palliser_news
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Letter: Health care should not be a choice it should be a priority
This Letter to the Editor was originally published in the Medicine Hat News on June 5, 2025.
Dear editor,
As the UCP government in Alberta seems to be making it easier for private health care to grab a foothold in Alberta, we at Palliser Friends of Medicare feel we should remind people that public health care better serves the public and is a more cost-effective way to run a provincial health-care system.
Written by Alyssa Pretty
June 10, 2025 -
DynaLIFE continues to fight its own workers as privatized labs struggle to provide lab services
Friends of Medicare stands in solidarity with laboratory workers in their fight for fairness
This morning, Alberta’s medical laboratory workers called on DynaLIFE to return to the bargaining table, and to commit to fairness. Lab workers provide incredibly important services to Albertans, essential for timely diagnostics and treatment. Yet once again, just like when DynaLIFE tried to take away their pension plan, this private company’s profits are being prioritized at the expense of working conditions, public oversight, and patient care. All while Alberta is facing a chronic short-staffing crisis throughout our health care system.
Written by Alyssa Pretty
April 20, 2023 -
Byelection an opportunity to focus on solving health-care issues in southeastern Alberta
This guest column appeared in the Medicine Hat News on October 13.
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Albertans Rallying Together for Public Health Care
Friends of Medicare to participate in events in five cities calling on the provincial government to put people before profit
Written by Fom Friends of Medicare
May 13, 2022 -
Albertans for Ethical Drug Policy demand end to Alberta’s war on harm reduction
Albertans for Ethical Drug Policy demand end to Alberta’s war on harm reduction
June 26, 2021
CALGARY - June 26 is the Global Day of Action Against Oppressive Drug Policy, Support, Don’t Punish. Today, Albertans are coming together at for the YYC Day of Action, to commemorate and remember the lives that have been lost as a result of this ongoing opioid pandemic, and to call on this government to stop the unjust assault on harm reduction services.Albertans for Ethical Drug Policy, business owners and community members are marking this occasion with the release of a joint statement, to renew our calls to stop the unjust assault on harm reduction services. Harm reduction, including supervised consumption services (SCS) not only save lives, but they also help to keep people healthy, connect them with services, and ultimately saves money for the health system.
Written by Fom Friends of Medicare
June 28, 2021 -
Privatization & profiteering continues as K-Bro is awarded sole contract for laundry & linen services in Alberta
April 27, 2021
EDMONTON
Privatization & profiteering continues as K-Bro is awarded sole contract for laundry & linen services in Alberta
Today, K-Bro Linen Inc. announced that they had been named the successful bidders for the Request for Proposals put out by Alberta Health Services in October 2020. They will become the sole providers of laundry services for AHS across the province of Alberta. While this news comes as no surprise, it is a disappointing indication that this government is bent on perpetuating privatization experiments within our public health care system.
Written by Fom Friends of Medicare
April 27, 2021 -
Government setting the stage for the closure and possible relocation of existing supervised consumption Services
Government setting the stage for the closure and possible relocation of existing supervised consumption services
As reported in the media today, Premier Jason Kenney is already setting the stage for what could be the closure or relocation of Supervised Consumption Services (SCS) in Alberta. While the Supervised Consumption Services Review Committee was tasked with reporting to the government by the end of 2019, their report has yet to be publicly released.
Written by Fom Friends of Medicare
January 21, 2020 -
Funding delays for new supervised consumption services are unacceptable
Funding delays for new supervised consumption services are unacceptable
On Friday, May 31, the UCP government announced that they will be suspending funding for supervised consumption sites currently under development in Medicine Hat and Red Deer, and a mobile consumption site in Calgary. Jason Luan, Associate Minister for Mental Health and Addictions, indicated that his party will also be conducting a review of all existing sites, and that they will be “looking at consumption sites in light of the whole strategy – the overall strategy of intervention and treatment. It is a whole scan, from awareness, prevention and intervention to treatment.” The review has halted the development of the three proposed sites, and its results could impact the continued funding of existing sites across the province.It was a serious escalation in opioid-related deaths in Alberta that prompted a harm reduction response in the form of the approval of supervised consumption services, initially in 3 urban centres: Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge. The central tenet of harm reduction is the reduction of stigmas and judgments about drug use and addiction, and is based on the understanding that there are people who engage in these behaviors who are not willing or not able to stop doing so. Harm reduction aims to reduce the health risks associated with these behaviors, such as public safety concerns like public drug use and discarded needles, the transmission and spread of blood-borne infections, overdose, and ultimately death.
Written by Fom Friends of Medicare
June 03, 2019