Nanton News - Nanton,Alberta,Canada
[4/15/09]
Budget panned € ’¶
Posted By Don McGregor, Edmonton
Iris Evans and Ed Stelmach, Alberta's Finance Minister and Premier
respectively, are looking for $2.2 billion dollars for next year's
budget. I suggest they look on page 216 of this year's budget.
Corporate Income Tax is due to decline by almost exactly the $2.2
billion dollars (from 2007-08 actual) that Evans is searching for.
Will Albertans continue being employed as corporate income declines by
50 per cent, or are the corporations getting a tax break when
Albertans need the money? Personal income taxes are estimated to
increase by $290 million over the same period.
I would rather pay the $700,000 for the transgendered to get their
operations than let Eddie and Iris suck up to the CEOs; at least the
transgendered are trying to change.
It is remarkable how the Conservatives can look Albertans in the eyes
and tell them we have to cut back on our spending or go into deficit.
AIMCO (Alberta Investment Management Corporation) is spending all
their budgeted External Investment Management Fees, including $172
million in performance based fees.
These are the same guys who provide the brain power necessary to lose
$2.5 billion from the (page 22) Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund,
$258 million from the (page 219) Heritage Foundation for Medical
Research Endowment Fund, $147 million from the Heritage Scholarship
fund, $142 million from the (page 222) Heritage Science and
Engineering Research Endowment Fund, and these financial wizards are
still getting a raise next year.
Oh boy, oh boy, I can hardly wait to see how much they lose next year.
Maybe Alberta's Eddie and Iris should consider giving them even bigger bonus.
€ © 2009 Sun Media
http://www.nantonnews.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1522958
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Defunding sex-changes is not discrimination
Calgary Herald, Canada
Defunding sex-changes is not discrimination
By Naomi Lakritz, Calgary Herald
April 15, 2009 3:03 AM
Yes, the government's decision to axe funding for sex-change surgery
is discriminatory, but not the way transgender people think it is.
"Discrimination" in this instance refers simply to the act of having
to discriminate by choosing among a number of budget options because
there isn't enough health-care money to go around. It seems more than
a tad paranoid to instantly ascribe the delisting of sex-change
surgery to latent bigotry, when the province has been paying for it
for more than a decade.
In fact, the province continued funding this surgery all those years
while beds were being closed and other services went without. It's
been the same bunch of Tories all along -- the same ones,
incidentally, who are putting sexual orientation into the human-rights
law.
Are we really supposed to believe that while they're doing the right
thing by the law, and after years of paying for the surgery, they're
suddenly and simultaneously hell-bent on persecuting the
transgendered? That's quite a stretch.
I'm no fan of the Tory government, but accusing them of violating
human rights in this case is ridiculous. Choices have to be made at
budget time, and in the grand scheme of priorities, elective surgery
in non-life-or-death situations is a logical target. Let's face it --
no matter how much it is claimed that doctors say a sex-change
operation is medically necessary, the surgical reshaping of one's
physical gender characteristics is not on a par with heart bypasses or
tumour removal. It is akin to cosmetic surgery. And like cosmetic
surgery, it should be paid for out of pocket.
Shall we also say the Tories are bigoted toward chiropractic patients,
since they delisted funding assistance for those folks, too? Maybe
chiropractic patients should file a human rights complaint against the
province, since the Tories apparently hate people who want neck and
back adjustments as much as they hate the transgendered.
This business of filing human rights complaints to force government to
give you taxpayers' money sets a very disquieting precedent.
Government must be free to manage its budget matters as it sees
fit--accountable to the taxpayers whose money it is, not to a human
rights commission. But just hypothetically, you know who should really
be filing a human rights complaint against the province over
health-care spending? No, not the transgendered crowd.
Cancer patients -- that's who.
Last week, Calgary oncologist Dr. Peter Craighead said that wait times
for treatment are bound to get longer because space is so limited at
the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, which has been over-capacity for six
years. The new provincial budget, however, has no money for expansions
or even a whole new centre. Do those clamouring the loudest over this
grievous injustice done to the transgendered feel one bit of
embarrassment for making such a fuss about funding when the survival
of cancer patients is at stake without timely radiation and
chemotherapy?
Shame on these people who are in good health, but who are trying to
force the province to pay up via the human rights commission, when
cancer patients stand to suffer much graver consequences.
The argument that the $700,000 a year spent on sex-change surgery is a
drop in the ocean of the health-care budget, doesn't wash. There's a
principle at stake here -- as long as there's no money in the budget
for life-and-death essentials like more timely cancer care, the
non-essentials must fall by the wayside. That $700,000 needs to be
disbursed into the "essential" category to maximize the good it can
do.
