Taxpayers out $55M after gov't botches ambulance plan: [Final

Edition]
amBarrett, Tom. Edmonton Journal [Edmonton, Alta] 09 Mar 2005: A6.
EDMONTON - The Alberta government stands accused of a $55- million boondoggle after richly
compensating municipalities Tuesday for a late decision not to take over ambulance services from
them.
Health Minister Iris Evans acknowledged the towns and cities needed the money to offset the huge
cost of rehiring workers, repurchasing equipment and adjusting their budgets at short notice.
The announcement was applauded by municipal officials but condemned by Liberal Leader Kevin Taft
as a grotesque waste of public money caused by government incompetence.
"Somebody needs to call an ambulance for this government's management team," he said. The
decision means municipalities will receive $55 million this year to provide the same ambulance service
they paid for themselves last year, he said.
Edmonton will receive more than $12 million in compensation and Calgary about $16 million based on
a per-capita formula, Health Minister Iris Evans said after obtaining government caucus approval for
the move Tuesday.
Evans sounded the alarm last week after she realized the cost of regional health authorities assuming
control of ambulance service next month had ballooned to $128 million from $55 million.
An additional $10 million will be spent on pilot projects in which two health regions will take over
ground ambulance service.
Premier Ralph Klein denied the government was spending $55 million for nothing but admitted he was
disappointed the plan failed.
"It doesn't make me feel good when a program I thought would be a simple program goes sour," he
said.
The premier said he still can't figure out how there can be such a cost increase when the service would
remain the same and only the administrative body would change.

Evans has said unforeseen building proposals and other unexpected expenses arose when the health
authorities began submitting their budgets. She plans to wait and observe the pilot projects before
deciding whether the government will proceed with the ambulance takeover in the future.
An ambulance advisory council will be established to oversee the pilot projects and provide advice and
recommendations to Alberta Health. Tory MLA Len Mitzel of Cypress-Medicine Hat and former cabinet
minister Marv Moore will chair the board.
While final remuneration remains to be set, Moore, the former Getty-era cabinet minister who
managed the Tory campaign during the last election, is expected to receive $132 to $170 for short
meetings and between $345 and $466 per day, plus all expenses, depending on the number of hours
worked. Bob Hawkesworth, president of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, said he is "very
pleased" by the government decision.
"It is very important that the province help those municipalities that have already issued employee
termination notices or dissolved their ambulance society," he said.
Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel emerged from a one-hour lunch with Evans prior to the
announcement, saying he was satisfied.
"If we get what we budgeted for, how can we be unhappy," Mandel asked. "I think the government's
trying to do the best they can given the constraints they have. I always felt the government would do
what they should do."
But Taft said the money giveaway is a joke that taxpayers will not find particularly funny.
"The province is spending $55 million and the taxpayers of Alberta aren't going to see one bit of
improvement," he said. "It's just a mess."
tbarrett@thejournal.canwest.com
(Copyright Edmonton Journal 2005)