EDMONTON — Friends of Medicare and activists within the disability community are returning to the Alberta Legislature today to renew our calls on the UCP government to improve our home care system. In March 2024 this petition was first tabled in the Legislature. More than a year later, our calls for improved home care funding and services in Alberta have remained ignored by this government. As of today, our petition has reached over 37,000 signatures in support, and will be tabled again in the Legislature today following Question Period.

EDMONTON — This afternoon, the government tabled Bill 53: Compassionate Intervention Act, fulfilling their promise to table forced treatment legislation in this legislative session. If passed, it will allow for mandatory treatment orders that remove a patient’s right to consent and permit individuals to be involuntarily confined against their will. The tabled legislation does not address previously raised, legitimate concerns about the serious infringement on the rights of Albertans, nor the considerable evidence that legislation of this type is both dangerous and ineffective.

EDMONTON — Yesterday, the Minister of Health announced yet another restructuring change for Alberta health care, creating another new agency called Cancer Care Alberta and sharing that later this year, cancer care will fall under Acute Care Alberta. No details were provided on how this will improve patient care, reduce our unacceptably long cancer treatment wait times, or address concerns from frontline health care workers.

EDMONTON — Earlier today, the Alberta government announced a new acute care funding model, which involves switching to activity-based funding for surgeries, rather than using global hospital budgeting, essentially moving to a voucher model. This is a concerning shift that will impact Alberta hospital’s budgets.

EDMONTON — Yesterday, the Parkland Institute released a crucial and timely report titled Operation Profit: Private Surgical Contracts Deliver Higher Costs and Longer Waits. The report lays out clearly that the government is continuing to make a political decision to reward private, for-profit surgical centres at the expense of our public hospitals and the health of all Albertans.

EDMONTON — A new report commissioned by Friends of Medicare from the Parkland Institute and authored by Rebecca Graff-McRae titled, Access Denied: How the Changing Accessibility of Health Care Services in Alberta Impacts Equity, highlights how reduced capacity and decreased access have resulted in unmet health care needs for Albertans. The report examines these challenges across acute care, primary care, continuing care, as well as mental health and addictions.

EDMONTON — Measles cases are growing in Alberta, with confirmed cases now in both major cities as well as the north zone, and one person already hospitalized. Doctors and public health experts are warning this is only the beginning of a very dangerous, very contagious virus, especially given the growing concerns about vaccination rates falling since the pandemic.

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.”

Initial Budget Response from Chris Gallaway, Executive Director of Friends of Medicare:

EDMONTON — “Albertans are worried about accessing the health care they need when they need it. Heading into Budget 2025, we were watching for key investments in public health care including prioritizing action on health care capacity and workforce planning for a growing province. Unfortunately for Albertans, that’s not what we saw in today’s budget.