There is no doubt that people who want sex-change operations feel a
very real need to have it done to make their lives complete. But they
also go through years of counselling and preparation for such a
momentous transformation--years in which they could be setting aside
the money and saving up for the surgery.
You want to talk about human rights? How about the right of a
15-year-old boy with leukemia to live to see his dreams of university
and a career materialize? What about the right of a 40-year-old woman
with breast cancer to live to see her young children grow up? Cancer
violates human rights in so many ways every single day. Governments
cannot fund everything, and when the money isn't there for the Tom
Baker Centre, then it shouldn't be spent on a fringe group whose
lives, unlike those of cancer patients, do not hang in the balance.
nlakritz@theherald.canwest.com
€ ¦© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Defunding+changes+discrimination/1498579/story.html
Defunding sex-changes is not discrimination
By Naomi Lakritz, Calgary Herald
April 15, 2009 3:03 AM
Yes, the government's decision to axe funding for sex-change surgery
is discriminatory, but not the way transgender people think it is.
"Discrimination" in this instance refers simply to the act of having
to discriminate by choosing among a number of budget options because
there isn't enough health-care money to go around. It seems more than
a tad paranoid to instantly ascribe the delisting of sex-change
surgery to latent bigotry, when the province has been paying for it
for more than a decade.
In fact, the province continued funding this surgery all those years
while beds were being closed and other services went without. It's
been the same bunch of Tories all along -- the same ones,
incidentally, who are putting sexual orientation into the human-rights
law.
Are we really supposed to believe that while they're doing the right
thing by the law, and after years of paying for the surgery, they're
suddenly and simultaneously hell-bent on persecuting the
transgendered? That's quite a stretch.
I'm no fan of the Tory government, but accusing them of violating
human rights in this case is ridiculous. Choices have to be made at
budget time, and in the grand scheme of priorities, elective surgery
in non-life-or-death situations is a logical target. Let's face it --
no matter how much it is claimed that doctors say a sex-change
operation is medically necessary, the surgical reshaping of one's
physical gender characteristics is not on a par with heart bypasses or
tumour removal. It is akin to cosmetic surgery. And like cosmetic
surgery, it should be paid for out of pocket.
Shall we also say the Tories are bigoted toward chiropractic patients,
since they delisted funding assistance for those folks, too? Maybe
chiropractic patients should file a human rights complaint against the
province, since the Tories apparently hate people who want neck and
back adjustments as much as they hate the transgendered.
This business of filing human rights complaints to force government to
give you taxpayers' money sets a very disquieting precedent.
Government must be free to manage its budget matters as it sees
fit--accountable to the taxpayers whose money it is, not to a human
rights commission. But just hypothetically, you know who should really
be filing a human rights complaint against the province over
health-care spending? No, not the transgendered crowd.
Cancer patients -- that's who.
Last week, Calgary oncologist Dr. Peter Craighead said that wait times
for treatment are bound to get longer because space is so limited at
the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, which has been over-capacity for six
years. The new provincial budget, however, has no money for expansions
or even a whole new centre. Do those clamouring the loudest over this
grievous injustice done to the transgendered feel one bit of
embarrassment for making such a fuss about funding when the survival
of cancer patients is at stake without timely radiation and
chemotherapy?
Shame on these people who are in good health, but who are trying to
force the province to pay up via the human rights commission, when
cancer patients stand to suffer much graver consequences.
The argument that the $700,000 a year spent on sex-change surgery is a
drop in the ocean of the health-care budget, doesn't wash. There's a
principle at stake here -- as long as there's no money in the budget
for life-and-death essentials like more timely cancer care, the
non-essentials must fall by the wayside. That $700,000 needs to be
disbursed into the "essential" category to maximize the good it can
do.
There is no doubt that people who want sex-change operations feel a
very real need to have it done to make their lives complete. But they
also go through years of counselling and preparation for such a
momentous transformation--years in which they could be setting aside
the money and saving up for the surgery.
You want to talk about human rights? How about the right of a
15-year-old boy with leukemia to live to see his dreams of university
and a career materialize? What about the right of a 40-year-old woman
with breast cancer to live to see her young children grow up? Cancer
violates human rights in so many ways every single day. Governments
cannot fund everything, and when the money isn't there for the Tom
Baker Centre, then it shouldn't be spent on a fringe group whose
lives, unlike those of cancer patients, do not hang in the balance.
nlakritz@theherald.canwest.com
€ ¦© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Defunding+changes+discrimination/1498579/story.html
Any way you cut it, health care costs
Edmonton Sun, Canada
Wed, April 15, 2009
Any way you cut it, health care costs
By MINDELLE JACOBS
You can have Cadillac health care. You want lots of doctors, no
waiting lists and coverage for virtually all your medical and
psychological needs? Sure.
