Path to balance or road to perdition?
The “path to balance” has become a major platform plank for all parties in this election. Parkland Institute Executive Director Ricardo Acuña looks at the key differences and potential impacts of the path to balance proposals, and assesses their credibility and feasibility.
Fact-checking Jason Kenney’s wait-list strategy
United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney has presented his plans for dealing with wait times for surgery in Alberta, including allowing private clinics to bid for publicly-funded procedures. Ricardo Acuña looks at the evidence and history to show that we've already been there and done that.
Alberta's ho-hum budget
Despite promises of "a path to balance" and "compassionate belt-tightening," and dire warnings of an economic apocalypse, Alberta's Budget 2018 is ... a little bit dull, writes Rebecca Graff-McRae.
Fertility services
At the boundary of public and private health care
What Alberta Health’s recent decision to end non-insured fertility services at the Royal Alexandra Hospital’s Regional Fertility and Women’s Endocrine Clinic says about Alberta's commitment to health equity and truly universal public health care.
Blurring the line between public and private health care
Parkland Institute research manager Rebecca Graff-Mcrae blogs about her visit to one of Alberta's private membership clinics, and the findings of her recently released report, Blurred Lines.
The state of health care in Alberta
At the halfway mark of the NDP's term, Parkland Institute researcher Ian Hussey compares the current and previous PC governments on the state of health care and health care spending in Alberta.
Albertans think high-income earners, corporations not paying enough tax: poll
Results from a public opinion poll commissioned by Parkland Institute show that although a majority of Albertans feel they pay too much in taxes, they support progressive taxation and feel that Alberta’s highest-income earners do not pay enough in taxes, and that low-income earners are paying too much. Most Albertans would also be willing to pay slightly more in taxes if it meant protecting or enhancing key public services.
The Day case
"Freedom of choice," but only for some
Despite narratives of "freedom of choice" and "timely access to care," Dr. Brian Day’s Charter challenge against the BC Ministry of Health is really about undermining the single-payer health system based on medical need, not ability pay.
Alberta’s public health care system is sustainable
Has Alberta’s public health care spending ballooned to the point of being unsustainable? Have Alberta's health care costs pinched funds from other public services? Parkland research manager Ian Hussey looks at the research to provide an answer.
Neoliberalism and the Non-Profit Social Services Sector in Alberta
Successive PC governments in Alberta experimented with neoliberal approaches to the non-profit social services sector, with negative consequences for the sector and the people it serves.