers and have deliberately underfunded special needs education for the past two years. They did, however, pay the ridiculously bloated severance packages and pensions for the overpaid Alberta Health Services ‘top brass’ hired by the Board and then quickly let go.
What areas has government chosen to cut in Budget 2010? Supports for the disabled, children and youth at risk, seniors, and the ill. The not-for-profit organizations that save vast amounts in public spending, scholarships and funding for adult learners and job-training were all slashed. We have spaces for learners, but no funding.
Our public health care system has been so disrupted and torn apart that no one, including CEO Stephen Duckett of AHS, knows for sure what is working and what isn’t. His cost-cutting measure of amalgamating ambulance services in one body is going to cost an extra $26 million this year alone! New hospital beds in Alberta have simply replaced the old ones, which were mothballed.
This government keeps lurching from one crisis to another. We deserve thoughtful, evidence-based leadership. We deserve value for our dollars and we deserve a government that listens to Albertans.
Our public dollars are going to private corporations to build assisted living spaces, which they will own and charge our seniors to live in and pay extra for health services. We need long-term care beds, not more high cost assisted living spaces. “The city had 1,897 acute care beds in 1994. Sixteen years later only 133 new beds have been added, even though the population grew by 327,000.” (Calgary Herald July 4, 2010 p.A6).
Many of you will also recall Bill 50 which stripped the public of consultation rights when PRIVATE FOR PROFIT transmission lines built by the taxpayer to move privately generated power for distribution and export was passed. Every electricity consumer in the province will feel this added burden, coupled with the recently further deregulated service announced by the Premier.
On the bright side, my colleague, MLA Bridget Pastoor, Lethbridge East, had her Private Members Motion 501, which calls for an independent review of MLA remuneration, passed unanimously during the spring session. We hope that the government follows through and makes our pay packages fair and transparent.
I am spending the summer in the constituency, and am here to meet with you and discuss any issues that are of concern to you or your family. I would also be pleased to assist or advocate for you in a variety of ways.
As your MLA, I am a Notary Public and a Commissioner for Oaths and can perform marriages. If you or your family are experiencing difficulties accessing government services or programs I may be able to assist. If you have senior family members who are celebrating a significant wedding anniversary or birthday, I can arrange for a certificate to commemorate the occasion.
Most Tuesdays during the summer I will have a table at the Grassroots Farmers Market, Northland Village Mall. This is one additional way that I increase my accessibility.
Harry
Update: Visit my Facebook page (link to the right) to see the three new photo albums from the Stampede Caravan Breakfasts last week.
I was at the Market Mall breakfast on July 13th, Dalhousie Station on July 14th and Northland Village Mall on July 15th. It was great to see so many people out enjoying themselves. The Stampede Caravan people do a really great job!
Harry
July 19, 2010
Summer 2010
Greetings Calgary-Varsity constituents.
In bringing you up to date on events and happenings at the Legislature, let me start by saying that there was precious little opportunity to hold the PC Government to account. The spring session started on February 8th and was abruptly ended by government mid-April - after just 10 weeks - although it was scheduled to sit until June 3rd. In addition, for 3 of those weeks the Legislature was in recess. In effect, with the limited time allowed for budget debate, we were trying to discuss the spending of millions of public dollars per minute! It has become more and more frustrating for Albertans to become or stay informed about what their government is doing, and is increasingly difficult for elected representatives to hold them to account for their decision making and spending.
Following this early end to public debate, the premier and his cabinet spent the next six weeks criss-crossing the province on a “Cabinet Tour,” dropping grant cheques into rural communities to shore up support. Initially, these meetings were by invitation only, but after public outcry some were eventually opened up to some of the public.
My colleagues and I also sit on a number of committees, of which the most important is undoubtedly Public Accounts. Designed to review the annual report of the Auditor General of Alberta, and thereby having the authority to question the spending of ministries to ensure the proper spending of public funds, this committee plays an important role in ensuring government transparency and accountability.
