Yesterday, Travis Toews, president of the Alberta Treasury Board and the minister of finance, recommended to the lieutenant governor that he be authorized to do the following:
Author: Kim Siever
I live in Lethbridge with my spouse and 5 of our 6 children. I’m a writer, focusing on social issues and the occasional poem. My politics are radically left. I recently finished writing a book debunking several capitalism myths. My newest book writing project is on the labour history of Lethbridge.
I’m also dichotomally Mormon. And I’m a functional vegetarian: I have a blog post about that somewhere around here. My pronouns are he/him.
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Why companies should pay more taxes
Some people don’t like it when you tell them that businesses should pay more taxes. They claim that high taxes stifle business, which in turn prevents job creation.
By now, you’ve probably heard that workers at the Cargill meat plant in High River recently tested positive for COVID-19.
While there were only 38 cases connected with the plant on 13 April, just a week later, that number had climbed to 515, including households. A telephone town hall over the weekend identified 360 cases that were directly connected to Cargill workers, and yesterday’s COVID-19 pandemic update had it at 401.
Cargill had claimed, as of Sunday, that they’re implementing several measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
- Checking temperature of staff when they arrive for work
- Handing out face masks to all workers
- Enhancing cleaning and sanitizing practices
- Staggering shift breaks
- Providing shift flexibility
- Prohibiting visitors at the plant
- Increasing distance between workers
- Installing screening between individual workstations
In addition, Cargill—along with Alberta Health Services—have encouraged workers to limit carpooling, citing that household transmission and carpooling have been connected to the outbreak.
This is problematic.
Highlighting carpooling like this is a way for Cargill, in partnership with Alberta Health Services, to move blame for the outbreak away from the company and onto the workers.
Why, for example, are they increasing distancing between workers now? Does that mean they weren’t far enough apart before?
On 28 March, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the chief medical officer of health, advised Albertans to stay two metres apart at all times. A little over a week later, she recommended that those who can’t keep two metres apart from others should wear face masks.
The fact that Cargill decided to increase distance between workers, install screening between workstations, and provide face masks shows that workers were too close together during shifts.
According to the CBC, one worker claimed that “everybody’s too close and standing.” Another said that “the number of workers in my line, we were in full force. Elbow to elbow.”
Or why is Cargill only now increasing sanitation efforts? It’s a meat processing plant. Surely they should’ve already had strict, comprehensive sanitation practices in place.
Three weeks have passed since the two-metre recommendation were established by the province, yet Cargill has only just started increasing workstation distancing and sanitation measures.
One worker started exhibiting symptoms on 7 April. It didn’t take long before others did as well. After all, it can take up to two weeks for symptoms to emerge, during which time, you can be contagious. And within 6 days, there were 38 cases confirmed by the workers’ union.
The day before, over 250 residents called for the plant to be closed for two weeks to help prevent the spread of the virus. The residents were either Cargill workers or their families, and they were afraid the virus would infect other workers. The union joined in with the closure call the next day.
Four days later, the number of cases directly connected to Cargill workers was at 200, with 158 others connected to the workers. Out of those 158 infected, 3 of them were married to Cargill workers and work for Seasons Retirement Communities, which operates a continuing care facility in town.
As noted above, the number of cases was at 401 yesterday, In 14 days, Cargill went from one possible case to over 400 confirmed cases—all workers.
Cargill’s workplace practices are partly to blame. Their more than 2,000 workers worked too closely together. They had no masks. Clearly, sanitation practices didn’t prevent the spread.
But that’s only part of it.
Workers who had tested positive for the virus felt pressure to not isolate for two weeks, that Cargill supervisors were trying to skirt Alberta Health restrictions and bring workers into work. Workers were told that—even if they had tested positive—they could come to work if they showed no symptoms.
The company also provided bonuses during the outbreak, which increased the pressure that isolating workers felt to come back to work.
Cargill was never committed to reducing the introduction—let alone the spread—of COVID-19. Their workstation practices showed that. Their sanitation practices showed that. Their lack of respect for Dr. Hinshaw’s distancing and isolation recommendations showed that.
They weren’t committed to preventing viral spread because they weren’t concerned about workers. They’re concerned about production.
Cargill’s High River plant processes over 4,500 cows every day. That’s 2.25 cows per employee. If 400 employees are self isolating, that number increases to 2.81 cows per employee. Assuming, of course, that all 2,000 employees work every day, which obviously isn’t the case.
