Alberta’s provincial government has always taken great pride in standing up to a federal government, but that doesn’t really get what its people need.
This time Alberta's squabble has gone too far.
With the recent announcement by the federal government about a potential national pharmacare program that would cover the cost of drugs like diabetes medication and birth control, the Alberta government revealed that they have no desire to help struggling Albertans with their medication needs.
They’d instead prefer to play politics with people's lives.
This government is so concerned about scoring points against Ottawa, they’d be willing to opt out of a federal program, just because.
The Alberta health minister said Tuesday that the Province wasn’t consulted about the program, and they're concerned about its limited scope. She added Alberta already has a “robust” pharmacare program through Alberta Blue Cross, which is in no way free and a long way from the proposed federal plan.
Oh, the Province will accept the money from the federal government for Alberta's own program, which may or may not cover diabetes medication and/ or birth control.
Of all the reasons to opt out of a program of this nature, saying Alberta already has something like pharmacare, and saying the proposed federal program isn’t robust enough, is the most shortsighted kind of stick-it-to-Ottawa decision the Smith government has concocted yet.
There is no legitimate excuse for choosing to not be a part of a program that would allow women and diabetes’ patients access to these types of medications–unless you value scoring political points over Albertans’ health.
How can this government possibly look at themselves in the mirror and say they are trying to make life better for Albertans?
In this case, they can’t.
