Alberta UCP candidate suggests some heart attacks victims should take accountability for their health

A United Conservative Party candidate in southern Alberta is being criticized for saying people who have heart failure should take accountability for their own health.

Livingstone-Macleod candidate Chelsae Petrovic told “The Canadian Story Podcast” in February that some people have heart attacks because they don’t take care of themselves and then make it the health-care system’s problem.

Petrovic, who is the mayor of Claresholm, south of Calgary, has also been a nurse for more than 12 years.

“This might be political suicide here,” Petrovic tells host Zach Gerber before making her point.

Here's a longer clip of UCP candidate Chelsae Petrovic saying heart attack victims need to take personal accountability.

In it, the podcaster points out how recent guest Theo Fleury had also mentioned a lack of societal accountability and asks her to flesh out her idea. #ableg pic.twitter.com/Zan5fVI0mF

— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) April 11, 2023

She claims people have become overly dependent on the government and dependent on “Facebook likes” and that people are unable to take “any accountability.”

“I see it in health care… maybe the reason why you had a heart attack was because you haven’t taken care of yourself,” said Petrovic.

“You’re extremely overweight. You haven’t … managed your congestive heart failure, you haven’t managed your diabetes, and there’s no personal accountability, but they come into the hospital, and it’s all of a sudden, it’s everyone else’s problem but their own.

“Let’s start looking at how can we, what can we do as a society to prevent it.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says Petrovic has clarified that she could have used better language.

“I think we all need to make sure that Albertans have access to high quality, accessible, publicly funded health care,” Smith told reporters Tuesday.

“That’s why we’re here today. If people have access to good doctors who can help them manage their conditions, is going to make sure that they maintain the best health possible.”

Smith came under fire last year for saying that early-stage cancer is within a person’s control.

She also insinuated if people choose to prevent getting cancer themselves, they’d be saving taxpayer dollars from going to costly medical treatment.

Related Stories:

• UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith slammed over cancer misinformation

• Smith slammed for cancer misinformation in UCP Leadership debate

• Danielle Smith’s cancer claims anger Alberta cancer patients

Alberta NDP Health critic David Sheperd is asking Petrovic to apologize for the comments he says are “cruel and hurtful.”

“Let me say something obvious: people with cancer are not to blame for their cancer, and people who have had a heart attack are not to blame for their heart attack,” he told reporters Tuesday.

“Our health-care system and the thousands of Albertans who work in it to provide care to everyone who needs it when they need it, without judgment.”

In late March, UCP Lethbridge West candidate Torry Tanner resigned after claiming in a video that children are exposed to pornography in schools and teachers help them change their gender identity.

Smith accepted her resignation, and the party has distanced itself from her comments.