Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said while conservatives should pay attention to fiscal matters, the money has to go somewhere. Therefore, Smith said conservatives need to have a cohesive social platform and policies on how they are going to address that. “And so you’ll see that we have a conservative vision for how we deliver healthcare and mental health and addiction and education and public safety and address homelessness and addressing issues of our most vulnerable,” said Smith in a Friday speech at the Canada Strong and Free Network National Conference in Ottawa. She said the Alberta government will never bring in safe supply drugs. Rather than bring in safe supply, she said it will focus on treatment and recovery. Since 2019, the Alberta government has added 10,000 treatment spaces across the province. It eliminated the user fees of $1,250 per month for public drug treatment facilities. It is building 11 recovery communities across Alberta. Five of these recovery communities are being built in partnership with indigenous people. It established the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program (VODP). Eight thousand people have signed up for VODP. To prioritize treatment and recovery, it announced the creation of two new mental health and addictions agencies. Recovery Alberta and the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence (CORE) will guide its mental health and addictions strategy. The premier went on to say the Alberta government is done with crime and social disorder in communities. In response, she pointed out it is spending money on hiring, deploying and training new Alberta Sheriffs. To stop homeless encampments from forming, it will be spending money on navigation centres to connect vulnerable people with supports. Leftists have said they want to defund the police. They have demoralized policing, which makes it tough for people to be attracted to it. She said she has turned that around, as she loves the Alberta Sheriffs. The courts said the Alberta government could not eliminate the encampments in Edmonton unless homeless people had places to go. To work around the courts’ decisions, it increased shelter spaces and worked with Edmonton Police Service Chief Dale McFee. As the encampments were being eliminated, a bus took homeless people to the navigation centre. Once there, people could receive identification, access to VODP, mental health and addiction treatment, indigenous support services, access to shelter and income supports. She continued by saying the Alberta government is undertaking a bold transformation of the healthcare system. When conservatives have been elected, she said they hand healthcare over to leftists. Leftists have said they are running healthcare and want more money. Alberta had a system where it was one entity managing all of the healthcare, contracting out to competitors and evaluating performance. When Alberta Health Services went to evaluate itself every year, it said no issues existed. That has changed under her leadership. The Alberta government is going to be separating the healthcare system. It is going to establish organizations dedicated to acute care, primary care, continuing care and mental health and addictions. She said she is “not going to defer to terrible Liberal and NDP policy that tells us that we can’t touch healthcare.” While the Alberta NDP has dominated on healthcare, she said she knows the United Conservative Party can do better. Smith concluded by saying conservatives have solutions to current problems. These solutions are ingrained in who they are and what they believe. “So let’s move forward with courage and with conviction,” she said. “Let’s not let the media dictate who we are or tell our story for us.” Rogers Director, Government Relations Hardave Birk started off by saying he spent a significant part of his youth growing up in Alberta and knows it is one of the best places to be in Canada and around the world. “Alberta has been one of Canada’s fastest growing provinces for a number of years and really for the last few decades,” said Birk. “It has a growing economy, a great environment for investment, and a growing population.” Like many businesses know, he called Alberta “the place to be.” He said Smith knows better than anyone else that Alberta is calling. The Alberta government said on April 2 it would create Recovery Alberta and CORE to support the mental health and addictions care system. READ MORE: UPDATED: Alberta government to establish new mental health, addictions agencies“Refocusing healthcare enables us to better prioritize the healthcare and services Albertans need,” said Smith. “Giving Albertans living with mental health or addiction challenges an opportunity to pursue recovery and live a contributing life is the responsible and compassionate thing to do.”