But there's a price to pay. I know, you're already pinching pennies
because your nest eggs have been decimated and you're wondering how
you're going to put the kids through college.
Still, if you want unlimited health care, hand over half your
paycheque to the government.
And stop complaining. Did you think you could have low taxes and
broad-based, state-paid services?
Chiropractic procedures are no longer covered in Alberta. And the
province is no longer paying for gender reassignment surgery.
The transsexual community has vowed to take the issue to the Alberta
Human Rights and Citizenship Commission today on the grounds that
sex-change surgery is medically necessary.
Is the province dumping on transsexuals because it figures, probably
correctly, that Albertans won't make much of a fuss over delisting
operations for a tiny minority of people who feel trapped in the wrong
bodies?
Or does sexuality have nothing to do with it and is Health Minister
Ron Liepert simply trying to make difficult decisions on how to fund
health care in the face of a $4.7-billion deficit?
I am not opposed to state coverage of sex-change surgery because it
involves so few people.
As transsexual Michelle Drinkell pointed out on Monday, the $700,000 a
year the province hopes to save by delisting the procedure is a
"teardrop in the ocean" of the $13-billion health budget.
On the other hand, the decision over whether to cover medical services
shouldn't be based on numbers, emotion and complaints to human rights
commissions but on what we consider medically necessary.
That's the wider public policy discussion Albertans need to have.
Experts will tell you it can be incredibly psychologically damaging
for transsexuals who can't afford sex-change surgery.
BAD TEETH
But there are lots of people with bad teeth who grow up to be
depressed, timid, emotionally beaten-down individuals because they
can't afford dental work.
Others have facial disfigurations that cause them no end of teasing,
embarrassment and loss of self-confidence, yet the government won't
cover certain operations.
And what about diabetic supplies, optical services and prescription drugs?
Perhaps there should be a whole parade of Albertans marching to the
human rights commission.
Then again, is the human rights commission the right body to determine
what should be covered under the medicare umbrella?
It is properly the function of government to make these arduous decisions.
The trouble is, no one knows Liepert's plan.
It's highly unlikely, however, that he's intent on imposing "an
American two-tier-style health system," as the fearmongering Friends
of Medicare squawked yesterday.
Even the Alberta Tories realize that Canadians want to preserve our
universal access system, even as we experiment with reforms.
Because of rising health-care spending, Alberta could be facing "a
more strained fiscal future," warns a new University of Calgary report
on the sustainability of the province's medicare system.
Alberta can either control expenditures (angry patients), raise taxes
(angry voters) or create a health endowment fund to pay for future
medicare costs (expensive), the report says.
Pick your poison, folks.
MINDY.JACOBS@SUNMEDIA.CA
Copyright € ¦© 2009, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/2009/04/15/9116231-sun.html
Wed, April 15, 2009
Any way you cut it, health care costs
By MINDELLE JACOBS
You can have Cadillac health care. You want lots of doctors, no
waiting lists and coverage for virtually all your medical and
psychological needs? Sure.
But there's a price to pay. I know, you're already pinching pennies
because your nest eggs have been decimated and you're wondering how
you're going to put the kids through college.
Still, if you want unlimited health care, hand over half your
paycheque to the government.
And stop complaining. Did you think you could have low taxes and
broad-based, state-paid services?
Chiropractic procedures are no longer covered in Alberta. And the
province is no longer paying for gender reassignment surgery.
The transsexual community has vowed to take the issue to the Alberta
Human Rights and Citizenship Commission today on the grounds that
sex-change surgery is medically necessary.
Is the province dumping on transsexuals because it figures, probably
correctly, that Albertans won't make much of a fuss over delisting
operations for a tiny minority of people who feel trapped in the wrong
bodies?
Or does sexuality have nothing to do with it and is Health Minister
Ron Liepert simply trying to make difficult decisions on how to fund
health care in the face of a $4.7-billion deficit?
I am not opposed to state coverage of sex-change surgery because it
involves so few people.
As transsexual Michelle Drinkell pointed out on Monday, the $700,000 a
year the province hopes to save by delisting the procedure is a
"teardrop in the ocean" of the $13-billion health budget.
On the other hand, the decision over whether to cover medical services
shouldn't be based on numbers, emotion and complaints to human rights
commissions but on what we consider medically necessary.
That's the wider public policy discussion Albertans need to have.
Experts will tell you it can be incredibly psychologically damaging
for transsexuals who can't afford sex-change surgery.
BAD TEETH
But there are lots of people with bad teeth who grow up to be
depressed, timid, emotionally beaten-down individuals because they
can't afford dental work.
