ALF V1

Nurses, teachers, health sciences professionals, and public employees urge government to listen to majority of Albertans

Edmonton - Labour leaders are standing up for the majority of Albertans who do not want to see public services cut on March 7.

At a joint press conference on Monday, March 4, at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Edmonton, the presidents of all five public sector unions and the Alberta Federation of Labour will urge Alison Redford to listen to Albertans, most of whom want their public services protected.

When:
10 AM, March 4, 2013

Where:
River Valley Room, Lobby Level
Crowne Plaza Chateau Lacombe Hotel
10111 Bellamy Hill Rd NW, Edmonton

Who:
Canadian Union of Public Employees, Alberta President Marle Roberts
United Nurses of Alberta, President Heather Smith
Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, President Guy Smith
Health Sciences Association of Alberta, President Elisabeth Ballermann
Alberta Teachers' Association, Vice President Mark Ramsankar
Alberta Federation of Labour, President Gil McGowan

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Olav Rokne, AFL Communications Director at 780-289-6528 (cell) or via email [email protected].

2013 Health Spending Accounts ltr from FOIP Exec Council

The Alberta Federation of Labour filed requests for all documents on health spending accounts, dedicated taxes for health care services or other forms of alternative health care payment. Although these requests have uncovered that there are 26 pages dealing with health care taxes, the request was denied because of Alberta’s opaque and regressive Freedom of Information legislation.

Edmonton – The Government of Alberta is talking about health care taxes and health spending accounts, but they aren’t sharing that conversation with Albertans.

The Alberta Federation of Labour filed requests for all documents on health spending accounts, dedicated taxes for health care services or other forms of alternative health care payment. Although these requests have uncovered that there are 26 pages dealing with health care taxes, the request was denied because of Alberta’s opaque and regressive Freedom of Information legislation.

“We asked for these documents in good faith, but the government slammed the door in our face,” Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said. “We know that the highest levels of government are talking about downloading the cost of health care on to the backs of individual Albertans, and we’re given flimsy excuses for why they have to keep their conversation secret.” 

The Finance and Treasury Board denied the request outright. In their rejection letter, the officials said the records “are being withheld in their entirety” because they are advice to officials.

“The right way to make our health care system sustainable is to solve the revenue crisis with royalty and corporate tax changes, not charging ordinary families more for services they need,” McGowan said.

AFL Letters received from FOIP can be found on the following pages:

“Health Spending Accounts Letter from FOIP Exec Council”
“Treasury Answer to HC FOIP”

Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour at 780-218-9888 (cell)
Olav Rokne, AFL Communications Director at 780-289-6528 (cell) or via email [email protected].

2013 Treasury Answer to HC FOIP

The Alberta Federation of Labour filed requests for all documents on health spending accounts, dedicated taxes for health care services or other forms of alternative health care payment. Although these requests have uncovered that there are 26 pages dealing with health care taxes, the request was denied because of Alberta’s opaque and regressive Freedom of Information legislation.

The Finance and Treasury Board denied the request outright. In their rejection letter, the officials said the records “are being withheld in their entirety” because they are advice to officials.

CALGARY - Public sector unions are bracing to fight impending provincial cutbacks driven by a multi-billion dollar cash crunch.

And a prominent economist said Premier Alison Redford's TV address to Albertans Thursday fails to come to grips with a looming budget shortfall larger than the province is letting on.

Even before Redford's speech, the Alberta Federation of Labour was readying a public relations offensive to offer alternatives to slashing spending on crucial programs, said president Gil McGowan.

"The public sector unions have been meeting the past couple of weeks to discuss the implications of the budget and, like a lot of Albertans, we're prepared for the worst," McGowan said Friday.

Alberta's fiscal chickens are coming home to roost after years of tax-slashing for wealthier Albertans and a resource revenue giveaway to a wildly profitable energy industry, he said.

"Our provincial GDP is literally 75% higher than the rest of the country, yet we can no longer afford even to have run-of-the-mill services," said McGowan. "I call it the great Alberta disconnect."

After meeting with Finance Minister Doug Horner last Tuesday, McGowan said it's clear areas like education and health care won't be spared drastic action in the budget expected in March.

"Everything we've heard is suggesting the budget won't be as bad as what we saw in the (Ralph) Klein years, but worse than anything we've seen since," he said.

University of Calgary economist Dr. Jack Mintz said Redford's TV address muddied the fiscal waters, and unmentioned obligations like financing requirements could see a shortfall of $8-$10 billion.

"This government has considerable credibility problems as far as their budget plan," he said.

