EDMONTON — On page 13 of last week’s Budget 2025 Fiscal Plan there is a reference to the change of ownership for Alberta’s hospitals. As of April 1st, the titles for hundreds of health care facilities will be directly under the ownership of the provincial government through Alberta Infrastructure. As one Calgary Herald columnist summed it up over the weekend: “Sell off hospitals? The UCP Budget makes it possible.”
“This should set off major alarm bells. Is the government planning to sell off our public hospitals? Will they turn facilities over to private operators? Do they have some other public-private scheme in mind?” asked Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare. “Albertans own these hospitals, and we deserve to know whether the government’s plan for them serves the public interest, or the financial interests of for-profit corporations and their shareholders.”
At a government press conference on Friday (February 28), the Premier was asked whether this change was part of “a plan to sell hospitals to private entities or private corporations?” The Premier did not answer yes or no to the question, but instead stated that the change “will allow for us to choose the operator. And that will allow us to repurpose them to our needs.” Nowhere in her lengthy response did she provide any clarity about what the government’s plan for hospital infrastructure might be.
“Any plan to sell off hospitals or privatize acute care facilities should be a non-starter. Yet given the track record of the UCP government, Albertans have plenty of cause to be concerned,” said Gallaway. “We have sitting government Ministers and MLAs who have publicly supported plans for a for-profit Urgent Care Centre in Airdrie and a massive private health facility in Fort McMurray, while the government has allegedly gone to great lengths to accelerate our use of private surgical centres instead of expanding operating capacity in our public hospitals.”
At a private UCP membership meeting last summer, the Premier was recorded musing about turning hospitals over to Covenant Health or other private operators, an idea consistent with the government’s record. Since being elected, this government has recklessly forged ahead with their agenda to hand over our public health care dollars and facilities to private for-profit operators, whether labs, public treatment centres, concerning contracts with private surgical centres, and more.
“Alberta’s population continues to boom, and we are already thousands of beds short across our province — something last week’s budget failed to address. Instead, the government remains preoccupied with their chaotic restructuring plans and health care privatization schemes,” said Gallaway. “Albertans deserve to see a capacity plan that will ensure we have the beds and workers we need to provide timely, quality health care. Instead, this government keeps trying to find new ways to hand over our public assets to their friends to turn a profit off of.”
Friends of Medicare encourages Albertans to join together in sending a loud and clear message to our government that it’s time to rebuild our publicly funded, publicly delivered health care system. Take action here.
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