SOCIAL CREDIT PLATFORM
R U READY? For education that meets the needs of students and employers?
R U READY? For first class service in health care?
R U READY? For a better share of energy resource wealth for all Albertans?
R U READY? For reasonably priced utilities?
R U READY? For affordable housing?
R U READY? For Alberta business owned by Albertans?
R U READY? For a pristine environment?
Albertans are invited to review the contents of our platform and judge for themselves if these are concerns that they share in common with us. Click here to open.
Stop the Flood of Two-Tiered Health Care into Alberta!
June 28, 2009
Re: “Private clinic eroding health care, say critics”, Calgary Herald, June 27, 2009
First, the Copeman Healthcare Centre created a crack in the dike protecting us from a flood of two-tiered health care into Alberta. Now Provital Health and Wellness will widen that crack. Soon other medical clinics will join the flow to get an easy $3000 per client by requiring some non-standardized preventive medical consultation as the gateway to doctor access. The opportunity to make an appointment with a family doctor will be gone for those who cannot afford to pay the $3000 annual fee. They will have to be content to go to “walk-in” clinics and wait for hours to see a doctor.
Although allowing these fees may be within a strict legal interpretation of the Canada Health Act, it certainly is not within the spirit of the Act. Requiring a person to pay a $3000 annual fee for non-essential services in order to access publicly-funded essential services is morally and ethically wrong.
What may we expect next? Will firemen require that a homeowner have a $3000 annual fire prevention inspection in order to guarantee that they will respond within minutes of a fire alarm rather than hours? Will the police require a $3000 annual burglary prevention consultation in order to guarantee that they will respond to a 911 breaking-and-entry call in a timely fashion?
If the Canada Health Care Act does not have the muscle to curtail this health care injustice then the Alberta government should enact legislation that does.
Len Skowronski
Invest the $3 Billion into Alberta Junior Oil and Gas Companies
June 26, 2009
Re: “Petro investors favour Manitoba” and “Alberta drilling incentive program extended by one year”, Edmonton Journal, June 25, 2009
It is no surprise that the petroleum executives surveyed by the Fraser Institute prefer dealing with the provinces that keep less of their resource wealth so that the producers can gain higher profits. It is their job to make as much profit as possible so that the investors will receive large dividends and in return will pay these executives millions of dollars in salaries and bonuses.
Conversely, it is the job of the governments of these provinces to ensure that the owners of these resources, that is, the citizens of these provinces, keep a fair share of their resource wealth. Perhaps it is not that Alberta’s royalties are too high but rather that the other provinces’ royalties are too low.
Alberta’s Premier and Energy Minister should meet with their counterparts in these provinces and convince them to bring their royalties in line with Alberta’s so that the oil and gas companies cannot play one province against another.
Also, rather than giving up $3 billion in royalties over the next two years to encourage drilling, Alberta should set-up an oil and gas investment fund equal to this amount. This fund would provide equity capital for exploration and development projects executed by small Alberta-owned and operated oil and gas companies and an opportunity for all Albertans to share the profits.
Len Skowronski
Nuclear Experts Have No Vested Interest in Alberta Nuclear Power?
June 23, 2009
Letter to the Editor of the Peace River Record Gazette:
I read with both amazement and amusement the Letter to the Editor written by Professor William C. Olsen about the merits of nuclear power. The letter was published in the June 16 edition of the Record Gazette.
In his letter, Professor Olsen was kind enough to give a detailed background description of the qualifications and affiliations of the members on the Panel of Nuclear Experts: Dr. Harvey Andre, retired politician and closely involved with the oil and gas industry. Dr. Joseph Doucet, Holder of Enbridge Professorship in Energy Policy at the U of A. Dr. John Luxat, Nuclear Safety Engineer and current member of the board of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. Dr. Harrie Vredenburg, Holder of the Suncor Energy Chair in Competitive Strategy and Sustainable Development at the U of C.
Professor Olson goes on to say that these people “do not have any vested interest in the nuclear power industry in Alberta”. That is an amazing statement given the background of the people, as described above.
In the final paragraph of his letter, Professor Olsen says:” If only those people who are so opposed to nuclear power would do some unbiased literature search for themselves on both sides of the question, I am sure that most would be convinced that nuclear power is a clean, safe, limitless, environmentally safe, source of electrical energy that will serve humanity indefinitely”.
What Professor Olsen has very ably demonstrated in his letter is that he, and his fellow academics serving on the government appointed panel, are about as biased as it is possible to be in relation to the desirability of nuclear power generation in Alberta.
Helge Nome
Alberta Health Services Super-board Cuts Nursing Jobs
June 10, 2009
The prime reason for the poor access to health care services in Alberta is the shortage of medical personnel, especially doctors and nurses. The trend towards this shortage began in the 1990s when Alberta along with other provinces decided that the way to control health care costs was to reduce the number of medical personnel graduated. Seats in the post-secondary institutions were reduced. We are currently suffering from this unfortunate decision.
It seemed that the PC government had realized the folly of this approach when they recently increased the number of spaces for medical students in Alberta. Now we are graduating more nurses but all of a sudden there are no positions for them in Alberta even though we still have a shortage.
This is another instance of the knee-jerk response of this government to problems. There is no long-term plan for providing the health care services that Albertans want. The government has experienced a decline in income, so the immediate reaction is to cut employees and services without thinking of what the long term effects may be.
Albertans should be consulted to determine the level of service they require. A plan should be developed for providing this level of service including the personnel, facilities and projected costs. Albertans should be asked how they wish to pay for this service: resource royalties, income taxes, a health-care tax or some other option. A consensus of the majority of Albertans should be obtained through a plebiscite and then acted upon.
Len Skowronski
Leader
Alberta Social Credit Party
Calgary, Alberta
403 288-9695
www.socialcredit.com
Socred Leader to run in Calgary – Glenmore by-election
May 25, 2009
Earl Solberg, President of the Alberta Social Credit Party, is pleased to announce that the Leader of the Party, Len Skowronski, will be running in the Calgary – Glenmore by-election which is expected to be held in the fall. Len is a most suitable candidate to represent the Calgary – Glenmore riding as MLA. He has lived in Calgary for 35 years and has served on the executive of his community association ensuring that development and services in the community were up to the level expected by the residents.
Len is concerned, along with many other Albertans, that the current government has become complacent and arrogant. The government and its bureaucracy have succumbed to the “Big Brother” complex evidenced by their lack of consultation while developing new legislation on human and property rights. They have mismanaged and squandered our vast resource wealth.
Len looks forward to representing the Calgary – Glenmore constituency and leading the way to good government as Albertans were fortunate to have during the Social Credit era.
Earl Solberg