Even with budget cuts averaging 5% over all departments - or a $2-billion slim-down - an ocean of red ink will remain because the discount on Alberta bitumen will also persist for years, added Mintz.

"If they don't make major cuts this years, the sustainability fund will be depleted and they'll be borrowing because they don't want to take it from the heritage fund," he said.

Educators watched Redford with considerable interest, hoping the province's commitment made to them last year in a three-year funding pact will hold in March, said Calgary public school board vice-chairman Lynn Ferguson.

"We are certainly aware of the economic challenges facing the province," said Ferguson.

"I would hope since education is a consistent priority for Albertans, that value would be reflected even in a difficult budget year."

Sun News, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013
Byline: Bill Kaufmann

A nurse's job is never done - and that means participating in politics and social activism, not just professional nursing - Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan told more than 700 participants at UNA's annual general meeting Thursday.

"In addition to all the important work you do in hospitals, clinics, and long-term care facilities, your union has been on the forefront of the defence of public health care in this province," McGowan said.

Canadian Federation of Nurses' Unions president Linda Silas warned nurses that they need to be part of the discussions about the future of the public health care system.

"Health care is facing a perfect storm because we have an increasing population, a rise of chronic disease and rising demand for public health. On the other hand you have shrinking funds from government," Silas told AGM delegates.

"We have to look beyond acute care and walk the talk about patient-centred and family-centred care," said Silas. "We need to improve primary health care and long-term care to save our health care system."

Both Silas and McGowan spoke about the need for nurses stand together to face attacks by right-wing politicians and lobby groups on working people and labour unions.

"In many ways this is the most significant fight that the labour movement has faced since at least the Second World War," said McGowan, referring to attacks on collective bargaining and pensions.

"Out of many workers, you have a pension that you can be proud of because you helped create it," McGowan said of the Local Authorities Pension Plan, which most Alberta nurses will be able to access upon retirement.

McGowan argued that right-wing politicians and lobby groups are looking to the Tea Party Republicans in the United States for their ideas to transform Canada. "This is something that has been rejected by Canadians and Albertans," said McGowan.

"We have an obligation to say no to the Tea Party agenda and stand up for the Canada we believe in," said McGowan.

UNA Convention Bulletin, Thurs Oct 25 2012

Merit Alberta and the Wildrose Party have filed complaints with government officials claiming that the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) is violating election rules with a province-wide telephone poll.

"AFL President Gil McGowan is leaving robocall messages attacking the health care policies of the Progressive Conservative and Wildrose Alliance parties," said Merit Contractors Association president Stephen Kushner.

"This is clearly political advertising, yet the AFL is not registered as a third party advertiser as required under the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act."

The AFL conducted an automated telephone poll that called about 1.5 million households or every number in the Alberta phone book from April 17-18.

"It wasn't a political advertisement, it was a political poll," said McGowan.

"I find it ironic that the complaint was made by the Wildrose party, which purports to stand for freedom of speech. I guess this only applies to people who want to talk about gays and lesbians falling into a lake of fire, or people who say Caucasians are better suited for leadership positions than people of colour or climate change deniers, but not to medicare."

He was referring to comments made by some Wildrose Party candidates in the lead up to the election.

When someone in a household answered their phone, the automated poll asked them to participate in a political survey or poll.

If the call went to an answering machine, McGowan left a message that said unions have been at the forefront of the fight to build medicare and protect it from those who want privatize it for profit.

"If you care about medicare, Wildrose is not the answer," he said in the message.

"Their spending promises can only be advanced with major cuts to healthcare and education. Please don't support a party that would destroy medicare as we know it."

Both Merit and the Wildrose Party argue that this telephone poll is a form of third party political advertisement, so the AFL should have registered with Elections Alberta. Violators of the law can face fines of up to $100,000 in court.

"This is yet another example of union leaders spending mandatory union dues on advertising and political agendas that are likely not shared by their members at large," said Kushner.

In response to McGowans claims about medicare, the Wildrose Party said it supports the public health care system and has no plans to have it privatized.

According to McGowan, however, Wildrose is committed to using public funds as seed money to facilitate the growth of corporate for-profit care.

Elections Alberta is investigating the provincial telephone calls after receiving numerous complaints.

"We are not the only group out there using this technology, but we are one of the few that make it clear who is doing the phoning," said McGowan. "We wanted to tell people, who is delivering the message and we have nothing to hide."

In 2008, the Progressive Conservative government legislated a gag order to stop organizations such as the AFL — who represent several unions and employee associations — from advertising during a provincial election.

