On Wednesday, Premier Danielle Smith unveiled her plans for Alberta’s healthcare system which - if enacted - could be a slippery slope to the end of public healthcare in Alberta. Her plans would dismantle Alberta Health, replacing it with a new set of organizations which will be under her government’s direct control - giving her the power to do whatever she wants. Leaked documents indicate it could put the jobs of 250,000 healthcare workers at risk. At a time where the public healthcare system is already crumbling in crisis and suffering from understaffing - this is unacceptable. Smith has yet to directly address how many jobs will be affected by these new plans, or how much it will cost. If thousands of us sign a petition calling on her to reverse these plans, we can show Smith that her proposal is deeply unpopular, and get her to go back to the drawing board and build a healthcare plan that really addresses the needs of all Albertans. Image credit: Alberta Newsroom

Without the backing of our Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs), Bill 140 faces the risk of being shelved, depriving our schools, students and education workers of the chance for a healthier learning and working environment. Clean indoor is important: Health and Safety: Poor air quality can lead to a range of health issues, including respiratory problems, allergies, and the spread of infectious diseases. Ensuring that the air quality in schools meets current standards is a fundamental step in protecting the well-being of those who spend significant amounts of time in educational settings. Educational Outcomes: There is a well-documented link between air quality and cognitive function. Cleaner air can improve concentration, productivity, and overall academic performance. Transparency and Accountability: By mandating the public reporting of CO2 levels, this bill promotes transparency, allowing parents and the wider community to be informed about the air quality in schools and childcare centers. This information is critical for ensuring accountability and pushing for necessary improvements. Proactive Health Measures: The requirement for an Air Quality Action Plan ensures that there are predefined steps to take when air quality drops, potentially preventing health issues before they arise and ensuring a quick response to any air quality concerns. Economic Sense: Investing in better air quality has economic benefits. By reducing the number of sick days for both students and staff, there is less disruption to learning and work, which has a positive impact on productivity and educational outcomes. Additionally, the long-term healthcare savings from preventing air quality-related illnesses can be substantial. Setting Standards: Ontario currently lacks clear regulations for indoor air quality in schools, putting students and staff at a disadvantage. Implementing such standards would not only protect them but also position Ontario as a leader in educational health and safety standards. Global Competitiveness: Other regions that have adopted similar measures have seen positive outcomes. Supporting this bill would allow Ontario to keep pace with global best practices in educational and childcare environments, making it a more attractive place to live, work, and learn. Long-Term Benefits: The investment in air quality monitoring and improvement is not just a short-term fix; it's an investment in the future health and cognitive abilities of the community’s children. Healthy students are more likely to grow into healthy adults, contributing positively to society. With the support of Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs), we can implement vital measures like Bill 140 to ensure our schools have clean air, thereby securing a safer, healthier, and more academically conducive future for our students and education workers.

According to Statista, "In 2020, almost 40 percent of consumers in a survey in Canada stated that they were willing to reduce their meat consumption, whilst around 9 percent were fully intending on doing so." When we don't provide clear labelling for this information, it doesn't only affect Canadians with existing dietary restrictions, it also poses an unnecessary challenge for those of us who are interested in reducing meat and dairy consumption but haven't quite gotten there yet. In 2018, nearly 10% of Canadians were either vegetarian or vegan. That number has since grown. Why would we make life harder for 1 in 10 Canadians instead of simply updating labelling requirements to provide information which is already accessible to producers? If India can do it, so can we.

Over 22% of Canadians have a disability, and yet there is no law in Canada requiring that housing be accessible. Seniors and people with disabilities are struggling in housing which does not meet their needs. The cost of building a new apartment is the same whether it is accessible or not, so why are we not building accessible housing?

Please sign this petition if you believe that everyone deserves access to safe and affordable housing - it's not just a need; it's a human right!

