Accountability
Mandate letters are incredibly valuable instruments giving interested members of the public and policy analysts a more informed view of what cabinet ministers and their senior officials are expected to do. The degree of transparency and accountability that goes with it give the Premier (and the public) a ready way to assess performance of ministers and their departments. Whether the policy initiatives cited in these letters correspond to what the public thought they were going to get is, of course, another matter. For instance, the Alberta Revenue Agency and the resurrection of the Alberta Pension Plan and Health Spending Accounts were non-issues during the campaign for the UCP at least.
In this post, I explore the mandates for the ministries of Education, Environment and Protected Areas, and Health. Education and Health spending constitute 58.5 per cent per cent of total operating spending. While Environment and Parks is a relatively small spender, it punches about its policy weight because the ministry has to work closely with Energy and Minerals to hone the propaganda that Alberta’s oil, gas and bitumen production is environmentally responsible.
Education
Minister of Education Demetri Nicolaides’ mandate letter begins with the contestable claim that while “Alberta’s economy is creating “tens of thousands of jobs in the modern economy, yet we are not doing enough to encourage Alberta students to pursue career paths with the most plentiful and lucrative employment opportunities” (emphasis added). The solution to the labour shortage is “greater choice in education,” meaning more charter schools which will allow parents “more input into school policies and learning options.”.
Key initiatives include:
More funding for CAREERS in association with Advanced Education to increase off-campus programs or paid internships;
- Bring more collegiate schools online- this are profit-oriented- to “create pathways for students to post-secondary or their chosen fields in the workforce;”
- Explore an apprenticeship system like the Germanic model for vocational trades;
- Ensure Alberta’s education funding model continues to promote parental choice in education;
- Recommend expedited teaching certificate to fast-track instructors of skilled trades and other professions into teaching positions in junior high and high schools;
- Evaluate, if needed, expanding supports for qualified professionals, such as speech language pathologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and psychologists” (emphasis added);
- Reviewing and strengthening Program Unit Funding (PUF) to ensure programming and funding are addressing the educational needs of children with severe disabilities or delay.
- Working with Seniors, Community and Social Services to invest $5 million to improve testing and educational supports for children with complex needs including children with autism.
Many of these mandates are laudable and forward looking especially with respect PUF, help for autism, and expansion, if needed, of the role of various professionals in the school system.
Still, one is left with the impression that education is only good or “world class” unless it prepares students for a role as corporate industrial tools to support further Alberta’s fossil fuel economy. The skills of citizenship, creativity, or critical thinking are nowhere to be found. Rather the fast-tracking of instructors in “vocational trades and other professions” is precisely what business groups want. Whether these vocational skills are really preparing Alberta youth for the new digital economy and a world less reliant on fossil fuel, is quite another matter.
The other pillar of the UCP education system is the placement of parents’ view sof education ahead of student needs. This portends the threat of book banning, greater oversight of teacher’s independence in the classroom, and parental oversight of sex education curriculum.
Curriculum development is relatively underplayed with Nicolaides encouraged to work collaboratively with “parents, teachers, and stakeholders (presumably business) to implement the K-12 curriculum.” Basic life and home maintenance skills and financial literacy are a much-needed tweak to the curriculum. I believe the Premier understands the need to work with the Alberta Teachers’ Association to get some buy-in for new curriculum education. The proof will be whether age inappropriate curriculum or teaching of Canada’s history as pleasant cooperation of First Nations and settlers “united to tame an unforgiving frontier” finds its way back into the classroom.
Environment and Protected Areas
Rebecca Schultz’s frame of reference is given by Smith with the following familiar claim-
Alberta is the most responsible energy producer and exporter on Earth. Our industry and government spend billions annually on pioneering and commercializing technologies that are turning our massive oil and gas reserves into a long-term, environmentally sustainable and responsible source of energy for the world.
This preamble is followed by the claim that Alberta has the potential to “provide the world with technology and energy-development policies” to make “meaningful emissions reductions” (not defined) while maintaining the holy trinity of “global energy security, affordability and economic growth.”
Much of the work of the Environment minister will be in coordination with the Energy department to develop regulatory frameworks for “small modular reactor technology” (note the omission of the word nuclear). Grotesquely, the environment minister is also expected to work with Intergovernmental Relations (namely the Premier) to defend “Alberta’s energy interests against federal overreach and developing strategic alliances with other provinces to deal with environment-related issues.” Why defending Alberta’s energy interest is within the purview of the environment ministry is a head scratcher.
In another bizarre twist, the department is the lead department, with Energy, to lead the streamlining of current reclamation certificate issuance as well reclamation requirements for new and emerging sources. (The new and emerging sources presumably include carbon sequestration and hydrogen.) Meanwhile to assuage those who think the Environment department does little to improve the province’s air and water, Schultz will work “collaboratively” with the federal government, First Nations and industry to develop and implement an accelerated strategy for oil sands mine water management and tailings pond reclamation.” The tactic appears to be a feeble response to the appalling treatment of First Nations by Imperial Oil and the Alberta Energy Regulator concerning toxic tailings leaks in Kearl Lake. In this case, Alberta appears not to want complete control over environmental regulation of oil sands -a most surprising reversal from usual practice. Perhaps this will give Alberta cover to claim the demands of First Nations and Ottawa are “unreasonable” or “impractical”- code for a shut down Alberta’s industry.. Speculatively, perhaps this is an audacious way to apportion future blame to the federal government when tailings ponds burst into the Athabasca River- after all is Ottawa responsible for navigable waters!