Others have facial disfigurations that cause them no end of teasing,
embarrassment and loss of self-confidence, yet the government won't
cover certain operations.
And what about diabetic supplies, optical services and prescription drugs?
Perhaps there should be a whole parade of Albertans marching to the
human rights commission.
Then again, is the human rights commission the right body to determine
what should be covered under the medicare umbrella?
It is properly the function of government to make these arduous decisions.
The trouble is, no one knows Liepert's plan.
It's highly unlikely, however, that he's intent on imposing "an
American two-tier-style health system," as the fearmongering Friends
of Medicare squawked yesterday.
Even the Alberta Tories realize that Canadians want to preserve our
universal access system, even as we experiment with reforms.
Because of rising health-care spending, Alberta could be facing "a
more strained fiscal future," warns a new University of Calgary report
on the sustainability of the province's medicare system.
Alberta can either control expenditures (angry patients), raise taxes
(angry voters) or create a health endowment fund to pay for future
medicare costs (expensive), the report says.
Pick your poison, folks.
MINDY.JACOBS@SUNMEDIA.CA
Copyright € ¦© 2009, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/2009/04/15/9116231-sun.html
Province retreats on sex changes
Edmonton Sun, Canada
Wed, April 15, 2009
Province retreats on sex changes
By KERRY DIOTTE, LEGISLATURE BUREAU CHIEF
The province is bending a bit on cancelling gender-bender surgery.
Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert said yesterday the province won't
snip sex-change operations out of this year's budget to save $700,000
as previously announced.
Liepert announced that in question period as more than two dozen
transsexuals and their supporters watched from the public gallery.
The minister told the House 26 Albertans are now "in the program" and
their surgery will be covered.
A further 20 people who hadn't been scheduled for surgery but were on
a waiting list for funding will now also be paid for, but the
procedure won't be funded next fiscal year, he indicated.
Health ministry spokesman John Tuckwell says that means the government
will have to come up with extra cash in the soon-to-be-passed 2009-10
budget to pay for the sex-change operations that can cost between
$18,000 and $70,000 and are performed in Montreal.
Opposition MLAs accused the government of trying to save money by
picking on a small minority group that's been told by physicians their
surgery is medically necessary. But Liepert said his ministry had to
make tough choices.
TOUGH DECISIONS
"This was not based on medical decisions," said Liepert. "This was
based on a number of programs we had to make ... There were some very
tough decisions that had to be made, everything from cancelling some
programs around youth suicide prevention to programs around certain
surgeries."
Edmonton Centre Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman argued the province will
likely waste more cash than it will save by chopping the sex-change
procedure from next year's budget because government lawyers will have
to defend human rights challenges.
Click here to find out more!
Transsexuals have vowed to file numerous complaints as early as today
to the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission.
HUMAN RIGHTS
A human rights challenge in Ontario saw that province forced to
reinstate coverage of sex-change operations.
Edmonton-Strathcona NDP MLA Rachel Notley says Alberta will come off
as looking like rednecks nationally because it cancelled funding for
sex changes to save a small amount of money. That's exactly the
opposite of a recent rebranding program that boasts that Alberta is
open and tolerant, she said.
"This is an attack on the most vulnerable," Notley told Sun Media.
Because of the government's decision, "we will continue to look like a
backward group of folks to the rest of the country ... That's not how
Albertans are."
Premier Ed Stelmach said it was "fair and reasonable," that Liepert
extend the sex-change operation program for one year.
Axcella Zelensky said she already had her publicly funded operation in
January but was at the legislature to fight to see others continue to
have access to publicly funded sex changes.
"I was actually planning in the next little while to send a thank-you
card to the government, but I'm not sure whether I can anymore," she
told Sun Media.
Surgeries are a necessity, she said. "We never chose to be born into
the wrong body."
KERRY.DIOTTE@SUNMEDIA.CA
Copyright € ¦© 2009, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Alberta/2009/04/15/9116406-sun.html
Wed, April 15, 2009
Province retreats on sex changes
By KERRY DIOTTE, LEGISLATURE BUREAU CHIEF
The province is bending a bit on cancelling gender-bender surgery.
Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert said yesterday the province won't
snip sex-change operations out of this year's budget to save $700,000
as previously announced.
Liepert announced that in question period as more than two dozen
transsexuals and their supporters watched from the public gallery.
The minister told the House 26 Albertans are now "in the program" and
their surgery will be covered.
A further 20 people who hadn't been scheduled for surgery but were on
a waiting list for funding will now also be paid for, but the
procedure won't be funded next fiscal year, he indicated.
Health ministry spokesman John Tuckwell says that means the government
will have to come up with extra cash in the soon-to-be-passed 2009-10
budget to pay for the sex-change operations that can cost between
$18,000 and $70,000 and are performed in Montreal.
