Friday’s letters: Boissonnault’s promotion is no olive branch

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Check your BMI

toonsbymoonlight
Some political pundits are trying to put a spin on the recent promotion of Edmonton Centre MP Randy Boissonnault that this is somehow a commitment or olive branch to the voters of Alberta.

Either they are very new to the political landscape or just oblivious to the Ottawa scene. Mr. Boissonnault gave one of the rudest, most disgusting performances in Ottawa in the interrogation of former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, probably one of the most honourable, honest politicians ever seen in Canada, as Liberal member of the Commons committee investigating the SNC-Lavalin cover-up.

He is being rewarded for being a good soldier in trying to protect our prime minister in one of his numerous scandals. I hope he had the decency to at least apologize to Ms. Wilson-Raybould because it has obviously advanced his political career.

Smith must stop health-access fees

Premier Danielle Smith has to step up to the plate. There are a few medical clinics in Alberta that have adopted the membership medical plan concept: $2,200 for individuals and $4,800 for a family medical membership at a clinic in Calgary. Is that legal? Sounds like a country club or a fitness studio. Does that not contravene the medical services agreement all provinces are bound to with the federal government? Yes, it does. Canada Health has said so.

Where is our premier? Oh, right, she is still tilting at the windmill that is to remove Albertans from the Canada Pension Plan, another national institution that has been serving us for years.

It is so sad to see our premier disregard Albertans’ welfare and health. She was elected to ensure Albertans were served, and to see her go off tilting at windmills that serve her interests and her biased extreme right-wing cronies is disrespectful to all Albertans.

Her attempts to interfere with the judicial system and encouraging a multiple-tier medical system are just plain wrong. I did not and will not support her extreme right-wing ideologies. Madame Premier: Get doctors, medical health professionals and first responders (EMS) into rural Alberta; improve on our health services such as emergency room access, improve surgery wait times; leave our CPP alone; clean up the orphan oil wells; ensure the oil companies pay their taxes to municipalities.

To date you have done nothing tangible for Albertans. We are still waiting for more hospitals and schools.

I just discovered another way our UCP government is able to funnel hundreds of millions to the petrogarchs and hedge fund managers who really run this province. By pulling funding from small (North East Primary Care Network) community-based programs such as “Balance,” a fitness program designed to help senior women maintain and improve their well-being, and avoid our acute and long-term health-care system for as long as possible. Shame. Shame.