Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Alberta UCP candidate says people who have heart attacks should be held accountable

Story by The Canadian Press • 

EDMONTON — A United Conservative Party candidate in southern Alberta is being criticized for saying people who have heart failure should take accountability for their own health.



"Maybe the reason you had a heart attack was because you haven't taken care of yourself," said UCP Livingstone-Macleod candidate Chelsae Petrovic on a February episode of "The Canadian Story" podcast.

"You're extremely overweight, you haven't managed your congestive heart failure, you haven't managed your diabetes and there's no personal accountability.

"But they come into the hospital and all of a sudden it's everyone else's problem but their own."

Petrovic, who is mayor of Claresholm south of Calgary, has also been a licensed practical nurse for more than 12 years.

She issued a statement Monday saying her comment on the podcast was taken out of context.

"I was speaking for several minutes about the challenges our health-care system is currently facing," Petrovic said. "I understand my comment could be offensive when removed from the longer interview, and I should have chosen better language.

"I believe we should be a province that not only focuses on reactive health for those in need but also one that teaches our kids to practice healthy living, which includes taking care of our physical health."

On the podcast, Petrovic prefaced her comments saying, "This might be political suicide, what I'm about to say, which is fine with me, because it needs to be said."

Premier Danielle Smith was asked Tuesday during a news conference on health care in Sherwood Park, Alta., about her candidate's comment.

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"I'm pleased to see that (Petrovic) issued a statement yesterday clarifying that she could have used better language," Smith said.

"There are some times that I have had missteps," said Smith. "I think people are forgiving when you give an opportunity to explain what you meant and I want to extend the same opportunity to others."

Smith was criticized last year for saying that early-stage cancer is within a person's control during her own podcast.

"When you think everything that built up before you got to stage four and that diagnosis, that's completely within your control and there's something you can do about that that is different," Smith said.

She later said during a UCP leadership debate that her comment was "misunderstood," and she's a "proponent of early detection, early treatment, nutrition and holistic medicine."

In late March, UCP Lethbridge West candidate Torry Tanner resigned after claiming in a video that children are exposed to pornography in schools and teachers help them change their gender identity.

Opposition NDP leader Rachel Notley took to Twitter to comment on Petrovic's statement, sharing that her grandfather had a heart attack and died while he was headed out to feed cows on their farm.

"No one saw it coming," tweeted Notley.


Kevin Van Tighem, the NDP candidate for Livingstone-Macleod, issued a statement demanding Petrovic and Smith apologize.

“Last year, Danielle Smith said Albertans are responsible for developing cancer. Now her candidate blames Albertans for having a heart attack. This is a pattern of cruel and hurtful language that kicks Albertans when they’re down. They must apologize today.”

"The Canadian Story" is a podcast hosted by Zach Gerber, owner of Skytrack Studios, and David Parker, who was a regional adviser to Stephen Harper while he was prime minister. The podcast covers a wide variety of topics under a politically conservative lens.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2023.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Angela Amato, The Canadian Press

UCP candidate calls out heart attack survivors in commentary bordering on ‘political suicide’

Story by The Canadian Press • 2h ago

Chelsae Petrovic, an ER nurse and United Conservative Party candidate for Livingstone-Macleod, is refusing media interviews after flirting with “political suicide” by suggesting that heart attack survivors should bear accountability for their poor health.

Petrovic offered her remarks, first reported by Global Edmonton’s Saif Kaisar, during her guest appearance on a podcast episode of The Canadian Story published to YouTube on Feb. 21, roughly three weeks before she swept the UCP’s nomination in Livingstone-Macleod.

Social media response to reports on this issue has been overwhelmingly negative.

Speaking as a hopeful nominee and the mayor of Claresholm, Petrovic also disparaged unions, including her own, and made it plain that she would rather be ejected from the UCP’s legislative caucus if she felt supporting the party line would go against the riding’s best interests.

Petrovic’s campaign responded to Shootin’ the Breeze’s request for comment with a statement saying her remarks about heart attack survivors had been “taken out of context.” A statement attributed to the candidate reads: “I understand my comment could be offensive when removed from the longer interview, and I should have chosen better language. I believe we should be a province that not only focuses on reactive health for those in need but also one that teaches our kids to practise healthy living, which includes taking care of our physical and mental health.”“No interviews or additional statements will be made regarding the situation,” her campaign team wrote.

Telling podcast hosts David Parker and Zach Gerber that she’d seen “a lot of similarities” between her roles as a nurse and a small-town mayor, Petrovic started talking about hospital patients.

“Everyone comes in with their problems, and how do you fix it? How do you go about being polite to them when you’re trying to save their lives in a high-stress environment?”

It’s a matter of “balancing saving their life and doing it with a smile on your face as they’re bleeding out,” she told Parker, who founded the right-wing populist movement Take Back Alberta, according to TBA’s website.

Asked where she saw “a lack of accountability and responsibility playing out in our Canadian society right now,” Petrovic told Parker that what she was about to say “might be political suicide … which is fine with me, because it needs to be said.”

Canadians have become “so dependent on being saved” by the government, they no longer take responsibility for themselves, she said.

“And I see it in health care,” she continued, dressing down a hypothetical patient.

“You know, I’m going to say it: Maybe the reason why you had a heart attack was because you haven’t taken care of yourself. You’re extremely overweight. You haven’t managed your congestive heart failure. You haven’t managed your diabetes and there’s no personal accountability.

“But they come into the hospital, and all of a sudden, it’s everyone else’s problem but their own.”

Petrovic went on to say that she wanted to rally behind one of her neighbours she said had recently suffered a heart attack.

“Well, let’s start shovelling his driveway,” she suggested.

Kevin Van Tighem, the NDP’s riding candidate, issued a statement Tuesday calling on Premier Danielle Smith and Petrovic to apologize for Petrovic’s comments “blaming Albertans for cardiac disease.”

“Last year, Danielle Smith said Albertans are responsible for developing cancer. Now her candidate blames Albertans for having a heart attack. This is a pattern of cruel and hurtful language that kicks Albertans when they’re down,” Van Tighem said.

Kevin Todd, the Alberta Party’s riding candidate, wrote in a prepared statement, “People of our constituency shouldn’t be made to feel as though their access to medical care is predicated on whether or not they ‘deserve’ help in one of life’s challenging moments.”

On the subject of front-line nursing, Petrovic said during the podcast, “We have the unions who butt in [to the nursing process]. Let’s be honest, the unions only have [their] best interests at heart and how they make money.”

“All the nurses are going to hate me for that,” she went on, adding, “Union reps are going to come after me for that one.”

Petrovic went on to say she’d represent the interests of Livingstone-Macleod if they conflicted with her party’s policy agenda.

“I promise that I’ll never cross the floor, but I can’t promise that I will always be a UCP representative,” she said, telling Parker and Gerber that she understood that the UCP, like most parties, would boot her out if she won her riding and then voted against the party as an MLA.

“If that means that … someone says, ‘You have to vote this way, otherwise you’re kicked out,’ and it’s not in Livingstone-Macleod’s best interest — well, I guess I’m no longer a UCP representative.”

Petrovic several times stressed that she valued Claresholm’s “very diverse” council, and that effective leadership meant honing the ability to change one’s mind.

The candidate will face the NDP’s Kevin Van Tighem and the Alberta Party’s Kevin Todd when Albertans head to the polls in May.

Laurie Tritschler, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Shootin' the Breeze

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