Opposition MLAs accused the government of trying to save money by
picking on a small minority group that's been told by physicians their
surgery is medically necessary. But Liepert said his ministry had to
make tough choices.
TOUGH DECISIONS
"This was not based on medical decisions," said Liepert. "This was
based on a number of programs we had to make ... There were some very
tough decisions that had to be made, everything from cancelling some
programs around youth suicide prevention to programs around certain
surgeries."
Edmonton Centre Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman argued the province will
likely waste more cash than it will save by chopping the sex-change
procedure from next year's budget because government lawyers will have
to defend human rights challenges.
Click here to find out more!
Transsexuals have vowed to file numerous complaints as early as today
to the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission.
HUMAN RIGHTS
A human rights challenge in Ontario saw that province forced to
reinstate coverage of sex-change operations.
Edmonton-Strathcona NDP MLA Rachel Notley says Alberta will come off
as looking like rednecks nationally because it cancelled funding for
sex changes to save a small amount of money. That's exactly the
opposite of a recent rebranding program that boasts that Alberta is
open and tolerant, she said.
"This is an attack on the most vulnerable," Notley told Sun Media.
Because of the government's decision, "we will continue to look like a
backward group of folks to the rest of the country ... That's not how
Albertans are."
Premier Ed Stelmach said it was "fair and reasonable," that Liepert
extend the sex-change operation program for one year.
Axcella Zelensky said she already had her publicly funded operation in
January but was at the legislature to fight to see others continue to
have access to publicly funded sex changes.
"I was actually planning in the next little while to send a thank-you
card to the government, but I'm not sure whether I can anymore," she
told Sun Media.
Surgeries are a necessity, she said. "We never chose to be born into
the wrong body."
KERRY.DIOTTE@SUNMEDIA.CA
Copyright € ¦© 2009, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Alberta/2009/04/15/9116406-sun.html
Liepert expands sex-change coverage eligibility
Calgary Herald - AB, Canada
Liepert expands sex-change coverage eligibility
By Trish Audette, edmontonjournal.com
April 14, 2009
EDMONTON € ’· Health Minister Ron Liepert said Tuesday nearly twice as
many people will be eligible for government-funded gender reassignment
surgeries before the province stops paying for the service to save
money.
Last week, when the government announced cutting the program would
save roughly $700,000 a year, Liepert said the 26 people already on
the list to get the surgery would still be funded. On Tuesday, he
added roughly 20 people who have already begun paying for their own
hormonal medication in preparation for gender reassignment.
€ ’³It would not be right for us to now say, € ’±Well, you€ ’²ve spent all this
money, we€ ’²re now going to change the rules,€ ’² € ’´ Liepert said. € ’³It seems
to me to be unfair to have someone believe that a certain surgery was
going to take place, dug into their pockets for hormonal drugs that
were prescribed by the medical community, and somehow we don€ ’²t follow
through on it.€ ’´
The minister said he made the decision to expand the list of people
being funded based on media reports over the weekend that highlighted
the concerns of people on waiting lists who cannot afford procedures
that run as high as $80,000. With about three dozen people who support
the transgendered community or are waiting for gender reassignment
surgeries watching from the gallery, Liepert side-stepped questions of
human rights during Tuesday afternoon€ ’²s question period at the
legislature.
Last May, a 10-year battle to reinstate public funding for gender
reassignment surgeries came to a close in Ontario, when that
province€ ’²s human rights commission found the decision to cut the
program discriminatory. Liepert and Premier Ed Stelmach emphasized
cutting funding for sex change surgeries comes down to a line-by-line
analysis of the budget.
€ ’³We€ ’²re just saying the taxpayers will be no longer funding this
particular surgery,€ ’´ Stelmach said. € ’³If you€ ’²re speculating on the fact
that some people may challenge the government decision under (the)
Alberta Human Rights Commission, then we€ ’²ll see what happens.€ ’´
Members of the transgendered community are expected to file human
rights complaints in Calgary and Edmonton today. Edmonton-Centre
Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman said the province has set itself up for
the kind of long-haul legal wrangling Ontario experienced.
€ ’³It was a very long battle and a very, very expensive battle, and one
that I would hope this government would be smart enough not to get
involved in,€ ’´ she said. € ’³And they just walked right into it.€ ’´
Edmonton-Strathcona NDP MLA Rachel Notley suggested the government
€ ’³back up, calm down, (and) do the right thing.€ ’´
€ ’³This is a black eye for this government if they actively try to stop
these folks from getting the services they need.€ ’´
The Journal learned Monday Alberta€ ’²s handling of the issue has even
drawn the attention of daytime talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
Jamie-Lynn Garvin, a 47-year-old who has been living as a woman for
the last two years while waiting for her gender reassignment
operation, has become the face of the debate in the last week. She
told her story to media outlets and spoke to her MLA, St. Albert
Conservative Ken Allred, who now has questions about the plan to
delist funding. On Tuesday, Allred asked Liepert whether he was aware
the surgeries are funded by other provinces.
