Avalon Roberts

Avalon Roberts (born August 18, 1945), is a prominent Alberta healthcare advocate and political activist. She was born in Newfoundland, has lived in six of Canada's provinces, and has resided in Calgary since 1980.

For other uses, see Avalon (disambiguation).
Avalon Roberts
Personal details
BornAugust 18, 1945
Newfoundland
Political partyAlberta Liberal Party
ResidenceCalgary, Alberta

Educated at McGill University in Montreal (B.Sc.N.) and at Dalhousie University (M.D.), Roberts is a community-practice psychiatrist and former president of the Alberta Psychiatric Association; she has also served as chairwoman of the Calgary and Alberta chapters of Friends of Medicare, a group dedicated to the preservation of public healthcare. Other health-related service includes a period as Director of the Psychiatric Assessment Service (outpatients) at the Calgary General Hospital and Director of the Outpatient Assessment Service (psychiatry) at the Eric Martin Pavilion in Victoria, B.C.

Health care activism

A vocal advocate for improved access to medical facilities and decreased waiting time, Roberts has argued that contracting out services to private clinics will likely result in increased costs for Alberta's public health system. She has made multiple public statements on health care:

· She has described as "very dangerous" a proposal for private surgery clinics in Alberta[1]

· She has argued that private/public healthcare partnerships would likely result in greater expense and less financial transparency[2]

· During the 2004 Alberta election, she condemned then-premier Ralph Klein for refusing to clarify his health-care plans[3]

· She has criticized Klein's "Third Way" plan to introduce some private services to the public system[4]

· In 2005, Roberts arranged and presided over a Friends of Medicare symposium in Calgary[5]

· As spokesperson for Friends of Medicare, she denounced the Fraser Institute's report ("How Good is Canadian Health Care?") as an effort to push private, for-profit health care."[6]

Political activism
Alberta Liberal Party leader Kevin Taft (third from left) is surrounded by Calgary Liberal candidates, including Avalon Roberts (far right) at a Calgary press conference that was part of the 2008 Alberta election campaign.

A long-standing Liberal Party activist, Roberts campaigned for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2004 federal election against Conservative leader Stephen Harper, finishing second with 9,501 votes. She ran provincially for the Alberta Liberal Party in the riding of Calgary-Glenmore in the 2004, 2008, and 2009 elections, finishing 2nd all 3 times.

Family life

Roberts is the first cousin of former Newfoundland and Labrador Lieutenant Governor Edward Roberts. She is married to Tom Bowen, and has two adult daughters.

References
  1. (Calgary Herald, 15 Sept 02)
  2. (Calgary Herald, 2 Nov. 03)
  3. (Calgary Herald, 11 Nov 2004)
  4. (Edmonton Journal, 12 Aug 2005)
  5. (Edmonton Journal, 31 March 2005)
  6. (CBC News, 19 Dec 2006)
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