Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie says he is committed to working with other provincial and municipal officials to initiate a recruiting program to attract more physicians to Cochrane.

In a statement issued today, MLA Guthrie says attracting doctors to regions outside of large cities, even here close to Calgary, has been an issue in Alberta for decades.

He calls the announced closure of the Cochrane Primary Care Centre a blow but says it doesn't necessarily mean all of the physicians will be leaving the community.

"That said, I'm going to work very hard here to look at options for that clinic to attract new physicians, and that could be just outright recruitment we do through the department of health, but also through the possibility of an Alternate Rate Plan (ARP).

He says ARPs have been successfully established elsewhere in Canada. Basically, it's a facility operated under the guise of the government, where physicians are salaried employees.

"They're not driven by the number of patients they see, so it improves care, and I've asked the department to look at options for that here in Cochrane and to see whether or not that's a possibility."

He says Alberta has seen an increase in the number of physicians over the last year, but most are attracted to major centres, like Edmonton and Calgary, because of expanded access to equipment, services, and the ability to engage more patients.

"This UCP government has focused on a number of initiatives, including improving services and programs to entice new physicians to areas such as our," he states.

At least one of the doctors leaving the primary care centre here points to the ongoing dispute between the Alberta Government and physicians as her main reason for not only departing Cochrane but Alberta.

On Mar. 30, 53 per cent of members of the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) turned down a tentative agreement package from the Alberta Government.

Just two days later, Dr. Jennifer Corrales, of the Cochrane Primary Care Centre, sent her patients a letter stating she was closing her practice as of July 1, 2020.

Born, raised, and trained in Alberta, she said it was not something she'd imagined doing before the UCP came into power.

"However, almost solely due to the policies, hostilities, and destabilization of primary care by the Alberta UCP, I have decided to explore opportunities in other provinces and abroad."

In November 2020, over 20 Cochrane physicians wrote a collective open letter to Guthrie at a time when the government had stepped back from the negotiation table. They accused Guthrie of stoking the fire of hostility towards physicians, calling it "indefensible and damaging."

"Physicians across this province want to provide high-quality and high-value care and help to save this government money," it states. "However, we’d rather not cut costs in ways that will negatively impact patient care."

Guthrie doesn't believe the ongoing negotiation with the AMA is a major factor.

"Alberta has been, and still will be, the highest compensated jurisdiction across Canada for physician compensation, and we're also the lowest tax jurisdictions, so I don't think that's a factor."