Unfortunately, the government determines seat allocation numbers for all committees based on the number of seats each party holds in the Legislature. As a result, every committee of the Alberta Legislature has Tory MLAs as the majority of members. This gives the government voting authority over every Legislative committee, effectively centralizing power through the office of the Premier by stifling debate.
Further, in an attempt to grab even more power, Tory members of the Public Affairs committee introduced and passed a motion in Public Accounts this spring requiring all correspondence sent on behalf of the committee to be signed by the vice-chair - again, a Tory MLA. In effect, a government already blessed with a huge majority in the legislature has decided to wrest the power of the committee Chair to ask Ministers/Ministry employees to appear, when and for how long. Shamed by public outrage, the members that control the majority of votes reversed the motion at the next committee meeting.
During a meeting of the Member Services Committee in June, the committee Chair refused to recognize precedent and provide equitable funding to the Wildrose Alliance caucus. This committee is chaired by the Speaker of the House, Ken Kowalski. The role of Speaker is one of impartiality and is not meant to be a political or partisan position. However, the refusal by Kowalski to follow precedent can only be seen as the infiltration of Tory partisanship into the office of the Speaker, and as a further detriment to democracy in this province.
One of the clearest indicators of the arrogance and entitlement shown by this government was demonstrated by our Minister of Culture and Community Spirit in June, when he berated our television industries at an international conference, and asked, “Why do I produce so much s***? Why do I fund such crap?” The minister does not produce television and he does not pay for it. The dollars he is talking about are public dollars. Not government dollars. Not HIS dollars.
And while funding to those least able to do more with less and our most vulnerable has been cut, this government is still spending more! More on what they consider higher priorities, not included are students, children, disabled Albertans, seniors, the sick or injured or the ordinary working family. Signed contracts are apparently honoured only with high paid executives with golden parachutes.
The government is currently conducting a number of consultations and initiatives that have the potential to change the very landscape of our way of life in Alberta. I am now posting information on all government initiatives on my website and urge all of you to speak up for yourselves and your neighbors, families and friends. I ask that you do whatever you can to see that this governments actions reflect your values.
I am anticipating an early September recall of the legislature as the government pushes through the Health Act after a summer of consultations, most by invitation only behind closed doors.
In the meantime, I wish you and yours a healthy, happy and safe summer.
ANNUAL RIVER AND PATHWAY CLEAN-UP, SUNDAY MAY 2, 2010!
Team Varsity will be taking part in the City River and Pathway Clean-up on Sunday in Bowmont Park. Come out and join us!
We will be having the orientation at 9:45 a.m. in the parking area of Silver Springes Gate NW and the clean-up goes from 10:00 to 1:00. Please dress according to the weather and bring a pair of work gloves. I look forward to spending some time with all of you!
____
As your MLA, I take my responsibility to represent all of my constituents very seriously. I have address concerns through Question Period, Tablings and Private Members Statements while the Legislature was in Session. My staff continues to assist constituents in the local office, and I met with as many individuals and organizations as possible on Fridays and the weekends. I also attend as many community functions and meetings as possible.
It has been my privilege to serve as your MLA again this past year. In an effort to continue to communicate effectively with you, the Calgary-Varsity Constituency is continually updating our website at www.HarryChaseMLA.com and my facebook page. You are always welcome to call, email or stop by the office to make specific inquiries or just to say hello. I thank you for allowing me to represent you in 2010, and look forward to another year as your MLA.
March 2010
I am writing this column the day after the Stelmach Conservatives tabled their budget. I fear it is further evidence that the Stelmach Conservatives are governing by the seat of their pants, with massive cuts in some public services and massive increases in others, without rhyme or reason.
Throwing huge amounts of money at health care isn’t a fix.
This isn’t a money issue, it’s a management issue. The Stelmach Conservatives have made a mess of the public health care system in the past few years, so why should anyone believe that more cash will reduce wait times, improve accessibility, or address inefficiencies? If they couldn’t fix the health care system with the money they had, another $2 billion isn’t going to address the fundamental shortfall in this province: a lack of government competence.”
