Letter: Stop kicking doctors when they are down

Dear Premier,

Rescind Bill 21 and stop kicking doctors when they are down

I listened with great interest to the wording of your response today to the question
calling out national leaders for their attack on the oil industry. You said that their
responses are “not good leadership”. You said, “Leadership is meant to bring us
together not to divide”. These words, coming out of your mouth, given their
reference to the oil industry, were not surprising.

I then heard your response to the question from Licia Corbella about the breakdown
of trust between physicians and the health minister. You reiterated that you have
complete faith in his performance and that he has done an extraordinary job in his
role. You went on to spout the same skewed facts about compensation, McKinnon
panel, Ernst and Young report, etc. And to imply that rural physicians are overly
compensated and should be happy with the handouts you have given.

I would respectfully request that you examine your purported opinion on good
leadership with regards to physician compensation. Are you as a leader, bringing us
together? Is your health minister?

You are missing the point entirely if you think this is a compensation issue. If it is,
why not go to binding arbitration?? If physicians are truly as overpaid as you claim,
an independent arbitrator would hand them their contract and it would all be over.
What are you afraid of? Why are you trying to divide rural physicians from urban,
specialists from family doctors? Why are you not allowing negotiations with the
Alberta Medical Association? Why are you enacting bills that give you the power to
change the terms of any agreement at any time?

Make no mistake – this is not a compensation issue – it is a trust issue. There is no
trust left between your health minister and physicians. There is no trust left
between physicians and your government. And this is NOT the sign of good
leadership. No amount of throwing new programs and money at rural physicians
will compensate for the fact that your government has lost this trust and can change
the goalposts again whenever you like.

You claim that you have “listened very carefully to rural physicians and responded”.
I know for a fact that rural and urban physicians across this province are asking you
to negotiate, not on an individual basis, but as a whole, with our medical association.
They know the impact of these changes to our health system. You do not.

Your request to the national leaders attacking oil was, “Please stop kicking us while
we are down. These attacks are unwarranted and divisive”. As a physician, I would
request the same from you and your government. Physicians want to be free to do
our jobs during this pandemic and beyond, without the threat of a government and a
ministry that continually refuses to involve key stakeholders in the way our health
system operates.

Please rescind bill 21. Please reinstate our contract until this pandemic is under
control. And please re-enter negotiations in a meaningful way with the Alberta
Medical Association. These steps will go a long way towards rebuilding trust
between physicians and your government.

Sincerely,

Dr Julie Torrie
Facilitated by #abdocs4patients.

