As about 200,000 Alberta public-sector workers gear up for contract negotiations in 2024, a timely report from the Parkland Institute sheds light on unprecedented levels of government interference in Alberta’s public-sector bargaining. Authored by Jason Foster, Bob Barnetson, and Susan Cake, A Thumb on the Scale: Alberta Government Interference in Public-Sector Bargaining examines how governments in Canada — and particularly in Alberta — have been increasing their rate of interference as they experiment with new ways to do so.
A new research report evaluating the effectiveness of the Alberta Surgical Initiative (ASI) in reducing wait times has found that the emphasis on for-profit surgical delivery has resulted in a reduction of provincial surgical volumes and capacity in public hospitals.
Insights from the front lines
New report counters the UCP government take on the crisis
A new research report by Parkland Institute — "Lights and Sirens: The Critical Condition of EMS in Alberta" — examines the current crisis facing paramedics in the province. Authored by medical sociologist Michael K. Corman, the report focuses on understanding the current crisis from the perspective of paramedics, and offers potential avenues for change based on insights from those who live, experience, and breathe the crisis on a daily basis.
At a time when Premier Danielle Smith tries to paint any steps toward a Just Transition as a way to slash jobs in Alberta, a new report by Parkland Institute shows how the workforce transition to a sustainable economy can do the opposite and generate more than 200,000 new jobs in the province by 2050.
Three years after the United Conservative Party (UCP) government decreased corporate taxes in the province, a new study from the U of A’s Parkland Institute shows that the stated goal of the tax cut — to create new jobs in Alberta — did not materialize.
New union dues opt-in provisions enacted as part of Bill 32 – the Restoring Balance in Alberta’s Workplaces Act – took effect last month. On the surface, the law is about unions and the workers they represent. But its consequences are far-reaching, and threaten to cost millions in lost donations to charities and community organizations in the province.
A new research report published by the Parkland Institute argues that a crisis is brewing in rural Alberta. An influx of investors buying farmland is making land more expensive as farmers struggle, tenant farming becomes prevalent, and very few can afford to get started as new farmers.
The UCP government is on a mission to change the landscape of higher education in Alberta. Cutting to the bone the operating budgets of universities and colleges is the most visible strategy used to advance their privatization agenda. But another front in this process—one that has been largely absent from the public debate—is how the UCP is aggressively using governance models in post-secondary institutions to transform them from within.
This study examines how campaign finance legislation passed by the UCP government in 2020 allows the wealthy to influence elections.
A new report from Parkland Institute examines the UCP government’s privatization of Alberta’s medical lab services to DynaLIFE set to happen on July 1, 2022, as announced last week by Alberta Health Services (AHS). “The DynaLIFE deal rewards a large corporation and its shareholders over the current and long-term interests of Albertans,” says report author Rebecca Graff-McRae, a research manager at Parkland Institute. “It offers false economies, minimal savings, a smaller and demoralized workforce, a massive infrastructure deficit, and a fragmented system with little accountability.”
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