During the 2008 provincial election, the Alberta Building Trades Council and the AFL sponsored a campaign, which questioned the leadership abilities of Progressive Conservative leader Ed Stelmach.

The AFL then launched a second campaign, which sent 130,000 homes direct mail with the message that the Progressive Conservatives lack direction on oil patch development and the environment.

In response, the National Citizens Coalition and Merit Alberta launched a counter attack, which said unions are forcing workers to contribute to political ad campaigns and are using their dues to finance non-workplace activities.

Union leaders did not disclose the cost of their campaign, but is has been reported that the cost was about $2.5 million for prime-time TV spots, full-page newspaper ads and direct mail.

Some Wildrose Party members have been making waves in the lead up to the provincial election.

A year-old blog post recently surfaced from Wildrose candidate Allan Hunsperger, who is running in Edmonton-Southwest. Hunsperger wrote in the blog that gays and lesbians would end up in an eternal lake of fire, if they didn't change their sexual orientation. He also characterized the public education system as godless and criticized the Edmonton Public School Board's policy of protecting sexual minorities from bullying.

Ron Leech, who is running for the Wildrose in Calgary-Greenway, said on a Calgary radio show that he had an advantage in the election race because he is Caucasian.

Journal of Commerce, Mon Apr 23 2012
Byline: Richard Gilbert

Flanked by her team of Progressive Conservative candidates, Premier Alison Redford fired up cheering supporters at rallies in both Edmonton and Calgary Saturday to mark the final push ahead of Election Day on Monday.

A room in Edmonton's Expo Centre was transformed into waves of orange and blue Saturday morning, as roughly 200 supporters hoisted placards in the air and chanted "vote PC, vote PC."

Redford spoke to the crowd with 24 of her candidates lining the stage behind her, all of them clapping and cheering.

"It's fun being in a room like this with all of these people, talking with Albertans, listening to what Albertan's are saying, for me is really energizing - I enjoy it," Redford said Saturday morning in Edmonton.

"It is something that is a tremendous privilege and it's an experience like I've never had before and I have enjoyed every minute of it."

Redford is hoping to spread that PC enthusiasm this weekend, but won't be appealing to NDP or Liberal supporters to back her party to prevent a Wildrose victory.

"I am going to keep doing what we've done because what we're talking about is a positive message for the future of Alberta that we as Progressive Conservatives believe will impact the way people decide to vote on Monday," Redford said. "At the end of the day, it is their choice as to who to vote for on Monday when they go into that ballot box."

"We are going to continue to be positive and constructive and talk about public health care and education and infrastructure and our place in the world and we are very optimistic for Monday."

Even though polls are showing Calgary is coming up Wildrose, Redford doesn't seem concerned about losing representation in the city.

"Certainly, talking to our candidates in Calgary, they are very optimistic. I think we are going to see good representation for us as Progressive Conservatives across the province and we are going to carry on with doing the service that Albertans ask us to do."

But it wasn't all positive for Redford in Calgary. During a photo op at a Sobey's grocery store, she was asked to leave.

On Saturday, Redford also addressed reports that some third party advertisers, like the Alberta Federation of Labour, are being investigated by Elections Alberta.

"I think it's unfortunate — this has been a very heated campaign," she said. "As we move ahead I am sure they will do their job and I would just ask everyone to remember that we need to keep a civilized tone and follow the rules."

Redford and her team will continue to rally the troops in Calgary on Sunday when they stop at several more local campaign offices.

She is also looking forward to spending some time with her daughter, Sarah, ahead of Monday's election, who she says has been a very patient 10-year-old, while she has been away from home travelling around the province for the past 26 days.

Calgary Sun, Sat Apr 21 2012
Byline: Lisa Mrazek

With polls predicting a Wildrose government, several groups went public this week pleading with Albertans for anything but.

The Alberta Federation of Labour called every Albertan with a landline phone over three days earlier this week, conducting a poll or leaving a message on answering machines suggesting that both the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties are wrong on health care.

"Many of you are justifiably angry with the Conservatives, They have brought us bed shortages, doctor intimidation, creeping privatization and a broken long-term care system, but if you care about medicare Wildrose is not the answer," said AFL president Gil McGowan in the message.

The message states the Wildrose intends to create a two-tiered system.

"They are committed to using public funds as seed money to facilitate the growth of corporate for-profit care."

The AFL has been a sharp critic of the ruling Conservatives, but in the recorded message McGowan argued the Wildrose are no better.

"On election day don't forget how badly the Conservatives have handled health care, but please don't support a party that would destroy medicare as we know it."