More than 4.5 million Canadians — often those who need it most — are left out of Canada’s federal energy efficiency programs. The federal government has strong public support for expanding low-income energy efficiency. According to polling conducted by Abacus Data for Efficiency Canada, 72% of Canadians either strongly support or support government funding toward energy efficiency for low-income housing. This support spans across rural and urban populations, owners and renters, all income groups, voters for all political parties and in all regions [1]. Canada will not meet its net-zero emissions goal without upgrading the buildings where low-income Canadians live. Without a national federal energy efficiency solution, low-income Canadians are vulnerable to rising energy costs due to inflation and carbon taxes. As Canada moves to net-zero emissions, higher income Canadians will be able to escape fossil fuels, leaving lower income Canadians with the burden of paying higher costs for fossil fuel distribution networks [2]. We have a chance to achieve this in the 2024 federal budget – but we must act quickly. Budget negotiations are happening right now. [1] https://www.efficiencycanada.org/polling-canadians-support-low-income-energy-efficiency/ [2] Efficiency Canada, Written Submission for the Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the Upcoming Federal Budget, Sept 2022, https://www.efficiencycanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Efficiency-Canada-submission-to-Budget-2023-consultations.pdf

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a world leader and as citizens/residents it is our perogative to hold our leaders to account. Citations: ⒈https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-west-bank-death-toll-reaches-2383-palestinians-ministry-2023-10-15/ ⒉https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/gaza-facing-real-catastrophe-as-hospitals-only-have-hours-of-fuel-left-while-food-and-water-run-low-or-out/ar-AA1ij9mI ⒊https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/gaza-strip-palestine-evacuation-israel-siege-b2430912.html ⒋https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/over-last-week-israel-killed-47-families-in-gaza-made-up-of-500-palestinians-news-agency/3020636

People in Ontario are forced to wait years for complex spinal surgeries in debilitating pain, suffering from a diminishing quality of life and risking life-long consequences and deterioration in function. These patients are all waiting unacceptably and inhumanely longer for surgery then medically recommended. Some with severe Scoliosis, with degenerative curving spines causing severe pain and limiting mobility, whose rotating rib cages, start to squeeze the very organs they're meant to protect, causing deterioration of lung and heart function. A handful of understaffed specialized spine surgeons are willing to help but face significant barriers. The government discourages, disincentivizes, these surgeons from performing complex surgeries by forcing them to wait months or longer to be paid and instead incentivizes them to perform government prioritized common surgeries which guarantee fair and timely compensation, further lengthening the wait, pain and suffering for patients who need complex surgery. In 2022, a lack of collaboration between the Ministry of Health's adjudicators and these health providers, has resulted in unfair assessments and compensation of complex cases, consequently furthering the wait for patients and leaving some in limbo. CBC''s Pelley interviewed 44 yr old Christine Kaschuba, mother of three, of Whitby Ontario, waiting over three years for surgery. Her spine is curved severely at 70 degrees in the shape of a C, the most common Scoliosis spine curvature. “The pain is unrelenting...while her lungs struggle to take in full, deep breaths. Most nights...she just wants to close her eyes and not wake up.” (1) My name is Karen and I am a baby boomer. I have lived in Ontario all my life. I was very fortunate and grateful to have had a complex spinal surgery to correct my serious scoliosis back in 2001 by highly-specialized spinal surgeon Dr. Stephen Lewis at Toronto Western Hospital. I believe I would not be alive today if I did not have that life-altering surgery. I did not have to wait years for the surgery and would have seriously considered suicide or MAID if I had to wait that long in such excruciating pain with a very poor quality of life. So I was shocked and extremely upset to watch the CBC national news on this health-care crisis in Ontario; (1) These patients, hundreds, are being discriminated against by being denied equitable and timely access to spine surgery. Some, are just teenagers and very young adults. Ontario's Excellent Care for All Act is definitely not for all. This is not the universal health care Canadians are so proud of. If you are an Ontario resident, please go one step further, download, sign and mail with postage, this non-partisan Ontario Legislative petition, recently co-sponsored by Green Party Leader MPP Mike Schreiner, be sure to put your full address with postal code. Click on https://1drv.ms/b/s!ApJ7tghCUbulzQkiBzErIqvqKZ2c?e=r7XFUk Updated 2024 Access to Spine Care SOURCES: (1) https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/scoliosis-surgery-patient-wait-surgeon-1.6884504 Health CBC Investigates June 25/23, "Patients wait in pain as a surgeon fights to get paid" https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-excess-funds-fao-1.6874664 CBC Toronto, June 13/23 -Ontario will have $22.6B in 'excess funds' that could be used on programs or debt, FAO says https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25218732/ Impact on health related quality of life of adult spinal deformity (ASD) compared with other chronic conditions, Eur Spine J, Jan 2015 'Medical and health policy providers should be aware of the impact of adult spinal deformity (ASD) on health-related quality of life (HRQL). A large international study comparing Adult Spinal Deformity patients with patients with other chronic diseases such as arthritis, chronic lung disease, diabetes and congestive heart failure, reported that surgical candidates with ASD displayed the worst HRQL scores.' https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34176081/ Does pulmonary function improve after surgical correction of adult idiopathic scoliosis?, Spine Deform, Nov 9 2021 “Pulmonary function improved in patients with preoperative pulmonary impairment of < 65% in %FVC and < 80% in %FEV1, and the real improvement was limited to patients with severe preoperative impairment.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37137668/ Identification of an increased lifetime risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in UK Biobank participants with scoliosis, Open Heart, May 10 2023 “Structural changes caused by spinal curvature may impact the organs within the thoracic cage, including the heart. ...This work identifies, in an adult population, evidence for altered cardiac function and an increased lifetime risk of MACE (major adverse cardiovascular events) in participants with scoliosis.” https://www.srs.org/patients-and-families/conditions-and-treatments/adults Scoliosis Research Society https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1411763/ Pehrsson K, Larsson S, Oden A, Nachemson A. Long-term follow-up of patients with untreated scoliosis. A study of mortality, causes of death, and symptoms. Spine 1992; 17: 1091± https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4128946/ Morbidity and radiographic outcomes of severe scoliosis of 90° or more: a comparison of hybrid with total pedicle screw instrumentation, Journal of Children's Orthopaedics, Aug 8, 2014 “Untreated severe scoliosis of 70° or more is associated with increased mortality as compared with the normal population [1]. Most patients with scoliosis of 60° or more present with major spinal deformity, restrictive lung disease, and, if left untreated, rapid progression of the deformity.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18939917/ Neurological symptoms and deficits in adults with scoliosis who present to a surgical clinic: incidence and association with the choice of operative versus nonoperative management, NeuroSurg Spine Oct 9 2008