Further signed by concerned Alberta physicians

Dr. Kerri Bossert, MD
Dr. Caroline Spiers, MD
Dr. Hilary Kornder, MD
Dr. Sue Reid, MD
Dr. Mark Belletrutti, MD
Dr. Mikayla Brenneis, MD
Dr. Sabrina Merali, MD
Dr. Amy Tan, MD
Dr. Rebecca Brassington, MD
Dr. Jennifer Ortynski, MD
Dr. Amol Bhargava, MD
Dr. Tasneem Sajwani, MD
Dr. Erin Chapman, MD
Dr. Kim Kelly, MD
Dr. Cheryl Mack, MD
Dr. John Julyan-Gudgeon, MD
Dr. Karen Robertson, MD
Dr. Jennifer C. Chan, MD
Dr. Marsha Quartero, MD
Dr. Yuliya Kolodenko, MD
Dr. Patty Lee, MD
Dr. Charley Boyd , MD
Dr. Sonja Metcalfe , , MD
Dr. Eeshita Arora, MD
Dr. Brad Stewart, MD
Dr. Paul Parks, MD
Dr. Tessa Penrod, MD
Dr. Jennifer Tupper, MD
Dr. Anna-Kristen Siy, MD
Dr. Chris Beavingron, MD
Dr. Alexandra Seal Grant, MD
Dr. Richard Hanelt, MD
Dr. Tamer El Mays, MD
Dr. Caeley Lorincz, , MD
Dr. Paula Dubois, MD
Dr. Charlene Kennedy, MD
Dr. Madalena Dearden, MD
Dr. Makela Nkeirim, MD
Dr. JoAnna Fay, MD
Dr. Ayesha Saeed , MD
Dr. Akolisa Anyaduba, MD
Dr. Christine Froelich, MD
Dr. Bailey Adams, MD
Dr. Noorullah Magsi, MD
Dr. Aref Yeung, MD
Dr. Jian Choo, MD
Dr. Shazma Mithani, MD
Dr. Naomi Fridhandler, MD
Dr. Natashka Pollock, MD
Dr. Kathleen Baergen, MD
Dr. Carmen Fong, MD
Dr. Ashesh Pabbies, MD
Dr. Candice Knoechel, MD
Dr. Freda Lo, MD
Dr. Ricky Agnihotri, MD
Dr. David Motiuk, MD
Dr. Meghan Elkink, MD
Dr. Adel Elsharkawy, MD
Dr. Heather Gooden, MD
Dr. Heather Taylor, MD
Dr. Jan McPhee, MD
Dr. Ryan Roszko, MD
Dr. Adam Nielsen, MD
Dr. Kizza S Muwanguzi, MD
Dr. Everett Zdrill, MD
Dr. Parker Vandermeer, MD
Dr. Lauralee Dukeshire, MD
Dr. Melissa Setiawan, MD
Dr. Michele A. Moss, MD
Dr. Heather Eliason, MD
Dr. Naomi Rittberg, MD
Dr. Sharonjit Bains, MD
Dr. Cherelyn Lakusta, MD
Dr. Heidi Von Engelbrechten, MD
Dr. Mary Cummins, MD
Dr. Shauna Mercer, MD
Dr. Fiona Mattatall, MD
Dr. Anna Tomanek, MD
Dr. DAnita Dey, MD
Dr. Brad Unryn, MD
Dr. Imrana Riaz, MD
Dr. Una Barry, MD
Dr. Naureen Wasey, MD
Dr. Amir Taheri, MD
Dr. Don Punch, MD
Dr. Tehseen Ladha, MD
Dr. Diana Rucker, MD
Dr. Brian Dembinski, MD
Dr. Jan Lombaard, MD
Dr. Andrea Woo, MD
Dr. Melanie Boroja, MD
Dr. Erin Lerner, MD
Dr. Gaylene Genge, MD
Dr. Beatrice du Prey, MD
Dr. Annelies Noordman, MD
Dr. Janet Tse, MD
Dr. Shirline Chia, MD
Dr. Anne Roggensack, MD
Dr. Dinesh Witharana, MD
Dr. Christopher Ewing, MD
Dr. Eileen Estrabillo, MD
Dr. Candy Marcet, MD
Dr. Aaron Pink, MD
Dr. Saad Yasin, MD
Dr. Kathleen Game, MD
Dr. Alex Knebel, MD
Dr. ThucNhi Dang, MD
Dr. Kathy Unger, MD
Dr. Michael Cunningham, MD
Dr. Zahra Ahamed, MD
Dr. Peter Sullivan, MD
Dr. Sean Wilde, MD
Dr. Alicia Mason, MD
Dr. Ayesha Rahim, MD
Dr. Sandy J. Murray , MD
Dr. Kristen Rylance, MD
Dr. Gurpreet Rakhra, MD
Dr. Shawna Lamond, MD
Dr. Akinseinder Osakuade, MD
Dr. Stephanie Frigon, MD
Dr. Phil Vogel, MD
Dr. J. Edward Les, MD
Dr. Lana Myroniuk, MD
Dr. Nicole Roper, MD
Dr. Jessica Kirkwood , MD
Dr. Juliet Fairfac, MD
Dr. Krista Piebiak Patterson, MD
Dr. Brent Turner, MD
Dr. Christine O’Reilly, MD
Dr. Elizabeth McKoen, MD
Dr. Gentle Dingeldein, MD
Dr. Joanna Mundell, MD
Dr. Stephanie D’Agostini, MD
Dr. Suneina Mohan, MD
Dr. Shannon Pfeiffer, MD
Dr. Kerri Johnstone, MD
Dr. Nicola Watkins, MD
Dr. Jennifer Corrales, MD
Dr. Danielle Michaels, MD
Dr. Beavan Talukdar, MD
Dr. Katherine Bisby, MD
Dr. Laura Coughlan, MD
Dr. Diana Grainger, MD
Dr. Sheila Caddy, MD
Dr. Charlotte Haig, MD
Dr. Katherine Kasha, MD
Dr. Rachel Ottenbreit, MD
Dr. Larissa Seredycz, MD
Dr. Noel Grisdale, MD
Dr. Scott Eliason, MD
Dr. Mai Tran, MD
Dr. Barbara Fischer, MD
Dr. Fareeha Nasir, MD
Dr. Saadia Qaiser, MD
Dr. Chelsey King, MD
Dr. Kim Anderson-Hill, MD