The only really research mandate for the department is calculating Alberta’s “carbon sink capacity to establish a true understanding of Alberta’s position in relation to carbon neutrality” (emphasis added). Another head scratcher is to promote “Alberta’s leading-edge regulatory and cumulative effects management systems, including climate and environmental policies for air, land, water, biodiversity and waste.” This ludicrous claim is belied by hundreds of examples of regulatory failure, corruption at the Alberta Regulator (AER- the ICore project), and continuing reporting on how the AER is promoting the industry’s interests while ignoring the public interest.
Reading this mandate letter, one is struck by how language evolves to fit a certain frame of reference. So long as Alberta is the most environmentally responsible producer and regulator, no questions need be asked about what IS happening to Alberta’s environment. In this world, the Environment department doesn’t do monitoring. Monitoring is not even mentioned once in the letter. In this world, the Environment Minister and her department are expected to defend and promote Alberta’s energy interests.
Health
Adriana LaGrange, re-elected in her riding of Red Deer North, was Jason Kenney’s Education minister. LaGrange’s education stint was challenging with Gender Support Alliances, curriculum re-write, and calls on COVID protections in classrooms. Health is the most challenging of all government “service departments.” On health policy, everyone who is interested has a diagnosis of the “problem” and the suggested “solution.” There remains a stark division between those who say money is not the problem and those who maintain that money is the solution.
After the usual preamble, the global importance of health care is solidly conveyed to LaGrange- “A primary focus of our government over the next four years will be to ensure Albertans have improved access to world-class health care when and where they need it.” She is urged to “demonstrate” creativity, responsiveness to public concerns, and a willing to reform the “management and structure of Alberta Health Services to better decentralize decision-making and resources to the front lines and local communities.”
The latter has thrown the cat among the pigeons as they say. While Postmedia contended that Smith was moving her views to the centre, her disdain of Alberta Health Services (AHS) runs deep. Most observers believe that centralization, while painful, has been a positive for Alberta and important in addressing COVID demands. What seems to be driving the hate are cases- (not quantified) of simple local needs- like staplers- tied up in red tape. How widespread these examples are is unclear. We now are witnessing is a continuing tug on the health care system by Smith, LaGrange and Dr. John Cowell- the triumvirate of decision-makers on whose fates of 100,000 workers and millions of lives depend.
The mandate lists some issues that need to be addressed which Smith, to her credit, heard about during the election campaign (the same could be said in education as well). Special “investments” include: Alberta Newborn Screening Program; obstetricians in Lethbridge and Fort McMurray; midwifery strategy; and women’s health.
But there are urgent matters that LaGrange must attend to including unacceptable lab services delays; emergency medical response times, back-logs, and waiting times; and Alberta’s EMS service all delivered or supervised by AHS. Less immediate but very important is “Supporting primary care as the foundation of our health care system by assessing alternative models of care and leveraging all health care professionals.” Primary care is, or should be, the foundation of medical care. However, a large portion of the population in Alberta’s (and in many other provinces) access to a community doctor, typically a General Practitioner or Nurse Practitioner, is unavailable to a large minority of the population.
While this group forms the foundation of the system, many ambitious and talented medical graduates seek out more specialized practice in tertiary settings whose fees happen to be the most lucrative on the fee schedule. Conflicts inside the medical profession have complicated the picture and master agreements on fee schedules are fraught with disparities regarding the amount of time to do one procedure versus another and the skill to accomplish that procedure. The high paid professionals either work at extending life (cardiology, neurology, oncology) or offer highly specialized services for parts of the body (ophthalmologist, dermatologists) that are important to one’s well-being. These specialists earn a higher salary than GPs– long hours though- while GPs are lower paid and also work very long hours. This is an obvious challenge and is addressed in the mandate letter.
Providing better care to seniors is another goal of the new government with a focus on adding continuing care “congregate” spaces as well as supports to help seniors remain in their homes.
Playing to the party’s rural base and concerns around health care access, LaGrange is tasked to recruit more health care professions. This initiative is part of a broader effort to attract and retain more health care workers, something that every developed country is trying to do.
Another real problem in the health care system is the management of information. An independent review of IT system’s effectiveness will inform recommendations for improvement. This action is long overdue but has been an issue hampering delivery of health care for at least a decade.
Astonishingly, the health spending account, apparently dismissed during the election, makes a comeback.
“Working with the Minister of Technology and Innovation, who is lead, to explore the feasibility of creating an Alberta health spending account to support improved health outcomes for Albertans.”
In summary then, Alberta’s health system will undergo seismic changes including the goal to decentralize and restore some semblance of local decision-making. While this proceeds, the Ministry will oversee a massive hiring campaign., which includes, with the Minister of Advanced Education, streamlining the” automated credentialing for front-line health care workers, doctors, nurses, and paramedics.” The challenge however is Alberta’s growing reputation among medical professionals that Alberta is not a good location to practice their professions. Much of this evidence is anecdotal but over the past several years, the entry of professionals has slowed and residency positions in Alberta remain unfilled. Absent is any explicit reference to contracting out but various studies done or being done could make recommendations in this regard.