Alberta Conservatives Pandering to the Religious Right... Again.

I know that the headline is as surprising as a prediction of sub-zero temperatures in Yellowknife in February, but it irks me that such a small group of people are being singled out to bear the brunt of Alberta Progressive Conservatives efforts to re-capture sympathies from those who are being wooed by the Wildrose Alliance (an ostensibly fiscally conservative party, but with policies that are attractive to the deeply socially conservative. I am speaking of this pair of quotes from the Edmonton Sun:

Alberta's finance minister doubts the province will reverse its decision to drop sex changes from its list of publicly funded surgeries, despite advice from a gay rights group. [...] Iris Evans, the finance chief, believes it's unlikely Alberta will re-examine its controversial decision to delist sex changes as medically necessary, a cost-cutting move that shaved $700,000 a year from the budget.

It is quite likely that such things would not be discussed between sessions, but it is the doubt expressed by the Minister that gets to me. So, basically, she considers it doubtful that a program that costs $0.09 (that's right, nine cents) per Albertan, that provides what specialists in the area consider a medically necessary procedure, will be reinstated? Let's be clear. This program funded upwards to 20 people per year; between $20,000 and $70,000 per patient. Some years it was as few as 5 patients. The alternative to surgery is a life of drug and psychotherapy, hospitalisations, and other treatments that can range in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per patient (all of which is covered by ACHIP). Just crunching the numbers, it makes sense to fund the surgeries. But seeing as it is the preferred and most successful treatment would seem to me to make it a settled case: fund the surgeries for those whom it is prescribed. I submit that the writing was on the wall a while ago that the PCs were losing ground to the Wildrose over certain fiscal policies over the last few years. The PCs were looking for some kind of strategy to woo back some of their supporters. Social conservatives are some of the easiest voters to please: simply enact some of their preferred programs. So, we have Bill 44 and the de-listing of gender reassignment surgeries. How can anyone believe that the motivation behind the delisting, which saves a mere $700,000 for the surgeries but will cost the province quite a lot more in alternative treatments, was motivated by fiscal concerns? We know why. But it's sad that so few people have objected. I suppose it has to do with the fact that so few are affected.