For immediate release: Wednesday, June 23, 2004

EDMONTON — The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees supports the province’s idea of spending significant amounts on health care operating costs and health capital projects, says the union’s president.

However, Dan MacLennan said immediately after Health Minister Gary Mar’s news conference this morning, the details have not been revealed, and hints remain that the government is considering so-called public-private partnerships, or P3s, which amount to inefficient corporate subsidies.

“We are heartened by the government’s statement it is prepared to spend money to improve Alberta’s public health system,” MacLennan said. “But there’s nothing here that clearly prevents privatization or contracting out.

“We are worried by talk of ‘innovative models’ and ‘new revenue options’ for funding new facilities because this terminology is often code for P3s and other forms of contracting out our members’ jobs and worksites,” he stated.

“All the evidence supports the conclusion that P3s are an inefficient and expensive way to finance public capital projects, especially in health care, and that contracting out jobs dramatically hurts the quality of public health care,” said MacLennan, who attended both Mar’s news conference and Prime Minister Paul Martin’s breakfast meeting and speech in Edmonton this morning.

MacLennan is available to comment on both events for media today — arrangements for an interview can be made by calling MacLennan on his cellular phone, 780-232-8392.

In its news release this morning, the province said it would announce details after Monday’s federal election — and that those details would include “a plan for a dialogue with Albertans on further options to deal with challenges in the province’s health care system.”

MacLennan said that any such dialogue with Alberta’s citizens “must be a true dialogue and not an orchestrated process designed to lead participants to a pre-arranged conclusion.

“There’s no question that virtually all Albertans support a publicly funded system and are completely opposed to privatized health care,” MacLennan said. “That will be the conclusion of any fair open dialogue between the people of Alberta and their government.”

MacLennan said he agreed completely with Mar’s contention that the federal government must do its part to finance public health care.

“The decline in federal funding is a serious problem for public health care in Canada,’ MacLennan said.

“The debate that has arisen during the present federal election campaign has been positive and highlights Albertans’ and Canadians’ concern for accessible, publicly funded and administered health care.”

For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 780-930-3301 or 780-232-8392 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)