This is the same government that was telling us two years ago that health care spending was out of control. These spending increases are unsustainable.
Hoping that oil and gas revenues will bounce back in time to erase the evidence of fiscal incompetence is not prudent management. We need a value for dollar audit to determine why we’re spending so much more money on health care for poorer results than other provinces.
Why isn’t the Sustainability Fund being used to protect child intervention services and income supports, both vital public services in tough times? Safe Children Save Money.
Is almost seems that they put the budget up on a wall and threw darts to decide which programs would be cut and which would be saved. They’re spending the same amount on horse racing that they took away from programs to protect children in dangerous living situations.
This government likes to talk about diversifying the economy; however it fails to understand that education is an absolute necessity for diversification with an economy that is not so largely non-renewable resource dependant.
The first week of March is a Constituency Week, so I will be available in the office for constituents that require Notary Public or Commissioner of Oath services.
Even while I am in Edmonton when the Legislature is in Session, my office is open regular office hours and my executive assistant is there to assist individuals in dealing with matters pertaining to provincial governance. As well, she can arrange for congratulatory scrolls for significant birthdays and anniversaries. She can also see that your correspondence and concerns reach me so that I can better represent you in the legislature.
February 2010
As you read this message, the Legislature should start sitting early in February for a new Session. I see my most important job as your MLA as ensuring that all constituents are treated fairly and looked after.
This fall 2009 sitting of the Legislature was short and sour, lasting barely a month, with little time to debate issues of vital interest to Albertans.
Despite the brevity of this session, my Official Opposition colleagues and I served Albertans with far greater faithfulness than the Stelmach administration. Through debate, questions and vigorous use of new media, we’re showing how the Premier and his Ministers are no longer interested in listening to Albertans.
It is clear that the Stelmach government has no plan and no vision for the future of this great province and its people. Even more disturbing, it appears to be deaf to the desires of Albertans, and to have little respect for the fundamentals of democracy.
Despite widespread public opposition, during the fall session, the Stelmach administration passed Bill 50, leading to higher power prices for everyone for many years to come and stifling public debate. Health Minister Ron Liepert his demonstrated incompetence at the helm of public health care system; the government has shifted costs of their poor fiscal management on to seniors, students, disabled Albertans, children and youth in need ��" after Premier Stelmach promised to protect our most vulnerable.
The brevity of the Fall 2009 session and the tone in Question Period and during debates showed that the Stelmach administration holds the Legislature in contempt. It’s a distraction for them, when it should be the focus of good governance. Questions from all opposition MLAs were routinely dodged, deflected, dismissed, ducked, mocked and ridiculed. We can do better.
When the system isn’t working, I’m ready to bring your concerns to the Legislature and the government. Now is the time to make your voices heard.
There are several ways in which we can work together to affect positive change in government:
I can challenge the government in Question Period on issues important to you;
I can host you or members of your organization in the Legislature Gallery (government members are generally more responsive to questions if they know that the people affected by the answer are watching);
I can help you organize a petition and present it to the Legislative Assembly;
I can table your letters so your concerns are entered in the public Hansard record;
I can take part or help you to organize your event or press conference.
So Much is at Stake
The Stelmach government has shown an alarming tendency to introduce controversial bills at the last possible moment and then stifle debate ��" forcing the legislation through before the public has a chance to react. In the span of 72 hours a bill can be introduced and passed ��" a bill that privatizes health care services, for example. Should the Stelmach trend continue this session, I will alert you or your organization as quickly as possible. I will work to increase public awareness and support in order to pressure the government to truly represent all Albertans.
I hope that every constituent feels free to contact me through the constituency office. I am eager to hear your ideas and feedback; there’s a lot we can do, together, to make Alberta a better place. Please let me know if you would like to be my guest in the Legislature, and stay in touch.
If you would like to sign up for email updates, please email calgary.varsity@assembly.ab.ca and note if there are specific issues that interest you.
As well, you can contact the constituency office for congratulatory scrolls to commemorate significant birthdays and anniversaries.
