Something Fawlty at the Legislature

Standing with the air of arrogant authority while all he surveys falls apart around him. Bumbling, fumbling, never admitting fault. Smarminess and a frosty condescending attitude shot out against those who dare to question.

No, I’m not talking about Basil Fawlty.

The fiddling that has been performed by Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert while he and his Progressive Conservative government’s reputation burns courtesy of the fire created by their aloof and irresponsible lack of preparedness for the H1N1 vaccine is matched only by Liepert’s bob-and-weave effort to avoid answering any questions.

As is now well-known, the first round of the vaccine was made available this week. In the city of Calgary, there was a grand total of four – four! – clinics that participated in giving the shots. That’s four places for a population of roughly 1 million.

It was a similar story in Edmonton, where there were a stated 5 or 6 places available for Albertan’s to go. By comparison, Winnipeg had 12 clinics prepared that were and running early. The longest wait time reported in that city was 90 minutes, while wait times extended to 4, 5, and even six hours in Alberta.

Under the dome in today’s Question Period, Liepert was again under attack by the opposition. For all of the questions, nowhere could an actual answer be found. In fact, when Liepert wasn’t insulting the entire Calgary-Glenmore constituency with his choice to ignore questions by Wildrose Alliance MLA Paul Hinman in favour of a mocking response, he was throwing out smart-aleck comebacks to valid inquiries.

It was a moment of true Fawlty-ness when Liberal MLA Kevin Taft stood and asked the Health Minister a question that included an estimation of Albertans expected to be hospitalized by the H1N1 flu, as well as an estimate on the number of deaths.

Liepert’s response was to suggest that Taft should refrain from throwing unsubstantiated numbers around in the Legislature. When Taft informed Liepert that the numbers came from Liepert’s own department…well, if backpedalling was an Olympic sport, Liepert would be the political worlds answer to Michael Phelps.

The problem is, of course, that this isn’t a comedy show, and Ron Liepert isn’t in charge of a bumbling, stumbling hotel in Torquay. He’s the man in charge of our provincial health care system. He’s the man who decided to delist coverage of many of the medications our Seniors need – the same Seniors he is forcing to wait in long line ups for a flu shot.

To say that he was caught unprepared or that he was ‘surprised’ by the availability of the vaccine is not a valid excuse, given that the top dogs with Canadian health agencies were saying as far back as early September that the first round of shots would be available ‘the third week of October’.

If Liepert was taken off guard, he was the only one. It would indicate that Liepert is but a small representation of the ruling P.C. government itself: arrogant, out of touch, pompously stale.

In a time of a spreading pandemic, the last thing Alberta needs is Basil Fawlty in charge. Sphere: Related Content