Alberta Conservative MLA will help Plan Healthcare Protest

by Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke | July 15, 2009 at 04:42 pm

261 views | 18 Recommendations | 5 comments

Guy Boutilier is the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, in Alberta. He is a member of the governing Conservative Party in Alberta.

He has turned against his own government due to the handling of a promised long term care facility in Fort McMurray. The project to cost $35 Million was to establish a 48 bed facility.

The Province of Alberta has delayed all capital projects and there is no word when construction would begin.

Boutillier in an e-mail he tells a constituent that he is frustrated with the Province's handling of this project.

"The government has decided to postpone that decision and I believe that is the wrong decision," he told CTV on Wednesday.

This decision has prompted Boutillier to assist the Friends of Medicare with the planning of a demonstration at the Government Building on July 31st.

Boutillier's action have got the attention of the Premier, Ed Stelmach. The fallout of this should be interesting.

The author believes that it's about time a politician showed courage and worked for his constituents.

Alberta has already made major changes to its Health Care coverage and at present is running a $1.1 Billion Dollar deficit and there will probably be more cuts to come.

The MLA of Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo is turning against his own government over long-term care facility policies.

In an e-mail made public, Guy Boutilier tells a concerned resident in his riding he's frustrated the province has delayed handing out $35 Million for a 48-bed Fort McMurray long-term care facility, while Alberta Health Services reviews capital projects. There's no word on when construction will begin.

"The government has decided to postpone that decision and I believe that is the wrong decision," he told CTV on Wednesday.

The road block has prompted Boutilier to help Friends of Medicare mount a protest against his government, which is slated to take place in front of Fort McMurray's Alberta Provincial Building at noon on July 31st.

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend Sign In or Join to post comments

marianmo

at 17:15 on July 15th, 2009

Mr.Boutilier is a wonderful MLA. He has always shown a great understanding of the needs of his constituents...and particularly seniors. The proposed long term facility has been long promised for the people of the Wood Buffalo/Fort McMurray region. I was present when the chair of the committee for Seniors was present at a presentation at the Golden Years Society in Fort McMurray where we, the seniors and citizens of Fort McMurray were assured that the land had been purchased....the money was in place and now

ANOTHER PROMISE TO THE SENIORS OF FORT MCMURRAY has been broken by a seemingly uncaring government. At present those requiring long term care are housed on a separate floor of theNorthern Lights Hospital in Fort McMurray. From what I understand there are no more beds available for any senior in Fort Mc|Murray requiring long term care on that floor. This may have changed since I was there, but somehow I doubt it.

This area of the province has long contributed to the revenue of the province through the oil sands revenue. Billions of dollars has been taken from the Fort McMurray area and little returned to those who created that wealth for the province.

Yes , times are tough....what happened to the Heritage fund...monies from royalties etc that were to be put aside.

I think the premier of Alberta Mr Stelmach and his colleagues need to revue their priorites, and show the respect and understand of the needs of the northern areas of the province as well as the seniors.

I applaud Mr. Boutelier for his courage is speaking out for his constituents.

Thank you for bringing this to the attention of the public.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 17:22 on July 15th, 2009

Thank you for bringing this story up to date and put some perspective on it. The fact that Fort McMurray has created the wealth for this province and Canada as a whole, is important to note. I think Albertans, particulary the Stelmach government owe it to the people of Alberta to put the shovels into the ground for this project. So much for shovel ready stimulus.

Albert Milliron

at 20:39 on July 15th, 2009

as always thanks for helping me learn more about politics in Alberta. Glad to see conservatives up there fighting for their constituents. Our conservatives continue to sit in a corner licking their wounds..

Jodi Smith (not verified)

at 21:30 on July 20th, 2009

I'm not from Mr. Boutilier's area but I applaud his stand for the people whom he serves. Our premier (who doesn't even deserve a capital letter) is very wrong. He's wrong on this issue and he's wrong in telling the health care workers that they can not speak out publically against whatever the government is doing in health care.( I am also not a health care worker) Perhaps he needs to refresh his memory on the reasons we fought the second world war. Freedom of speech is a right...unless you are a tory in this province or I guess employed by the government. Thank goodness I'm not employed by the government and until this particular premier is gone I will also not be a conservative again.

I think we the general populous of Alberta need to stand behind Mr. Boutilier and his right to speak on behalf and yes even critize the government if necessary to serve the people of his area. Shame on the premier for being so full of himself that he thinks that he is law unto himself. I'm sure the rest of the MLA's are stepping right in line now because the axe obviously falls on those who don't.

This is not government this is something that our fore fathers fought wars to perserve. Alberta lets stand up against this type of government and allow our elected officials to represent the people who voted for them and not kiss the hiney of the premier.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 01:15 on July 21st, 2009

Thanks for your comments Jodi. I agree with you totally. We vote for these people to represent our interests and not just in caucus.

The Stelmach government promised to build this health centre. The money that they paid to departing executive of the former health regions, would have easily build this centre. How long do they think Seniors should wait for this long care health centre.

Someone should remind Mr. Stelmach that he is governing Alberta and not Lamont County. If he pulled that stuff in his home riding they would run him out of Andrew.