January 2010
I hope that this New Year finds everyone well. I am enjoying being back in the constituency; you can find me in the constituency office and attending meetings and events in the constituency as often as I can.
Early February will find me back in Edmonton for the new Legislative Session from Monday to Thursday, and back here in Calgary on Fridays, roads permitting. I anticipate a very busy Session serving as your MLA, sitting on the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the Standing Committee on Community Services and fulfilling my duties in my Shadow Ministries.
I see my most important job as your MLA as ensuring that all constituents are treated fairly and looked after. When the system isn’t working, I’m ready to bring your concerns to the Legislature and the government. Now is the time to make your voices heard.
There are several ways in which we can work together to affect positive change in government:
I can challenge the government in Question Period on issues important to you;
I can host you or members of your organization in the Legislature Gallery (government members are generally more responsive to questions if they know that the people affected by the answer are watching);
I can help you organize a petition and present it to the Legislative Assembly;
I can table your letters so your concerns are entered in the public Hansard record;
I can take part or help you to organize your event or press conference.
So Much is at Stake
The Stelmach government has shown an increasingly alarming tendency to introduce controversial bills at the last possible moment and then stifle debate ��" forcing the legislation through before the public has a chance to react. In the span of 72 hours a bill can be introduced and passed ��" a bill that privatizes health care services, for example. Should the Stelmach trend continue in the upcoming session, I will alert you or your organization as quickly as possible. I will work to increase public awareness and support in order to pressure the government to truly represent all Albertans. Please check my website at www.HarryChaseMLA.com regularly as it is an important means of communicating with you in a timely manner.
I hope that every constituent feels free to contact the constituency office. I am eager to hear your ideas and feedback; there’s a lot we can do together to make Alberta a better place.
If you would like to sign up for email updates, please email calgary.varsity@assembly.ab.ca and note if there are specific issues that interest you.
As well, you can contact the constituency office for congratulatory scrolls to commemorate significant birthdays and anniversaries.
Please let me know if you would like to be my guest in the Legislature, and stay in touch.
December 2009
This has been a very busy fall in the Legislature. As your MLA, I take my responsibility to represent all of my constituents very seriously. I have addressed concerns through Question Period, Tablings and Private Members Statements while the Legislature was in Session. My staff continues to assist constituents in the local office, and I met with as many individuals and organizations as possible on Fridays and the weekends. I have also attended as many community functions and meetings as possible.
It has been my privilege to serve as your MLA again this past year. In an effort to continue to communicate effectively with you, the Calgary-Varsity Constituency is continually updating our website at www.HarryChaseMLA.com and my facebook page. You are always welcome to call, email or stop by the office to make specific inquiries or just to say hello. I thank you for allowing me to represent you in 2009, and look forward to a new year as your MLA.
Wishing you and yours all the best in 2010,
Harry Chase
November 2009
Like many, many Albertans, my colleagues and I are greatly concerned with decisions and actions being made by this government, particularly when they threaten the very existence of programs and services that Albertans have clearly said they value.
The Stelmach government, like its Klein predecessor, treats spending on programs that involve the well-being of people as an expense instead of an investment.
My colleague, Kevin Taft, Official Opposition Health Critic, has produced a special edition of his MLA newsletter, and it paints a disturbing picture of how Tory mismanagement and neglect of the health care system is putting Albertans at risk.
Taft is the Alberta Liberal MLA for Edmonton-Riverview.
His special edition of the Edmonton-Riverview newsletter features:
• A timeline of Tory health care decisions, covering missteps from the early 90s to 2009
• Quotes from doctors and patients illustrating the challenges health care professionals and Albertans face every day thanks to decades of Tory neglect
• Concerns with children being treated in a tent at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, and the new Mazankowski Heart Centre standing empty for over a year
• A clear picture of confusion over health care staffing, showing how Tory administrations eliminated thousands of jobs, then identified large staffing shortages, only to freeze hiring this year
The theme of the newsletter " how quick fixes rarely lead to long-term solutions " is especially timely in the wake of health care spending cuts announced by Dr. Stephen Duckett, CEO of Alberta Health Services.
