Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

What is happening to health care in Alberta?

A growing number of people and professional medical groups are pointing to deficiencies. A recent study commissioned by the Alberta government, suggests that while bed occupancy in Calgary hospitals is currently 92 percent, it could reach 97 percent in little over a decade unless the province reforms its health system.

Alberta is not immune to the current economic recession. How will it affect health care?

Many changes to health care are afoot. Once again, these seem to be entering by the back door. According to the speaker these include: a hidden plan for the ‘marketization’ of health care, and arrangements that will only result in squeezing more out of nurses.

What do terms like ‘patient-focused funding’ and ‘publicly-funded’ actually mean?

Are Albertans facing the privatization of health care?

Speaker: Heather Smith R.N.

Heather Smith is President of the United Nurses of Alberta, a union representing 26,000 Registered Nurses and Registered Psychiatric Nurses. A Registered Nurse herself, she has been closely involved with the Friends of Medicare since 1983. Heather is a strong advocate for both health care users and front-line workers. Her contribution to health care over the years is well recognized and she has been the recipient of many awards for her work.

"The public interest" is the standard that guides many government authorities in their decision-making. But what does it mean to make a decision that is "in the public interest?" Jodie Hierlmeier, Staff Counsel with the Environmental Law Centre, will discuss the issues and whether the process really does end up respecting the views of the general public.

Given the development of the Land-Use Framework in Alberta, this is an opportune time to re-examine how "the public interest" fits into a new planning regime for regulating the province''s natural resources.

Speaker: Jodie Hierlmeier

Jodie Hierlmeier is a lawyer with the Environmental Law Centre in Edmonton. She was admitted to the Alberta bar in 2003 and practiced in general litigation before joining the Environmental Law Centre in 2005. Her current focus areas at the Centre include oil and gas, contaminated land, climate change and access to justice issues. She has authored numerous publications and papers on environmental law and given presentations on topics such as surface rights and coal bed methane. Jodie Hierlmeier is a sessional instructor at the University of Alberta.

Jodie will also be speaking at Lethbridge College at 7 pm on Wednesday, March 4th in the E.C. Fredericks Theatre.

"The public interest" is the standard that guides many government authorities in their decision-making. But what does it mean to make a decision that is "in the public interest?" Jodie Hierlmeier, Staff Counsel with the Environmental Law Centre, will discuss the issues and whether the process really does end up respecting the views of the general public.

Given the development of the Land-Use Framework in Alberta, this is an opportune time to re-examine how "the public interest" fits into a new planning regime for regulating the province''s natural resources.

Speaker: Jodie Hierlmeier

Jodie Hierlmeier is a lawyer with the Environmental Law Centre in Edmonton. She was admitted to the Alberta bar in 2003 and practiced in general litigation before joining the Environmental Law Centre in 2005. Her current focus areas at the Centre include oil and gas, contaminated land, climate change and access to justice issues. She has authored numerous publications and papers on environmental law and given presentations on topics such as surface rights and coal bed methane. Jodie Hierlmeier is a sessional instructor at the University of Alberta.

Jodie will also be speaking at Lethbridge College at 7 pm on Wednesday, March 4th in the E.C. Fredericks Theatre.

With the publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report Four in 2007, the scientific view regarding the causes and consequences of climate change has never been stronger. There is little debate that climate change is real, is already happening, and that adaptation to some degree of climate change is necessary.

This presentation discusses the role of adaptation as the emerging frontier for responding to climate change. It draws on two national assessments, one led by Natural Resources Canada and another by Health Canada, that have assessed the current state of knowledge about climate change impacts, the vulnerability of our social and natural systems, and the capacity of these systems to adapt, across regions and in the context of human health. The presentation concludes by outlining a pathway forward, towards the development of a regional and/or national adaptation plan.

Speaker: Quentin Chiotti

Quentin Chiotti was appointed the Climate Change Programme Director at Pollution Probe in April 2007. He has a Ph. D. in Geography from the University of Western Ontario, and has worked extensively in the area of climate change since 1993, including working for the Adaptation and Impacts Research Group of the Meteorological Service of Canada, Environment Canada (1995-2002). From 1998 - 2002 he was the scientific authority for an Environment Canada led multi-stakeholder study on atmospheric change in the Toronto-Niagara Region. During this period he split his time between Environment Canada and Pollution Probe before joining the latter full time as the Air Programme Director and Senior Scientist in June, 2002.

Dr. Chiotti has published over 45 articles in scholarly journals and books, including co-editing a book on agricultural restructuring and sustainability, and was a contributor to the Canada Country Study, the first national assessment on climate change impacts and adaptation. He is the co-lead author for the Ontario chapter to the report From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007 led by Natural Resources Canada.

This special session is from 7-9pm.

With the publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report Four in 2007, the scientific view regarding the causes and consequences of climate change has never been stronger. There is little debate that climate change is real, is already happening, and that adaptation to some degree of climate change is necessary.

This presentation discusses the role of adaptation as the emerging frontier for responding to climate change. It draws on two national assessments, one led by Natural Resources Canada and another by Health Canada, that have assessed the current state of knowledge about climate change impacts, the vulnerability of our social and natural systems, and the capacity of these systems to adapt, across regions and in the context of human health. The presentation concludes by outlining a pathway forward, towards the development of a regional and/or national adaptation plan.

Speaker: Quentin Chiotti

Quentin Chiotti was appointed the Climate Change Programme Director at Pollution Probe in April 2007. He has a Ph. D. in Geography from the University of Western Ontario, and has worked extensively in the area of climate change since 1993, including working for the Adaptation and Impacts Research Group of the Meteorological Service of Canada, Environment Canada (1995-2002). From 1998 - 2002 he was the scientific authority for an Environment Canada led multi-stakeholder study on atmospheric change in the Toronto-Niagara Region. During this period he split his time between Environment Canada and Pollution Probe before joining the latter full time as the Air Programme Director and Senior Scientist in June, 2002.

