The UCP govt announces bursaries for nursing students. They are surely needed. But let's remember why these bursaries are needed. The UCP govt has hugely increased the cost of post-secondary education along with student debt loads. 1/ #abpse #abpoli @edmontonjournal @abndpcaucus
I have seen this time and again with conservative govts in AB, since 1991. They come at public services with machetes, wreak havoc, lay waste to programs that took years to build. 2/ @PIAlberta @FriendsMedicare @cafaab @calgaryherald @CBCNews
Their policies are not based on research; they don't listen to experts and professionals working in the field; they prefer the advice of their ideological gurus. They have deep antipathy to any service or good qualified by "public." 3/
Then, when the predictable results of their budget cuts, closures, and "new" management manifest--in the forms of degraded public services and demoralized public sector workers--they start to lob bits and pieces of funding back into the malfunctioning system. 4/
This is what the UCP has done to our health system and our post-secondary education system. As the capacity of the public health care system shrinks, they use this as a pretext to expand private provision of diagnostic and surgical procedures. 5/
In PSE, they cut operating budgets—severely, at the UAlberta—and now offer selective one-time funding for programs or facilities that the cabinet approves. This is undemocratic and disrespects the knowledge of the academic workforce. 6/
The same govts that created the nursing shortage thru' the underfunding of hospitals, working conditions that drove nurses out of their profession, and increasing costs of education, now throw some $ into bursaries and expect us to believe this is a solution to the crisis. 7/
Health policy is not my area of expertise, but I'm pretty sure the experts would say that good management of this complex system requires consultation with health professionals, planning, and commitment to funding public health care--the very things rejected by the UCP. 8/
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