Danielle Smith’s News Conference Disrupted by Activists
Three individuals disrupted a news conference being held as part of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s reelection campaign, with one man storming the stage.
In a statement issued following the press conference, the UCP alleged “radical activists” affiliated with the NDP and the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) had been identified as former federal Calgary NDP candidate Patrick King and AFL activist Aaron Doncaster.
The UCP also alleged the location of the announcement was released on Twitter earlier in the day by NDP Leader Rachel Notley and her party in a tweet that has now been deleted.
“Elections are about ideas, not physical intimidation and violence,” said Joseph Schow, UCP candidate for Cardston-Siksika. “We call on the NDP and their union activists to ensure a safe and orderly campaign, so nobody gets hurt.”
The NDP issued a statement following the disruption on May 11. “Elections are about talking to voters. What happened today during a press conference with Danielle Smith was unacceptable and we strongly condemn the actions taken by the protesters involved,” said the party.
Disruption
Pamela Rath, a UCP candidate for Calgary Mountain View, was speaking at the podium of a south Calgary hotel on May 11, when noise can be heard off-camera. A man shouts, “Hospitals are not for sale.” Some of the other words are not distinguishable.
A man with a sign pushes past staffers and an Emergency Protection Unit officer and rushed the stage. He then refused to leave, standing beside the podium with a sign that said, “SHC, like new, modern appliances for sale.”
“We will not sell our arms and legs for hospitals. Hospitals should be public,” the man can be heard saying.
Security can be seen escorting the premier from the room, while Rath and Rajan Sawney, a UCP candidate for Calgary North West, remain to the side of the podium. A man and woman shouting on the sidelines are seen holding for sale signs while being held back by others. Smith remains in an adjacent room and calmly tells her staff the press conference will resume when the disruption is finished.
The protestors were told to leave. The news conference continued and Rath completed her speech on new affordability measures for seniors.
Smith invited questions and reiterated previous UCP campaign pledges that “no one will ever pay out of pocket for a family doctor or for hospital services.”
Smith said the protesters and the opposition party were misrepresenting the UCP’s position on health care to “terrify people.”
She said that the UCP government has used chartered surgical centres, run by doctors and paid for by the government, to clear a backlog of patients waiting longer than medically recommended for treatment.
Smith said that by this time next year, the wait list will be “completely eliminated and we will be the first province in the country to do so. We do not want to disrupt that process.”
The premier said no hospitals under the umbrella of Alberta Health Services will be privatized, but a reelected UCP government would continue to contract out surgeries, fully paying for them “where it makes sense.”
Health Care
The health care controversy arose after the Alberta NDP and Notley released a video on March 10 of Smith speaking on ideas to reform the health care system at a conference in October 2021.
Notley said that Smith wanted to “sell off our hospitals” on May 10 as she shared an NDP announcement of a “newly discovered video.”
“She cannot be trusted with your public healthcare,” said Notley.
The video in question is a small clip from Smith’s one-hour thirty-minute speech at a FreedomTalk conference, which discussed among other things the various metrics Alberta Health Services (AHS), a registered charity, is supposed to meet and report publicly as a result of being contracted by the province to deliver health services.
Under the Canada Health Act, Canadians cannot be charged for “medically necessary” services that are provided by a doctor or in a hospital. However, governments can contract with private corporations or nonprofit entities to deliver health care.
Smith suggested that if AHS were to fail to meet metrics or underperform, a request for proposal could go out for the province to consider contracting a different group of doctors or entity to manage and operate publicly-funded hospitals that would remain government-funded. Smith also suggested a provincial agency could serve as an auditor to determine if services were being provided adequately by AHS.
Fiona Clement, a University of Calgary professor specializing in health policy, told CBC News on May 11 that Smith was “absolutely correct in her interpretation.”
“Provincial governments can contract with any different entity that they wish to deliver health care. It’s the same kind of model as the private surgical delivery system. I mean, she’s absolutely correct in her interpretation of what’s allowable and what’s possible,” said the professor.
Smith said at the news conference that specialized charter surgical centres performing specialized services “saves money, reduces wait times.”
“We are going to make sure that we work with our private sector partners so that they can deliver the services that people need, we can clear the surgical backlog. And we can also make sure no one ever pays out of pocket,” Smith said.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
