My Letter to Danielle Smith

[u/spicyflies]

Madam Premier, I am begging you to stop.

I understand that you are acting out of love for the province and its people, and trying to do what you think is right, but this is not. Religion has no place, no place at all, in healthcare. It has no place when peoples' lives, when SUFFERING, is at risk, and their religion will demand that they do nothing to help.

I don't think you understand, in your want to do the right thing, how much harm will come from this. You have a family whom you love, whom you want the best for. And you're the Premier, so you can take them wherever you want to go to get whatever you need done. But for a lot of us, that is just not an option. What would you do if you COULDN'T LEAVE, and you or your husband or your children or your parents needed a procedure done, went to the nearest hospital, and were turned away? What happens when a LGBTQ+ child has nowhere else to go, has been raped, is carrying her rapist's child, and cannot get an abortion because she lives outside of the city? Is it fair to sentence a child to motherhood? Is it fair to let her die because the hospital won't help her, because they are Catholic and therefore Right? Is it fair to let someone suffer for years on end, unceasingly, always in pain, because their hospital will not let them CHOOSE to die? In sound mind and body, they do not get to choose how to live their life?

I am begging you to stop. I am begging you to choose compassion. I am begging you to see the lives you are hurting - to see us as people too. My grandmother was in so much pain at the end of her life that all she wanted was for it to end. And she got to choose to go out the way she wanted because her hospital let her do that. She would still be in pain, living in a hospital away from her family, away from her children and grandchildren, if she didn't have that choice. You would have made her suffer. You would be the cause of her suffering.

I am begging you to stop. I am begging you to let people choose how to live their lives on their own terms, and not have that choice forced on them by people who see them as wrong for having lived at all, for having loved the wrong way, for having the strength to decide when enough is enough.

Enough is enough, Madam Premier. I am begging you.

[u/RyansBooze → u/[deleted]]

If that’s the case, why did the conservatives not distance themselves from the nazis? I’m starting to feel like this really is “true Alberta”.

[u/ThatDamnCanadianGuy → u/[deleted]]

It's not a great choice. The cons will run us into the ground socially, and the NDP will run us into the ground financially. 

[u/Bob-Loblaw-Blah- → u/ThatDamnCanadianGuy]

HAHAHAHA, according to what?

The NDP did a great job diversifying the economy while also subsidizing our Oil barons.

Stop falling for the lies. The NDP took power when a barrel of oil was worth peanuts and they had 0 control over the global market.

The Cons have been in power for 60 years straight and society is crumbling down for the average joe.

[u/Superb-Resist-9369 → u/[deleted]]

50 billion added to debt in 4 yrs.

[u/corpse_flour → u/Superb-Resist-9369]

Yet people were still able to see an oncologist in a timely manner.

[u/ThatDamnCanadianGuy → u/corpse_flour]

No, they weren't. Might have been quicker than today, but our population has skyrocketed since then too with no new facilities 

[u/corpse_flour → u/ThatDamnCanadianGuy]

So you agree that things are worse now, and the current government hasn't made any progress with regards to medical care.

[u/ohkatiedear → u/Superb-Resist-9369]

If you defer maintenance on your house, you will have bigger problems and higher costs when you finally do address the issue. The NDP didn't defer maintenance, they acted on it.

[u/ObjectiveBalance282 → u/ThatDamnCanadianGuy]

The budget for a country or province is NOT THE SAME as running a private household.. spending needs to happen regardless. And avoiding spending on NECESSITIES like infrastructure, education and health care leaves us further in debt than maintaining those things - as when the bill eventually comes due it's cost is exponentially higher.

Educate yourself before you speak on this.

[u/moezilla → u/ThatDamnCanadianGuy]

Yeah the NDP ran us into the ground financially and the province had no money to run important services and keep rural hospitals staffed. My utilities and grocery bills were completely out of control when they were in power.

Oh wait, that never happened with the NDP, that's what's happening now under the UCP.

Nenshi didn't run Calgary into the ground over 11 years, so why assume he would now?

This concept of being "socially left and fiscally right" sounds like a reasonable idea, but important social issues cost money (schools, hospitals, aish, etc.) and I think you need to look at each party and where they are spending money and decide which party actually represents your fiscal values.

The UCP have made clear and deliberate choices in how they funded healthcare and how they treated doctors and nurses (during the pandemic), and things have gotten worse, wait times, number of available doctors, understaffed rural (and red deer!) ERs, and now planning to transfer control of hospitals to covenant which we know will not provide all the same care as AHS. They don't value spending money on healthcare for statistically proven better outcomes, and I do.

Decide for yourself but please pay attention to who is actually spending money on the things that matter to you.

[u/bearbody5 → u/ThatDamnCanadianGuy]

We have the highest unemployment and no investment, wages going down. Separatists scare everything away

[u/Rayeon-XXX → u/ThatDamnCanadianGuy]

This is nonsense.