A Death by 100 Cuts

HEALTHCARE + CURRICULUM

Excerpt from Letter to the Editor published in the Lakeside Leader in Slave Lake, AB

Dear Rural Albertans,

As a rural Alberta-raised girl, I know what it is like to have one school, one hospital, and a single RCMP detachment in the area, or perhaps a couple within a reasonable driving distance. We make do with our services in more remote areas and hope that amazing teachers, doctors, nurses, paramedics, and law enforcement officers are willing to make these towns their home and care for our communities like we do.

However, things are changing drastically, and they are not in your best interests. If you are worried and confused right now, you should be.

The current government is seeking to transform the very fabric of what makes rural Alberta strong. The premier elected to care for Albertans is seeking to privatize our valuable public services and vilifying the people that serve our communities – teachers, doctors, nurses, paramedics as well as RCMP. This ongoing running down of our valued professionals is leading to burnout, despair, and eventually loss of these services. It is death by 1000 cuts.