The Alberta Medical Association announced today<\/a> that they\u2019re suing Tyler Shandro, the Alberta Minister of Health, for over $255 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n In a statement on the AMA website, Christine Molnar, AMA president, said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you told me a year ago that I would serve the Minister of Health with a Statement of Claim for a constitutional challenge, in the midst of the worst public health crisis in a century, I would have been incredulous. Yet, that is what happened this morning.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n This court challenge comes after months of the AMA attempting to negotiate a new contract with Albert Health. Since 1986, the AMA has been the exclusive representatives of physicians in the province in negotiations with the minister of health, a position that was written into law on 11 December 2018, with the passing of Bill 24, \u201cAn Act to Recognize AMA Representation Rights\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The AMA\u2019s most recent agreement with the province was set to expire 31 March 2018, but was extended in 2018<\/a>, with a new expiration of 31 March 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a timeline of the negotiation process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 3 September 2019, Shandro notified AMA of an intent to negotiate<\/strong> a new contract. The AMA responded on 25 September to the deputy minister, confirming their agreement to begin discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prior to negotiation, Shandro introduced Bill 21<\/strong>, the \u201cEnsuring Fiscal Sustainability Act, 2019\u201d for first reading on 28 October 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This bill addressed issues related to physician resource panning, but it also proposed changes to the Alberta Health Care Insurance Act<\/em>, including the ability of the minister to terminate any agreement<\/strong> with the AMA. Any such terminations would apply to any related dispute resolution process and would void all rights, privileges, obligations, and interests that had arisen from that agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Actual negotiations began on 13 November<\/strong> and continued into 2020. Here are some of the positions Alberta Health took during these negotiations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The AMA responded by maintaining that all items put forward by either the AMA or Alberta Health were negotiable, and in that vein provided responses to the above proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bill 21 received royal assent<\/strong> on 5 December, while negotiations were still underway. The bill granted power to the minister to terminate agreements right as the AMA and Alberta Health were negotiating an agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 23 January 2020, after negotiations failed to establish an agreement\u2014even after AMA extended the negotiation period\u2014both parties agreed to seek mediation<\/strong>, which began on 31 January. This pushed the negotiation expiry date to 29 February from 11 February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alberta Health notified AMA on 14 February that they would no longer bring forward proposals, effectively ending 3 weeks of mediation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just 6 days later, Shandro terminated the AMA agreement<\/strong> (using the authority granted to him through the passing of Bill 21) effective 1 April 2020. He never communicated that termination to the AMA; they discovered it through reading it in news coverage the following day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the now-terminated agreement, the AMA would\u2019ve been entitled to seek arbitration, effective 29 February, just 9 days after Shandro cancelled the contract. And that\u2019s after the AMA had moved the date to file for arbitration from its original date of 11 February<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The AMA is suing the minster of health because it believes the government has infringed on rights granted to their members by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms<\/em>, specifically Section 2(d)<\/a>: freedom of association<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The AMA\u2019s statement of claim<\/a>, filed through Patrick Nugent<\/a> of Nugent Law Office, interprets Section 2(d) as guaranteeing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n the right of individuals to act in common to counteract the power of governments and employers, and to enable individuals to achieve shared goals related to workplace issues and conditions. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n They go on to say that this freedom includes 3 rights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The AMA claim that Shandro breached their freedom of association through at least 9 ways<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The AMA claims that these violations of Charter freedoms also breach Section 1(e) of the Alberta Bill of Rights<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The statement of claim lists 11 remedies that the AMA seeks from the health minister:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shandro has 20 days to respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNegotiation timeline<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
September 2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
October 2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
November 2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
December 2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
January 2020<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
February 2020<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The constitutional challenge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What AMA wants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n