Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro has softened an aggressive plan to lay off front-line staff, including nurses, and extended the timeframe for a massive overhaul of the province’s health-care system citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
But at a news conference Tuesday morning, Shandro detailed a plan by Alberta Health Services (AHS) that still features massive layoffs.
Between 9,700 and 11,000 AHS employees will be laid off, most of whom work in laboratory, linen, cleaning and in-patient food services.
Those jobs will be outsourced to private companies.
Shandro said he decided to slow the aggressive implementation of recommendations contained in the Ernst & Young cost-cutting review of AHS, which was released in February.
“While we’re still committed to the goals of the review, our global landscape has changed significantly, namely by responding to the pandemic,” he said.
“And I have directed AHS that nothing must compromise this response.
“This is why we’re only prepared to proceed with a portion of the actions identified in the AHS implementation plan.”
No front-line staff layoffs during pandemic
Shandro said there will be no lay-offs of front-line staff such as nurses during the pandemic.
But he said AHS will eliminate some of those positions through attrition and, when pressed on whether there will be layoffs of front-line staff after the pandemic, he said, “I think any involuntary reductions will be minimal.”
The minister said the cuts are eventually expected to save up to $600 million annually and there will be a “long-term and gradual” implementation of the plan.
CBC News previously obtained a draft copy of the AHS implementation plan, dated July 29, that contained more aggressive cost-cutting measures that the health authority estimated would save between $837 million and nearly $1.2 billion annually.
The proposed plan included the elimination of up to 10,300 full-time equivalent positions — including hundreds of nursing and clinical support positions — estimated to impact as many as 16,700 full- and part-time employees through layoffs and job displacement.
Many changes from draft plan to continue
But many of the proposed changes from the draft plan, including those that would download costs to the public and particularly seniors, are continuing. For example, AHS will:
Outsource more than 9,000 general service jobs, such as linen, cleaning, laboratory and in-patient food services;
Introduce a co-pay for home care, exempting clients who receive income support;
Increase accommodations fees for continuing care;
Transfer patients from long-term care to designation supported living, which shifts costs for such things as drugs from AHS to the patients;
Increase the amount it charges patients at all AHS facilities for supplies not covered by the provincial health-care insurance plan, such as crutches and casts;
Reconfigure and potentially consolidate emergency department, acute care and maternity/obstetrics services at smaller AHS facilities.
Health policy expert Steven Lewis said the original timeline for the plan — roughly three years — was too aggressive.
He said Shandro’s bellicose public behaviour toward doctors and unions will make it nearly impossible to successfully implement the changes, which require collaboration with staff.
“The irony is that the government is right about many of the problems in the system; it just has no clue about change management,” Lewis told CBC News.
In a later interview, Lewis said “historically, it has been very difficult to bludgeon any major group in the system into large-scale change. So if you think you’re in a position to win battles that no one has won before, good luck to you.”
Health policy expert Dr. Michael Rachlis told CBC News that if Shandro had implemented the majority of the plan within the original three-year time frame it would have caused “chaos” in the province’s health-care system.
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