“I haven’t heard anyone saying we have too many nurses, but the Stelmach administration seems to be doing everything it can to push health care professionals out the door. And yet the administration claims that they will improve health care services. How is that possible when they’re cutting jobs and surgeries?”
HEALTH CARE Special Edition
Or to have a copy mailed to you, please contact the Calgary Varsity Consituency office.
As Official Opposition critic for Children and Youth Services, I launched the “SAFE KIDS SAVE DOLLARS” campaign on September 30th at the Annual General Meeting of the Alberta Association for Children and Families.
I encouraged delegates to aggressively lobby the Stelmach administration to avoid funding cuts to vital services for at-risk Alberta youth. I am gravely concerned by the cumulative effects of growing numbers of homeless young Albertans combined with Stelmach administration cutbacks to vital social services, including the forced closure of Bosco Homes facilities and funding cuts to the Boys and Girls Clubs, which have affected that organization’s crisis response team.
The Stelmach administration’s short-sighted approach is placing already vulnerable children at greater risk. Failing to intervene positively while at-risk kids are young inevitably leads to greater costs to society down the road; on the other hand, helping kids now helps them lead better lives and saves taxpayer money in the long run. In other words, safe kids save dollars.
It is possible to be simultaneously ethically and fiscally responsible. Investing in Alberta’s children is both the right thing to do and the fiscally smart thing to do. I encourage you to contact my constituency office, or click here:
http://alc.whitematter.ca/index.php/alc/content/safe_kids_save_dollars_chase_launches_campaign_to_protect_alberta_youth_fro/
for copies of the petition.
As always I welcome your input through letters, emails, phone calls and faxes at the constituency office.
#108, 4616 Valiant Drive NW Calgary AB T3A 0X9 (403) 216.5436 calgary.varsity@assembly.ab.ca
October 2009
Welcome to the Calgary-Varsity webpage, the online home of Harry Chase! Please feel free to look around, and check back often.
I hope that everyone has now settled into their fall routines, with children and youth back in school and taking part in healthy extra-curricular activities. The area that we know as the Calgary Varsity constituency encompasses the communities of Varsity, University Heights, Dalhousie, Brentwood, Charleswood, Banff Trail, Capital Hill and SE Silver Springs. We are fortunate to have the Alberta Children’s Hospital and the University of Calgary in our constituency. The fall term always brings a sense of purpose, vision and energy with returning students and faculty. Our Community Associations are important partners in supporting physical and social wellbeing in our neighborhoods. Businesses, schools, places of worship, organizations such as the VRRI and countless volunteers also contribute to strong communities and strong societies, which are a vital part of every democracy.
With this in mind, I am sorry to have to report that, due to poor management, what Albertans have built since the deep and often cruel cuts in the mid 1990’s appears to again be at risk. After years of blood, sweat and many tears, Albertans believed that we could finally look forward to the rewards of having tightened our personal belts for so long and working so hard to try to rebuild our core services including education, health care, safety nets and assistance for the disabled and seniors. Only when Premier Klein resigned did he admit that his government never had a plan for after the cuts!
After 15 consecutive years of multi-billion dollar surpluses, in less than 12 months we have gone to a multi-billion dollar deficit. Obviously there still is no plan. Health care professionals face a hiring freeze and forced gag order, school boards are having reserves resulting from prudent planning and spending clawed back and face budgets cut, rental supplement programs are broke, putting thousands on waiting lists, and seniors are being asked to bear the brunt of many cuts. Home foreclosures have more than doubled in just two years, we have a 102% increase in bankruptcies and the highest unemployment rates in 13 years.
A cursory look into the mismanagement of our tax dollars by this government reveals the following:
1) $10,000,000 Branding the Province
2) $25,000,000 ‘Greenwashing’ Environmental Reputation Internationally
3) $2,100,000 International Travel
4) $35,000,000 Horse Racing
5) $40,000,000 Senior Management Bonuses
6) $42,000,000 Health Board Severance Packages & Pensions
7) $70,000,000 Information Technology
8) $38,000,000 Cost to Form New Health Superboard
9) $222,000,000 Addition to the Peter Lougheed Hospital that is unstaffed, resulting in no new beds
10) $200,000,000 Mazinkowski Heart Institute that still does not have functioning Operating Rooms (Grand Opening was May 1, 2008 though no patients were moved there until this summer)
11) $2,500,000,000 Obligations under P3 contracts
Grand Total: $3,181,100,000!
