Albertans can’t trust Tories to reduce STI rates

May 24, 2011

 

Alberta's NDP Opposition leader Brian Mason says the PC government’s announced STI campaign is too little, too late for people infected since the Tories shut down a syphilis campaign in 2008.

“I called for an inquiry into the handling of the syphilis crisis back in December 2008. The PCs ignored that call, and since then many adults and babies have likely been infected. It’s undue and unnecessary suffering because the PCs delayed action,” says Mason. “What does this government say to people infected – and the parents of babies infected unnecessarily since 2008?”

 

Former health minister Ron Liepert admitted in November 2008 he shut down a syphilis awareness campaign without explanation. He told a legislature committee at the time that Albertans should “know who their partner is sleeping with.” In the months leading up to the admission, three top public health officials with Alberta Health and Wellness unexpectedly resigned. Dr. Stan Houston, an infectious disease expert at the University of Alberta, said at least one doctor left the system because of a “toxic environment” of ministerial interference.

The delay is another sign that Albertans cannot trust the PC government with their health, Mason says.