People with disabilities in Alberta cannot get by or they are suffering on the streets, Aish can barely cover the average rent and cost of living in Alberta. The average rent in Calgary for a 1 bedroom apartment is $1,825 a month and keeps getting bigger. https://www.zumper.com/rent-research/calgary-ab The maximum payment for Aish is $1,787 this is completely unacceptable, Aish is meant for people who can't work because of their disabilities both physical and mental to still live a decent life in the province of Alberta. but because of the cost of living crisis and inflation, the ones who cannot work are suffering. most people on Aish can bearly get by, cannot find a place to rent or live, and can barely buy basic essentials due to the cost of living making everything expensive. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-assured-income-for-the-severely-handicapped-feature-1.5752665 Even though in 2022 the UCP reindexed Aish, we believe this is not enough. We are suffering, we cannot work. Aish is all we got We ask that Jason Nixon — Minister of Seniors, Community, and Social Services, and the Legislative Assembly of Alberta expand aish and make the maximum payment of 2,500 dollars to make it so we can live a decent life and ease our anxieties with the cost of living.

On August 22nd, Saskatchewan’s Education Minister Dustin Duncan announced new parental inclusion and consent policies for Saskatchewan schools that have raised a great deal of concern among trans people and allies because of their transphobic nature. He has ruled that schools must seek parent/guardian permission when changing the preferred name and pronouns used by students under the age of 16 in school, and has offered parents the opportunity to opt their children out of sex education classes. He states that this is to “support students and parents and recognizes the important role that parents and guardians have in protecting and supporting their children” as if using a different name and pronouns is something harmful for children that they ought to be protected from. You can read Duncan’s whole letter here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CwQOvritgq0/ If you agree that forcing trans children to out themselves to family in order to be themselves at school is not only a blatantly transphobic policy, but that it will lead to even higher rates of mental health problems, homelessness and even suicide to a group that already faces an increased risk of these things, please use our template to write to Mr. Duncan and give him a piece of your mind. Personalize our email to make it even more impactful and share your own stories. STAND WITH TRANS KIDS!

Road safety is important for all, and especially for seniors & children. Main St. should be a place we can feel free to travel without undue concern for our safety. Everyone can agree that the community spirit shown at car-free days, festivals, farmers' markets, and events should be encouraged every day of the week!

We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to create and implement a disability emergency relief benefit to provide immediate support to people with disabilities while awaiting the implementation of the Canada Disability Benefit.