By The Canadian Press

Alberta physicians reject new master agreement with provincial government

Mar 31, 2021 | 7:27 AM

EDMONTON – Alberta’s doctors have rejected a proposed new master agreement aimed at resolving a year’s worth of acrimony over pay and working conditions with the provincial government.

Sources have told The Canadian Press the deal has been rejected by physicians with the Alberta Medical Association who had been voting for weeks on whether to ratify.

A simple majority was required to pass the agreement, which had been brokered by both the association’s senior leadership and Health Minister Tyler Shandro.

Neither side has released the contents of the proposal, but details obtained by The Canadian Press specify that the collective baseline pay for the 11,000 doctors would remain static at about $4.6 billion a year through the four years of the deal.

Doctors would also have given up the right to third-party arbitration, previously considered to be critical leverage in bargaining given that physicians can’t hit the picket line for ethical reasons.

The physicians and the government have been at loggerheads since Shandro unilaterally tore up the previous master agreement in early 2020, saying a new pact was critical to keeping the health system financially viable and sustainable.