Lloydminster Mayor Gerald Aalbers says the city needs urgent health-care support from Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Aalbers shared these thoughts with the Lloydminster Concerned Citizens for Seniors Care Society on May 27 at the Legacy Centre.
The conversation, as he described it, was honest and overdue, while referencing a report from a meeting with both provincial health ministers in the spring.
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“They got a pretty honest picture of what’s happening here,” he said, pointing to long wait times, staffing shortages and a lack of direction from health leadership.
“There’s been a revolving door of leadership,” he said. “There is no stability in our health region. That has to change.”
Mental health services, especially for youth, were also discussed.
“There is programming. They continue to talk about that,” said Aalbers, noting local voices are often lost in layers of government.
“The challenge, again, is at the minister level. You get a briefing from the deputy minister and after five or seven levels down, it actually gets to some people in our local community.”
He called for more local mental health support, noting the long wait times can significantly impact youth.
“We’re looking at 12 to 14 months referral times,” Aalbers said. “By that time, youth may have become an adult.”
Another topic covered was new hospital infrastructures, something Aalbers said needs immediate investment.
“I’ve had several people stop me in the street and say, ‘Mr. Mayor, we need a new hospital more than we need an arena,’” he said. “And on one side of me, I won’t disagree.”
The money for a new hospital would have to come mostly from the province of Saskatchewan.
“The province has a responsibility … hopefully the health foundation can supplement that,” said Aalbers. “We need major renovations done to our hospital.”
Aalbers said the province must take the lead as downloading costs to the city would be a slippery slope.
“If the municipality takes up health care, I can guarantee you … the province will give it to you full-handed and with no money to follow,” he said.
According to Aalbers, this would hurt the city’s economy, especially given limited options for generating revenue.
“We are limited to basically property tax and user fees and begging of government grants,” he said.
He gave an example from former Lloydminster MLA Ken Baker.
“If you take it on, Mr. Mayor, the province will leave us cold,” quoted Aalbers.
He said community donations have often filled gaps left by government.
“Lloydminster is a rich community and they can afford it, whereas North Battleford could not,” he said.
For those that didn’t believe him, he pointed to a previous example.
“The health foundation paid for stuff which should have been in the government budget,” he said. “One of them in the past was a CT scanner.”
Aalbers praised a stop-gap innovative solution, a new student-led program by the health foundation, which is meant to help with mental health care at the hospital.
“When you have less resources, you tend to be more creative,” he said. “We are often innovators and leaders.”
He urged both provinces to support local ideas and advocate for strong legislation that works for all Lloydminsterites.
“When we started it, you could take it over … because we’re showing you the benefits,” he explained about the program. “If you can write legislation that works on both sides of our city, it’s pretty good legislation.”
Lloydminster economic impact
One member of the group raised the question of how much the area contributes compared to what it receives. When asked whether Lloydminster had tracked the amount of tax money it sends to both provinces, Aalbers said it had not.
“We haven’t,” he said. “I know what I paid the city last year for taxes. But can anybody tell me what they gave the province or federal government?
“There’s not a bill that calculates what you paid in carbon tax … fuel tax … or income tax,” he said. “People lose track of what they paid.”
He said estimating that number would take time and work and wasn’t even sure anyone would have it.
However, he did confirmed the region’s large economic impact, noting the area along the eastern Alberta border, with approximately 40 other municipalities, generated around 30 per cent of the provincial wealth.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean we have a lot of political weight.
“We represent one in 78 members in the legislature in Alberta and one in 67 members in Saskatchewan,” he said, adding the city must continue pushing both governments.
“All we can do is do what you folks are doing with the letter-writing campaign,” he said, encouraging residents to speak with MLAs and MPs.
“The old adage of the squeaky wheel gets the grease, that is something we’re definitely going to become,” he said, closing with a candid reflection.
“Serving eight years as mayor, I can see where the challenges are … some were there before I got here and I’m still trying to get cleaned up,” he said.
“It’s just frustrating … people tell me the city moves slow. I can tell you the province moves a lot slower.
“I think we actually go backwards some days.”
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