Their meat isn’t just shipped local. It also goes into the States. There’s pressure to get that meat out the door and across the line. Pressure from CFIA’s limited inspection hours. Pressure from clients. Pressure from head office in Minnesota. Pressure from the C-suite executives who saw the company hit $2.82 billion in profit in 2019, but which was down 12% over 2018. They don’t want 2020 to drop, too. Especially with fewer restaurants buying meat.
This past Monday—nearly 2 weeks after the first worker started showing symptoms and a full week after High River residents demanded the plant shut down—Cargill announced they were temporarily ceasing operations.
UFCW 401, which represents the workers, is glad the plant is shut down. It’ll help prevent the spread from worsening, and it’ll allow the company to thoroughly clean the plant.
But worries about profit-driven exploitation of labour value have now been replaced with worries about worker pay. The company has been silent on whether they’ll be paying their workers during the shut down.
After all, if they’re paying employees while those employees aren’t producing revenue, it’s going to be tough to top $2.82 in profits this year.
And to be clear, this isn’t just a problem with Cargill, who also shut down their Pennsylvania plant. JBS has 67 confirmed cases at their meat packing plant in Brooks, and they’ve shut down plants in Pennsylvania and Colorado. National Beef Packing Co. cancelled operations at their Iowa plant. Smithfield Foods closed their South Dakota plant. United Poultry has 27 confirmed cases at their meat processing facility in Vancouver.
This is bigger than just carpooling.
As part of their efforts to balance the budget in time for the next election year, especially after cutting corporate income taxes, the UCP government cut over $6 billion from health care funding.
As well, Tyler Shandro, the health minister, refused to negotiate with the Alberta Medical Association to develop a new contract with doctors in the province. Then he unilaterally cancelled their contract and all negotiations, forcing them to take significant wage cuts.
And now the AMA is suing the government.
However, not all doctors are responding to the disrespect with a lawsuit. Some are reducing the services they provide. Some are even leaving Alberta entirely.
According to the AMA, 400 clinics in Alberta are laying off support staff or considering closing. Here are some of them.
Bragg Creek
At least 1 doctor in Bragg Creek is closing her practice. She will be leaving the province, citing a lack of feeling valued and supported by the government.
Calgary
In a letter to the health minister, 85 emergency room doctors in Calgary expressed concern about the effect clinic closures will have on demand in their ERs.
Canmore
A doctor in Canmore announced that she was relocating her medical practice to Calgary. She claimed fee cuts could run as high as 40% for some doctors in Alberta, which made it hard for her to manage her high overhead and deal with recruitment challenges.
Cochrane
One clinic in Cochrane is closing down. At least one doctor from that clinic may be leaving the province, and the others will work out o other clinics in the short term.
Cold Lake
Three doctors in Cold Lake will be leaving Alberta by the end of 2020.
Crowsnest Pass
Crowsnest Pass apparently lost 4 doctors.
Edmonton
A surgeon and his colleagues in Edmonton will be shutting down the clinic they run at Grey Nuns Community Hospital.
A paediatric clinic in Edmonton claims that newly introduced patient caps means that they will need to send some patients to the emergency room—instead of the clinic—for service.
Fort McMurray
A family physician in Fort McMurray is reviewing recruitment materials from other provinces.
Lac La Biche
In Lac La Biche, 10 of the 11 doctors there filed a letter of resignation with provincial and local healthcare officials saying that they wouldn’t be practicing at the local hospital after 31 July 2020. One of the doctors is the hospital’s chief of staff and managing doctor. They cited government funding changes as the cause for their resignation, saying that the cuts amount to eliminating a third of their salary.
Lacombe
A rural family practice in Lacombe laid off 13 employees, citing government cuts to health care. This clinic had a partner resign, and lost two locums who were going to fill in for sabbaticals next year. The locums, recent Alberta residency grads, have decided to move to BC instead.
Lethbridge
In a letter to the health minister, 22 emergency room doctors in Lethbridge expressed concern about the effect clinic closures will have on demand in their ERs. After-hours walk-in clinics in Lethbridge have closed.
In another letter to the health minister, 4 palliative care physicians in Lethbridge wrote that recent cuts will hinder their ability to travel to rural communities and will limit home visits.
Medicine Hat
A maternity clinic may lose some of their 10 physicians. They cite fee changes as the reason they’re considering not practising at this clinic anymore.
In a letter to the health minister, 22 emergency room doctors in Medicine Hat expressed concern about the effect clinic closures will have on demand in their ERs.
In another letter to the health minister, 8 palliative care physicians in Medicine Hat wrote that recent cuts will hinder their ability to travel to rural communities and will limit home visits.
Okotoks
A family physician left Okotoks, citing unsustainable overhead costs . Two others are considering leaving Alberta.
An oby/gyn in Okotoks started the process to relicense in British Columbia as an exit strategy for leaving Alberta.