€ ’³We could get into a long debate about what is funded in other
provinces and what is funded in Alberta,€ ’´ Liepert answered.
Garvin said the news Liepert would be expanding funding to those still
on the waiting list was € ’³fantastic€ ’´ € ’· if it pans out.
€ ’³I€ ’²m not 18 years old. I€ ’²ve been around the block more than once, and
I€ ’²ve heard a lot of things come out of politicians€ ’² mouths,€ ’´ she said.
€ ’³It€ ’²s a $40,000 announcement for me, if it€ ’²s true. (But) there€ ’²s a lot
of things that can happen between what he just said and when it comes
down to what Alberta Health finally tell us.€ ’´
taudette@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Cutting+change+coverage+necessary+says+Alberta+health+minister/1495792/story.html
Liepert expands sex-change coverage eligibility
By Trish Audette, edmontonjournal.com
April 14, 2009
EDMONTON € ’· Health Minister Ron Liepert said Tuesday nearly twice as
many people will be eligible for government-funded gender reassignment
surgeries before the province stops paying for the service to save
money.
Last week, when the government announced cutting the program would
save roughly $700,000 a year, Liepert said the 26 people already on
the list to get the surgery would still be funded. On Tuesday, he
added roughly 20 people who have already begun paying for their own
hormonal medication in preparation for gender reassignment.
€ ’³It would not be right for us to now say, € ’±Well, you€ ’²ve spent all this
money, we€ ’²re now going to change the rules,€ ’² € ’´ Liepert said. € ’³It seems
to me to be unfair to have someone believe that a certain surgery was
going to take place, dug into their pockets for hormonal drugs that
were prescribed by the medical community, and somehow we don€ ’²t follow
through on it.€ ’´
The minister said he made the decision to expand the list of people
being funded based on media reports over the weekend that highlighted
the concerns of people on waiting lists who cannot afford procedures
that run as high as $80,000. With about three dozen people who support
the transgendered community or are waiting for gender reassignment
surgeries watching from the gallery, Liepert side-stepped questions of
human rights during Tuesday afternoon€ ’²s question period at the
legislature.
Last May, a 10-year battle to reinstate public funding for gender
reassignment surgeries came to a close in Ontario, when that
province€ ’²s human rights commission found the decision to cut the
program discriminatory. Liepert and Premier Ed Stelmach emphasized
cutting funding for sex change surgeries comes down to a line-by-line
analysis of the budget.
€ ’³We€ ’²re just saying the taxpayers will be no longer funding this
particular surgery,€ ’´ Stelmach said. € ’³If you€ ’²re speculating on the fact
that some people may challenge the government decision under (the)
Alberta Human Rights Commission, then we€ ’²ll see what happens.€ ’´
Members of the transgendered community are expected to file human
rights complaints in Calgary and Edmonton today. Edmonton-Centre
Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman said the province has set itself up for
the kind of long-haul legal wrangling Ontario experienced.
€ ’³It was a very long battle and a very, very expensive battle, and one
that I would hope this government would be smart enough not to get
involved in,€ ’´ she said. € ’³And they just walked right into it.€ ’´
Edmonton-Strathcona NDP MLA Rachel Notley suggested the government
€ ’³back up, calm down, (and) do the right thing.€ ’´
€ ’³This is a black eye for this government if they actively try to stop
these folks from getting the services they need.€ ’´
The Journal learned Monday Alberta€ ’²s handling of the issue has even
drawn the attention of daytime talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
Jamie-Lynn Garvin, a 47-year-old who has been living as a woman for
the last two years while waiting for her gender reassignment
operation, has become the face of the debate in the last week. She
told her story to media outlets and spoke to her MLA, St. Albert
Conservative Ken Allred, who now has questions about the plan to
delist funding. On Tuesday, Allred asked Liepert whether he was aware
the surgeries are funded by other provinces.
€ ’³We could get into a long debate about what is funded in other
provinces and what is funded in Alberta,€ ’´ Liepert answered.
Garvin said the news Liepert would be expanding funding to those still
on the waiting list was € ’³fantastic€ ’´ € ’· if it pans out.
€ ’³I€ ’²m not 18 years old. I€ ’²ve been around the block more than once, and
I€ ’²ve heard a lot of things come out of politicians€ ’² mouths,€ ’´ she said.
