So Ralph Klein says the doctors¼ rotating office closures didn¼t play a
part in the settlement that was reached. (Sun.April 22) Hmmm. In the
meantime, the Klein government continues to throw fuel on the fires of
health-care costs blazing out of control..Thirty percent of hospital
admissions are directly associated with alcohol.

Alberta taxpayers paid $89 million to psychiatric hospitals for problems
directly related to alcohol.

Yet, ironically, Klein and Co. have promoted booze sales to the point
Alberta now ranks No. 1 in the nation for alcohol-related problems
(Statistics Canada) There is no lower drinking age in the western world
than Alberta. The Klein government reprehensibly licenses nude performances
in bars as a marketing tool for alcohol.

Cold beer stores now dot our land. Privatization increased outlets for
liquor sales from 200 to 600. While the government grabs 1.5 million per
day from booze sales, it costs taxpayers many times more than that amount
to pick up the pieces.

Should promotion of a dangerous, highly addictive drug take priority over
funding for the health and lives of people of the province?

Audrey Jensen

(Good question, Audrey.)