EDMONTON – Now that it is clear the Alberta Government intends to move ahead with regionalizing the services of the Alberta Mental Health Board, Albertans and AMHB employees need assurances mental health services and working conditions will not suffer, says Alberta Union of Provincial Employees President Dan MacLennan.

AUPE has two major concerns about the government’s decision to strip the AMHB of its powers and move them to the province’s 17 health regions, MacLennan said.

• Albertans need to know how the health minister and 17 health regions will ensure that mental health services will continue to be delivered in a fair and equal manner after regionalization takes place.
• Employees of the Mental Health Board, who are represented by AUPE, need to be confident they will be treated fairly and that their negotiations for a new contract, which have already started, can proceed fairly.

"On the first point, we are very concerned that regionalization of mental health services may result in wide disparities in the quality and level of service between regions," MacLennan said.

"Albertans need to know what the government’s plan is to ensure that these services are the same province-wide, as they are under the auspices of the AMHB.

"We are also uncertain that health regions can be depended upon to put the proper emphasis on mental health services as a stand-alone province-wide board would," he said.

He noted that regionalization of government services in the past in areas such as children’s services has resulted in disparities among regions.

"At the moment it is very unclear how this plan is going to work. I wouldn’t be surprised if government MLAs feel they lack information. Everybody needs and deserves to see a plan that tells us how this is going to happen and how these vital services are going to be assured."

MacLennan also said that the government needs to make sure institutions that treat, diagnose and care for mentally ill people are preserved so that those services continue to be delivered on an equitable basis province-wide. "The alternatives are very troubling, and have serious implications."

On the second point, said MacLennan, it is unsettling to AMHB employees to have their employer undergoing major change at the same time they are negotiating a new collective agreement.

" AUPE and our members who provide mental health care services are very anxious that negotiations move ahead in a way that employees can feel confident they will be treated fairly in whatever system the government puts in place," he concluded.

For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-910-8392 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)

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