A “Value for Dollar Audit” must be implemented for all new spending immediately, and for all current programs as quickly as possible. With infrastructure spending there must be provision for sustainable operational funding.
Please contact me with your ideas or concerns. The legislature resumes later this month and I will bring your voice to the assembly.
December 2009
This has been a very busy fall in the Legislature. As your MLA, I take my responsibility to represent all of my constituents very seriously. I have addressed concerns through Question Period, Tablings and Private Members Statements while the Legislature was in Session. My staff continues to assist constituents in the local office, and I met with as many individuals and organizations as possible on Fridays and the weekends. I have also attended as many community functions and meetings as possible.
It has been my privilege to serve as your MLA again this past year. In an effort to continue to communicate effectively with you, the Calgary-Varsity Constituency is continually updating our website at www.HarryChaseMLA.com and my facebook page. You are always welcome to call, email or stop by the office to make specific inquiries or just to say hello. I thank you for allowing me to represent you in 2009, and look forward to a new year as your MLA.
Wishing you and yours all the best in 2010,
Harry Chase
November 2009
Like many, many Albertans, my colleagues and I are greatly concerned with decisions and actions being made by this government, particularly when they threaten the very existence of programs and services that Albertans have clearly said they value.
The Stelmach government, like its Klein predecessor, treats spending on programs that involve the well-being of people as an expense instead of an investment.
My colleague, Kevin Taft, Official Opposition Health Critic, has produced a special edition of his MLA newsletter, and it paints a disturbing picture of how Tory mismanagement and neglect of the health care system is putting Albertans at risk.
Taft is the Alberta Liberal MLA for Edmonton-Riverview.
His special edition of the Edmonton-Riverview newsletter features:
• A timeline of Tory health care decisions, covering missteps from the early 90s to 2009
• Quotes from doctors and patients illustrating the challenges health care professionals and Albertans face every day thanks to decades of Tory neglect
• Concerns with children being treated in a tent at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, and the new Mazankowski Heart Centre standing empty for over a year
• A clear picture of confusion over health care staffing, showing how Tory administrations eliminated thousands of jobs, then identified large staffing shortages, only to freeze hiring this year
The theme of the newsletter " how quick fixes rarely lead to long-term solutions " is especially timely in the wake of health care spending cuts announced by Dr. Stephen Duckett, CEO of Alberta Health Services.
“I haven’t heard anyone saying we have too many nurses, but the Stelmach administration seems to be doing everything it can to push health care professionals out the door. And yet the administration claims that they will improve health care services. How is that possible when they’re cutting jobs and surgeries?”
HEALTH CARE Special Edition
Or to have a copy mailed to you, please contact the Calgary Varsity Consituency office.
As Official Opposition critic for Children and Youth Services, I launched the “SAFE KIDS SAVE DOLLARS” campaign on September 30th at the Annual General Meeting of the Alberta Association for Children and Families.
I encouraged delegates to aggressively lobby the Stelmach administration to avoid funding cuts to vital services for at-risk Alberta youth. I am gravely concerned by the cumulative effects of growing numbers of homeless young Albertans combined with Stelmach administration cutbacks to vital social services, including the forced closure of Bosco Homes facilities and funding cuts to the Boys and Girls Clubs, which have affected that organization’s crisis response team.
The Stelmach administration’s short-sighted approach is placing already vulnerable children at greater risk. Failing to intervene positively while at-risk kids are young inevitably leads to greater costs to society down the road; on the other hand, helping kids now helps them lead better lives and saves taxpayer money in the long run. In other words, safe kids save dollars.