Dr. Chiotti has published over 45 articles in scholarly journals and books, including co-editing a book on agricultural restructuring and sustainability, and was a contributor to the Canada Country Study, the first national assessment on climate change impacts and adaptation. He is the co-lead author for the Ontario chapter to the report From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007 led by Natural Resources Canada.

This special session is from 7-9pm.

For much of our history, public education has been dominant in Canada. But the earliest schools were private, religious institutions and they are still the choice for a significant number of parents. About 6 per cent of children in Canada attend private schools. Why pay $10,000 - $30,000 per child per year to send them to a private school? Do they get a better education than their peers at public school? Or is it just snob-value?

Duane Plantinga is an advocate for private, independent schools. He is the Executive Director of the Association of Independent Schools and Colleges in Alberta. Mr. Plantinga will provide a general overview of schools of choice in the province and describe the various types of independent schools. He will explain how independent schools are financed and governed, including the accountability factor in these private institutions.

Speaker: Duane Plantinga

Duane Plantinga has 33 years of experience in the education sector. Prior to joining the Association of Independent Schools and Colleges in Alberta in 2000, he served as a teacher, curriculum coordinator, and principal in both elementary and secondary schools in Alberta and British Columbia. He holds an M.Ed. from the University of Alberta.

For much of our history, public education has been dominant in Canada. But the earliest schools were private, religious institutions and they are still the choice for a significant number of parents. About 6 per cent of children in Canada attend private schools. Why pay $10,000 - $30,000 per child per year to send them to a private school? Do they get a better education than their peers at public school? Or is it just snob-value?

Duane Plantinga is an advocate for private, independent schools. He is the Executive Director of the Association of Independent Schools and Colleges in Alberta. Mr. Plantinga will provide a general overview of schools of choice in the province and describe the various types of independent schools. He will explain how independent schools are financed and governed, including the accountability factor in these private institutions.

Speaker: Duane Plantinga

Duane Plantinga has 33 years of experience in the education sector. Prior to joining the Association of Independent Schools and Colleges in Alberta in 2000, he served as a teacher, curriculum coordinator, and principal in both elementary and secondary schools in Alberta and British Columbia. He holds an M.Ed. from the University of Alberta.

Human encroachment into our remaining wild spaces is wiping the Grizzly Bear from our landscape. Alberta is on the front line. There are only an estimated 490 Grizzlies left in the province, down from an estimated 6,000 two centuries ago.

Conservationists complain that the Alberta government has no clear commitment to help the recovery of our Grizzly Bear population. It has not listed the species as threatened nor allocated a dedicated budget for its recovery.

Last November, local, national and international conservation organizations launched "Action Grizzly Bear", an Alberta-based campaign focused on achieving Alberta and Canadian government action on the recovery of the bear population. What can we do? The speaker will explain a broad range of recovery essentials.

Speaker: Carl Morrison, Sierra Club Canada

Carl Morrison serves as "Action Grizzly Bear" campaign coordinator for Sierra Club Canada. His interdisciplinary background includes a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta and several years of field experience on various wildlife research studies in Alberta, including two seasons working on the Trans-Canada Highway Bear DNA Project in Banff National Park.

Carl has spent countless days working and playing in "grizzly bear country" and cautions that Alberta is at risk of losing far more than just a species. He is now putting his marketing skills to work, advocating the recovery of Alberta''s most iconic species. However, Carl Morrison believes that recovery of the Grizzly Bear can only be achieved if it is demanded by the public.

Human encroachment into our remaining wild spaces is wiping the Grizzly Bear from our landscape. Alberta is on the front line. There are only an estimated 490 Grizzlies left in the province, down from an estimated 6,000 two centuries ago.

Conservationists complain that the Alberta government has no clear commitment to help the recovery of our Grizzly Bear population. It has not listed the species as threatened nor allocated a dedicated budget for its recovery.

Last November, local, national and international conservation organizations launched "Action Grizzly Bear", an Alberta-based campaign focused on achieving Alberta and Canadian government action on the recovery of the bear population. What can we do? The speaker will explain a broad range of recovery essentials.

Speaker: Carl Morrison, Sierra Club Canada

Carl Morrison serves as "Action Grizzly Bear" campaign coordinator for Sierra Club Canada. His interdisciplinary background includes a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta and several years of field experience on various wildlife research studies in Alberta, including two seasons working on the Trans-Canada Highway Bear DNA Project in Banff National Park.

Carl has spent countless days working and playing in "grizzly bear country" and cautions that Alberta is at risk of losing far more than just a species. He is now putting his marketing skills to work, advocating the recovery of Alberta''s most iconic species. However, Carl Morrison believes that recovery of the Grizzly Bear can only be achieved if it is demanded by the public.

Although the earliest schools in Canada were religious, public education has been dominant for much of our history. But, as in other sectors, the private sector has been encroaching in the public domain. What has been happening to the funding of public education and is its quality under threat?

Former Alberta Education Minister, David King, argues that public school education is unlike any other social system for three reasons: It is inclusive as a matter of conviction and by design; and it is a deliberate model of a civil democratic community. It is also an “organic” life-system of the community in which it works, and so it cannot be understood apart from the community in which it functions.

These characteristics, says David King, are vital to the community, both in terms of the quality of education, and the well-being of the community. He also believes that the local self-government of education is of vital interest to the community.

Speaker: David King

David King is a politician and public education policy activist. He is a former Progressive Conservative Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. He was Alberta’s Minister of Education from 1979 to 1986. Since 1990, Mr. King has served as Executive Director of the Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta. He holds a B.A in Political Science and History from the University of Alberta.