€ ’³It€ ’²s a $40,000 announcement for me, if it€ ’²s true. (But) there€ ’²s a lot
of things that can happen between what he just said and when it comes
down to what Alberta Health finally tell us.€ ’´
taudette@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Cutting+change+coverage+necessary+says+Alberta+health+minister/1495792/story.html
Alberta government facing human rights complaint over sex change funding
Prince George Citizen, Canada
Alberta government facing human rights complaint over sex change funding
Written by Jim Macdonald, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
EDMONTON - A battle in Alberta over funding for sex change operations
took a new twist Tuesday with a surprise announcement that the
province will fund 48 of the surgeries before cutting off government
funding.
Health Minister Ron Liepert caught about a dozen transsexual
protesters off guard when he announced that he didn't think it was
fair to strand people who had been preparing for years to have a sex
change.
So 28 people who are in varying stages of the sex change procedure
will get funding to finish their surgeries, while 20 others who have
been paying for hormone treatments in advance of the surgery will also
get government funding, said Liepert.
"It would not be right for us to say, 'Well, you spent all this money,
but we're now going to change the rules,"' the minister later told
reporters.
Jamie-Lynn Garvin, 47, who has been involved in the sex change process
for more than three years, was shocked by the minister's announcement.
"It's a $40,000 announcement for me," said Garvin. "But I've heard a
lot of things come out of politicians' mouths and I don't know if this
is true or not."
But Liepert's motives were being interpreted in a very different light
by a group preparing to file a human rights complaint Wednesday in
hopes of blocking the decision in the recent Alberta budget to end
funding for sex changes.
Jordenne Prescott said the Ontario government's 1998 decision to
eliminate funding for sex changes was overturned by the province's
human rights commission.
They were hoping to use this as a precedent in the Alberta human
rights case. But a key factor in the Ontario ruling was the fact that
people who had been preparing for a sex change were left stranded.
Liepert has now "grandfathered" most Albertans waiting for sex change
procedures, so those behind the Alberta human rights complaint may no
longer be able to use the Ontario ruling as a precedent.
"Essentially, it was a very smart move on his part," said Prescott,
who is among those waiting for a sex change. "It does not gut the
complaint entirely, though."
Kristopher Wells, a researcher with the Institute for Sexual
Minorities Studies and Services at the University of Alberta, said the
complaint will now argue that Alberta's funding cut is simply
discriminatory.
"People in the community may also seek a civil injunction against the
government until the courts rule whether this was a discriminatory
action or not," said Wells.
There has also been talk in Alberta's transgendered community of a
class-action lawsuit claiming damages for the lost government funding,
he said.
Liepert explained that he decided to approve additional sex-change
funding after hearing media reports about the impact the cut would
have on people who have spent years preparing for the procedure.
"That decision seemed to be the right one to make and I made it today," he said.
But the minister could not say how much these additional surgeries
would cost, but the price of a sex change usually ranges from $17,000
to $70,000.
http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20090414186735/wire/national-news/alberta-government-facing-human-rights-complaint-over-sex-change-funding.html
Alberta government facing human rights complaint over sex change funding
Written by Jim Macdonald, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
EDMONTON - A battle in Alberta over funding for sex change operations
took a new twist Tuesday with a surprise announcement that the
province will fund 48 of the surgeries before cutting off government
funding.
Health Minister Ron Liepert caught about a dozen transsexual
protesters off guard when he announced that he didn't think it was
fair to strand people who had been preparing for years to have a sex
change.
So 28 people who are in varying stages of the sex change procedure
will get funding to finish their surgeries, while 20 others who have
been paying for hormone treatments in advance of the surgery will also
get government funding, said Liepert.
"It would not be right for us to say, 'Well, you spent all this money,
but we're now going to change the rules,"' the minister later told
reporters.
Jamie-Lynn Garvin, 47, who has been involved in the sex change process
for more than three years, was shocked by the minister's announcement.
"It's a $40,000 announcement for me," said Garvin. "But I've heard a
lot of things come out of politicians' mouths and I don't know if this
is true or not."
But Liepert's motives were being interpreted in a very different light
by a group preparing to file a human rights complaint Wednesday in
hopes of blocking the decision in the recent Alberta budget to end
funding for sex changes.
Jordenne Prescott said the Ontario government's 1998 decision to
eliminate funding for sex changes was overturned by the province's
human rights commission.
They were hoping to use this as a precedent in the Alberta human
rights case. But a key factor in the Ontario ruling was the fact that
people who had been preparing for a sex change were left stranded.
Liepert has now "grandfathered" most Albertans waiting for sex change
procedures, so those behind the Alberta human rights complaint may no
longer be able to use the Ontario ruling as a precedent.
