EDMONTON, AB (June 22, 2016): The latest Alberta Fiscal Snapshot by the Conference Board of Canada paints a bleak picture of Alberta’s out of control health spending without results, the Wildrose Official Opposition said today.
Alberta spends 33 per cent above the national average on a per-capita age-adjusted basis for health spending, and approximately $600 more than even the second province, Newfoundland.
“The NDP government needs a reality check when it comes to health spending, and delivery of services,” Wildrose Shadow Health Minister Drew Barnes said. “Wildrose has long been warning that a centralized, bureaucrat-intensive health care system is getting poorer results at a higher cost to taxpayers. This report should be a wakeup call.”
Alberta spends $2,000 more per capita than British Columbia, which as a province has spent far less while achieving consistently better outcomes.
“It is high time that the NDP government stops the fear mongering of accusing Wildrose of wanting to lay off teachers and nurses,” Barnes said. “It is tired and untrue rhetoric, when what we really need is a plan to get spending in control. At the end of the day, this is about making our health care system accountable to patients, not bureaucrats.”