EDMONTON — After 15 straight days of protesting the government’s reckless decision to remove Alberta’s most basic and necessary COVID-19 protections, the government has finally taken notice, and moved to “pause” the removal of these protections for 6 weeks, until September 27.

EDMONTON — Alberta Health Services has managed to largely avoid the scrutiny of Albertans after many years of instability and costly reorganizations. But now, this government has made clear that they are willing to compromise that, via the appointment of privatization ideologues to the AHS board.

EDMONTON — Friends of Medicare stands in solidarity today with the United Nurses of Alberta, as they stand up for patient care with information pickets at hospitals and health facilities across the province.

EDMONTON
August 3, 2021

Enough is Enough! Friends of Medicare protests removal of Alberta's public health measures

• End nearly all public health measures, including masking;
• Close all testing centres;
• Require those with serious symptoms to get tested at a doctor's office or the Emergency Unit at a hospital;
• Largely do away with tracing contacts of people infected with COVID-19;
• Remove isolation requirements for people who test positive; 
• Stop asking people with mild symptoms to get tested; and,
• Stop issuing medical data on COVID-19.

EDMONTON — Today, Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced the allocation of $400 million in operational funding over four years, for 6,000 continuing care beds across the province. Of these, 2,200 will be new beds, and the remaining 3,800 will be refurbished or renovated from existing “underutilized” spaces in private facilities.

EDMONTON — Yesterday, Finance Minister Travis Toews announced that the government would be moving forward with plans to cut salaries of Alberta’s nurses. The newly proposed 3% salary rollback comes in addition to previously announced rollbacks, in the form of reduced shift and weekend premiums. All together, Alberta’s nurses are facing at least 5% compensation reduction.

EDMONTON — Friends of Medicare and Public Interest Alberta join organizations from civil society, labour, and senior citizens representing hundreds of thousands of Albertans speaking out against Bill 70: COVID Related Measures Act, which is expected to be voted on by the Legislative Assembly today. Twenty-three (23) organizations have signed an open letter to demand that this legislation not be passed into law because of the dangers it poses to Alberta seniors and their families. The letter was emailed to Premier Kenney, Minister of Health, Tyler Shandro and UCP MLA Richard Gotfried, the sponsor of this bill. The open letter will be tabled today in the Alberta Legislature by MLA Christina Grey, Critic for Labour and Immigration & Official Opposition House Leader.