"Essentially, it was a very smart move on his part," said Prescott,
who is among those waiting for a sex change. "It does not gut the
complaint entirely, though."
Kristopher Wells, a researcher with the Institute for Sexual
Minorities Studies and Services at the University of Alberta, said the
complaint will now argue that Alberta's funding cut is simply
discriminatory.
"People in the community may also seek a civil injunction against the
government until the courts rule whether this was a discriminatory
action or not," said Wells.
There has also been talk in Alberta's transgendered community of a
class-action lawsuit claiming damages for the lost government funding,
he said.
Liepert explained that he decided to approve additional sex-change
funding after hearing media reports about the impact the cut would
have on people who have spent years preparing for the procedure.
"That decision seemed to be the right one to make and I made it today," he said.
But the minister could not say how much these additional surgeries
would cost, but the price of a sex change usually ranges from $17,000
to $70,000.
http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/20090414186735/wire/national-news/alberta-government-facing-human-rights-complaint-over-sex-change-funding.html
Gender clinic closure fears
Melbourne Community Voice, Australia
Gender clinic closure fears
Written by Rachel Cook
Wednesday, 15 April 2009 13:28
Concerns have been raised over the restructuring of Melbourne€ ’²s Monash
Gender Dysphoria Clinic.
The clinic, which provides treatment for people undergoing gender
reassignment, is reviewing their current structure and resourcing
services.
However, reports that the centre will no longer be able to provide
service or treatment have been denied.
A spokeswoman from Southern Health, an affiliation of Monash Gender
Dysphoria Clinic, said in a statement to MCV: € ’³A growing client list
and recent leadership change present a valuable opportunity to review
structure and resourcing to ensure the clinic is best placed to meet
future community needs in this field.
€ ’³Clinic services will temporarily be on hold for a short time as
clinic staff are involved in completing the review.€ ’´
The spokeswoman said all individual providers and clients are being
consulted and provided with alternative support.
€ ’³There will be absolute minimal disruption to care expected. We remain
committed to its [the clinic€ ’²s] future in delivering sensitive, high
quality gender assessment services.
The clinic would € ’³return to full operation from June 2009,€ ’´ she anticipated.
The Gender Dysphoria Clinic at Southern Health is the only unit of its
kind in Australia.
Spokesperson for TransGender Victoria, Sally Goldner (pictured), said
the Gender Dysphoria Clinic plays a vital role for people who are
transitioning or considering transitioning.
€ ’³Even if people aren€ ’²t aiming for surgery it€ ’²s still important to have
that consultation. [The Gender Dysphoria Clinic] can be the first
point of call to get information,€ ’´ Goldner said.
€ ’³The clinic is life saving. Without it those at the most extreme
levels of gender dysphoria are at risk of suicide.€ ’´
Copyright € © 2008 Evolution Publishing
http://mcv.e-p.net.au/news/gender-clinic-closure-fears-5252.html
Gender clinic closure fears
Written by Rachel Cook
Wednesday, 15 April 2009 13:28
Concerns have been raised over the restructuring of Melbourne€ ’²s Monash
Gender Dysphoria Clinic.
The clinic, which provides treatment for people undergoing gender
reassignment, is reviewing their current structure and resourcing
services.
However, reports that the centre will no longer be able to provide
service or treatment have been denied.
A spokeswoman from Southern Health, an affiliation of Monash Gender
Dysphoria Clinic, said in a statement to MCV: € ’³A growing client list
and recent leadership change present a valuable opportunity to review
structure and resourcing to ensure the clinic is best placed to meet
future community needs in this field.
€ ’³Clinic services will temporarily be on hold for a short time as
clinic staff are involved in completing the review.€ ’´
The spokeswoman said all individual providers and clients are being
consulted and provided with alternative support.
€ ’³There will be absolute minimal disruption to care expected. We remain
committed to its [the clinic€ ’²s] future in delivering sensitive, high
quality gender assessment services.
The clinic would € ’³return to full operation from June 2009,€ ’´ she anticipated.
The Gender Dysphoria Clinic at Southern Health is the only unit of its
kind in Australia.
Spokesperson for TransGender Victoria, Sally Goldner (pictured), said
the Gender Dysphoria Clinic plays a vital role for people who are
transitioning or considering transitioning.
€ ’³Even if people aren€ ’²t aiming for surgery it€ ’²s still important to have
that consultation. [The Gender Dysphoria Clinic] can be the first
point of call to get information,€ ’´ Goldner said.
€ ’³The clinic is life saving. Without it those at the most extreme
levels of gender dysphoria are at risk of suicide.€ ’´
Copyright € © 2008 Evolution Publishing
http://mcv.e-p.net.au/news/gender-clinic-closure-fears-5252.html
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