Peace River
A clinic in Peace River has stopped providing family medicine. The other clinic in the town has a waiting list of over 800 patients.
Pincher Creek
The Associate Clinic in Pincher Creek announced that 9 doctors there were discontinuing hospital-based services as of July.
Ponoka
A doctor at the Battle River Medical Clinic in Ponoka announced yesterday that she’s leaving her practice at the end of June. She didn’t cite the recent cuts as the reason for her leaving—saying that “an opportunity came up to do this training and the timing felt right”—however, she was one of hundreds of doctors last month who signed a letter asking for Jason Kenney to reverse funding cuts.
Red Deer
A Red Deer doctor is leaving his practice to work in British Columbia. He also cited the provincial cuts.
A Red Deer surgeon is moving to British Columbia.
Rimbey
In Rimbey, 2 of the 6 doctors there announced that they plan to leave the province once the COVID-19 pandemic is over. One of the doctors said the last straw was the cuts to after-hours hospital fees. Previously, he was paid $38.03 for each of the 20–30 patients he saw during a 24-hour shift. That works out to about $31.69 an hour. The new fees are $31 per patient, which works out to about $25.83 an hour. He also cites reduction in insurance reimbursements as a reason for leaving, which used to cover most of the more than $8,000 he had to pay annually. The other doctor, who was trying to build up her clinic into a full scope rural practice, cited the changes to the complex modifier, which allowed doctors to spend more time with patients in an effort to adequately address their health challenges, particularly if they had multiple issues concurrently. Three other Rimbey doctors are considering leaving.
Rocky Mountain House
Rocky Medical Clinic will require patients with multiple issues to come in for multiple appointments, due to changes to complex patient changes. This clinic is short 4 family physicians, but that number will increase to 6 by the end of the year due to retirements; one of those retirements is a direct response to the government budget cuts.
As well, 7 physicians at Rocky Medical Clinic have given their notice to Alberta Health Services that after 90 days, they will no longer be working at the hospital.
St. Paul
Some doctors in St. Paul plan to pull out of emergency room service, and some clinics will close.
Stettler
Stettler saw 7 physicians there, who work at two clinics in town—Stettler Medical Clinic and Heartland Medical Clinic—say that because of the government cuts, they could no longer afford to practice in the emergency room at the local hospital. There are only 10 physicians in the town.
Sundre
Because of the changes to insurance I covered above, none of the physicians practicing in Sundre are insured for obstetrical services a Sundre Hospital. A family medicine resident from the University of Alberta, who was supposed to train in Sundre has to look for other options because of the closure of services.
Eight doctors at the Moose & Squirrel Medical Clinic in Sundre cancelled not only obstetrical services but also acute care and emergency department services at the Sundre hospital.
Three Hills
A family doctor at the Kneehill Medical Clinic in Three Hills is closing his practice at the end of June.
Westlock
At least 1 doctor has withdrawn his privileges from the Westlock Hospital and went on to imply that they might be leaving Alberta, as well.
In addition to all the vacancies these closings will create, for the first time in Alberta’s history, it has over 20 residency positions open.
Finally, the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association tweeted out a press release yesterday, saying that out of 300 rural doctors recently surveyed, 47% said that they’ve “been forced to decrease their hospital-based services by July”, with more indicating they’d likely need to do so beyond July.
On 11 April 2020, the Government of Alberta announced that they’d be sending 4.5 million procedural masks, 750,000 N95 masks, 30 million gloves, 87,000 goggles, and 50 ventilators to BC, Ontario, and Québec.
Less than a week later, a Reddit user going by the name of MutantProgress shared a screenshot of a message from a healthcare worker regarding masks that workers at their hospital in Calgary are being asked to wear.
The City of Lethbridge recently published travel expenses for the mayor and city councillors. I decided to collect and graph the data since 2017, when the current city council was put in place.
Earlier this week, the provincial government announced new appointments to the board of directors for the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation:
Last month, the Lethbridge Herald, ran a letter to the editor, titled “Bill C-8 will limit help for children with gender issues”. It was written by Sascha Kramps, coordinator of community services at Edenbridge Family Services.
Earlier this week, Devin Dreeshen, minster of agriculture and forestry, announced that the province will spend $5 million to hire 200 firefighters this wildfire season.
As you know, the Alberta government promised to spend $1.5 billion on shares in TC Energy, the company that’s building the Keystone XL pipeline, even though the company made $32 million off the corporate tax cut last year and whose 2019 profits were $4 billion.
But did you know that’s not the only oil and gas project that the UCP government plans to spend over a billion dollars on?