"Knock it off," says Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.

His advice is aimed at partying Albertans who think they can socialize in large groups in close proximity.

Covid-19 cases in Alberta are mushrooming out of control, with triple digit case increases several days in the past week.  It's summer in the province and the urge to hit the bars, patios and beaches has just been too strong for the unleashed, unmasked younger Albertan.

Kenney's blunt advice could easily also be turned back on his own government.

In the midst of the pandemic crisis, the Alberta government and the Alberta Medical Association are locked in an unseemly public wrestling match ramping up the anxiety of vulnerable Albertans and distracting from the fight against the virus.

The root of the issue is the master contract between the province and the AMA, which the government ripped up in its zeal to bring down the health care budget.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro imposed several physician fee structure changes, some of which he has had since to walk back after a public uproar.

The AMA charges these changes have been done without consultation or due consideration of how they would affect health care.  The association has launched a lawsuit saying the government has violated doctors' charter rights to arbitration.

A tit-for-tat squabble is now underway on whether rural doctors will or won't abandon their practices because of the government's fee changes and its unwillingness to negotiate.  The AMA claims 42 per cent of its members are considering leaving the province and physicians at some clinics in smaller centres say they are pulling the pin.

In response Shandro sent a letter to the College of Physicians and Surgeons urging them to prohibit physicians from leaving a locality en masse.

Shandro has also threatened to publish physician names and compensation to support the government's contention that Alberta doctors are paid too much.

A fissure erupted this week on the physician side of the dispute as an ophthalmologist asked Shandro to allow them to negotiate directly with the government rather than have to go through the AMA.  Shandro was more than happy to blast that news out to the public.

The AMA responded by asking its members to vote on whether they have confidence in the minister.  The organization obviously wants to shore up its membership support.

If the consensus of the vote, expected to be complete by July 28, is no-confidence, the AMA will ask the premier to step in.

Dropping this whole nasty dispute into Kenney's lap would be a big win for the doctors.  The premier has let Shandro lead the charge, partly because it is ultimately not a political winner.

Pollsters suggest that one reason Kenney hasn't reaped the popularity bump other premiers have enjoyed thanks to their battles against Covid is the high profile doctor dispute.  Making him even more the centre of that fight could undercut his poll numbers further.

The entire battle has ballooned way beyond the question of compensation and contracts.

"Our government has a mandate from Albertans to reduce wait times and make our health system more efficient.  That is exactly what we are doing," thunders health press secretary Steve Buick in a statement.  "An online survey of a comparatively small number of the highest earners does not change that."

The AMA claims in its advertising campaign that the government's ripping up of the master agreement is a direct threat to the public health care system.

"We are losing the opportunity for physician and government collaboration around improving patient care something which has occurred with all previous governments."

Albertans, already under siege by a deadly pandemic, are witnessing a breakdown of a crucial healthcare relationship in the province.

Neither side is blameless in the current epidemic of snarkery.  But the government's decision to circumvent the usual negotiation process kicked off this unfortunate state of affairs.

So it's time for the government to knock it off, get back to the table and figure out how to reboot this relationship.  Albertans don't need any uncertainty in their healthcare system right now.