At today’s press conference, Friends of Medicare’s executive director, Chris Gallaway said the following:

“In light of two tragic deaths of individuals who sold their blood plasma at Grifols collection centres, and serious ongoing safety concerns at for-profit centres which have been found non-compliant with regulations—including here in Calgary—why are these sites allowed to continue operating, and profiting from the buying and selling of Canadians’ plasma? We have public solutions to collect blood and plasma safely and voluntarily, we don’t need to be continuing down this for-profit road. It’s time to put public safety first and bring plasma collection back under our public system.”

Friends of Medicare's joint press release with the Canadian Health Coalition, the Ontario Health Coalition, and the Manitoba Health Coalition is below:

EDMONTON — Health Canada has confirmed to CBC News that two people died after giving blood plasma at pay-for-plasma collection centres run by Grifols in Winnipeg — one in October of 2025, and another in January of this year. This follows news that another Winnipeg man is suing over mechanical equipment failure that caused serious kidney injury after his plasma was withdrawn at a Grifols-owned Canadian Plasma Resources location.

CALGARY — Today representatives from health coalitions, unions, and public health care advocacy organizations across the country have come together to express their deep concerns regarding the decision of Canadian Blood Services (CBS) to enter into an exclusive 15-year contract with Grifols, a multinational pharmaceutical company. 

This deal effectively privatizes the majority of plasma collection in Canada, as Grifols has taken over other private clinics and will be expanding quickly. The terms of this contract are secret, but what has been made public clearly violates the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that created CBS, and goes against the recommendations of the Krever Commission and World Health Organization guidance.

EDMONTON — Friends of Medicare and concerned Albertans will be holding an information picket outside of Canadian Blood Services (CBS) in Edmonton at noon today, December 1. This action coincides with events being held outside of CBS locations in Ottawa, ON, Dartmouth, NS and elsewhere.

OTTAWA (the traditional and unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin people) - Canada’s provincial and territorial Health Coalitions and the Canadian Health Coalition call for the resignation of the leadership of the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) including the CEO and Board of Directors. This call comes after the appalling decision by CBS to sign a 15-year agreement with a for-profit international pharmaceutical firm to collect plasma.

This morning, Health Canada approved Canadian Blood Services’ request to end the 3-month deferral period for men who have sex with men, effectively lifting the ban on their ability to donate blood and plasma.

EDMONTON -- Today, in Alberta’s Legislature, we witnessed ideology win out over the well-being of all Albertans and Canadians. Following the Third Reading this afternoon, the legislative assembly passed Bill 204: Voluntary Blood Donations Repeal Act. In the midst of an unprecedented and worsening public health crisis, Alberta is now on track to allow the corporate collection and global export of Albertans’ plasma. 

Back in March, Friends of Medicare warned Albertans that while our province was grappling with the beginnings of an unprecedented pandemic, private blood brokers were trying to find a way to profit from this dire situation. The Alberta government lobbyist registry showed that a big pharma interest group representing the private for-profit blood industry (Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association represented by Santis Health Inc), was attempting to persuade the government to repeal the Voluntary Blood Donation Act, which bans for-payment blood clinics in the province.