Improving our health care system consistently ranks as a top priority of Albertans. However, the cost of Alberta’s current health system is rising at an unsustainable rate, and despite this, waiting times to undergo important medical procedures continues to increase.
Albertans deserve better. We need a health care reform strategy that is based on results rather than ideology. We need a system that is centered around the needs of patients, rather than the whims of a large, centralized bureaucracy in Edmonton.
A Plan for Health Care Reform
Meaningful health care reform is extremely difficult at the best of times, but it is made infinitely more challenging by our current provincial government’s lack of a coherent plan.
I am of the view that a competent and responsive provincial government would articulate a clear plan for health care that voters understand. Such a government would first consult with provincial stakeholders including doctors, nurses, home care workers, patients and others in developing its plan. This has not been done.
After developing the plan, an effective government would communicate the specific health care goals they intend to achieve and why these goals are necessary. It would show how they intend to achieve these objectives and what timelines and milestones to expect along the way. The current government has also failed to do this.
An effective health care reform strategy would give Albertans a personal stake in health care reform. Just as Albertans were willing to pull together in support of eliminating our debt in the 90’s, I believe Albertans would be willing to do the same to save our public health care system today…but only if they are first consulted with, and the overall health reform strategy is explained clearly to everyone up front.
Principle-Based Health Care Reform
Among the greatest challenges facing needed health reforms today are the public fear tactics used by certain politicians and special interest groups who seem far more concerned with preserving the status quo than on fixing an obviously outdated, unsustainable and broken health care system.
I am of the view that as Albertans we need to ignore the voices of fear and open our minds to new and innovative health care solutions. We can reform our health care system into one that is accessible and patient-centered without compromising universal accessibility. Dozens of western European countries have successfully tackled health care reform without abandoning their commitment to a public system. With Albertan’s entrepreneurial spirit and ‘can do’ attitude, there is no reason we can’t do the same.
In order to achieve this result, any Alberta health care reform strategy should set principled-based guidelines around which an acceptable plan can be developed. As a starting point, I would include the following principles:
The system must be sustainable for ourselves and future generations over the short and long term;
The system must measurably improve the quality of our health care including shorter wait times for medical procedures, improved patient outcomes, and increased access to family doctors and specialists;
The system must allow each individual the maximum amount of choice relating to personal health decisions; and,
The system must ensure the best health care professionals and facilities remain available to every individual regardless of ability to pay.
It’s time to stop listening to the scare tactics of those who advocate for protecting the status quo and to start building a health care system that we can all be proud of.
Education
In my view, ensuring all of Alberta’s children receive a world class education is one of the most important roles our provincial government can play in building our province. In partnership with the important core values taught by parents, education provides a launching point for a healthy and contributing citizen. To deny a child a proper education is to greatly increase the risk of losing that child to ignorance, poverty and even crime. As a parent of 4 young boys all currently in or about to enter the public system, the quality of Alberta’s education system is a top priority for me personally as well as politically.
Shifting Education Funding to the Classroom
The provincial government spends more per capita than any other province on education. The problem is that tens of millions of those dollars are wasted on what is a massive centralized bureaucracy in Edmonton. For example, in my view we spend millions on unnecessary standardized testing for Grade 3 students. We spend millions more finding ways to burden our classroom teachers with additional paperwork, recordkeeping and other make-work projects. Personally, I want our teachers spending their time teaching rather than filling out forms!
It is my view that the provincial government should work on moving millions of dollars in funding away from centralized bureaucracies and towards frontline teachers and staff in our children’s schools. This means flowing more funding directly to individual schools, where principals, teachers, and parents know best where it is needed. Educational Choice
A distinguishing and important feature of Alberta’s education system is that it provides parents with a greater range of educational choices than do the systems of other jurisdictions in North America.
Although strong public schools are critical to our education system, charter schools, private schools and home-schooling provide educational opportunities and teaching methods that are sometimes unavailable in our public system. In fact, our public school boards have responded to competition from charter, home and private schooling by rolling out a diverse range of excellent core and optional courses that are second-to-none in North America.
Our public schools have proven themselves able to compete with the best that charter, home and private schools have to offer. Continuing to foster this culture of educational innovation and competition will pay dividends for our teachers, parents and children for decades to come.
Student-Centered Learning
As internet and computer technologies continue their exponential advances, it is becoming clear that current teaching models need to be altered. For over a hundred years, the traditional classroom model of a teacher lecturing students from in front of a chalkboard served as the best way to teach large numbers of students simultaneously.
However, this traditional model also has limitations. It often results in gifted students having their potential restricted by peers who may not learn as quickly. On the opposite end of the spectrum, some students who fail to grasp key concepts are moved on to higher grades and more complicated subject matter regardless of whether or not they are ready. This can result in frustration, the domination of a teacher’s time by a few struggling students, perpetual poor grades, and even behavioral problems. Furthermore, all students respond to different teaching methods in different ways. The standard classroom lecture model may work well for some students, but for others it results in a constant battle to comprehend and learn.
I believe Alberta has the opportunity to lead the world in the way we deliver education to our children. Using emerging internet and computer technologies to complement the work of caring and competent teachers will fundamentally alter for the better the way we educate our children.
Imagine an education system where the classroom is entirely centered around the learning needs of each individual student. Imagine a learning model where a student can take the time needed and select pedagogies specific to his or her learning capacities to master a specific competency before moving on to new material. Gifted students would be given the tools to excel and reach their full potential. Students who need more time and practice to master the basics would receive such before moving on. In short, our children would be able to learn at the right pace and in the right way for them, rather than participating in the traditional one-size-fits-all approach.
Big changes such as these are always difficult; however, I am convinced that Alberta’s teachers, educational administrators and parents are up for the challenge. We owe it to our children to do so.
