Thread by @MelaneeLThomas

When I was 17, my mother sat my brother and I down and asked us to promise we'd never go into a health care profession.

Why? She was an RN during the Klein cuts and didn't want us on the front line when that space was unnecessarily politicized again.

#abpoli #ableg 🧵

At the time, I agreed, b/c I didn't really like physics that much, though my bio and them grades were great.

Once I decided I didn't want to go to law school (OG plan #1), I seriously considered switching to nursing or medicine. But I made that promise and so stayed in POLI

The thing is, 1993-97 was an exceptional time for health care in Alberta. The cuts were brutal, and they went deeper than they needed to be. Lots of folks remember this.

This isn't our first rodeo, so to speak.

And so I wonder at the political skills of those trying to politicize this workplace again, in a similar way. This isn't the same Alberta. It's not the same budget.

We're all more aware now about how these cuts hurt everyone, even if they land hardest on the front line.

A front line disproportionately populated by racialized women.

Asking these women to bear the brunt of bad budgetary choices? In this context? It seems especially foolish

I can't be the only one who remembers how those 1993-97 cuts were used to advocate for privatization, especially because the cuts were designed to create crises that privatization was supposed to "fix."

We can see this for the ideological game it is. We're not naive

Seeing today that nurses "merit" a salary rollback almost entirely to the start of the pandemic, because they have job security?

Does anyone actually believe this messaging? Does it resonate positively with literally anyone?

https://twitter.com/maxfawcett/status/1412624684214984707?s=20

This is what has me questioning the skills of the folks designing this approach. It just seems so blisteringly stupid, given the context.