NDP claim Kenney ‘lied about number of cancelled surgeries’, UCP says they’re ‘playing politics’
Posted Jan 28, 2022 3:48 pm.
The Alberta NDP allege Premier Jason Kenney misled Albertans about the impact on surgery cancellations the fourth wave of the pandemic has had, but the UCP claims the opposition is just “playing politics.”
In November, the Alberta government said around 15,000 procedures were postponed to try and create more hospital capacity for pandemic-related admissions.
Related article:
An estimated 15,000 surgeries cancelled during fourth COVID-19 wave: health minister
However, David Shepherd with the NDP says that is a lie.
He provided data from Alberta Health Services (AHS) and says it shows 21,000 surgeries were cancelled or postponed, not 15,000.
“Jason Kenney lied about how many Albertans’ surgeries were cancelled due to his refusal to act as the danger of the fourth wave was obvious to everyone. The premier went on vacation, failed to leave anyone in charge, and then lied about the appalling consequences,” said Shepherd.
He pointed out that as late as Nov. 23, Kenney told the legislature “about 15,000 surgeries were postponed during the fourth wave.”
When asked how he knew the premier didn’t simply have outdated information, Shepherd said the AHS data received from a freedom of information request (FOIP) shows that on Nov. 23, the official number of cancelled/postponed surgeries was 21,000 not 15,000.
“Either the premier was lying, or he was incredibly ill-informed about the realities and pressures caused by the fourth wave of COVID-19,” he said.
“Albertans can’t trust the UCP because they withhold critical information from the public, and frequently lie about what they are releasing.”
#Alberta NDP claim the premier lied about how many surgeries were cancelled in 4th wave, saying 21000 surgeries were cancelled/postponed not 15000. The data compares total surgeries in 2021 to past years and the UCP says the NDP are misusing it to 'play politics.' #abpoli #ableg pic.twitter.com/yR2A1U2EbA
— Saif Kaisar (@StaySaif) January 28, 2022
In a statement to CityNews, Steve Buick from the Health Minister’s office says the NDP are deliberately misusing the data to “play politics.”
“The data that the NDP refer to is clearly labelled. It compares volumes to past years; it is not a measure of procedures actually postponed,” he noted.
“Jason Kenney must apologize to Albertans for his dishonesty, and commit to public reporting of the surgeries cancelled due to the UCP’s negligence,” Shepherd added.
The NDP requested the “Number of surgeries canceled and/or postponed in Alberta between August 1, 2021 to December 6, 2021” in a FOIP.
However, they were given the total number of surgeries completed between Aug. 2 to Nov. 29, 2021 compared to the average number of surgeries completed pre-pandemic.
In a thread on Twitter, Health Minister Jason Copping says the overall surgery waitlist has been stable since early December, and AHS continues to complete around 90 per cent of normal surgery volumes.
While other provinces are seeing across-the-board shutdowns of scheduled surgery, AHS continues to do around 90% of normal surgery volume.
They’re postponing some procedures and may have to reduce further, but they’re working hard to minimize the impact. /4
— Jason Copping (@JasonCoppingAB) January 28, 2022
