Code Orange: UCP Can't Attack the Facts, So They Attack the Messenger
Disclosure: I serve as co-chair of the Palliser Friends of Medicare board. The views expressed in this column are my own; they do not represent the positions of that organization. Kelly Allard
If you live in Medicine Hat, you know Dr. Paul Parks. He's the emergency room doctor who has been on the front lines of our healthcare system for years. He's respected, trusted, and has seen firsthand what's working and what isn't.
For over four months, Dr. Parks has been touring the province with a series called "An Urgent Conversation." It's a chance for regular Albertans to sit down and talk about our healthcare. What are we struggling with? What can be fixed? The events are free, open to everyone, and focus on real experiences.
Medicine Hat hosted one of these conversations back in November 2025. Dr. Parks isn't a paid politician. He's a doctor from our own community, giving his own time to listen. Friends of Medicare helps cover his expenses, but his voice is his own. And it's a voice many Albertans want to hear.
So why is this relevant now?
Recently, the UCP government publicly attacked the credibility of Friends of Medicare, accusing them of spreading misinformation.
It's a curious thing. For years, conservative candidates in this province - from the old PCs to the current UCP - have ignored Friends of Medicare. They've declined invitations to health care forums during elections. They've refused to sit at the same table and discuss healthcare with voters in Medicine Hat and across Alberta.
Empty chair. Radio silence.
But now, all of a sudden, they've noticed the organization exists. After decades of being ignored, the government has finally acknowledged Friends of Medicare - not to engage, not to answer questions, but to discredit them. Talk about picking a fight from the sidelines.
A 46-Year Track Record of Being Right
Credibility is built over time. Friends of Medicare was incorporated in 1979. That's 46 years of advocating for public healthcare:
1980s: Fought extra billing, helped create the Canada Health Act
1990s: Opposed Ralph Klein's privatization bills - Klein later admitted he regretted not being able to "reform" healthcare
2005: Beat Klein's "Third Way" reforms
Saved Alberta Hospital Edmonton from closure
Reversed drug cost increases for seniors
Banned the sale of blood and plasma in Alberta
Forced this government to back down on insulin pump coverage
That's not the record of an organization that "routinely spreads misinformation."
Recent History: Proven Right, Again
Lab Services: Friends of Medicare warned privatizing lab services would be a disaster. The government went ahead anyway. Result? An Auditor General's report found the scheme wasted $125 million.
Surgical Privatization: They warned for-profit centres would increase costs and worsen wait times. The government's own data now shows both have happened.
Restructuring AHS: They predicted the shake-up would be a costly distraction. Today, we're in the middle of it, with privatization still moving forward.
Bill 11: Experts across the country agree it opens the door to American-style two-tier medicine. The government says otherwise, but has faced serious transparency questions.
Alberta's Auditor General found the province used selective data to make health performance "look better than it actually was" - basing claims of improvement on a single week of ambulance data. When the Auditor General tried to investigate the failed DynaLIFE contract, the government withheld more than 1,000 documents. And when corruption allegations surfaced, the Premier appointed a judge who could not compel testimony or put witnesses under oath.
Medicine Hat's own Dr. Paul Parks has documented this pattern, noting the Premier's version of events has "changed too many times to be trusted."
Their response? Attack the messenger.
The government's press secretary for Primary and Preventive Health Services called Friends of Medicare "a political advocacy group governed by the province's public unions" that "routinely spread misinformation."
Classic tactic: if you can't argue the facts, attack the people pointing them out.
The statement goes on to compare Alberta's direction to countries like Denmark, France, and Germany, Australia... What it doesn't mention is that those countries take a fundamentally different approach - and that the government is cherry-picking examples to suit their narrative.
Take Australia. It's often held up as a model of a mixed public-private system. But a 2023 peer-reviewed analysis in the Medical Journal of Australia paints a starkly different picture. In Australia, 15% of all health spending comes directly from patients' pockets - almost double what private insurers pay. This creates real barriers: one in four Australians without a chronic condition, and up to one in two with certain health conditions, avoid care because of the cost.
The result is a system where the market, not medical need, determines access. As the authors put it:
"Allowing the more affluent to exercise their higher ability to pay only contributes to higher inequality."