McGowan said the recorded message was left only when their calls didn't connect with a person. When a person answered the phone they were given a poll on issues around health care and the Wildrose platform.

Wildrose leader Danielle Smith countered the attack and said the party doesn't believe Albertans are concerned about how they receive health care, only how they pay for it.

"We believe that as long as a person doesn't have to pull out their credit card or their chequebook to pay for care that it doesn't matter to them if they go to a hospital or a private clinic to get their treatment."

She said their plan is not privatization and will actually improve the public system.

"Anyone who will go on our website, look at our platform and our wait time guarantee, knows that we are committed to the principles of the Canada Health Act."

McGowan said the recorded message is not a reluctant endorsement of the Conservatives over the Wildrose, but is a rebuke of both right wing parties. He said he wants medicare protected and both parties have worrying records.

"I have no confidence that the Conservatives will do that, based on their track record and based on the roster of people in the party."

He said he is pleased to see Albertans are prepared to change the government, but he doesn't think the Wildrose are offering real change.

"They have finally got up the courage to vote out the Conservative party, but they are putting their hopes on a party that will make a bad situation even worse."

The AFL's move comes as other groups are also calling for an "anybody but Wildrose" movement. A video entitled "I never thought I would vote PC" was posted online and calls for left-wing voters to hold their nose and vote Tory to prevent the Wildrose from forming government.

Smith said voters should look for themselves at her party's platform and decide if it represents them.

"I hope that they will look at our policies and will look at our platform and vote for the party that best represents their views on where Alberta has to go."

She said regardless of the outcome, she expects Monday's vote to create a better legislature that isn't dominated by one party.

Alberta has legislation that requires third party groups to register if they conduct political advertising, but McGowan argued the AFL campaign is in fact a poll and not an advertisement.

"It is a poll and we left a message for those who didn't get the live call."

St. Albert Gazette, Sat Apr 21 2012
Byline: Ryan Tumilty

McGowan urges voters to reject both conservative parties and, instead, support parties that will "go to the wall" to keep Medicare public

Alberta voters are clearly turning away from the Conservatives, but a massive poll conducted for the Alberta Federation of Labour over the past two days shows that most Albertans don't support one of the main platform promises made by the front-running Wildrose party (click here for poll results).

At the heart of Wildrose's so-called Wait Time Guarantee is a promise to use public funds as seed money to facilitate the expansion of corporate, for-profit health care. Wildrose leader Danielle Smith has said that a Wildrose government would consciously and deliberately encourage the development of a parallel, for-profit health-care sector.

She says such a sector will improve health care by introducing more choice and competition – even though experience and research from around the world (and even right here in Alberta) shows that for-profit delivery of health services costs more and delivers lower quality care.

"We were concerned that in all the enthusiasm to get rid of the Conservatives, who clearly have been in power far too long, Albertans haven't been looking closely enough at what the Wildrose has to say about health care. That's why we decided to do the poll," says AFL president Gil McGowan.

"Well over 26,000 Albertans from all over the province responded to the survey, and the vast majority – 57 per cent – told us that they are opposed to using tax dollars to expand profit-driven health care. Only 15 per cent support the Wildrose idea of funding for-profit care with public money. Twenty-eight per cent were undecided. If we look at just those who have made up their minds on this issue, 79 per cent are opposed to public money going to for-profit health care. What the poll shows is that there is no meaningful support for the Wildrose prescription for health care."

In addition to releasing the poll results, McGowan is also circulating an open letter to Albertans, urging them to reject both of Alberta's conservative parties and, instead, vote for parties that actually believe in Medicare and will "go to the wall to defend it."

"The notion that people should vote for the Conservatives to stop the Wildrose and defend Medicare is ludicrous," said McGowan, explaining the rationale for sending the letter.

"This is the party that brought us Bill 11 and the Third Way. More importantly, if the Conservatives lose, as they seem likely to, then the party will almost certainly move to the right to chase the supporters they've lost to the Wildrose. They will also almost certainly turf Alison Redford and replace her with someone much more conservative. Do you really want to rely on someone like Ted Morton to stand up for Medicare when it's under attack? Frankly, that's a nightmare situation. When the fight to preserve Medicare comes, as it almost certainly will with a Wildrose government, then we need parties and MLAs who will stand up to the Wildrose, not join in the carnage."

The AFL's province-wide survey was conducted April 17 and 18 by the firm Public Polling. 26,487 Albertans from all regions completed the questionnaire, meaning the survey has a very small margin of error (plus/minus 0.6 per cent 19 times out of twenty).

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For more information call:

Gil McGowan, President @ (780) 218-9888 (cell)