Health care questions for leadership candidates

August 12, 2022

Dear Members, 

I wrote to you in late July about ways in which the AMA would be engaging in the leadership race for the United Conservative Party. The Board believes that a new premier must have a strong vision and a plan for addressing health care’s greatest challenges.

I invited members to suggest health care related questions for the candidates – and thank you to everyone who took the time to do so! We also reached out to our online patient community at PatientsFirst.ca to find out what they would ask the candidates about their plans for health care. This community is made up of more than 40,000 Albertans who are concerned about health care in our province and are paying keen attention to what is happening in our system. We had a strong response, with over 1,100 of them submitting questions for the candidates. 

We have reviewed the submitted questions and determined that 10 questions will be posed to the leadership candidates. We will be sharing these final questions with our PatientsFirst.ca community and, as promised, will also share all candidate responses with members and the public to encourage wider engagement and conversation around these important topics. 

Several candidates have already reached out to arrange meetings, and I will be connecting with all of them to meet as soon as I can. I want to hear from them about what they see as priorities for immediate and long-term action in the health care system. One of the things I will be keen to hear about are their thoughts on the relationship that they want their government to have with physicians. Our ability to advocate for what patients need and to be heard when decisions are being made is extremely important. Establishing a relationship that will allow us to provide that kind of input into the system is one of the most important functions of the agreement that we are attempting to negotiate.

On that front, negotiations continue this week with government. I expect to be able to update you soon regarding our status.

Comments are always welcome – on these matters or anything else that is on your mind. You can reach me in the following ways:

• Communicate with me privately and directly by email if you would like a reply: president@albertadoctors.org.
• Comment publicly on this President’s Letter (please be aware that comments are public, i.e., not members-only, even if you are logged in as a member). 

Sincerely,

Vesta Michelle Warren, MD, CCFP, FCFP
President, Alberta Medical Association