That's a far cry from Alberta, where for-profit surgical chains - some owned by private equity - are receiving public dollars. A Parkland Institute report found for-profit surgeries cost 57 to 133 per cent more than the same procedures in public hospitals. Meanwhile, wait times for nine of 11 priority procedures have gotten longer
So when the government name-drops European countries, ask: are they describing systems that strictly regulate non-profit care, or Alberta's reality - public dollars flowing to for-profit clinics with higher costs and longer waits to show for it?
A Pattern of Silencing Voices
This isn't the first time this government has struggled with letting Albertans speak.
Last September, during one of the UCP's Alberta Next panels in Calgary, a 17-year-old student named Evan Li stepped up to ask about teacher strikes and private school funding. His topic wasn't on the government's approved list, so the moderator cut his microphone. When the teen kept trying to ask his question, the moderator had a suggestion: his parents should "turn you over your knee."
That moderator was Bruce McAllister, executive director of the premier's office. The comment earned him the nickname "Spanky" online. And it wasn't a one-time slip.
All summer, McAllister had been silencing, belittling, and insulting Albertans who asked the wrong questions. Supportive commenters got extra time - one man who told the premier she had "bigger balls than most men" was told "You can keep going, sir." But questioners who strayed off-topic were compared to toddlers and told to "get lost."
When asked about it, Premier Smith called the comment "offensive" but refused to fire McAllister. "None of us are perfect," she said.
And then came Medicine Hat.
Before the recent town hall here even began, about 50 protesters gathered outside - part of a group that has been demonstrating weekly against the UCP government for over a year. My colleagues were there, documenting. They interviewed Ellen Perdue-Tieman, who was among those planning to attend not with picket signs, but as individuals hoping to ask questions about healthcare, education, and accountability.
Medicine Hat police were present and attempted to persuade protesters to remain outside. Some went in anyway. Shortly after, Ellen was removed from the venue before the town hall officially started.
Removed. For planning to ask questions.
My colleagues captured it on video - footage of what civic engagement looks like in Alberta right now. (at about 8:25)
Now, to be fair, the town hall did happen, here’s the video.
Medicine Hat city councillor Dan Reynish described the scene afterward:
"Over one hundred people showed up... The two answered questions that had been submitted and then took several from the crowd. Some of the many topics addressed were Alberta separation, health care, this week's provincial budget, the just announced referendum, the twinning of Highway 3, Christian's Law, funding HALO and more."
But here's the thing about that "over one hundred people" figure: Higdon Hall holds 300. Photos from the event show rows of empty seats - about half the room unfilled.
Think about that. Medicine Hat has two MLAs representing this city. One of them is the Premier of Alberta. Together, they could not even fill the room in a city of more than 65,000.
Questions were asked - the ones submitted in advance, and a few from the crowd. But the image of an older woman being escorted out before the event started lingers.
So does the memory of a teenager having his mic cut in Calgary while a government official suggested he needed a spanking.
So does the reality of a half-empty hall in a city where healthcare waits, education funding, and affordability are top of mind for nearly everyone.
This is the pattern: curate the questions, control the narrative, remove the people who might disrupt the script. It makes you wonder: with two MLAs and the full weight of the premier's office, why couldn't they fill the room? And why all the effort to control who gets to hear the message in the first place?
Dr Paul Parks is packing them in -
it was standing room only at the Medicine Hat event,
well over 200 people attended.
An Empty Chair at the Table
This brings me back to Medicine Hat. For years, Palliser Friends of Medicare has invited every provincial candidate to healthcare forums.
These are public events where candidates can speak directly with voters.
Not one conservative candidate has ever shown up. Not our MLAs, not the Premier, not a single PC candidate before them. When the invitation goes out, the seat remains empty.
They ignore the organization for years - until suddenly, they decide it's worth acknowledging, but only to take a swing. If Friends of Medicare is so lacking in credibility, why won't they show up and prove it in person?
The Conversation Continues
The good news is the conversation is happening anyway. Dr. Parks and Friends of Medicare continue their tour. Remaining 2026 stops include:
Mar 20 Drayton Valley
Mar 22 Grande Prairie
Mar 23 Spruce Grove and
Mar 24 South-East Edmonton
These events are free and open to anyone who wants to be heard. Whether our elected representatives show up or not, the rest of us will keep talking about the future of our healthcare. Your voice deserves a seat at the table - even if some chairs remain empty, even if they cut the mics, even if security blocks the door. And if the government wants to question someone's credibility, they might start by explaining why they won't sit in one of those chairs themselves.
