EDMONTON — Two days after Danielle Smith promised to begin healing wounds with Alberta’s gay community, the Wildrose leader slammed the province’s promise to reinstate funding for gender-reassignment surgery.
Smith said while individuals should be free to pay for the “elective” surgery, public health dollars should go to more pressing needs such as dentistry for low-income children, insulin pumps and hearing aids for seniors.
She further accused the Tories of playing politics with the issue, saying their decision to fund the procedure was based more on currying favour than common sense.
“I think it’s clearly elective surgery,” Smith said. “I sympathize with those who want to have the surgery, and I absolutely support their right to pay for it, but when we are talking about medically necessary treatment, I think for most people this is not something that would fall into that category.
“I think that when people look at the kind of procedures that aren’t covered by the system, they sort of scratch their heads and say why would this be a higher priority than some of those other things?”
She said the government should focus on bringing down wait times down for things that are already covered, such as seniors’ care, knee-and hip replacements, cataract surgeries, and MRIs.
The Wildrose leader’s stance, which comes on the heels of her promise to reach out to the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered) community by attending an Edmonton Pride Festival event next week, produced a strong reaction both inside and outside the legislature.
Kris Wells, a researcher with the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alberta, said Smith was wrong to characterize the surgery as elective.
“I don’t what could be more pressing than saving peoples’ lives,” he said. “This is about supporting and providing essential medical treatment to some of our most vulnerable citizens. If Danielle Smith doesn’t think those individuals are worthy of public health care support, then I think her priorities are misplaced.”
While Smith said she based her position on common sense, Wells said the Wildrose leader should talk to members of the transgendered community before she dismisses their health needs.
Health Minister Fred Horne said he believes reinstating the funding is in keeping with Albertans’ values to be fair and inclusive.
“I am surprised that others would think differently,” he said. “This is a service that affects a very small number of people, but those it does affect it affects profoundly. This is surgery to treat a clinical disease, and it needs to made available to those who require it.”
Funding for the procedure, which costs between $18,000 and $70,000, was cut by the province government in 2009. Horne said the province is now making available about $1 million annually, which is enough to cover surgeries for about 25 people.
It’s unclear whether Smith’s comments will further damage already strained relations between her party and the LGBT community. The Wildrose came under fire during the election for the views of some its candidates on homosexuality and same-same marriage, including one candidate who said gays will burn in a “lake of fire.” Smith refused to condemn the remarks, saying she will not discriminate against anyone’s religious views.
However, earlier this week she said she hopes to mend fences by attending the Edmonton police chief’s pride reception on Tuesday — an event that will be co-chaired by Wells.
He said the Wildrose leader’s goal of building bridges won’t be helped by her position on gender-reassignment surgery. He said he is happy to talk policy with Smith but she should first apologize to the LGBT community for her candidates’ views.
“The community was hurt, the community was upset, and perception is reality,” Wells said. “It doesn’t matter what she thought of her candidates’ words. The fact that she as party leader has not taken accountability for them is not going to sit well with the community.”
Smith insisted Friday that she does want to improve relations, but that doesn’t mean she will change her values.
“I guess if people were expecting that I was going to agree 100 per cent with everything the community is advocating for, they are going to be disappointed.”
Also Friday, Horne said the province has finally done away with an outdated diagnostic code for doctors that classified homosexuality as a mental illness. Alberta physicians had used the code as part of their bills to the province when they treated gays and lesbians.
Alberta uses the ninth version of the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases, which was written in 1975 and is known as the ICD-9. Horne said he switched in one code from the newer ICD-10, which does not list homosexuality as a mental disorder.
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