I’m happy to explain again Bill 21 and the termination of the AMA Master Agreement. Thread

First, the main point of the AMA Master Agreement was to give the AMA a veto on any change to the Schedule of Medical Benefits. It is true that now that there is no Master Agreement, that the AMA no longer has that veto power.

Second, we executed a negotiated termination clause in the Agreement: the termination clause says “by operation of law”.

Operation of law can happen in three ways: legislation, Order-in-Council, or Ministerial Order. Bill 21 made it clear which of the three it could be.

Third, negotiations with the AMA began in November. From the first day to the last day, we continually advised that all options were on the table, including termination of the AMA Agreement, if we could not come to a negotiated or mediated agreement on a new framework.

Fourth, Bill 21 was 135 pages. It amended the Alberta Housing Act, the Police Act, the AISH Act, and about 11 others. It received royal assent December 5. No, our government is not going to repeal a 135-page budget bill.

https://www.assembly.ab.ca/net/index.aspx?p=bills_status&selectbill=021&legl=30&session=1

Fifth, repealing the parts of Bill 21 which amended the Alberta Health Care Insurance Act quite frankly wouldn’t change anything. The fact is that the AMA Agreement included a termination clause which included “by operation of law”. We have, by operation of law, done so.

That being said, as I said on February 20 when we launched the new Physician Funding Framework, I am happy to receive and review any proposal the AMA may want to provide us to see if a new Master Agreement might be negotiated in the future. https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=68645E70BA770-F13F-912A-D85D8DF888DE5460