It is possible to be simultaneously ethically and fiscally responsible. Investing in Alberta’s children is both the right thing to do and the fiscally smart thing to do. I encourage you to contact my constituency office, or click here:
http://alc.whitematter.ca/index.php/alc/content/safe_kids_save_dollars_chase_launches_campaign_to_protect_alberta_youth_fro/
for copies of the petition.
As always I welcome your input through letters, emails, phone calls and faxes at the constituency office.
#108, 4616 Valiant Drive NW Calgary AB T3A 0X9 (403) 216.5436 calgary.varsity@assembly.ab.ca
October 2009
Welcome to the Calgary-Varsity webpage, the online home of Harry Chase! Please feel free to look around, and check back often.
I hope that everyone has now settled into their fall routines, with children and youth back in school and taking part in healthy extra-curricular activities. The area that we know as the Calgary Varsity constituency encompasses the communities of Varsity, University Heights, Dalhousie, Brentwood, Charleswood, Banff Trail, Capital Hill and SE Silver Springs. We are fortunate to have the Alberta Children’s Hospital and the University of Calgary in our constituency. The fall term always brings a sense of purpose, vision and energy with returning students and faculty. Our Community Associations are important partners in supporting physical and social wellbeing in our neighborhoods. Businesses, schools, places of worship, organizations such as the VRRI and countless volunteers also contribute to strong communities and strong societies, which are a vital part of every democracy.
With this in mind, I am sorry to have to report that, due to poor management, what Albertans have built since the deep and often cruel cuts in the mid 1990’s appears to again be at risk. After years of blood, sweat and many tears, Albertans believed that we could finally look forward to the rewards of having tightened our personal belts for so long and working so hard to try to rebuild our core services including education, health care, safety nets and assistance for the disabled and seniors. Only when Premier Klein resigned did he admit that his government never had a plan for after the cuts!
After 15 consecutive years of multi-billion dollar surpluses, in less than 12 months we have gone to a multi-billion dollar deficit. Obviously there still is no plan. Health care professionals face a hiring freeze and forced gag order, school boards are having reserves resulting from prudent planning and spending clawed back and face budgets cut, rental supplement programs are broke, putting thousands on waiting lists, and seniors are being asked to bear the brunt of many cuts. Home foreclosures have more than doubled in just two years, we have a 102% increase in bankruptcies and the highest unemployment rates in 13 years.
A cursory look into the mismanagement of our tax dollars by this government reveals the following:
1) $10,000,000 Branding the Province
2) $25,000,000 ‘Greenwashing’ Environmental Reputation Internationally
3) $2,100,000 International Travel
4) $35,000,000 Horse Racing
5) $40,000,000 Senior Management Bonuses
6) $42,000,000 Health Board Severance Packages & Pensions
7) $70,000,000 Information Technology
8) $38,000,000 Cost to Form New Health Superboard
9) $222,000,000 Addition to the Peter Lougheed Hospital that is unstaffed, resulting in no new beds
10) $200,000,000 Mazinkowski Heart Institute that still does not have functioning Operating Rooms (Grand Opening was May 1, 2008 though no patients were moved there until this summer)
11) $2,500,000,000 Obligations under P3 contracts
Grand Total: $3,181,100,000!
A “Value for Dollar Audit” must be implemented for all new spending immediately, and for all current programs as quickly as possible. With infrastructure spending there must be provision for sustainable operational funding.
Please contact me with your ideas or concerns. The legislature resumes later this month and I will bring your voice to the assembly.
 Calgary Herald Richard Cuthbertson Thursday, September 02, 2010 | Calgary kids are back to class with nine new schools
The day Stacey Czerpuryk and her husband decided to put an offer on a home that would see them move away from Cranston, a new school announcement changed everything.
So important was it for them to have their eldest son attend a school near his home, they were prepared to uproot and move from their southeast neighbourhood. Instead, six-year-old Ethan will today join 670 other children at Christ the King Catholic School in Cranston. It's the first day students will be welcomed to class at the facility, one that staff and parents believe will become a community centrepiece. "It was a huge . . .
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