EDMONTON — Two costly changes to the Alberta Health Care Insurance Act take effect on October 1, due to Bill 11 (the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, no. 2).

EDMONTON — As reported by the Investigative Journalism Foundation, staff of Henwood Treatment Centre—Edmonton’s largest public voluntary addiction treatment facility—have been abruptly informed by Recovery Alberta that the centre’s 62 residential treatment beds have been permanently shuttered.

EDMONTON — This Wednesday, as Canada’s Premiers were meeting in Charlottetown for the Council of Federation, the Alberta government quietly issued Orders in Council which reclassified all preventive health testing services as non-insured extended health services, as well as other regulatory changes. 

Friends of Medicare is a signatory to the following joint statement from the Canadian Medical Association:

As health advocates and clinicians on the frontlines, we know what is needed to improve health care access and build a stronger country and workforce. That’s why our organizations are calling on Canada’s premiers gathered in Charlottetown to invest in solutions that create a healthier Canada.

CHARLOTTETOWN — Public health care advocates rallying outside the premiers’ Council of the Federation meeting are demanding Canada’s premiers stop the spread of American-style, two-tier health care before it takes root nationwide.

OTTAWA — Friends of Medicare’s executive director, Chris Gallaway, was on Parliament Hill in Ottawa this morning, joining the Canadian Health Coalition, Canadian Doctors for Medicare, Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights and Goldblatt Partners LLC lawyer, Emma Phillips, for a press conference to release a brand new legal opinion on the recent Bill 11 regulations released by the Alberta government. 

EDMONTON — Earlier this month, Albertans learned that the provincial government would be transferring more than 400 Public Health Inspectors, Researchers, Health Promotion Facilitators and support staff out of Alberta Health Services, where they operate at arms length, into direct government employment. Inspectors and their colleagues are responsible for ensuring that spaces like child-care centres, rental housing, and continuing-care facilities are safe from infection and disease.

EDMONTON — On Friday heading into the long weekend, the provincial government revealed their plans for a comprehensive rebrand of our Emergency Health Services, now to be known as “ALTA Paramedic Health.” No specific costing for the rebranding was provided.

EDMONTON — During today’s Question Period—the first since the Alberta Legislative Assembly returned from last week’s constituency break—the Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, Rick Wilson, was directly asked to apologize for misleading the Legislature, and to tell Albertans what he actually saw happen during a recent visit to a Supervised Consumption Site. But rather than answer the questions posed to him, he instead resorted to reading out recycled Recovery Alberta talking points, and used his time to rail against medical evidence and life-saving harm reduction services.

EDMONTON — This Tuesday in the Legislature, while responding to a question about significant concerns regarding the crown corporation CoRE (the Centre of Recovery Excellence), Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Rick Wilson spoke about a recent visit to a Supervised Consumption Site (SCS) and claimed that “these people that are in there: I’ve actually seen them collapse and die right in front of me,” along with a slew of other bizarre commentary on the issue.