By Jackie Lovely
MLA Camrose
This past week, our United Conservative government continued to move Alberta forward by addressing critical issues like provincial rights, affordable housing, health care, and infrastructure.
On Monday, Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver slammed the Trudeau Liberals for side-stepping our provincial government and cutting deals directly with municipalities. Minister McIver was clear that he intends to protect Alberta’s constitutional right to oversee the governance of Alberta’s municipalities.
This was followed by Leduc-Beaumont MLA Brandon Lunty introducing private members’ Bill 204, the Municipal Government (National Urban Parks) Amendment Act, to protect and defend Albertans’ interests when it comes to the creation and development of National Urban Parks in their communities.
Later in the week, Transportation and Economic Corridors Minister Devin Dreeshen announced that, in response to the concerns and frustrations of many Alberta drivers, our government will ban the use of photo radar on ring roads in Calgary and Edmonton, starting Dec. 1. Further, we will be engaging with municipalities and law enforcement over the next year on removing all “fishing hole” locations across the province.
Albertans can be confident that going forward, photo radar will only be used to improve traffic safety, not generate revenue.
Last but certainly not least, Health Minister Adriana LaGrange announced this past week that Alberta will soon allow nurse practitioners to open their own independent clinics.
This move will give Albertans greater access to regular primary care providers and comes in response to concerns we have heard from Albertans who cannot find a regular doctor. With this issue top of mind, we will continue to support and stabilize primary health care across the province by enabling nurse practitioners to open their own clinics, take on patients, and offer services based on their scope of practice, training, and expertise.
With nurse practitioners typically able to provide about 80 per cent of the medical services a family physician provides, we are confident that this new model will add much-needed capacity and significantly improve access to skilled primary care providers.
Unlike the NDP — who just threw more and more money at Alberta’s health care issues, and who watched as wait times increased and issues worsened — Premier Danielle Smith, Minister LaGrange, and our entire United Conservative team are working tirelessly to fix the issues that have hindered our health care system for years.
We won’t kick the can down the road on fixing these problems. We understand the importance of fixing Alberta’s health care system right now. And, we are starting to see positive results.
According to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, our province has 348 more doctors working in our province today than we did last quarter. I look forward to seeing this positive trend continue.
As we enter the fifth week of the legislative session, Premier Smith and our entire United Conservative team remain focused and committed to listening and responding to the needs of Albertans.
~Jackie Lovely is the MLA for the Camrose region. She can be reached at her constituency office by phone at 780-672-0000, or by email at Camrose@assembly.ab.ca.