Further signed by concerned allied healthcare professionals of Alberta

Kristi Mingo
Michael Tameling
Stephen Sharp
Tracy Zimmer
Kristina Dong
Rebecca Brown
Marie Aitken
Tanis Sawatzky
Rob Kroetsch
Denise Pasieka
Milanne Araneta
Shawn White
Amanda Brayall
Nicole Giesbrecht

Further signed by concerned members of the public

Colin Chubachi
Stephen Anderson
Laura McNabb
Tarita Carnduff
Leslie Bush
Adam McRae
Dave Hughes
Cheryl Menard
Hugh Gilmore
Faiz-Ali Virji
Kevin Kohle
Julie GIbson
Craig Vatcher
Elizabeth (Liz) Acheson
Melissa Ledingham
Darlene Carter
Alexis Plett
Christine Callahan
Craig Belanger
DC Harris
Victoria Qualie
Ty McDougall
Dorothy Hermary
Derek Kwiatkowski
Christina Buchan
Carol Anderson
Sherry Langland
Anthony Cronin
Robyn Hoffman
Lindsey Kemp
Crystal Rubik
Inez Kosinski
James Sylvester
Kellie Verburg
Hollyanne Van Dyk
Jana Haveman
Heather Stocking
C Baker
Kathrin Retana
Erica Thomas
Jodi Richardson
Riske Quartero
Mandy Hadfield
Kenneth Prat
Alena Helgeson
Brendan Bakay
Kathy Davies
Jeanna Unryn
RM Haryett
Tige Procyshyn
Veronique Chesworth
Natasha Pike
Heather Sobey
Connie Egely
Tara Ramsey
Karen Elizabeth Lee
Derek Tapp
Jenny Miller
Tom Edworthy
Derrick Mitchinson
Sharpen Garden
Nathaniel Wielenga
Lindsey Coyle
Mary Oxendale Spensley
Jennifer Rapuano
Claire M Kraatz
Brian Keller
Peggy McCallum
Victoria Ouellette
Brian Woodward
Stephanie Urquhart
Judith Mitchell/Bares
Terry Holmes
Laurel Hounslow
Catriona Byers
Carroll Christoffersen
Sandra Kinney-Anderson
Marilyn Holmes
John Zolis
Challis Elkink
Bruce W Kaufman
Beki Snyder
Patricia Brookhart
Melanie Wong
Lindsy Coney
Gunther Trageser
Tracey Allan
Deirdre O’Kelly Tilley
Erin Hickman
Kate Cecco
Koreen Naugler
Crystal Ellis
Barb Phillips
Kelly Wills
Karen Young
Nicole Thomas
Marina Kooman
James Mather
Andrea Tomchuk
Shelly Pike