The role of government in public health and public health crises: A perspective from Alberta.

Abstract

Public health leaders and programs have played an important role in Alberta's response to major health events, including COVID-19. We discuss how the Alberta provincial government has exerted increasing control over public health functions in the province, and how this played out over the course of the pandemic and beyond. Given the significant role that the social determinants of health play in shaping the health of the population, we also discuss how successive governments have approached policy and investment in public health. Using our experiences, we discuss a more effective role for government in a public health crisis, and in the health of the public more broadly. We advocate for a Health in All Policies approach to government decision-making and a move towards focusing on evidence rather than ideology.